Chapter 643: Matured Opportunity, World In Fear
The cultivators let out painful screams once they noticed that their bodies were fading away into oblivion and their bones and blood also became crystal clear before turning into a splash of water.
Upon the horrendous sight, everyone else felt extremely chilly as if a pail of cold water was poured into their skulls.
"Why does this grey fog seem so familiar?"
Yu Feiya's face drastically changed, after which she hastily retreated to the ancient battleship with the others of Great Yu Celestial Dynasty. Somehow, the menacing, ominous grey fog felt oddly familiar. Although she had never seen it personally, she had heard about it from all sorts of rumours.
[Back when the Hidden Ji Family was on their way to Kun Mountain to rescue their Prime Ancestor, they seem to have encountered such giant fog that almost annihilated the Hidden An Clan. Even True Daoists would be killed if they were caught by it.]
Yu Feiya's face carried unconcealable dread. [Why would the ominous fog that only appeared in Life Forbidden Areas like Kun Mountain appear here?]
Nevertheless, as she couldn't afford to be distracted by such thoughts, she speedily instructed the others to activate the defensive arrays on the ancient battleship to prevent being engulfed by the grey fog.
All of a sudden, a trace of light flashed across her mind. Thereupon, her body shivered as the dismay and fear on her face aggravated. Strenuously, she turned her head toward where Gu Changge was, only to find an empty face, as if the grey fog's emergence was followed by Gu Changge's disappearance.
[Back then, when Gu Changge was on his way to Kun Mountain, he was one of those who encountered the ominous giant fog. But that should only be a coincidence...]
For some reason, Yu Feiya came up with an unimaginably frightening inference. Feeling a chill up her spine, she dared not to explore that idea any further.
Following the sudden surge of the terrifying fog, everyone in Ancient Arcane Ruins grew frantic with worry. All of them were trying to come up with ways to escape to the outermost layer, seeing how the grey fog was obviously more horrifying than the black mist earlier.
"What happened out there? Why has the senseless army of undead suddenly cower in fear?"
Meanwhile, in the depths of Ancient Arcane Ruins, skulls and crumbled debrises of ancient temples and palaces stacked into piles, and no one could imagine how they had looked in the past.
Distressed, an Earth Sword Immortal, who was scouting ahead, turned around, thinking that the army that was charging towards them were speedily fleeing, as if they detected some sort of even more terrifying being.
"Regardless, this place was the source of the disturbance earlier. The entrance to Mirror Lake must be in front of us." The Abundance Sword Immortal stated as he gazed across the region before him. In front of him, there was a devastated ruin, in which a feebly gleaming ancient temple hid. Around the temple, there were numerous vines that appeared to be green and exuberant, and such a sight felt out of place in relation to the surrounding atmosphere.
"The aura feels strange. Did something unpredicted happen out there? This makes me feel uneasy... Back in Kun Mountain, I also felt such an aura. Why is it appearing here, right now?"
A True Daoist furrowed his brows, sensing that there was a vast, terrorising aura descending in the outside world. Even though he was a True Daoist, he couldn't help but be startled, unable to repress his anxiety.
Back when the Hidden Ji Family invaded Kun Mountain in an attempt to rescue their Prime Ancestor, he was one of them, but he didn't participate in the family's venture.
"We can't be bothered by what is happening outside. A spatial disturbance is indeed there, and there's another world within..." the Imperial Ancestor of Great Yu Celestial Dynasty confidently claimed as he shook his head. As his piercing gaze landed on the region, the void trembled and violently rang.
"There are certainly space fluctuations hidden there..." The other True Daoists were also observing the region, subconsciously revealing gleeful expressions given how they managed to find Mirror Lake without breaking a sweat.
"We don't know if danger lies ahead. We should let them scout ahead." The True Daoist from Godly Spirit Mountain coldly glared at the Snow Sword Immortal and the rest, intending to send them into the entrance beforehand.
His words received agreement from his allies, who also coldly stared at the Abundance Sword Immortal and the rest, as they forbade them any opportunity to make a choice.
"But you promised to release us once we've paved the way..." Upon those words, the face of one of the Earth Sword Immortals grew taut as his heart was filled with humiliation and reluctance. They might be the most powerful beings in their world, but now, they were nothing but dogs being ordered around, and those commanding them even reneged on their promise, showing no intention to fulfil it.
"Scum."
As soon as the Earth Sword Immortal was finished talking, a True Daoist from Sky Emperor Mountain glared at him furiously. Subduing the Earth Sword Immortal.
Instantly, blood splattered everywhere following a painful shriek. Dust of bones wafted in the air as the Earth Sword Immortal's body disintegrated. And so, another Earth Sword Immortal, a being that held absolute power in this world, swiftly died.
Seeing that, the Abundance Sword Immortal and the rest were stupefied. Some of them were enraged, intending to retaliate with their lives, but they were dragged back by those beside them and were advised not to act recklessly.
After all, to them, True Daoists were what they perceived as people who broke through the cultivation threshold of the world, and they stood not the slightest chance against them, and they were nothing but struggling ants to the True Daoists.
"Let's go." The Abundance Sword Immortal scoffed bitterly in his heart. Left with no choice, he then led the party into the entrance.
With that, the Snow Sword Immortal and the rest silently followed him, while the Imperial Ancestor of Great Yu Celestial Dynasty and the other True Daoists glanced at one another, relieved when they sensed no threat from the front.
After they walked past the entrance, the scenery on the other side opened their eyes as they were deeply dumbfounded.
"This is the aura, from the Heavenly Dao... The World's Will must be hidden here!" A True Daoist exclaimed with a shaky, surprised voice.
Naturally, True Daoists could clearly sense the pure, sacred aura swirling all over the place, and that aura was the result of the refinement of the Heavenly Dao. As for what led to the Heavenly Dao's refinement, they weren't particularly interested in. All they cared about was that they have found what they had been looking for.
"Is this the legendary God's Realm? How divine it is! That tower right there must be the Tower of Blessings! It was once built by the people of Ancient Arcane Empire specifically as a medium of making offerings to heaven. Rumours had it that anyone that prayed at the top of the tower would have their voice heard by the gods. And that was the very reason of how Ancient Arcane Empire became the most dominant empire in the history of the Profound Sword World..."
The Abundance Sword Immortal's voice was filled with shock as he could instantly see the silver, gleaming tall tower far away.
At this moment, they were standing on the peak of a mountain with surges of clouds around them, as if they were now in a world of gods. This world was absolutely harmonious and tranquil, clear of any murderous aura. Everything was calming, as if it could erase all the hatred in one's heart.
"There's a silver lake over there. Wait, someone has indeed come before us..."
Despite the intensive cultivation power suppression of this world, the Imperial Ancestor of Great Yu Celestial Dynasty, given his amazing sense of sight, managed to perceive the silver lake beside the Tower of Blessings. Resembling a silver mirror, the borderless lake was astonishingly vigorous, as a vague layer of mist levitated above its surface.
"The World Source must be underneath that lake!" Another True Daoist exclaimed, as greed arose in his eyes, swiftly turning into a divine rainbow and rushing towards the silver lake.
However, before he could take a few steps forward, a silver lightning landed from the sky. Resembling a silver True Dragon, the lightning was directly projected at his head, intending to strike him down from the sky. The thunder was blaring and endless, as if the gods were offended.
At once, the Abundance Sword Immortal and the rest were dazed as they remembered a rumour—one should always enter the Ancient Arcane Ancestral Temple with humility in their heart or they would be struck by lightning as a result of gods' wrath.
Hence, the True Daoist flying across the sky was precisely a disrespect to heaven.
"That's heaven's retribution. It's really heavenly retribution..." They were stunned as their bodies constantly shivered. Under such a formidable lightning, they seemed like nothing but ants.
"Mere lightning wishes to stop me? As if it could stop my thirty million years of cultivation!"
Nevertheless, facing the silver lightning, the True Daoist who advanced feigned immense indifference, raising his hand towards the sky and shattering the lightning bolt. He could sense that the lightning's aura was merely of Quasi-Nirvana Realm and was by no means close to being a threat to True Daoists.
Thereupon, the rest of the True Daoists also turned into divine rainbows without any hesitation, braving the lightning as they advanced toward the Mirror Lake.
Indubitably, the Snow Sword Immortal and her peers dared not to charge so rashly, so they could only cross over with a truthful, reverent heart.
Meanwhile, some of them took the opportunity to escape, only to realise that the entrance to this space was destroyed from the otherside, as a descending light turned everything into dust, including the void.
"What's wrong? Did someone destroy the entrance?" The faces of the Earth Sword Immortals, who attempted to escape, blanched as they grew dejected.
As such, the Snow Sword Immortal and the rest stopped their descending steps and turned around with a scowl, unable to fathom who would destroy the entrance at such a moment. [Do they plan to trap all of us here?]
"Why do I feel that this world is carrying fearful emotions?" The Snow Sword Immortal raised her head with a frown to take a look at the vast lightning sea.
Right as they were dwelling in their bafflement, from the entrance behind them that crumbled into nothingness, two figures suddenly appeared.
The leading man donned a white robe. Divine gleams spiralled around his hair, and he appeared extraordinary and divinely dashing, as if he was an incarnation of an Immortal.
Behind him, a tall, buffed man as sturdy as a mountain followed, clad in a battle suit made of Hell's Iron.
"Young Master Gu?
Seeing the approachers, the Snow Sword Immortal, the Abundance Sword Immortal and the rest instantly widened their eyes in disbelief, doubting their own eyes.
[Didn't Young Master Gu say that he was to return to the Upper Realm and he was only here for the merriness? So why is he here? He even destroyed the entrance?]
"Oh, you're still alive." Gu Changge seemed surprised by how the Earth Sword Immortals were still alive, feigning a smile.
However, that smile of his left the Snow Sword Immortal and the others feeling chilly as the latter began to tremble, thinking that the Gu Changge they were looking at was a completely different person from the Gu Changge they knew. Such a sensation was fear from the deepest part of their souls.
"Young Master Gu, you..." The Snow Sword Immortal forced herself to calm down, intending to greet Gu Changge.
Nonetheless, Gu Changge merely retained his faint smile, showing no intentions of prolonging the conversation. With that, he and Ah Da took a step forward and vanished before reappearing at the foot of the mountain. His movement was so fast that he disappeared for only a split second before reappearing at a spot an infinite distance away.
Nevertheless, what left the Snow Sword Immortal even more frightened was how no lightning bolt struck Gu Changge as heavenly retribution.
"Does this world... fear him?" Dazed and bewildered, the Abundance Sword Immortal muttered with his dry, bitter lips.