501 - 507
Chapter 501: The World Spirit's Rise from Sleep!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The first day.
Rain was pouring even more heavily. Wind and clouds tumbled about in the sky. Lightning sliced through the air and thunder roared. The clouds became even thicker in the sky. From the distance, they looked as if they were about to descend to the ground and touch it.
On this day, Su Ming continuously charged through the Rune seven times, but he still could not surpass the changes in the Rune. It was as if two mirrors had been placed together, and all he could see was endless darkness. He did not know how far this darkness would stretch, but if he wanted to see the world in the mirror, then he needed to charge out of this darkness!
The first day.
Rain poured as if a basin of water had been turned over in heaven. The ground trembled, and those tremors were spreading through all parts of the land. Fine cracks covered the entire World of Nine Yin, and some mountains even looked as if they were about to crumble to pieces.
As the clouds in the sky continued tumbling about slowly, the whole sky looked as if it had turned into a gigantic vortex. Ninety-nine pillars of light connected the sky and earth in the World of Nine Yin, and if anyone drew the entire World of Nine Yin into a picture, they would be able to see in the picture they drew that it looked as if the rays of light were holding up the vortex in the sky!
During the last three days, Su Ming had tried over a dozen times to surpass the Rune, but all of them ended in failure. Still, he had begun to figure out some of the rules in the Rune. He had been using his specialty - his speed, while challenging the Rune, and under that extreme speed, he gradually saw some of the illusions distorting before disappearing.
'I'll just have to keep going at a high speed!' After another failure on the third night, Su Ming stood on the first altar with sparkling eyes.
The fifth day.
More cracks appeared on the ground. Deep cracks tore through the ground in the World of Nine Yin with a loud rumble as if the ground was on the verge of collapse. As those cracks spread all over the land, many mountains crumbled. Stones fell off these mountains and fell into the bottomless cracks.
If anyone looked down from the sky to the ground, they would be able to see that the land seemed to have been destroyed, and the damage was spreading slowly towards the area, making it seem as if there was something that was going to charge out of the ground.
A large amount of rainwater surged into these cracks from the sky, but they were never able to fill them up. The vortex in the clouds started rotating faster. The loud booming sounds in the air turned into a sound that remained a constant in the World of Nine Yin.
Bolts of lightning flashed and crackled continuously in the vortex of clouds in the sky as if they wanted to blast off the center of the vortex.
Su Ming continued failing, and when the fifth day was over, he had already lost count of how many times he had failed without succeeding even once. However, he had already managed to make hundreds of illusions disappear under his high speed.
However, it was difficult for Su Ming to maintain this sort of charge for longer stretches of time. Because of that, he could not surpass all the changes in the Rune.
The seventh day.
At first glance, the vortex in the sky looked as if it was no longer spinning, but that was only because it was simply rotating too fast, which was why it gave off the false impression that it was no longer spinning. With that high rotation speed around, the booming sounds in the sky had turned into shocking roars. As they reverberated in the air, a gigantic face of a human appeared within.
The face possessed four eyes. The extra two eyes were at the center of the brows. As of then, all four of the eyes were shut. The face protruded from within the vortex, and the spot where lightning had filled the center of the vortex was right where the person's fourth eye was.
This was the World Spirit, which was also the Spirit Vessel that had fallen into deep slumber as the Enchanted Vessel of the Sacred Yin World had turned into the World of Nine Yin!
When the face appeared, the destruction on the ground reached its peak. Even the Fated Kin's valley had collapsed. Fortunately, the people had been prepared for this a long time ago. As of then, they had all gathered together, and under Nan Gong Hen's guidance, were waiting for Su Ming's return outside the altar.
When Su Ming was preparing to challenge the Rune on the altar, he had spread his divine sense outwards to tell Nan Gong Hen the precise time when the world would change and where he would be before that.
Since the fifth day, Su Ming had been sitting cross-legged on the first altar. He no longer went on to try challenging the altar, but chose instead to meditate quietly. Even as the seventh day went by, he still remained seated.
The ninth day!
On this day, most of the land had already sunk deeply. Nan Gong Hen brought the hundreds of Fated Kin away from the altar's area. They could see Su Ming sitting on it not too far away, and could also see that the valley they had stayed in for the past fifteen years had completely collapsed. It was now gone without a trace.
They could also see that the place a hundred feet away from the collapsed valley had now turned into a ravine. It was as if the place where they were had now turned into an isolated cliff.
Two of the eyes on the gigantic human face that had emerged from the vortex in the sky were now trembling, as if they were slowly rising from deep sleep. The two eyes at the center of the brows were trembling rather intensely as well, as if they were about to open at any moment!
At that moment, the ninety-nine pillars of light also looked as if they were about to reach their limit. Seven of those pillars were rapidly fading away, and then disappeared altogether. After they were gone, another dozen something pillars of light also faded away, as if they could last no longer and were gradually disappearing.
Su Ming continued sitting cross-legged on the altar without moving. He had been like this for the past few days, and while he might not be moving, the Fated Kin that had been observing him had noticed that Su Ming's aura had been growing increasingly stronger day after day!
He was practically getting stronger with each passing moment, and on the ninth day, distortions started appearing in the air around him, as if it could no longer withstand the amount of power Su Ming was accumulating in his body.
Several days ago, his body had still been glowing in gold, but at that moment, that golden light was fading away slowly. It did not disappear though. It was all absorbed into Su Ming's body so that it would not spill outwards!
As Nan Gong Hen and the hundreds of Fated Kin kept their gazes fixed on Su Ming, time passed slowly, and when the ninth day went by, the tenth day arrived!
Not long into it, the eyes of the gigantic face in the sky shook even more violently. The clouds rumbled and moved about in the air, and even the spot where the altar was located was also shivering. As if it could no longer withstand it, cracks started appearing on the altar as well.
Right at that moment, a person in yellow robes appeared in the sky in a spot where the people could not see. He stood in midair, formed a seal with his hands, and pointed towards the sky.
"Spirit of the Enchanted Vessel, with my status as Chief Elder of the Spirits of Nine Yin, I call to you, rise from your sleep!"
The shivers on the face in the sky became even more violent, but it still could not open its eyes. It was as if there was a force contained within the spirit's mind that made it difficult for him to wake up!
At that moment, the pillars of light in the World of Nine Yin were rapidly disappearing, and there were only twenty-seven left, which were all swiftly fading away. If all these pillars of light disappeared and the World Spirit did not wake up, then everything they had done would end in failure!
As those pillars of light disappeared and as the altar on the ground started breaking down, the Rune formed on the altar also looked as if it had loosened up. Once Su Ming absorbed the final ray of golden light into his body, he opened his eyes swiftly.
His gaze was profound, and not a single hint of golden light could be seen shining within his eyes. Su Ming had been accumulating his strength for the past few days, and during these days, he had completely ignored the world around him, placing all his focus on gathering up his power. The instant he opened his eyes, he charged forth with an indescribable speed.
This was the fastest speed Su Ming had executed during these past ten days!
Almost the instant he charged out of the altar, an uncountable amount of altars and an equally uncountable number of himselves rushing forward immediately appeared before him. However, almost the moment these illusory figures appeared, several dozens of them immediately started distorting and disappearing. Clearly, they were unable to keep up with Su Ming's speed, and were all surpassed by him!
Everything before Su Ming's eyes disappeared right at that moment, and the only thing that was left was the endless path of the altar that seemed like a black hole stretching out before him. He forgot everything and executed his fastest speed to charge forward. The illusory figures disappeared around him, and after a while, hundreds of them were gone, but there was still an innumerable numbers in front of Su Ming!
Making nearly a hundred figures disappear was his limit a few days ago. However, this was not so today. All the power in his Berserker Bones erupted forth, and he became slightly faster. As he charged forth, he saw illusions filling his entire field of vision, but as they appeared, a large number of them disappeared as well.
Su Ming did not know how much time had passed. He only knew that as he continued charging forward, time seemed to slow down. A large amount of the illusory figures disappeared, but there was still a large number of them remaining before him.
When sharp pain shot up through his entire body as he continued circulating his Qi, Su Ming knew that his body was showing signs that he had gone past his limit, but there were still a dozen something of his illusions far into the distance. He had surpassed most of them, but now, it was difficult for him to continue and surpass all of them.
'Is this my limit..?' Su Ming felt bitter. He knew that even if he turned into Destiny, it would still be difficult for him to surpass these illusions in fifteen breaths!
However, right at the moment that rush of bitterness rose in his heart, suddenly, the sky roared. As the ground trembled, the first altar that was the only altar that truly existed suddenly cracked with a bang.
This was due to the change in the world. It was caused by the World Spirit rising from his slumber. The instant the altar started breaking down, Su Ming immediately noticed that the dozen something illusions before him froze simultaneously.
Their action immediately made Su Ming's eyes shine with a strong light. Without a single bit of hesitation, he charged forward. As he did so, his body turned into a vortex, and when he rushed out of the vortex, the boy who was Destiny appeared!
