The forbidden zone

Chapter 7: The Forbidden Zone

Time flew by in months, and from the serene forest now, there emerged a world of holocaust and mystery. Its topography was indelibly sullied by the after-effects of the Divine Vengeance. What once had been an emerald, thriving forest full of life now formed no man's land in the shroud of dread and danger.

Above, the skies were never free from the dark full of storm clouds whose loud rumblings of lightning never stopped. With growling, the noise of the thunder resembled some growling of gods of vengeance, causing the earth to shiver and shake so as to bring fear into every soul who dared to be going that way. The air hummed indeed with power; that which laid an oppressive constraint on the soul.

It slowly became a battlefield and later was known as no-man's land, or it was otherwise known to the people of future generations as the Forbidden Zone.

News spread among the circles of scholars and adventurers: a taboo zone, the very site of power-hungry cultivation. Few who approached this place and returned-and still fewer were ever quite the same-odd-looking marks incised over their bodies, eyes staring with that haunted brightness inside, fixed in the abyss.

Even iron-blooded men of the world, paragons of cultivation, warriors of unparalleled prowess-showed unwillingness toward its approach. The aura was something completely different. Of course, it wasn't just because of the stormy situation and chaotic energy that still lingered in the air; rather, it was more like the warping of natural laws in this place became unaccommodating to life.

They said phantoms roamed the charred remains of the forest, shadowy glimpses at the edge of one's vision. Others even claimed to hear whispers on the wind, voices speaking of loss, defiance, and a battle against the heavens themselves.

Right in the very center of the Forbidden Zone, the point of the disaster was represented: a huge crater was there, surrounded by crags and blackened soil. From time to time, lightnings fell on it as if the gods themselves still punished the land for what had happened there.

The body of Qiangu Qitian was laid in the middle of the crater, not even the weather having touched it. His dead body was whole, as if the weather had also preserved it. His pale, lifeless face showed no signs of the torment he faced, and his body shone with a faint, otherworldly glow.

He was the pivot of time and space where storms grew stronger; it was if, in respect or in a battle, against the heavens' anger. Pressures and turbulent energy vomited from it became so strong that even the strongest of cultivators dared not approach the heart of the Forbidden Zone.

As it were, the Forbidden Zone became the stuff of legend, its name spoken in hushed tones. They said the area simply defied even the most advanced formations and talismans, and that protective measures were worthless. The laws of space-time were warped inside the zone-some said minutes felt like hours, while others spoke of weeks in mere seconds.

Powerful sects and clans had sent in their best, trying to unravel the secrets of the zone in a bid to claim whatever treasures or secrets it held. None succeeded. A few survivors who came back spoke of shifting and twisting landscapes, living storms, and a presence that couldn't be explained-a presence that felt divine and malevolent at the same time.

--

Soon, the Forbidden Zone would evolve into a place-not only forbidden to tread but also fearful of and fascinating too. Many beasts, with unimaginable powers of their own, were attracted by the chaotic energy that then permeated that space. Twisted into form by residual energy from the divine reckoning, these were unlike beasts anyone had seen. Stronger, quicker, more aggressive than their brothers of the outside world, their existence a testament to unnatural power loosed, they stood and opposed cultivators often-those that would approach the edges of the zone through many brutal, terrifying manners of death. This place, now, stopped being the field of danger but actually transformed into one field of definite death.

Even the strongest cultivators in the world knew that the Forbidden Zone was beyond their grasp, even for those at the pinnacle of power. It is they themselves, with so much experience and unparalleled abilities, who could only guess how it came to be and what mysteries it held.

Some say it is the very vengeance of heaven itself, a grim reminder to mortals of what awaits them when nature is tampered with. Others claim it is a kind of threshold beyond which opens another world, whose dangers serve as a test of worth for whoever desires to gain the most ultimate power of all.

One thing nobody had ever questioned, however: the Forbidden Zone was a forbidden area where even the bravest dared not set foot. In the middle of it lay the unmoving body of Qiangu Qitian, the eternal witness to mortal ambition pitted against the will of Heaven.

Time went by, yet the Forbidden Zone remained: a stormy and dark monument to a combat which shook the heavens.

The Forbidden Zone was too hard to resist, especially for those power seekers at all costs-an imagined intact and peerless Primordial Yin-Yang Creation Body, with its untold secrets locked inside its core-and many amongst even the most cautious ones had fallen into the trap.

So there came an eventual time when the four most powerful united in believing that surely this would be when they would discover the Forbidden Zone mystery of:

Lei Wuheng, Jian Baihe, Xu Yuan, Huang Tan

Each of them was the top in this world, standing at the pinnacle of cultivation.

Three days later.

The three carefully approached the zone. Their auras burst and tried to protect themselves by laying layers of security around their bodies. The grim energy in the zone was pressed against the shield as if some invisible tide that would choke even from the outskirts.

"This place. it's alive," Lei Wuheng muttered, his gaze rising to the dark sky, where rumbles of thunder grumbled threateningly.

"Focus," Jian Baihe replied calmly. "Whatever is in the middle is well worth the risk."

Their passage through the skin of the outer zone was harrowing indeed, as the ground changed with a life of its own and storms of chaotic energy beset them, sniffing as if for weaknesses. Even the air was hostile, thick with whispers that managed to claw their way into the edges of sanity.

But their strength and strong will overcame them, pushing them deeper, right into the very core of the zone.

When they approached the middle, the oppressive aura was there, unbearable; their protective formations had almost reached a breaking point. The earth was burned, fissured, cracked everywhere, while above, the sky was a swirling vortex with clouds of dark colors and sheets of golden lightning.

And finally, they were at the center. In the middle of a huge crater lay the body of Qiangu Qitian and an otherworldly glow. A sight of him untouched by time and decaying had left them utterly out of breath.

"The legend was true," Xu Yuan breathed. "This.what is this.and whose body is this."

But as they closed in, the air changed. An oppressive energy sharpened in mid-air, almost alive, and it felt like the zone was trying to warn them from trespassing.

"We take it, and then we leave," Huang Tan said, the dancing flames ready at a moment's notice around him.

Just as Lei Wuheng reached out to take Qiangu Qitian's body, a bolt of golden lightning descended from the skies and smote him with a force incomprehensible. The protection barriers on his body shattered like glass as his body flew backward, smoking and lifeless.

The other three stared at this in horror as the energy in the zone around them suddenly started to fluctuate violently, the zone seeming to awaken with chaotic energy whirling and lashing about like some kind of living entity.

"We're under attack!" Jian Baihe shouted, drawing his sword.

Xu Yuan tried to open a spatial rift to get out, but the laws of space within the zone were too distorted to control. The rift collapsed in on itself, and the resultant backlash tore through his body, turning him into a bloody pulp.

Jian Baihe and Huang Tan fought desperately. The combined powers created a light display of sword energy and flames that, together, shone so brilliant. Their attacks were all absorbed by the zone, too, further fueling the energy they had fought against.

Jian Baihe's sword had cut the mountains and shattered; his body was charging into Qiangu Qitian's with a surge against the invisible force. Then, a wave of chaotic energy engulfed him and reduced him into ashes instantly.

The last of them, Huang Tan, attacked in his final desperation as his figure conjured a column of divine flame into the skies. The inferno brightened up the black sky until the zone finally retaliated with its storm of gold lightning and shadowy tendrils.

In his futile struggle to consume that energy unto himself, the Flame Monarch screamed his head off down within the crater.

It wasn't until the storm finally ceased that the Forbidden Zone was eerily quiet again. The bodies of the four cultivators were nowhere to be seen, their essences taken by the zone. And Qiangu Qitian's body wasn't taken at all; his faint light derided them with futility.

News of their death spread in no time and was like a wild fire, engulfing the cultivation world, ripples arising everywhere. In fact, their death made the Forbidden Zone a no-man's land, even for the most elite, who treated the place with care.

Time went on, the legends grew but simultaneously, the fear for Qiangu Qitian's body grew, and Forbidden Zone once again knew ambition no more.

And no one dare to step in the forbidden zone. 

Level of the world.

Blood forging realm-you can forge your blood level to the 100,000 kg of force.

Spirit Condensation realm-up to the nine condense core realm 

Soul Awakening realm

Earthly Ascendance Realm

Heavenly profound realm

Transformation realm

Void Realm

Dharma Realm

Saint realm

God Emperor realm

Supreme Realm

(Early, Middle, late and Peak stage )