Transmigrated into a Total Shou Novel as a Cannon Fodder, but Ended Up 1v1-ing the Male Lead | Chapter 5 | The Hidden Dimension | Novela.app

Nie Shiyun paced around the room, the more he thought about it, the more something felt off. An essence was a product of refinement—a mere object. It was impossible for it to possess sentience, so it couldn't have run away on its own. When his hand slipped and he dropped the item, it seemed to have bounced off the jade pendant at his waist with a crisp *clink*, and then—thinking back carefully, he hadn't heard the sound of the essence hitting the floor tiles. A thought struck Nie Shiyun, and he hurriedly pressed his hand against the jade pendant. He had initially thought he was just overreacting and that the object had simply gotten snagged on his waist ornament. He intended to take a closer look, but the moment his fingertips brushed the jade, the world began to spin. He was yanked into the darkness by an irresistible brute force. A strong wave of nausea hit him, but it vanished completely after only a second. Nie Shiyun sat on the ground, stunned by the sudden turn of events. He was clearly no longer in his room, but in an incredibly cramped space. The walkable area was less than five feet wide and long, making him feel somewhat suffocated. The aura of the Wood Essence was thick here. Nie Shiyun could bet his life that the item had fallen into this place. However, as he reached out and felt along the smooth four walls, he could find no trace of it. Before long, the aura of the Wood Essence grew fainter and fainter, until it finally merged completely into the space and disappeared. Nie Shiyun’s jaw dropped. He could faintly feel a warm current surging through his body, as if his cultivation had increased slightly, but the bottleneck of his Qi Refining stage acted like a lid, suppressing the wisps of spiritual energy. With a single thought, Nie Shiyun returned to his familiar room in the blink of an eye. As if to confirm his suspicions, he touched the jade pendant again. The second time he was sucked into the space, he wasn't nearly as startled. If word of this got out, it would surely be sensational. In the cultivation world, storage bracelets and storage bags were nothing to be surprised about, but no matter how large a space they held, no one had ever heard of a magical treasure that allowed living beings to enter. Today was certainly not the first time Nie Shiyun had touched this jade pendant, but such a situation had never occurred before. He deduced that perhaps the Wood Essence had accidentally struck the jade pendant, and the dormant space had taken the essence as a resource offered to it. Thus, it was activated and promptly "digested" the essence. To verify this, Nie Shiyun took a spirit ginseng from the stock in his storage bag and placed it on the ground of the space along with some remaining loose spirit stones. After a short while, the spirit ginseng seemed to melt away, vanishing into the space. The loose spirit stones were slower; a few disappeared one after another, but then the process stopped, leaving some behind. *This space seems to be a picky eater,* Nie Shiyun thought as he picked up the remaining spirit stones and put them back into his storage bag. The book had never described the original host having such a wonderful item. To go a step further, this item had never appeared in the book from beginning to end. If it truly existed in this world, then in the original work, it should have eventually fallen into the hands of Duan Mingyu’s group. On the other hand, Nie Shiyun noticed that his body felt much lighter after entering the space, as if he had cast off a heavy iron lock that had been pressing against his chest. This feeling would quickly vanish after leaving the space. "Could it be..." Was it something from the outside world that had come along with him? Nie Shiyun tried to communicate with the space, but received no response. This dimension did not seem to possess sentience; it merely devoured the resources Nie Shiyun brought in based on a growth instinct. Nie Shiyun spent a long time that afternoon repeatedly testing various hypotheses. The ability to allow a living person to enter was already unique in the world. After absorbing resources, the space seemed to slowly expand, transferring the absorbed cultivation to Nie Shiyun, its owner. Most importantly, time flowed slowly within the space. If one cultivated here, their efficiency would be unimaginably faster than that of an ordinary person. Having obtained such a treasure, Nie Shiyun was overjoyed. Just when he thought he was being driven to a dead end by the Heavenly Dao, things had taken a turn for the better. Perhaps this small world was his best weapon to contend against the Heavenly Dao. Joy was joy, but at this moment, Nie Shiyun still hoped the space would be kind enough to spit out the Wood Essence from earlier. In the future, once he overcame the hurdle of Foundation Establishment, let alone one, he wouldn't mind saving up to buy ten essences to feed it. But right now, that item was of great use. Naturally, there was no way to return something that had already been absorbed by the space. Left with no choice, Nie Shiyun had to honestly go to Nie Li to ask for more money. Nie Li didn't ask for a reason and gave Nie Shiyun another 500,000 spirit stones. Nie Shiyun felt extremely embarrassed, but he had to speak up and say he needed a bit more. Nie Li had always doted on his child, but most of his wealth was kept within the Yunqing Pavilion. To arrange defensive treasures for Nie Shiyun, he had already spent a significant