With just one step, he made all the dozen something illusions stop eternally at the moment they froze up. They repeatedly froze up and moved back, and when fifteen breaths were over, Destiny turned back into Su Ming, and he was already less than five feet away from these illusions.
Yet even though there were only five feet left, he had already surpassed all the changes in the Rune. He felt his body crashing into something that seemed like a membrane. That membrane stopped his body from passing through, but it could not stop his eyes from looking into it!
He saw…
Almost the instant Su Ming looked in the world in the mirror, the old man in yellow robes spread his arms wide open in the sky of the World of Nine Yin. When there were just three pillars of light remaining, a low roar could be heard from the sunken ground.
"World Spirit, rise from your slumber!"
Along with the muffled roar before came a dried up arm that stretched out from the depths of the abyss in the sunken ground. Right behind that arm was a gigantic head of dried wood, along with a monstrously huge body that was ten thousand feet tall!
The figure looked like a person carved out of a block of dried wood from a big tree that was ten thousand feet tall!
His head was the one that had been hoisted up on the Shaman City in the past, and his body was the true body of the yellow-robed old Spirit of Nine Yin!
The instant those roars that shook the sky reverberated through the air, the final three pillars of light were extinguished. But right at the moment they faded away, the eyes on the gigantic face in the vortex flew open, along with the third and fourth eyes at the center of its brows!
The World Spirit had risen from his slumber!
Chapter 502: Gap!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The instant the World Spirit woke up, the few remaining regions in the World of Nine Yin all shuddered and slowly fell apart, as if the ground never existed in the first place. As the ground disappeared, even the altar where Su Ming and the other Fated Kin stood fell apart.
The ground before the hundreds of Fated Kin started collapsing inch by inch, as if there was a gigantic invisible mouth that was devouring the ground, causing the Fated Kin to float in midair. They looked towards where Su Ming was, but they still couldn't find him in their field of vision. They could only see something blurry in the spot where Su Ming was previously, and there was also a strong distortion there that seemed like it was about to rip through their gazes.
The sky rumbled. The protruding face in the huge vortex had now opened all four of its eyes. Light that reached one hundred thousand feet shone before him, and the gigantic figure made of dried up wood charged towards the human face as if it wanted to fuse with it.
On Su Ming's side, under that extreme speed of his, he had surpassed all the illusions formed by the Rune. He felt a membrane stopping his body from moving forward in the Rune, but it could not block his gaze.
It pierced through that invisible membrane, and he saw… an endless expanse of black water!
The expanse of water was boundless. There were five huge continents floating on it. And at that moment, among the five continents, the continent at the center and two of the continents at the south were incredibly close to each other. If he did not look closely, he would think that they had fused together!
Yet when he took a closer look, he discovered that these continents were in no way connected to each other. It was clear that the continent to the east was ramming itself against the southern continent at an incredible speed.
'The world in the mirror…' A bang went off in Su Ming's head. He had a feeling as if he had come to understand something. He cast his gaze swiftly to the west, towards the continent on the west. However, he could not see that continent clearly. He could only see the contour of the land, and after that, a huge force shot out from the membrane, and he was instantly ricocheted off.
Almost the instant Su Ming was bounced off, the membrane broke down. The altar which acted as the center of the Rune had collapsed. Su Ming took a few steps back consecutively, and with each step he took, he looked as if he was revealing himself under that extreme speed. When he took the tenth step back, he appeared once again in sight of all the Fated Kin in the area.
It was also at that moment that the human face that had opened his eyes in the vortex finished fusing with the body that was made of dried wood. At the instant they fused together, the vortex exploded abruptly and turned into a powerful wave of air that swept through the land and blew in all directions.
The strength of that wave of air was so great that it turned into a violent gust of wind as it rumbled in the air. As it charged forward, it spread out in a circular form, and it was so quick that it covered the entire region where the Fated Kin were in an instant. If that gust of wind was allowed to blow at will, then a large number of Fated Kin would be blown away and torn apart by the wave of air as if they were autumn leaves.
The faces of the hundreds of Fated Kin changed drastically. Without any hesitation, Nan Gong Hen rushed a few steps forward and stood before his tribesmen. Some of the people who had higher levels of cultivation also gritted their teeth and rushed out, wanting to resist the incoming wave of air and protect the safety of their tribesmen.
Almost the instant these people put up a stance to oppose that wave of air, it came towards them with loud, booming sounds. When it crashed into Nan Gong Hen, he coughed out a mouthful of blood, feeling as if a mountain had rammed into him.
The other Fated Kin beside him not only coughed up blood, but also felt as if their bodies were being torn apart. They moved back against their will, but right behind them were the Fated Kin, their tribesmen. Some of them were just children, and they could not fly on their own. They needed other tribesmen to carry them, and the slightest contact with this wave of air would definitely kill them!
Nan Gong Hen's eyes turned red. He wanted to stand against this wave of air, but he could not control his own body. As he was continuously forced back, the wave of air charged forward, and right at the instant it was about to flood his tribesmen, suddenly, a white figure arrived and stood right before Nan Gong Hen and all the other Fated Kin.
This person was dressed entirely in white, and he was Su Ming!
He had forced down the shock that arose within him because of the world he saw in the mirror and lifted his right hand to push against the incoming wave of air. As he pressed against it, golden light abruptly spread out from his body, and once the hundreds of Fated Kin behind him were bathed in it, he began resisting that alarming gust of wind.
It was just three breaths, and Su Ming felt himself struggling to endure them. He might have extraordinary power and his body might be incredibly sturdy due to most of his bones, flesh, and bone having turned into Berserker Bones, but it was still difficult for him to last for long in that wave of air.
In truth, the entire reason as to why he could last till now was because of the strength of his physical body. If anyone else had taken his place, they then would have also been like Nan Gong Hen, being pushed back the instant they came into contact with that wave of air, injured.
Fortunately, that massive wave of air was sweeping in all directions and was not directed at Su Ming. That was why after he persevered for three breaths, the wave swept past their region. Although it had pushed Su Ming and all the Fated Kin under his protection several thousands of feet backwards, like a lone boat swept up by a raging wave, no one died, and once the wave of air swept by them, everything returned to normal.
Su Ming panted harshly. He did not make the golden light on his body fade away, but instead lifted his head and looked towards the huge face that had fused with the body of dried wood in the distant sky after the vortex collapsed.
At the same moment Su Ming looked towards him, the four eyes on that face also looked towards him.
"The midsection of the fourth eye is where the Rune is… I will never forget the help you gave us…"
An ancient voice reverberated through the world and fused together with the booming sounds in the air. Soon after, the huge face swelled up swiftly right before Su Ming's eyes, and in the blink of an eye, he had become ten times, a hundred times, then one thousand times larger. Not only did he replace the entire sky, he also caused the dark shades of twilight from the sky to disappear as he covered the sky, replacing it with a bronze light.
It felt as if there was a veil that had covered the sky previously. That veil was in the color of the sky, which was why it had been in the shade of twilight whenever someone looked at it. Yet now, as the human face spread out and covered it, it was as if the veil was lifted and its true colors were revealed!
The sky was not even a sky!
Bronze light shone brilliantly. The entire sky looked like the surface of a huge Enchanted Vessel. People could sense an ancient and unsophisticated air coming from it, and Su Ming could even see the sky seemingly turning into a huge metal piece when that bronze hue started shining above. There were numerous densely packed small holes on that metal piece!
In fact, there were even a large amount of complex runic symbols shining on it!
Su Ming might have already had some form of mental preparation for this, but once he saw it truly happen, he was still shocked, and if he was behaving in this manner, it was even more so for Nan Gong Hen and the other Fated Kin.
Their shock was reflected clearly in their quickened breathing.
"What is that..?"
"By the looks of it, it seems like some sort of Enchanted Vessel…"
"This… is the true sky of the World of Nine Yin? Could it be that the sky we saw was fake, the ground we stood upon was also just an illusion, and this is the real thing?"
After the people recovered from their shock, a buzzing arose among hundreds of people. They were in disbelief of what they saw.
As the veil in the sky was lifted and as the true sky that looked like bronze was revealed, nine big runic symbols in the shape of moons emerged and caught Su Ming's attention!
The nine runic symbols were aligned with the others and were placed right above the surface of the bronze Enchanted Vessel. They flashed brilliantly, and when he looked at them, Su Ming was reminded of the nine moons in the World of Nine Yin!
At the moment his pupils shrank due to the shock that was brought by the change in the World of Nine Yin, suddenly, the fourth eye at the center of the gigantic human face's brows overlapped with a certain spot on the bronze sky.
The instant that happened, booming sounds immediately traveled forth from that spot, and as if the sky was moving, a gap appeared. Light spilled forth from that gap. It might not be big, but it gave off a feeling that it was in decline. The gap was right above Su Ming, and looked as if it had been torn open on purpose.
"I can only last for ten breaths with my power. Enter with haste!"
The ancient voice from the old Spirit of Nine Yin instantly reverberated through the air. At the moment it spoke, the swelled up gigantic face froze for a moment, looking as if its action of growing larger had been forcefully halted, causing the gap that had formed because the fourth eye had overlapped with the bronze sky to not disappear.
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes, and he charged straight towards the sky. The other Fated Kin behind him followed suit, but they were too slow and could not hope to compare with Su Ming. That was why when Su Ming took that first step, golden light shone on his entire body once again and swept up all the hundreds of Fated Kin behind him, and they charged towards the sky with a loud whistle.
The gap that had been opened specifically for Su Ming was shining nonstop at the moment. Its appearance was due to the overlapping between the human face and the bronze sky. The gap should have disappeared in an instant when the face moved away from that spot in the sky, but the old Spirit of Nine Yin had forcefully halted its actions. Making it stop in this manner was akin to stopping the activation of this Enchanted Vessel that could move between True Worlds. The level of difficulty for this was incredibly high, and with the old man's abilities, he could only make this last for ten breaths.
Su Ming charged forth with the Fated Kin, and from the distance, they looked like a golden shooting star that was rushing closer and closer towards the sky. By the fourth breath, they had already closed in on the gap in the bronze sky.
Yet at that very moment, the gap started trembling viciously, and the tremors grew increasingly more intense with each passing moment. Rumbling sounds reverberated in the air, and very clearly, right before Su Ming's eyes as he stood outside the gap, the human face that had originally been frozen started to move slowly and began expanding once more. The time… it was not even ten breaths yet!
"Hurry! I can no longer last…" The old Spirit of Nine Yin's voice gained an anxious edge.
The gap was about to close up because of the World Spirit's movements. The golden light on Su Ming's entire body grew exponentially brighter. All the Fated Kin behind him also charged forth with their fastest speed, rushing straight towards the gap. Due to the World Spirit recovering its movements, the face was also sweeping past that gap, but the instant the gap disappeared, Su Ming charged into it!
Most of the Fated Kin also entered with him, but there were nine Fated Kin who did not make it into the gap. Once the gap closed up, they were blocked off outside…
Among the nine was the man who had been taking care of Tie Mu for years and who had lost his right arm when Su Ming met him as a boy!
With a loud bang, the gap closed up. Su Ming and all the Fated Kin who had stepped into the gap would never know what happened to those that were left in the World of Nine Yin. As of then, they were in a huge tunnel.
Chapter 503: Right Side!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Su Ming swept his gaze across the area. The tunnel was dark. Its walls were not made of stone, but of bronze. Runic symbol after runic symbol could be found shining at a set distance from each other.
The shining symbols were the only source of light in the place.
The hundreds of Fated Kin all remained in silence. Some hints of sorrow could be found on their faces. They had lived together for fifteen years without any future ahead of them, and while they now had hope of leaving this place, nine of theirs had now been eternally separated from them.
Perhaps it would be death that awaited those nine tribesmen, but perhaps not. Yet no matter what, they would still never meet again.
A flicker of light appeared in Su Ming's eyes and he stopped observing his surroundings. He took a step forward to walk in the lead. As he dashed forward, the Fated Kin behind him followed suit.
No one spoke all along the way, and silence filled the air. Some of the Fated Kin would occasionally lift their heads and their gazes would fall on Su Ming's back. For some unknown reason, their hearts gradually calmed down. Su Ming had already brought them two miracles.
The first was when they had fallen into despair when facing the Sacred Bats that were slaughtering their men, and the second had happened not long after. They had originally thought that they would be facing a future of never leaving this place after fifteen years of being trapped here, but he told them to prepare to leave.
And they believed that there would be a third miracle. This third miracle would be that the respected senior Mo they worshiped would return them to South Morning!
This was not a thought of only one or two Fated Kin, but all of them harbored the same thoughts as they traveled through the tunnel. It could be said that Su Ming was their hope, and this feeling only became stronger after they witnessed the things that had happened in the World of Nine Yin.
Su Ming moved in front and spread his divine sense outwards, but he could not send it out too far. The walls around him were incredibly averse to his divine sense, and they were stopping it from spreading out.
As he moved forward, Su Ming suddenly came to a halt not too far into the tunnel. They had arrived at a fork, and there were three paths ahead of them, causing people to be unable to tell just which way led to the Relocation Rune.
Once Su Ming stopped, the other Fated Kin also paused in their footsteps. They looked around them in silence, and Nan Gong Hen took a few steps forward to stand beside Su Ming. Once he cast a look around, he looked towards Su Ming. He was not the only one who did so. All the Fated Kin in the area had directed their gazes towards Su Ming.
Su Ming frowned. The old Spirit of Nine Yin had not mentioned that there would be a fork here. He knew that he could not choose the wrong path from among the three paths before him. Once he made the choice, he would be losing on precious time.
Almost the moment Su Ming and the others arrived at the fork and looked at the three paths, the entire tunnel suddenly trembled and shook viciously, causing the people there to almost be unable to stand properly.
Muffled booming sounds traveled forth from outside, as if the tunnel was about to collapse. The runic symbols around them started flashing more frequently, and it caused the people to begin feeling agitated and annoyed once they stayed here for a long period of time.
Su Ming took a few steps forward. He did not immediately make a decision under the gazes of the Fated Kin, but chose instead to sit down cross-legged on the floor. He closed his eyes and spread his divine sense swiftly outward, splitting them into three wisps and sending them charging down those three paths swiftly.
As his divine sense spread down, it was continuously weakened as it continued running into the force repelling it tin the place. Before each part of his divine sense had even spread down one thousand feet into those tunnels, only three strands were left. And when even these looked as if they were about to disappear completely, Su Ming's Nascent Divinity left his body abruptly and fused with his divine sense.
By doing so, his divine sense instantly increased exponentially and continued spreading downwards. As it did so, he discovered that his divine sense in the tunnel right before him had strangely disappeared without a trace, and it vanished so abruptly that he had not even managed to notice it in time.
Right at the instant that divine sense that was exploring the path ahead disappeared, Su Ming saw a huge Relocation Rune on the path to his left. That Rune was coming into operation slowly, looking as if it was about to be activated at any moment!
Su Ming's eyes flew open swiftly. He did not have time to think about why his divine sense had disappeared in the path before him. Just as he was about to retrieve the divine sense that had traveled down the path to his right, his body suddenly lurched forward and he turned his head swiftly to look at the path to his right.
His pupils shrank, and a brilliant light appeared in his eyes. All of this was because he had seen a gigantic space with his divine sense when it had traveled ten thousand feet into the path to his right!
In that space were huge bubbles. Most of those bubbles had already burst, but they did not disappear. Some of them had in fact not a single hint of damage on them, and were kept in perfect condition!
Su Ming's breathing quickened, and he retrieved his divine sense with gritted teeth, no longer looking at the tunnel to his right. Instead, he stood up and brought all the Fated Kin following him to charge towards the tunnel to his left, where he had discovered the Rune.
As the crowd moved down the path at high speed, more tremors shook the area. Booming sounds traveled forth, and the entire tunnel started trembling furiously. Cracks had even appeared on the ground, and powerful light shot forth, making all of them think that the ground in the tunnel was about to collapse at any moment.
As the runic symbols on the walls sparkled, they lit up at the same time. Light illuminated the area, causing the entire tunnel to be lit up as bright as day at that moment.
As the crowd charged forth, an empty space soon appeared before them in the tunnel ahead. There were also cracks on that empty expanse of land, but at the same time, there was also a huge Rune that had come into operation with loud rumbling sounds on the ground.
That Rune was letting off a feeling that it was used for relocation. At that moment, it had already been fully activated, and the moment they stepped in, they would be instantly relocated away from this place.
When everyone saw this Rune and excitement appeared on their faces, suddenly, a vicious tremor shook the tunnel once again. The tunnel that was originally lying down horizontally seemed to have abruptly shot up straight, causing all the Fated Kin to fall back against their will, and they even began to feel as if they were falling.
"A crisis is looming above our heads! Bring forth all of your power and step into the Rune! It doesn't matter where we are relocated. If we arrive in the Land of South Morning but are separated, remember one thing, we are Fated Kin!
"We are no longer Shamans! We will gather in South Morning's Sky River Mountain. If Sky River Mountain is no longer there, I will still wait around the area for all of you!
"Let us Fated Kin shout our names in the Land of South Morning! Remember this, Sky River Mountain! Remember this, the person we worship is respected senior Mo!" Nan Gong Hen shouted at the top of his voice. It reverberated in the air and shot into the ears of all the Fated Kin, turning into determination and resolution in their eyes.
"Everyone, let us… meet in South Morning!" Su Ming's body floated up, and he wrapped his fist in his palm towards the Fated Kin in the now vertical tunnel.
"We Fated Kin will forever worship you, respected senior Mo! We… will meet in South Morning!" Their voices reverberated in the air, and one by one, they charged forward towards the Relocation Rune. Once they stepped inside, they instantly vanished.
The tunnel trembled even more viciously, and one of the spots in the distance had even started showing signs of collapse. The Fated Kin charged forward, and almost every single one of them would stop for a moment as they went past Su Ming. They would then call out to him as respected senior Mo, wrap their fists in their palms to salute him, and only then step into the Rune.
The voices calling him by his title showed their resolution. Perhaps this was no longer a title to them, but had truly become a symbol in their hearts. It was also a show of their disappointment towards the Shamans after fifteen years of waiting without any results.
Once they referred to Su Ming as 'respected senior Mo', all of this would turn into eternity and into the fiery ardor of the Fated Kin. The shouts of meeting up in South Morning were not a mere casual remark, but were shouts coming straight from the depths of their hearts.
After some time, when all of the Fated Kin besides Nan Gong Hen had bade their farewells and disappeared into the Rune, he turned his gaze towards Su Ming. He silently wrapped his fist in his palm towards him, then looked as if he wanted to say something, but chose to not do so in the end. Instead, he turned around and walked into the Relocation Rune. As the Rune flashed and his body was about to disappear, he suddenly turned to look at Su Ming.
"The words of the Fated Kin are not just a casual remark, and neither are my words thrown out offhandedly. Even if the world outside has experienced drastic changes, we will never forget the kindness you've bestowed upon us, respected senior Mo! We will worship you, and so will our children, and our children's children. We will worship you for all eternity!" Nan Gong Hen's words echoed in the air, and his body disappeared inside the Rune.
The Rune was still in operation. Su Ming stood in the tunnel. The tremors around him grew more intense. He looked at the Rune, and suddenly turned around. He did not step into the Rune, but instead walked back on the path he took to come to this place.
If he left just like this, he would be leaving with regrets. If he left just like this, he would have far too many unanswered questions!
The old Spirit of Nine Yin once mentioned that if Su Ming was brave enough and could last till the end, then at the risk of never being able to leave this place, he would be able to see the world as it truly was!
Su Ming had kept those words in mind, and he wanted to see it!
Also, besides the shock that had come when he saw the things in the right path, for some unknown reason, he had also felt a sense of familiarity from it…
The sense of familiarity was very vague. If he paid attention and tried searching for it, it would be difficult for him to find it. He would only have that sense of déjà vu when he was not paying any sort of attention to it.
This sort of feeling had appeared for an instant when he had used his divine sense to investigate the tunnel to his right.
He did not know what this sort of feeling was, neither did he know whether there were other people in the world who would have this sense of déjà vu when they arrived in a place by pure coincidence, or when they saw something by pure coincidence, or after they did something by pure coincidence.
Su Ming charged forth and went through the tunnel in the span of a breath. He shot past several stretches of roads that had collapsed and arrived at the fork. Then, without hesitating, he charged towards the tunnel to his right.
At that moment, the tunnel to the right had also stood up vertically. As if he was running up a path on a stone pillar, Su Ming shot upwards. The runic symbols on the path were shining brightly and were no longer flickering. More cracks appeared all around him, and strong rays of light shone through those cracks.
At the end of this tunnel was the edge of the empty expanse of land Su Ming had discovered previously with his divine sense. More cracks tore through the walls, and one of them was even as large as a fist.
The instant Su Ming stepped into the empty expanse of land, he first swept his gaze across that crack, and he saw… a dense layer of fog that was shining with brilliant light!
There were also waves of cold air gushing out of that crack along with that ray of strong light.
The tunnel shuddered violently once again when he looked towards it. Piercing whistles came from the area outside, and as the tunnel shook, Su Ming had the impression as if the bronze sky where the tunnel was and where he stood within was now spinning rapidly.
His breathing froze and he stepped into the empty expanse of land. Then, he saw all that his divine sense had seen previously!
Chapter 504: The Baby and the One Glance!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
That place was a gigantic empty expanse of land, and there was an exit in the distance, leading to a tunnel that would stretch down even further.
There were nearly a hundred bubbles floating in midair in that empty expanse of land. Most of the bubbles had already burst, but they did not disappear. Instead, they existed around the area like egg shells. They might have burst, but the entirety of the bubble was still there.
As Su Ming looked at the bubbles, he walked past them slowly in silence until a complete bubble appeared before him. That bubble was thirty feet tall, and it floated in midair without moving.
In there… was a middle-aged man with scales growing on his chest. His eyes were shut, and there was a bloody hole at the center of his brows. It was the wound that had brought about his demise.
This was a corpse, a corpse that had died for an unknown number of years and had been preserved for an unknown amount of time…
Su Ming looked at the bubble before him, then walked past it, and he saw another complete bubble. There was another corpse contained within it. This one was a woman. She had black wings on her back and possessed breathtaking beauty. She looked to be at peace. On her body was a ferocious face of a malicious spirit formed by veins. Perhaps that was the cause of her death.
There were nearly a hundred bubbles in the place, but only eight were completely undamaged, and all of them contained a corpse inside…
"Under the orders of the Spirits of Nine Yin, we left the True Sacred Yin World and headed to the other three True Worlds in search for corpses that belonged to powerful warriors…" The old Spirit of Nine Yin's words echoed in Su Ming's head at that moment.
He walked through the empty expanse of land, then charged down the entrance of the tunnel located at the end of this place. After a moment, as the tunnel continued trembling, another empty expanse of land appeared before him.
There were less than fifty bubbles in this place. Four of them were in perfect condition, and the rest had all burst.
Su Ming continued walking downwards and went through multiple empty expanses of land like those before. He had already come to understand the structure of this place. This tunnel was like a tube, and there were several bumps in this tube. An empty expanse of land could be found at all these bumps.
In the seventh empty expanse of land, Su Ming saw a gigantic bubble floating in the middle. This bubble might have already burst, but when Su Ming looked at it, he could sense a feeling of endlessness coming from it. Perhaps this was just a figment of his imagination, but perhaps this bubble itself could be a dimension of its own.
His body shuddered slightly as he stood by the edge of the bubble. He sensed the presence of a Candle Dragon.
"We were tasked to search for powerful corpses in the universe…" The old man's voice rang once again in Su Ming's head. He looked at the huge bubble before him and came to an understanding.
"This bubble was originally prepared for the Candle Dragon's carcass… because of the damage to the Enchanted Vessel, many of these bubbles had burst…" Su Ming mumbled. He looked around him, and the sense of familiarity rose within him once again.
He charged forward silently once more and arrived at the eighth empty expanse of land. Over there, he saw three bubbles!
These three bubbles were incredibly large, but all of them had already burst. It was unknown what was contained within them in the past.
When Su Ming arrived at the ninth empty expanse of land, he found himself… at the final part of the tunnel. There were no longer any entrances leading to another tunnel around him anymore. This place was the end.
There was only one air bubble here…
It was the smallest of all the bubbles Su Ming had seen in all the empty expanses of land he had passed through!
It was only about the size of an arm's length, and if there was any sort of corpse contained within, that corpse could only possibly be… of an infant!
It was a pity, because the bubble had already burst. It was empty inside, and the remains of the bubble were floating silently in that huge and empty expanse of land, still and unmoving.
When Su Ming saw this bubble, he was stunned. He forgot everything, and even if the land trembled so hard it was about to collapse, he still did not care about it. His whole existence and his gaze were focused solely on that small bubble.
For some unknown reason, tears trickled down from his eyes. He slowly walked up to the bubble, lifted his right hand, and gently touched it. After a long while, he moved his head upwards, cast a deep look at the bubble, then turned around and headed back through the path he had taken to come here.
There was no hint of reluctance to leave this place nor a single pause in his footsteps, only his forlorn back view betrayed his firm resolution, and an air of loneliness and sorrow. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the tunnel, leaving behind that bubble to continue staying in this place, after having been kept here for who knows how long…
Su Ming had tried breaking the undamaged bubbles before, but with his current level of cultivation, he could not even cause a tear in them. As he left, he no longer looked at those bubbles. As he charged forth, the tunnel finally started breaking down.
The tunnel collapsed behind him and buried the spaces within, along with everything in them.
The path before Su Ming continued breaking down, forcing him to increase his speed. When he arrived at the fork, roars traveled forth from the path in the middle as it was collapsing. There was a hint of madness in those roars.
As those sounds reverberated in the air, more signs of destruction appeared in the tunnel to the right. Then, with a loud boom, it completely collapsed. The endless fog in the world outside started moving backwards swiftly, causing it to be impossible to discern whether it was the fog or the bronze sky that was moving.
Yet at the instant that tunnel collapsed, a figure charged out. Su Ming did not stop. Even when he heard the roar from the tunnel in the middle, he did not cast even a single glance at it. He simply shot forth to the tunnel with the Relocation Rune.
Signs of collapse were obvious in many areas. Once Su Ming left, the tunnel in the middle completely collapsed and disappeared. Thick fog could be seen rolling from within. The destruction spread out, causing a large part of the tunnel to the left to also collapse and disappear.
This disappearance of the tunnel made it seem as if the World of Nine Yin was vanishing. It was like there was an eerie, invisible mouth that was devouring the tunnel nonstop. Su Ming charged forward, and after a moment, he came to a halt. The tunnel before him had collapsed, blocking off his path to the Relocation Rune with the fog.
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes. He only paused for a brief moment before he strode forth quickly, making it seem like he had stepped into the fog. A powerful suction force pulled his body inside, and a cold wave of air also closed in on him, as if it wanted to drag him into the darkness of the fog.
Golden light shone around Su Ming's entire body, and banging sounds echoed within it. At the instant the suction force came sweeping towards him, he turned into a long arc and shot forward as the tunnel collapsed before him.
Once Su Ming went through that collapsing tunnel, his breathing became labored and his face was pale, but he did not stop. He continued charging forward, eventually reaching the Relocation Rune as the area continued breaking down!
There were now more cracks in this place, causing the Rune to seem as if it was about to be torn apart and destroyed. The light on the Rune had become much duller. Once the light was extinguished, the Rune would cease operations, and even if Su Ming wanted to leave by then, it would be impossible!
If he stepped onto the Rune right at that moment, he could still be relocated, but he remained standing at its edge. There was firm decisiveness in his eyes, and he did not step inside!
He turned around and looked at the tunnel before him. It was now completely destroyed. He watched the rolling fog before his eyes and abruptly spread his divine sense outward. This was a complete burst of his Nascent Divinity's power. He wanted to let himself see everything during that instant.
When he spread his divine sense outward, he saw endless fog. Shrill roars were coming from inside it. Besides these things, he saw or heard nothing else.
However, he could sense that the spot where he stood was moving rapidly and shooting through the fog.
After a moment, everything beside the Rune beside Su Ming broke down, and he immediately detected that the large layer of fog within his divine sense was tumbling about intensely. He saw the fog turn into a gigantic vortex, and then a powerful ray of light shoot through the center of that vortex. Right after, an ancient shuttle-shaped bronze sword that shone with a bronze light and was so large that its end could not be seen emerged from that ray of light!
With an indescribable speed, that sword seemed to be struggling to break free of the vortex made of thick fog. Light sparkled brilliantly on its body, and gradually, it flew out of the fog with a bang!
The instant it flew out, a black claw of fog shot out to grab that sword, but it did not manage to catch it. The ancient, shuttle-shaped, gigantic, bronze sword broke free of the vortex with its charge!
It was also right at that moment that Su Ming could clearly feel where he was. He was within the ancient bronze sword that had shot out of the fog, and this sword was clearly the Enchanted Vessel of the Sacred Yin World that could move through True Worlds!
The Relocation Rune behind Su Ming turned even duller as if all the power that was supporting its operations was being absorbed by the ancient gigantic bronze sword.
"Wait a little longer… just a little longer…" Su Ming mumbled. His eyes were blood-red. He had spread his divine sense to cover a large area, and he could see the ancient gigantic bronze sword. He also saw the entirety of the vortex in the fog as the sword continued flying into the distance!
This was a wide expanse of a galaxy, and in a spot of that galaxy was a vortex of fog rotating endlessly. As it rotated and as the ancient bronze sword left into the distance, the rotations in the fog gradually disappeared, just like how a black hole would slowly close up after a time of being open.
At the same time, Su Ming's face slowly started changing. A dense aura of death emerged from inside and outside his body. It was as if that aura of death had always existed in him, but Su Ming had never been able to see or sense it in the past.
Su Ming shuddered, but he ignored that aura of death, because he saw it. The vast galaxy, the brilliant stars, and the long arcs that could be seen among the stars. Those long arcs were clearly people. They wore gorgeous clothes, and at that moment, they came to a halt. Their faces could not be seen, but their hearts had to be filled with shock and amazement once they saw the ancient gigantic bronze sword.
Su Ming saw the galaxy, saw the round planets, and also the continents that floated in the galaxy…
"So… this is how it is…" Su Ming mumbled. His body became weaker, as if this was a place off limits to all forms of life, and was not a place that he could come at the moment. He staggered backwards, and as the light in the Rune disappeared, he stepped inside.
"You don't belong to this place… I will send you back to where you belong… But I believe that someday, you will be able to walk out from the other side of the mirror with your own strength…" The voice of the old Spirit of Nine Yin reverberated in the air, bringing with it words of parting.
Su Ming's body gradually disappeared, but the instant he completely vanished, he suddenly asked this question.
"You were tasked to search for corpses in the past. Did you… find a dead baby?"
"Hmm? You…" Shock suddenly seeped into the old Spirit of Nine Yin's voice, and as if he had remembered something, his remaining words turned into a sharp inhale caused by shock.
Before Su Ming disappeared, a brilliant light shone in his eyes.
"True Sacred Yin World… Spirits of Nine Yin, I will come find you…"
Chapter 505: Return
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Land of South Morning in front of Sky Mist City was visited by tumbling clouds, bolts of lightning cracking through the air, and rain pouring down from the sky. The appearance of the rain came very strangely. It started several months ago, and had never stopped ever since.
Everything in the world looked indistinct in the rain, causing the people to be unable to see too far into the distance. As rain poured down, a humid scent of the sea filled the entire region.
The magnificent Sky Mist City in the past had turned dead silent. Not a single sound could be heard coming from within, but if anyone took a closer look, they would be able to find that it was slightly different from the past. The walls on the mountain ranges had become much taller, and if anyone lifted their heads to look from under the city walls, they would be able to feel this clearly.
If they looked around, they would see that there was not a single living soul that could be seen on the land of the Shamans, which laid outside Sky Mist City. If anyone looked down to survey the entire South Morning from the highest point in the sky, they would find that raging waves that surged into the sky and vast amounts of rumbling seawater were continuously flooding the land from the edge of the land of the Shamans. The area that was submerged was already boundless, and by the looks of, it would not be long before the water reached Sky Mist City!
Behind the flooded land was a gigantic continent, mostly hidden by the rain pouring down on the Dead Sea. It was coming closer with the seawater. It looked as if it was traveling forth slowly, but in truth, if anyone went closer to the continent, they would find out that the continent was actually moving at an extreme speed.
That dark continent was naturally, the Eastern Wastelands. As it got closer, violent gusts of wind howled in the air, sweeping up the seawater to roar with them. The sounds filled the land of the Shamans and submerged the mountains located at the edge of South Morning, turning large amounts of flatland into an endless expanse of sea.
The Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands was unfolding at an intense pace. Before long, when the Eastern Wastelands crashed into South Morning, this catastrophe would unfold completely on the people in the Land of South Morning. The mountains would crumble and the earth would shatter. The whole land would change. Even those with great power of cultivation would find it hard to fight against this disaster.
No one would be able to predict just how many people in the Land of South Morning would be left behind after the disaster was over…
All factions of power were thrown off balance. It did not matter whether it was the Berserkers or the Shamans, when these factions of power collapsed, everything would descend into chaos due to the absence of law, clans, and big tribes!
Chaos would begin after the catastrophe, and it would mark the age of powerful warriors rising up to rule…
There were eight people charging forward at the edge of the land of the Shamans, near the waves that surged into the sky. Among these eight were three women, and the rest were men. The elderly heads were filled with white, and the young were about eighteen or nineteen years old. The eight of them might have come from different tribes, but once they gathered together, all of them cared about the same thing…
Escape!
They were escaping, running away desperately. There were no powerful warriors chasing after them, but their faces were filled with agony and fear.
There might be no powerful warriors after their lives, but there were endless roars coming from the seawater and the surging waves, as well as low growls from the infinite amounts of powerful life forms within the black Dead Sea.
One thousand lis behind them was a mountain. At that moment, that mountain collapsed with a bang. The reason for its destruction was a huge wave sweeping forth and crashing into it. As it shattered, the crushed stones as well as the mountain itself were all submerged by the seawater charging forward, turning into a part of this infinite expanse of sea.
As the clouds tumbled about in the sky and rain poured from the sky, birds could be seen closely packed to each other up in the air. These birds came from the Dead Sea. They were born in the Dead Sea and lived out their lives in the sky. If they had strength, they would return to the Dead Sea near the time of their deaths.
They formed teams, and they were so numerous their numbers could not be counted. It was impossible to count them as they flew in the sky. It was as if they had covered the entire heaven, and wherever they went to, not a single drop of rain would fall on the ground!
These birds completely ignored the ground and all the creatures in the sea. However, they were extremely aggressive towards all life forms in the air that were not of the same species as they were. Once they ran into other types of birds, they would group together and fight these birds to the death!
However, there seemed to be no end to their numbers. Even if many of them died, there would still be a large amount of them rushing out of the sea!
This area was merely a part of the gigantic sea. As of then, areas as dangerous as this were scattered everywhere at the edge of the land of the Shamans in South Morning.
"We can't fly, onto to move as quickly as we can on the ground… but… how are we supposed to move faster than the Dead Sea behind us?!" a middle-aged man among the eight people charging across the land cried out in anguish.
"Even if we can't outrun it, we have to try, as long as we reach Lasting Hoop Mountain, we will have a chance at survival!"
"Lasting Hoop Mountain is the closest rescue station to our current location. There is a short distance Relocation Rune in that mountain that will transport us to all other locations in the land of the Shamans. As long as the seawater hasn't flooded the mountain, we can use that Rune and leave this place, and only like that can we buy the time to leave the land of the Shamans for good!" The person who spoke was a woman among the eight people. Her face was pale as she spoke hastily.
"What's the point of leaving the land of the Shamans? My tribe is dissolved, and my remaining tribe members are scattered. Even if I go to the land of the Berserkers, I might never meet them again in my life…" There was a teenager who was about eighteen to nineteen years old in the group. He had remained silent till this point, and right then, he spoke with a bitter smile.
As the people conversed, a muffled boom traveled forth abruptly from behind them. The appearance of that sound immediately caused the expressions of the eight people to drastically change. All of them stopped speaking, choosing instead to grit their teeth and increase their speed.
At that moment, the sea was surging into the sky with a howl hundreds of lis behind them. The waves rose high in the air, as if there was a powerful force pushing them from behind, and all the places they passed through would turn into a part of the sea.
There was a gigantic head popping its head up to reveal its eyes on the surface of the sea, and those eyes were coldly staring at the eight people hundreds of lis away. The mercilessness and aloofness in those eyes sent chills running down the eight people's spines, even though not one person turned their head back.
"Dead Sea Giant!"
The eight people who were running away felt their hearts tremble. As they charged forward, the seawater behind them rushed towards them even more quickly. The head on the surface of the sea sank down slowly. It might have seemed to disappear, but soon, a hundred lis away, right on the surface of the sea that was much closer to these eight people, the head emerged.
The spread of the seawater caused the sea to edge closer and closer to the eight people. It had been hundreds of lis away previously, but after a while, the sea became only a hundred lis away. The roars and the smell of the ocean made it seem as if the sea was right beside those eight people.
The instant another wave surged into the sky and fell down, causing the sea to spread even faster, the woman who mentioned Lasting Hoop Mountain previously gritted her teeth and leaped up, choosing to no longer remain at low altitude. Instead, once she flew up to midair, she coughed out a mouthful of blood, and her body immediately turned into blood fog that allowed her to charge into the distance.
In the midst of hesitation, the remaining seven people started doing the same. They turned into seven long arcs and charged through the sky. About hundreds of lis away from them was a mountain towering into the sky.
That mountain was part of a mountain range, and as the mountains connected together, they formed a hoop. The top of the mountains were not sharp either, but were instead flat like platforms, and anyone who looked at either of the mountains would find that they were in the shape of a hoop as well. The front one was the Lasting Hoop Mountain the group had mentioned!
The eight people in the sky no longer cared about staying together. Each of them charged forth with their fastest speed towards the mountain. Yet almost the moment they flew up, numerous birds shot towards them with a sharp whistle and closed in on them from all directions.
The birds' speed far surpassed that of the escapees, and they looked as if they had turned into a huge hand sweeping past the air and charging straight towards the eight. Almost the instant these birds closed in, the eight activated their divine abilities. Rays of light of various colors flashed, and as rumbling sounds roared in the air, four among the eight broke out of the birds' circle, but the remaining four would forever remain among the bird mob. As shrill screams of pain rang in the air, they were ripped apart, and their torn remains sank into the numerous birds' stomachs.
The four people who had done everything they could to eventually charge out heard their companions' screams of pain. Their faces turned even paler, and in terror, they did not stop for even a single moment. They charged straight towards the mountain. They were not far away from the mountain to begin with, and soon were less than thousands of feet away from the mountain. At that moment, the seawater beneath them was less than ten thousand feet away!
At that moment, more birds charged forth once again. Soon, one from the surviving four was surrounded by the birds, unable to break free. When he died among the birds, the remaining three finally managed to land on the mountain.
The three of them were two men and one woman. The woman was the one who had previously mentioned Lasting Hoop Mountain. As for the two men, one of them was a middle-aged man, and the other an old man.
"I know how to activate this Rune, defend me!" The woman immediately took a few brisk steps forward and stepped into an area where a Rune was carved onto the ground at the top of the mountain.
Just as she was fiddling with the Rune, trying to activate it, the seawater closed in on the foot of the mountain. It crashed into the mountain with a bang, and all those standing at the top of the mountain could see that everything below an area less than a hundred something feet beneath them turned into part of the endless surface of the sea.
The mountain trembled and cracks tore through its walls, as if it could not withstand the sea ramming into it and was about to crumble. At that moment, that gigantic head popped out of the surface of the sea next to the mountain. As the sea charged forth, a huge black hand shot out from the depths of the sea to grab the three people on the mountain.
From the distance, it was as if there was a giant in the sea that was lifting his hand to destroy everything.
The woman was not affected, but shock appeared on the faces of the old man and the middle-aged man as their hearts were shaken to the core. The old man immediately took a step towards the middle-aged man and lifted his right hand to push the other towards the hand that was coming to seize them to dodge the disaster that was coming towards him. But just as he was about to do this, the middle-aged man took a step to the side, then lifted his right hand to seize the old man, thinking about doing the same thing to him as well.
The instant they started plotting against each other, a sinister sneer appeared on the woman's lips as she stood in the Rune. Bright light suddenly burst forth from under her feet, and a propelling force blasted outward. It pushed both the old man and the middle-aged man off the mountain, straight towards the giant hand that came to seize them.
"You bitch! You…" The expressions of the old man and the middle-aged man changed drastically, but before they managed to say anything, their words turned into screams of pain. They were seized by the palm and crushed, turning into minced meat.
The hand then charged straight towards the Rune in the mountain while still in the form of a fist.
"Thank you, the both of you."
The woman smiled coldly. The Rune was already operating, and her body was disappearing quickly, but right at the instant her body vanished, she suddenly reappeared, and the cold sneer on her lips turned into a gasp of shock. She turned around swiftly, and the first thing she saw was another person appearing beside her as the Rune continued with its operations!
It was a person dressed in white with a full head of black hair framing a pale and downcast face. It… was Su Ming!
Chapter 506: Spread of the Dead Sea
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Dense and thick waves of aura of death were contained in Su Ming's body right at that moment. That aura came from the World of Nine Yin, from when he persevered and finished watching the ancient bronze sword leaving. He saw the world outside the mirror, saw the spherical balls in the galaxy, along with the numerous continents floating there, and during that moment, because his body could not get used to the world out there, he had gradually began to rot, and dense waves of aura of death spread out from all over his body.
Perhaps this aura of death had always existed in his body, but had only revealed itself when he had been in the world out there.
Even after Su Ming was relocated, some of that aura of death still remained on him!
In the woman's eyes, Su Ming was like a half-dead person. He did not give off waves of ripples indicating incredibly strong power. Because of that, malice appeared in her eyes. By her plans, she should have already activated that Rune and left this place.
She should have already appeared in a place that was much further from here. Yet as the Rune spurred into action, this half-dead person sprung up for some unknown reason. This not only filled the woman with malice, it also made her hate him.
Yet due to her calculative nature, when she looked at Su Ming, she did not even bother about the fist of the Dead Sea Giant charging towards her from midair. Instead, she put on a frightened and delicate front, and an imploring gaze appeared in her eyes as well. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but her hand acted in a completely different manner from the expression on her face.
Her hand flew up rapidly to grab Su Ming, who still had a dispirited look on his face, and yanked him forward, wanting to throw him towards that fist. Then, using that chance, she would activate the Rune once again.
In her mind, this person was clearly half-dead due to the aura of death surrounding him. She was already a late stage Medial Shaman, so there was no way anything unexpected would happen. Besides, she had also put up a disguise with her expression which worked well to deceive others.
However, she did not expect that the instant she grabbed Su Ming's arm, she did not even manage to make him budge an inch, despite using her full strength to try and throw him out.
This left her stunned. Right then, Su Ming lifted his head, and without even looking at the woman, he took a step forward. The woman instinctively loosened her grip on his arm and watched him walk out of the Rune. She looked at him lifting his head and training his gaze towards the fist of the Dead Sea Giant falling down on them as the sea roared.
"Get lost!"
Su Ming's expression was as dark as thunderclouds. The scene in the ancient bronze sword had left him incredibly dejected. The numerous discoveries made him unable to calm down, and right when he had just returned to the Land of South Morning and walked out of the Rune, he saw a stupid woman and a fist from a giant in the sea hurling towards him.
Almost the moment Su Ming spoke, the Dead Sea Giant's fist came with loud banging sounds rumbling in the sky. Killing intent shone in Su Ming's eyes. His mood was horrible at that moment, which was why he chose to lift his right hand without furling it into a fist. Instead, he had his palm facing upwards and pushing against the sky as if to support it. Immediately, his palm clashed against the punch coming towards him.
A loud bang reverberated in the air. Su Ming stood there unmoving, but the Dead Sea Giant's huge fist, which had been pushed upwards, started vibrating viciously. Soon, its flesh was torn apart. The sea giant that had revealed half of his head from the sea let out a pained howl.
This scene caused the woman behind Su Ming to widen her eyes in disbelief. Her breathing instantly froze, and her mind turned blank.
The Dead Sea Giant completely revealed his head on the surface of the sea. Just as he was about to lift up his right hand, Su Ming smiled coldly and seized the sea giant's fist with his lifted right hand. He dug his fingers into the giant's fist, causing him to be unable to retrieve his hand, and at that instant, he swiftly flung his right hand outwards!
The sea roared, and a giant that was one thousand feet tall was dragged out of the sea. His body was thrown into the air in the shape of an arc. Right then, Su Ming let go of his right hand, and immediately, the giant was flung out like a kite in the wind with a broken string. However, almost the instant he was thrown out, Su Ming took a step forward and leaped into the air, catching up with him. He then jabbed the center of the giant's brows with his right index finger.
Booming sounds reverberated in the air, and the sea giant's head exploded. His body fell with a huge splash in the distant sea. Then, after a few spasms, his body gradually sank to the bottom of the sea.
The woman in the Rune in the mountain was trembling at that moment. Her gaze as she looked at Su Ming was filled with shock and fear. She knew that these Dead Sea Giants were incredibly powerful, and each of them had power that was equivalent to a Latter Shaman. They also had natural advantage when they were in the seawater. Power equivalent to a middle stage Latter Shaman was usually required to kill one single sea giant.
She had also seen her Patriarch, who was a middle stage Latter Shaman, attack a Dead Sea Giant. While he had managed to kill him, he had spent nearly an hour doing so, but now… this white-robed young man before her had practically just ran into the giant, and had managed to kill him with just one move, executed smoothly and cleanly. It was clear, he was far much stronger than her Patriarch!
"Senior…" The woman was just about to speak, but her words died in her throat, because she saw Su Ming casting a cold glance at her from midair. With just that one glance, a bang went off in the woman's head, and her thoughts instantly became muddled.
When her mind cleared up once again, she could no longer see Su Ming. All she could see was a huge wave that surged into the sky, and as it charged forward, it moved towards her. Before she even had time to activate the Rune beneath her again, it broke down with the contact of the huge wave, and both woman and Rune were swept into the Dead Sea and drowned...
Su Ming walked in midair and looked at the seawater beneath him, then at the raging waves surging into the sky, along with the huge heads emerging on the surface of the sea, as well as the numerous strange, ferocious beasts that popped up from the sea.
Everything was different from what he remembered.
The Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands was unfolding rapidly, and even though the final stage of the disaster was not on their heads as of yet, it was already not too far away.
"The Fire Ape…" Su Ming's pupils shrank. He remembered the Fire Ape, as well as his cave abode and the medicinal cauldron he had kept there!
Sharp whistling sounds traveled forth from all around Su Ming as he stood in midair. A large amount of birds closed in on him from all directions. Brutality and bloodthirstiness shone in their eyes, and they were getting closer to Su Ming.
'When the Catastrophe of the Eastern Wastelands comes, even the land of the Berserkers will experience a great disaster. Everyone's in danger during that disaster, and it'll be as if the apocalypse had been unleashed on us… Now is not the time for me to return to the Berserkers. I can only go back when the disaster is over...
'Besides, I do have a place to hide from this disaster.'
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes. More birds gathered around him and closed in on him in an instant, but right at the moment they closed in, Su Ming waved his arm, and the Poison Corpse appeared before him.
Ruthlessness shone in the Poison Corpse's eyes. He opened his mouth and breathed out a layer of black and green poison fog. That fog spread out swiftly, and right at the instant the incoming birds came into contact with it, they let out piercing screeches and began rapidly melting, turning into drops of poisonous liquid that fell into the sea.
Su Ming frowned and observed the area around him. The sea was rolling under him, causing him to be unable to discern his exact location, which made it difficult for him to search for his cave abode.
He did not bother about the birds around him dying, neither did he bother himself with the Poison Corpse killing those birds. As he fell into a pensive silence, he spread his divine sense outward, covering the entire region. However, most of what he saw in his divine sense was seawater. Even if he did managed to find land that was submerged further down, he did not find any of the more distinct mountain ranges.
Su Ming widened his eyes. In silence, the image of the mountain where the woman was just moments ago appeared in his head.
A flicker of light shone in his eyes, then he lifted his right hand and patted his storage bag. Immediately, a wooden slip appeared in his hand. This was the map of the land of the Shamans. Once he focused his attention and looked through it, he found a mountain range that looked like a hoop. After a brief moment of analysis, he put away the wooden slip and charged into the distance.
The Poison Corpse followed behind him while puffing out poison fog in delight, causing the long arc that was Su Ming to look as if he was surrounded by a layer of black and green fog. Wherever he went, the numerous birds in the sky that touched the fog would immediately turn into poison liquid.
After flying for about the time taken to burn an incense stick above the endless sea, Su Ming spread his divine sense outwards. Everything within thousands of lis was ocean. There were also many ferocious beasts in the sea who seemed to have noticed his divine sense and whipped their heads around to look in his direction, especially the giants in the sea. They started to let out low roars.
In fact, Su Ming gradually noticed that some of the birds flying towards him in midair did not immediately melt after they came into contact with the poison fog like the others usually did. Instead, they would manage to rush out and travel some distance away before they gradually started melting.
This discovery made Su Ming's eyes sparkle. As he observed them, he slowly found that there was no end to these birds. No matter how many of them died, more would continuously fly out of the sea, and these birds that flew out of the sea had clearly started building a resistance towards the poison fog!
If that was the case, then before long, the Poison Corpse's poison fog would be incredibly weak to them!
'No wonder…' Su Ming waved his arm and put away his Poison Corpse, then lifted his right hand and swung it forward. Immediately, green light shone. The small virescent sword instantly appeared and grew larger before it started circling Su Ming.
With the small sword around, when a large amount of birds closed in on Su Ming as he traveled forth once again, green light would shine, and the sword would rotate around him with a whistle.
However, there were simply too many of these birds, and Su Ming could not kill all of them. The only thing he could do was warp. Once he attracted a large number of birds, he would warp and leave the spot in an instant.
After several hours, Su Ming came to an abrupt halt in midair, and a serious look appeared on his face. With his divine sense, he saw a vortex on the surface of the sea thousands of lis away. A presence that sent alarm bells ringing in Su Ming's head spread out from that vortex.
He could sense that the presence had already surpassed that of an End Shaman!!
A gleam flashed in Su Ming's eyes, and he disappeared in an instant, avoiding that vortex by putting a large distance between them, then continued towards the spot where his cave abode was.
Several days later, in the land that originally belonged to the Shamans but had now turned into a part of the sea, a long arc could be seen charging through There was a large flock of birds chasing behind it, and leading that flock of birds was a peacock-like bird that shone with a five-colored light!
It's eyes were aloof, and the bird itself was about several thousands of feet big. It was chasing after Su Ming relentlessly, following right on his heels!
A few days later, from the surface of the sea, huge tentacles started throwing themselves up from the depths of the sea with roaring sounds reverberated in the air. Wherever these tentacles passed through, cracks would tear through the air, and all of them charged towards Su Ming as he traveled in the sky…
'The Eastern Wastelands hasn't crashed into us yet, but these powerful existences from the Dead Sea are already such a pain to deal with…'
With a flash, Su Ming disappeared into thin air.
Chapter 507: Seven Colors…
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was a large flock of birds circling about in the air in an area of about one thousand lis above the surface of the sea, and that area was where Su Ming had charged through previously. These birds looked slightly different from the ones Su Ming had encountered. They had three claws and were slightly bigger. Every single one of them was about five feet.
"Wa… Wa wa!"
Cries that sounded like those from infants echoed in the air. This was a unique sound that belonged solely to these birds. There were six Shamans who were surrounded by these birds, and all their faces were pale as they resisted madly against them.
However, the person with the highest level of cultivation among these six people was merely a Medial Shaman who had arrived at the peak of the stage.
It was difficult for the group to last long under the joint attack from these numerous birds. As the birds cried out and joined in the attack, the six gradually turned into five, and after a moment, there were only two left.
One of them was a boy whose face was deathly pale from terror. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, and he was incredibly handsome. The other person was a middle-aged woman. She was of average looks, but as she attacked, she would always protect the boy. By the looks of it, they seemed to be mother and son, but there was nothing similar about them in terms of their looks.
But before long, the woman's head was captured by a bird and she was dragged into the flock. As shrill screams of pain rang in the air, she was reduced to torn pieces of flesh.
"Honey!" The boy let out a cry of sorrow. Tears welled up in his eyes, and grief filled his face.
"You are my thirty-ninth wife, and now you have left me as well. How am I to survive without you..?" The boy's sorrow seemed to have reached its peak, and with bloodshot eyes, he roared towards the ruthless birds that lunged at him.
"Damn you all! We're the same kind! How could you be so rude?! I… I'm angry now!"
When the boy saw that the birds were drawing closer, he gritted his teeth and turned into a black fog with a bang. The sudden change caused the birds around him to freeze for a moment, and the instant they froze, the black fog immediately gathered up to turn… into a black crane!
The crane howled, then flapped its wings and flew a few rounds before these birds, as if it was telling these birds that it also had wings…
"Do you see? Do you see now? I'm also a bird, we're family…"
The brutal birds around the area just froze for a moment from the boy's sudden change before lunging at him without any hesitation, causing the black crane to immediately widen its eyes, great sorrow shining within them.
"You… You're all bullies!"
A bang came from within the black crane's body once again, and it turned into fog once more. Yet soon, that fog gathered together, and what appeared before those birds was a bird that was the exact same as them in appearance - a bird with three claws. Their kin.
This transformation left all the birds stunned. With their low level intelligence, they could not discern what was happening before them, and uncertainty could be seen flashing in their brutal eyes, making the black crane that had transformed into one of them to be extremely nervous.
"Wa… wa wa… wa wa wa…" In its nervousness, the black crane hastily opened its mouth and imitated these birds' cry, quickly throwing out some sounds.
Perhaps these few unique sounds brought about an effect, or perhaps it was due to the sudden appearance of a long arc in the distance that drew the birds' attention, but once the black crane let out those sounds, the birds in the area immediately turned their heads around. As the arc charged forward, those birds rushed towards it while crying out with those shrill baby wails of theirs.
The black crane that had transformed into one of them originally wanted to leave, but the birds crowded around it, and it did not dare to leave alone, attracting attention to itself. That was why it decided to grit its teeth and charge towards the long arc with the birds.
As it flew, it heard the other birds letting out those piercing caws, and without any hesitation, it started cawing at the top of its lungs as well.
"Wa… wa wa… wa wa wa… wa wa wa wa…"
As the black crane continued cawing, it started feeling that the sounds were tumbling out of its mouth rather smoothly. When it remembered that it had escaped with its feathers intact because of this caw, the crane felt pleased with itself and started cawing even louder. Soon, the crane's voice stood out from the crowd's incredibly distinctly.
Su Ming had turned into a long arc moving through the air quickly, occasionally warping to avoid the dangers in the area as well as the pursuits he could not shake off. He also had in-depth experience with powerful existences in the air. It had just been a few days since he came back, and he already ran into several of them.
If his divine sense had not been powerful enough and he did not know how to warp, then it would have been difficult for him to avoid these creatures.
He continued rushing, and before long, something caught his attention. He saw a flock of birds he had never seen before right in front of him, and they were charging towards him with loud screeching. These birds were much larger than the ones he had seen before, and they were also much faster than the others.
They had also spread out to block his path. In just an instant, they filled the entire area and closed in on him. With an aloof expression, Su Ming continued onward without pause and charged straight towards those birds.
The moment both sides approached each other, green light immediately shone beside Su Ming, and wherever it went, the birds that happened to be in its path would be pierced through as they screeched shrilly. Su Ming's attacks were decisive and clean. Not a single bit of uncertainty could be found in his actions. By the looks of it, he wanted to force his way through, killing his way out of the bird mob.
Su Ming had done this multiple times over the past few days. He didn't need to kill all of them, just open up a gap and move through. That in itself was already enough for him to shake off all the birds and put a large distance between them. Unless he ran into the five-colored peacock from three days ago, then everything would be just fine.
Su Ming still felt fear pounding in his heart when he thought of that peacock. That bird's strength lay in its five-colored light. It actually possessed a power that could confuse minds!
As Su Ming moved forward, he lifted his right index finger, and each time his finger pointed in a direction, one of the birds would disintegrate and die. In about the span of ten breaths, Su Ming had already made his way into the deep parts of the flock of birds. Before long, he would be able to break through the blockade like an arrow.
Right at that moment, he saw a three clawed bird cawing and looking as if it wanted to move back, but had its path blocked off by all the other birds that were rushing forward, and was pushed towards Su Ming.
As Su Ming took a step forward, he lifted his right hand and pointed towards the frightened and cawing bird. But right when his finger was going to land in the direction of that bird, it stopped cawing and instead widened his eyes and let out a piercing sound.
"It's me! It's me… I'm not the same as them! I… I'm that crane!"
The bird that was really the black crane immediately started shouting loudly in its fear, and as if it was afraid Su Ming would not believe him, black fog instantaneously gathered on its face to reveal… a crane's head.
Su Ming was momentarily stunned, and his right index finger immediately froze in action. But he did not have time to think, for there was a five-colored light flashing from the direction he had come. The five-colored peacock that had been chasing him a few days ago came charging forward incredibly quickly.
Su Ming's expression changed, and he ignored the black crane, turning around instead to take a step forward and charge straight towards the birds before him. As rumbling sounds reverberated in the air, Su Ming broke through the bird mob, then charged at full speed towards the distance.
As the birds screeched, they pursued him. The five-colored peacock shot past the flock of birds with a flash and chased after Su Ming. There was hate burning in its eyes, and it looked as if it would absolutely not give up until it caught up to him.
Su Ming charged forward with the five-colored peacock right behind him and the large flock of birds at the very end of the line. After the span of a breath, this group had already disappeared in the distance, leaving behind the black crane that had revealed its head, who was still lingering around in midair. It blinked, then started laughing loudly and smugly. There was also an excited look on its face.
"Well, bullocks. If I want to change, I should at least change into that big five-colored bird. Only that thing suits my status! I'd like to see who would dare to bully me once I change into that big bird!
"I'll scare the shit out of whoever dares bully me again!"
Feeling smug, the black crane turned into a layer of black fog. Once it gradually gathered together, it immediately turned into a five-colored peacock in midair.
It looked at its current appearance excitedly, then lifted its head elegantly and flew slowly into the distance…
"If five colors are already so powerful, then wouldn't I be even scarier if I turned into a seven-colored bird?"
Before long, the eyes of the five-colored peacock that was really the black crane twinkled, and its body turned into black fog once again. After a moment, a beautiful seven-colored peacock appeared in the world. Then, with arrogance and pride, it flew into the distance.
On Su Ming's side, after a few warps in succession, he had finally managed to temporarily shake off the five-colored peacock's pursuit. When he first met this peacock a few days ago, he had fought against it, but not only could the five-colored light confuse his mind, it also contained a strange power that suppressed his power, preventing him from unleashing it completely.
The peacock's appearance would usually cause a large amount of birds to flock around it very soon, and because of that, it would be incredibly difficult to continue with the battle. Even Su Ming felt his skin crawl once he was surrounded by several hundreds of thousands, even millions, and perhaps even more of those birds.
When he shook off that peacock, he brought out the wooden slip and checked his location once again before he sucked in a deep breath and rushed forward. Several days later, after taking a detour and moving in several big circles to avoid several spots that felt threatening, he finally arrived at a spot where the waters were rolling furiously at the surface of the sea.
As Su Ming stood in midair, he lowered his head to look at the surface of the sea. There was a slight expression of regret on his face. According to his deductions based on the map, this place was where his cave abode had been located!
However, it was now deep under the sea…
The world had been turned upside down. As of right then, Su Ming could feel the meaning of this phrase deeply in his heart. He remained silent for a moment before he charged towards the surface of the sea, disappearing into the seawater and heading straight under.
Right after plunging in, Su Ming felt a powerful force coming from the sea pushing against him and sweeping his body, shoving him into the distance. This was the force that caused the seawater to continuously move toward the land of the Shamans.
Golden light shone around Su Ming's entire body and he withstood this force with raw power alone. With his divine sense spread outwards, he charged swiftly to the bottom of the sea. It was dark all around him, but fortunately, even though he could not spread his divine sense too far away, he could still feel his surroundings clearly.
The sea was not too deep either. After some time, once Su Ming avoided the ferocious creatures in the sea, he gradually began to see a mountain range that looked like a dragon's mouth at the depths of the sea… along with a huge crack outside the mountain range, as well as a dull screen of light…
The screen of light had been set up by Hong Luo in the past. Fifteen years had passed by since then, but it had actually managed to still stay around. However, it was clearly much weaker now, which was why it could no longer be used to hide the mountain, but it was still sufficient enough to be used for protection.
Su Ming charged towards the screen of light and closed in on it in the blink of an eye. He then lifted his right hand, pressed his palm against the screen, and his body passed through the screen of light.
Translator's Note
The black crane: The black, bald-headed crane that was so small it looked like a chick, which Su Ming had run into when he went to Black Crane Tribe after the Madam Ji incident.