The Antarctic base still had plenty of unused space, and now it finally came in handy when Neo saw Liu A'dou bring back a massive stone frame.
For now, they called that giant block of stone a "door."
When Liu A'dou fixed the door in the center of an empty room, the three of them stood in front of it. Liu A'dou was satisfied, Kara was puzzled, and Neo was stunned.
Then Neo, in clumsy Chinese, read out the three characters carved above the doorframe: "Nan Tian Men?!"
"You can read ancient script?" Liu A'dou hadn't expected Neo to be hiding that skill.
Neo smirked proudly. "The internet has everything, and I'm the king of the internet. Is it really that strange I know this stuff?"
Vain as ever, Liu A'dou ignored him.
"So what's this door for?" Neo, ignored, changed the topic.
"No idea." Liu A'dou's answer was blunt because he truly didn't know. "But since it needs energy, it's definitely not something simple. We'll only know once it's activated."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Neo's curiosity matched Liu A'dou's. The three of them got to work immediately.
They started analyzing what kind of energy the door might need.
During that time, Superman came looking for Kara. When he saw her in her new outfit, he almost blasted Liu A'dou's head with heat vision. But since Kara seemed happy, Superman let her stay in Antarctica. Still, he warned Liu A'dou to take good care of her and not let anything go wrong.
Liu A'dou readily agreed.
With three bright minds already there, later Ben and Kailan joined them, making five in total. All of them circled the door, front and back, piling the room high with instruments. But no matter if it was electricity or heat, nothing worked.
'Do I really need to dig into myths for this?' Liu A'dou thought.
In this world's mythology, there were 33 heavenly gates, each leading to one of 33 realms. Heaven itself had 6 gates: east, west, south, north, up, and down. Upward led to the thirty-three layers of heaven, downward to the underworld, westward to paradise, eastward to Daoist lands, northward to the dark ocean, and southward to Earth. Anyone wanting to enter heaven had to pass through the South Heaven Gate. In ancient times, nobles always sat facing south, with the South Heaven Gate directly aligned with the Jade Emperor, making it the most important gateway.
That was what Liu A'dou found in the myths. So, did this mean the South Heaven Gate led straight to heaven?
Of course not. Even if the South Heaven Gate was the only passage to heaven, it didn't only lead there.
"Damn it, how do I activate this thing?" Liu A'dou cursed inwardly. He'd tried so many methods but still couldn't open the South Heaven Gate.
"Master, why not try the Force?" Ben suggested.
Worth a shot. Still, Liu A'dou thought, there was no proof it required immortal energy to open. He wasn't ready to give up yet. He had knowledge from many other worlds, including cultivation, but cultivation demanded centuries of time just to get anywhere. That long-term grind didn't suit him at all. He had too much to do to waste hundreds or even thousands of years in seclusion.
So, immortal energy was out of the question for him.
He tried channeling the Force into it—no effect.
"Master, maybe it's not that we're lacking energy. Maybe we're missing something else. No matter how much we pump in, without the missing piece, the gate won't start." Smart Kailan offered another angle.
Liu A'dou froze. That was possible. Maybe the gate was already fully charged but couldn't function without a key component.
"Kara, give me a hand and check with your vision."
Kara glanced at it, then shook her head. "I can't see through it."
Troublesome. Liu A'dou circled the gate carefully, trying to spot any difference.
But the gate was seamless, with no sign of anything missing. Remembering how the Dragon Pearl had resonated with it before, Liu A'dou pulled the pearl out again, bringing it close to the gate, hoping it would still react.
Liu A'dou's prayer worked. When the Dragon Pearl drew close to the gate, this time the gate shone first, sending out a beam of light for the pearl to absorb. The two responded to each other like strings of a lute and zither harmonizing—completely unexpected.
The gate activated.
Liu A'dou couldn't explain it. Maybe it was resonance between artifacts, something beyond him. He didn't understand, at least not yet. But as long as it worked, that was enough. If possible, he wanted to step into Heaven itself.
The three characters "Nan Tian Men" turned golden. The weathered stains on the frame vanished. Time seemed to reverse, the old became new again, and auspicious patterns stood out clear and bright.
The frame was no longer just stone—it became a crafted miracle. Light poured from within, shaping itself into a glowing gate.
Everyone was stunned by the change. Luckily, no one feared monsters jumping out, so they stood before it, studying the door carved with dragons and phoenixes in playful flight.
"Are we really going through?" Neo's expression twisted. He'd always bragged, back when he was near death, that he wanted to reach the real world. But now, with the gate to a new world open, he hesitated. His body was healed, he was a handsome man again, he didn't need to travel anywhere. All he wanted was the internet and a relaxed life. That was enough.
Like the man who claimed to love dragons but panicked when one appeared, Neo was all talk.
Seeing his face, Liu A'dou chuckled. "Relax, no one's forcing you." He turned to Kara.
Kara nodded. "No problem. Let's go." Without hesitation she dove straight into the gate. It wasn't solid, just a glowing passage she slipped through.
"Wait—" Liu A'dou froze. He had planned to send a drone first, test things out. Kara was bold to the point of recklessness, charging in without a second thought.
"You two stay here. I'll follow her." If he didn't take care of Kara, Superman would kill him. So Liu A'dou rushed in after her.
The gate connected to somewhere far across the universe, an unknown galaxy.
"Dad! Mom—!"
Liu A'dou barely stepped through when Kara lost control. Nothing was there, but she was crying out for her parents.
"Kara, calm down. There's nothing here. What do you see?" He grabbed her hand before she did anything rash.
Her excitement and joy ran through him, only confusing him more. Could this place make people see whoever they most wanted?
But then why didn't he see anything? "Calm down."
"Let me go!" Kara struggled, and Liu A'dou felt her strength press on him.
"No." He tried to steady her, but it was no use. He'd have to fight. His small cosmos flared, and he struck with Phantom Mirage Devil Fist.
Kara collapsed instantly.
Liu A'dou exhaled in relief. He was starting to understand how Clark felt. Kara was like a troublesome little demoness. But then something impossible happened. Just as the thought crossed his mind, two figures appeared before him—one was Clark, the other was a sultry, seductive Kara demoness.
?? Could this be what Kara was seeing too?
Liu A'dou began to grasp it. This place let people see whoever they longed for most. Truly, a strange and eerie land.