amount of spirit stones. If he continued to spend, he would have to dip into the sect's assets. "What do you plan to do with this? If you've set your eyes on some magical tool, you must let me examine it first. Don't let yourself be swindled." Nie Shiyun only vaguely stated that he had other uses for it and asked Nie Li not to worry. Fortunately, Nie Li’s doting on his only son was excessive; he actually didn't press the matter and gave him 850,000 spirit stones in one go. At this point, Nie Shiyun was too ashamed to ask for more. Realizing he was still a bit short, he quietly thickened his skin and went to find his cousin, Nie Xing'an, with whom he usually had little contact. Just as described in the book, Nie Xing'an was an honest and loyal person who fully trusted his fellow sect members. Upon hearing that his younger cousin wanted to borrow some spirit stones for an emergency, he gave him 100,000 spirit stones without a second thought. In less than a year since arriving in the cultivation world, Nie Shiyun’s debt record was heading straight for one million. With a huge sum of money in hand, Nie Shiyun quickly bought an Earth Essence for 480,000 in the black market. Afterward, he waited patiently for another month. Hard work paid off, and Nie Shiyun came across a second Wood Essence. Perhaps because he frequently appeared in the black market looking for essences, the shopkeeper thought he was an easy target and asked for 550,000. Nie Shiyun was frustrated, but he had to buy it. After some haggling, he barely managed to secure it for 520,000 plus many spiritual herbs. The space was unreasonable when it came to eating good things. Having learned his lesson, Nie Shiyun didn't dare to put resources into the space alone again; he could only keep them in his storage bag. With everything prepared, less than a month remained before the opening of the Mist Secret Realm. The entrance to the secret realm was in a forest about ten kilometers away from Yunqing Pavilion. The small town at the foot of their mountain had not been this lively for hundreds of years. Many disciples from major sects arrived in the vicinity early in groups, and many rogue cultivators who had just begun their journey also arrived one after another. Some cultivators wanted to use the final moments to refine their magical treasures further, so Yunqing Pavilion received many orders. The usually quiet mountain became a bustling marketplace for a time. Nie Shiyun was glad he had prepared in advance; otherwise, the black market would have been crowded and noisy, making it quite inconvenient to move around. Nie Shiyun was the only inner disciple of Yunqing Pavilion preparing to enter the secret realm. Qi Xuan'er was still a bit young and had a soft personality, while his cousin Nie Xing'an was already the pillar of the younger generation in Yunqing Pavilion. Small sects like theirs did not have many disciples, and most of the time, they didn't dare to take risks. If the entire new generation they had cultivated were to perish in the secret realm, the loss would outweigh the gain. On the day the secret realm opened, Nie Li escorted Nie Shiyun and several outer disciples to the vicinity of the realm. His expression was filled with worry—not as the Vice Pavilion Master of Yunqing Pavilion, but simply as a father. Nie Shiyun looked back at him from a distance, reassuring him with his gaze. He glanced at the outer disciples beside him; he had never interacted with them. Although they were technically fellow disciples, he was already struggling to look after himself this time. Even if they did happen to meet in the secret realm, Nie Shiyun did not plan to travel with them. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the crowd. Indeed, the protagonists were always fashionably late. Duan Mingyu’s "cold body" condition seemed to have worsened by now; his complexion wasn't very good, looking somewhat sickly, yet it added a touch of fragile charm to him. Nie Shiyun looked from afar; he didn't even need to see the face to know who was standing next to Duan Mingyu—perhaps in the author's setting, Zhai Bairong’s wardrobe only contained white clothes. He was naturally his usual self: elegant as a jade tree, high-spirited and vigorous. However, he probably wouldn't be happy for long. During this time, Nie Shiyun had already reviewed the novel's content regarding the secret realm eight hundred times in his mind. After being transported in, everyone would be randomly scattered. This was also the first time Zhai Bairong and Duan Mingyu were forced to separate since they had established their relationship. Once separated, Duan Mingyu would encounter his "childhood friend from the heavens," Rong Lü of Lingfeng Mountain. Rong Lü was a man of few words. When he met Duan Mingyu, he recognized him at a glance as the boy he had known in the mortal realm during their childhood. Duan Mingyu’s talent had been noticed by a major sect, and he was taken away first. Later, in order to find him, Rong Lü worked hard to become a sword cultivator and came to the cultivation world. The two, reunited in a dangerous situation, soon became like dry wood and a raging fire. By the time they regrouped with the others, the deed was already done. This made Zhai Bairong, who had previously had Duan Mingyu all to himself, very unhappy, and the two of them were at odds for a while because of it. However, they soon ended up in bed together due to an accident, which subsequently resolved their conflict. In the novel, there was nothing that couldn't be solved by going to bed once; if it couldn't, then twice would do. *** Glossary Table: