Doom

The little girl quickly disappeared without a trace.

—What preparations was she making? Liu Ping wondered.

He glanced around at the mess scattered across the floor.

Bloodstains, bits of brain matter, and several monster stumps lay everywhere.

—Forget it, I'll leave it here. Maybe it'll serve as a deterrent.

He untied his pervert's clothing, leaped lightly, and flew back to the city wall.

Time passed slowly.

At first, Liu Ping remained vigilant.

But when no monsters appeared, he crossed his legs on the city wall and began to cultivate.

—If I can advance to the middle stage of foundation establishment, my spiritual power will increase significantly.

After swallowing a pill, Liu Ping silently gathered his spiritual power in his dantian and began circulating the spirit energy to nourish his meridians.

This new body seemed to be a natural vessel for cultivation. Within half an hour, a faint trembling sound resonated from within his body.

This was the sound of spiritual power converting into energy and resonating through the meridians.

The middle stage of the Foundation Establishment was complete!

Liu Ping opened his eyes, exhaled a long breath of mist, and stood up from the ground.

Outside the city walls, it was quiet.

Maybe it was because the little girl had come twice, or perhaps the remaining monster's corpse had something to do with it.

In any case, no monsters had come to disturb the section of the city wall Liu Ping was guarding.

Thinking back on it, he realized he had encountered her not long after his arrival.

From the conversation of those people earlier, they had tried to find a living person but failed.

That meant others like him had tried before, but the results were not as favorable.

This time, however, the little girl was determined to try again.

What was her true purpose?

Liu Ping fell into deep thought.

The night passed in silence.

Time slipped away, minute by minute, second by second.

Dang-dang-dang!

The bell rang in the town.

The night had come to an end.

The second half of the night, belonging to the hidden space-time, was about to begin.

In the distance, Karadur's voice echoed:

"Everyone, come to my side. Let's discuss."

Several sets of clothes lay scattered on the ground.

Shield Knight Alger picked up a courtyard guard's outfit and was about to put it on when Karadur suddenly spoke:

"Not this time. We can no longer pretend to be mortals."

Everyone froze in surprise.

"That's true," Old K remarked. "There are only five people in a small town. It doesn't feel right no matter how you look at it."

"Another issue is the large-scale Skyfall happening in the cultivation world. In such a chaotic time, if we don't show at least a bit of force, we'll be in an even more passive position," Liu Ping added.

"Then what should we do?" Alger asked.

"How about we pretend to be casual cultivators passing through? That way, we can reasonably protect ourselves" Liu Ping suggested.

Several of them nodded in agreement, their eyes lighting up.

"That's right. What do you think?" Karadur asked, looking at the bartender.

The bartender seemed to have regained some strength.

"Then that's the plan" he said firmly.

"Since Liu Ping doesn't have an energy conservation displacer yet, give him one," Karadur added.

Old K took out a small device and handed it to Liu Ping. "Here, just press this switch, and your power will be transformed into spiritual energy."

"What if I use a gun to attack?" Liu Ping asked, patting the shotgun.

"Don't underestimate practitioners. Skyfalls happen often in the cultivation world. Practitioners have seen many strange things and often incorporate them into their methods. Guns won't be too wierd" Old K explained.

"Understood," Liu Ping replied.

He pressed the switch on the device, nodded, and said, "My power has indeed been transformed into spiritual energy."

The others stopped paying attention to this matter for now.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the dark sky, waves of distorted ripples began to appear — a sign that space times were starting to overlap.

Karadur quickly took out several sets of casual cultivator clothing and distributed them to the group.

Everyone began changing into their new attire. Afterward, the bartender took out blank cards and handed one to each person.

"Refining Qi, Building Foundation, Golden core, Rejuvenation, Divine Transformation, Saint, Divine Reflection— these are the seven realms of cultivation" the bartender explained. "Remember the cultivation realm corresponding to your combat power, and be sure not to make a mistake."

Karadur showed everyone the card in his hand, which displayed a few large characters:

"Middle Stage of the Rejuvenation."

The card in the bartender's hand read "Late stage Rejuvenation."

A few words appeared on the card in Alger's hand: "Late Golden Core."

Old K's card showed "Late Stage of Foundation Establishment."

The card in Liu Ping's hand displayed "Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment."

Among them, the bartender had the highest cultivation level, and Liu Ping had the lowest.

"Attention, you must never judge a cultivator based solely on their realm," Karadur said solemnly.

"Why?" Liu Ping asked, intrigued.

"A realm is just an upper limit for lifespan and spiritual power. It doesn't necessarily translate to combat strength" the bartender explained.

Karadur added, "Some cultivators may be in a lower realm, but possess supernatural abilities that make them dangerous in battle. Their combat effectiveness could even surpass that of cultivators with higher realms."

"Unless the disparity between the two sides is enormous, with many realms separating them, a fight becomes impossible" the bartender concluded.

'They're all seasoned veterans indeed' Liu Ping remarked.

'—It seems they've really studied the world of cultivation.'

"Listen well," Karadur said, "We are all casual cultivators, wandering through this area. We don't know what's happened here, so we'll just rest for a while and leave."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

When—when—when—

The bell rang again.

Before Liu Ping's eyes, scarlet texts appeared in the void:

[The space-time connection has been completed.]

[Dark Mist Town is about to enter a hidden space-time and become part of it.]

[There are still three hours until dawn.]

[Estimated duration of stay: three hours.]

Three hours?

— Longer than last time.

Liu Ping glanced over at the town.

It looked completely different from before. The lights were off, the buildings were all shut, and the people rushed around in a panic, hurriedly distributing clothes and seeking shelter.

Dark Mist Town had been completely swallowed by silence, as though it had become a part of the darkness itself.

"It's coming."

The bartender's voice broke through the stillness.

Liu Ping looked up and saw a streak of light and shadow quickly appearing in the sky.

In that light, hundreds of millions of meteors rained down on the Earth.

Old K's voice cracked with disbelief:

"Damn it, is that a Skyfall? I've never seen one this massive!"

The others' faces grew serious.

"What level of world overlap is this?" Liu Ping asked.

Everyone shook their heads, dazed.

— No one had ever witnessed such a scene.

The bartender's voice broke the silence. "It's a pity that most of our equipment has been destroyed. Otherwise, we could have equipped everyone with communication devices and mobile armor to support us in critical moments."

Karadur spoke next. "Listen, once the worlds overlap, we must stay together. We can't afford to separate. It's better to stick together. Understood?"

"Understood." The group responded in unison.

In an instant, the worlds began to overlap.

The ground trembled violently, and the mountains seemed to shake beneath the pressure.

A chill ran down Liu Ping's spine. He instinctively looked up.

In the night sky, a shattered palace was descending rapidly toward Dark Mist Town, and it was about to collide.

"Be careful!" Karadur shouted urgently.

The group leaped from the city wall, still airborne when a deafening boom echoed through the air.

Boom!!

The shockwave from the impact spread like a violent storm, tearing through everything in its path.

In the face of this overwhelming force, the group was tossed about like leaves caught in a gale, scattered and lost in the swirling dust and wind.

Liu Ping fought against the winds for a few breaths, then drew his blade. With swift movements, he cut through the falling rocks that were hurtling through the dust.

A cold shiver crept down his spine, a sense of impending danger gnawing at him. Realizing something was wrong, he quickly reached for his storage bag and donned his sword cultivator's armor.

At this moment, Liu Ping couldn't afford to worry about exposing the truth or not.

Besides, others might have their own hidden trump cards, too.

For reasons unknown, Liu Ping suddenly felt a sharp palpitation. He instinctively looked up through the swirling dust that filled the sky.

There, amidst the chaos, a massive figure emerged, struggling to rise from the ground. Its skin was gray, and it was enveloped in smoke.

Despite its enormous size—almost as large as a small town—the figure seemed entirely unharmed, despite the impact of its fall.

It reached out with an enormous hand and grabbed something—

The bartender!

Liu Ping immediately prepared to rush in to save him, but the bartender, with a card in hand, shouted in defiance: "Sage Light, I praise your strength, please—"

Before he could finish his words, the towering figure stuffed him into its mouth and began chewing fiercely. Blood splattered everywhere.

The bartender's voice was abruptly silenced.

From a distance, Liu Ping felt as though his throat had tightened, a sense of suffocating dread washing over him.

This monster was utterly invincible!

His teeth ground together, but he forced himself to keep watching the creature, despite the rising fear within him.

Above the massive figure, in the void of the air, lines of small texts appeared:

[Title 1: Judge]

[An EvernightTitle]

[Role: Acts in place of the Spiritual Gods, carrying out all tasks on earth according to the will of the oracle.]

[Title 2: Lord of Creeping Nightmare, Strength: ?????]

[Explanation: The one bearing this title is the Lord of All Flames. It is immune to both magic and physical attacks. It devours all creation and living beings that possess strange, otherworldly strength.]

[—The laws of fire and destruction crawl beneath its feet. It is the ancient god of the Nightmare era.]

Liu Ping took a single glance and immediately turned away, too afraid to look again.

Death.

His mind went blank, and all that remained was an overwhelming sense of impending doom, rising spontaneously in his spiritual awareness.

—So this is the true Judge.

The laws crawl beneath its feet.

It has a dual title, and its strength seems nearly invincible!