The Time Is Ripe, This World Is Afraid
The Time Is Ripe, This World Is Afraid
Many people screamed in misery as they discovered their bodies were rapidly dissolving. Their entire forms turned translucent, and then even their bones and flesh became crystalline, before finally scattering into a rain of light.
Such a horrifying scene was like having one’s skull pried open and a basin of ice water poured down inside, leaving everyone trembling in terror.
“This grey fog... why does it feel so familiar?”
Yu Feiya’s expression changed drastically as she led the people of the Great Yu Celestial Dynasty behind her in a rapid retreat, trying to get back to the Ancient Battleship.
She had a feeling that this terrifying, eerie grey fog had appeared somewhere before. Although she had never seen it with her own eyes, she had heard of it from various sources.
“Back then, when the Hidden Ji Family went to Kun Mountain to rescue their Founding Ancestor, they seemed to have encountered a terrifying fog just like this. It nearly wiped out the entire Hidden An Clan.”
“Even True Daoists perished within it, unable to escape death.”
Yu Feiya’s face was filled with unconcealable dread. This eerie grey fog had only ever appeared in a Life Forbidden Area like Kun Mountain—so why was it here now?
She had no time to think it over. She quickly ordered her people to activate the defensive Array Patterns on the Ancient Battleship, lest they be devoured by the grey fog.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck her mind, making Yu Feiya’s whole body jolt. Her face grew even more horrified, filled with disbelief.
She stiffly turned her head to look toward where Gu Changge had been standing before—but that spot was already empty. It seemed that the moment the grey fog swept in, Gu Changge had already vanished.
“Back then, Gu Changge was also on his way to Kun Mountain... he was among those who encountered that eerie fog...”
“This... this should just be a coincidence.”
For some reason, Yu Feiya thought of an utterly terrifying possibility. She couldn’t help but shudder, not daring to think any further.
The entire Ancient Arcane Ruins fell into panic and unrest because of this sudden, horrifying fog.
Almost everyone was trying to flee toward the outermost edges. Compared to the black mist from before, this grey fog was clearly far more terrifying.
“What’s happening outside? What’s going on? Why have these armies of living dead, who should know no fear, suddenly become terrified?”
Deep within the Ancient Arcane Ruins, corpses and ruined ancient temples and halls lay everywhere, collapsed into rubble, their original forms unrecognizable.
An Earth Sword Immortal who had been scouting the path ahead looked back uneasily. The armies that had been hunting them down were actually retreating like a receding tide, as if they had sensed some even more terrifying existence.
“Regardless, this is exactly where the fluctuations came from earlier. The entrance to Mirror Lake must be just ahead.”
The Abundance Sword Immortal said, his gaze falling on the area ahead.
There lay a stretch of collapsed ruins, with an ancient temple faintly glowing, half-hidden among them.
Surprisingly, quite a few vines grew around it, lush and full of life.
Such a sight was truly out of place in this environment.
“Something about this aura feels wrong. Has some other anomaly occurred outside? This feeling makes me uneasy. Back at Kun Mountain, I sensed this kind of aura from afar as well. Why has it appeared here again?”
A True Daoist frowned. In his perception, a vast and terrifying aura seemed to be pressing down from outside. Even as a True Daoist, his heart pounded with fear, unable to calm down.
The last time the Hidden Ji Family stormed Kun Mountain to rescue their Founding Ancestor, he had been there too—he just hadn’t been together with the Ji Family’s people.
“We can’t worry about what’s happening outside anymore...”
“There is indeed a spatial fluctuation there. There’s another world hidden within.”
The old Imperial Ancestor of the Great Yu Celestial Dynasty shook his head, his gaze like a heavenly blade as it fell upon that spot. The void trembled and hummed, ringing with metallic sounds, as he declared with certainty that a spatial fluctuation was indeed hidden there.
The other True Daoists examined it as well, and then couldn’t help but show delight. It had taken no effort at all—they had finally found where Mirror Lake was located.
“Who knows if there’s danger inside. Let them scout the path first.”
The True Daoist of Godly Spirit Mountain swept a cold gaze over the Snow Sword Immortal and the others, intending to make them enter that gateway first.
His words won the agreement of the others, who all looked coldly at the Abundance Sword Immortal and his group, giving them no choice in the matter.
“You promised that once we opened the way, you would let us go!”
Hearing this, one Earth Sword Immortal’s face turned ugly, his heart filled with humiliation and unwillingness.
In this world, he was one of the mightiest beings standing at the very peak. Yet now he was being ordered around like a dog, and the other side was even going back on their word, with no intention of honoring what they had promised.
However, the moment this Earth Sword Immortal’s words fell, a True Daoist of Sky Emperor Mountain suddenly turned his gaze upon him. It was as if a terrifying Devil Mountain weighing billions of jun crashed down, crushing over this person’s body.
In an instant, a bloody mist spread out, accompanied by a scream. The spot exploded into a sky full of shattered bones—the man was destroyed in both body and soul.
An Earth Sword Immortal, one of the mightiest beings of this world, had perished just like that.
This scene made the expressions of the Abundance Sword Immortal and the others change drastically. Many were furious and wanted to fight to the death, but the people beside them held them back tightly, warning them not to act rashly.
Facing True Daoists—what they called the Absolute Detachment realm—they had not the slightest chance of resistance. It would be like an ant trying to shake a great tree.
“Let’s go.” The Abundance Sword Immortal laughed bitterly in his heart. With no choice, he took the lead and stepped into the gateway first. Then the Snow Sword Immortal and the others followed silently behind. The old Imperial Ancestor of the Great Yu Celestial Dynasty and the rest exchanged glances, and only after sensing no fluctuations from the other side did they feel at ease.
After passing through that gateway, the scene before them opened up dramatically, even leaving them somewhat stunned.
“This is the aura left behind when the Heavenly Path underwent Dao Immolation!”
“The Heavenly Path’s Will is definitely hiding in this place!”
A True Daoist’s voice rang out with delight, trembling slightly.
At their level, they could naturally sense the sacred aura permeating this place—left behind after the Heavenly Path underwent Dao Immolation.
As for why the Heavenly Path had undergone Dao Immolation, they weren’t interested. This place had what they needed, and that was enough.
“Is this the legendary divine realm? So sacred...”
“That tall tower must be the Heaven-Reaching Tower recorded in the ancient texts. The Ancient Arcane Empire built it specifically to worship the heavens. It’s said that praying at the top of the tower lets the heavens hear your voice. It’s because of this that the Ancient Arcane Empire became the most powerful dynasty in the history of the Profound Sword World.” The Abundance Sword Immortal’s voice was full of shock as well—at first glance he had spotted the silver-gleaming tower in the distance.
They now stood atop a mountain peak, with ethereal clouds and mist surging all around, as if they had stepped into a divine realm.
This world was simply too peaceful and serene, without the slightest aura of slaughter. Everything was so calming that it seemed one could let go of all grudges and hatred.
“There’s a silver lake over there—no wait, someone really has beaten us to it!”
The old Imperial Ancestor of the Great Yu Celestial Dynasty had astonishing eyesight. Even though this place greatly suppressed cultivation, he still spotted at a glance the silver lake beside that Heaven-Reaching Tower.
It was incomparably radiant, with no visible boundary. Void-like mist drifted and surged across its surface, like a silver mirror.
“The whereabouts of the World Source lies within.”
Another True Daoist’s eyes gleamed with greed. He moved quickly, transforming directly into a streak of divine light and striding toward that silver lake.
However, before he had taken more than a few steps, silver thunderbolts suddenly crashed down from heaven and earth, like a vast True Dragon formed of silver, smashing straight down at his head to strike him out of the sky.
The sound was truly immense, rolling on endlessly, as if the heavens themselves had been enraged.
The faces of the Abundance Sword Immortal and the others all changed. They recalled a legend: within the Ancient Arcane Ancestral Temple, one had to remain devout, or else heavenly thunder would be invoked and heavenly wrath incurred.
Flying through this place was an even greater disrespect to the Heavenly Path.
“This is divine punishment...” They were horrified, trembling all over. Beneath such thunder, they felt like nothing more than ants.
“Mere heavenly thunder—what can it do to me? This old man achieved the Dao thirty million years ago. Why would I fear this?”
Yet facing these silver thunderbolts, the True Daoist striding forward was utterly disdainful. He raised a hand toward the sky and directly shattered the thunderbolts.
He could sense that the aura of these thunderbolts was only at the Quasi-Emperor level, far below that of a True Daoist.
Seeing this, the other True Daoists didn’t hesitate either. They all transformed into divine light and strode forward, braving the heavenly thunder as they descended toward Mirror Lake.
The Snow Sword Immortal and the others didn’t dare fly over so brazenly. They could only walk honestly, like pilgrims.
Some of them planned to take the chance to leave, but they suddenly discovered that the gateway out of this space seemed to have been destroyed from the outside.
Light poured down over there, pulverizing everything—even the void was ground to dust.
“What’s going on? The gateway’s been destroyed?”
The faces of several Earth Sword Immortals who had tried to leave turned deathly pale, filled with despair.
The Snow Sword Immortal and the others also stopped their descent down the mountain, frowning as they looked back, unable to figure out who would destroy the entrance at a time like this.
Could it be that someone intended to trap everyone here?
“Why do I feel like this world is... afraid?” The Snow Sword Immortal frowned and looked up at the vast sea of thunder ahead.
And just as they stood there puzzled, two figures suddenly walked out of the gateway behind them—the gateway that had already collapsed into nothingness.
The one in front was dressed in white, his hair wreathed in divine radiance, transcendent and otherworldly, handsome and elegant, like a banished immortal descending to the mortal world.
Behind him followed a tall, burly figure like a mountain, clad in divine armor of Hell Iron.
“G-Gu... Young Master Gu?”
Seeing the newcomers, the Snow Sword Immortal, the Abundance Sword Immortal, and the others all widened their eyes in an instant, hardly daring to believe it, wondering if they were seeing things.
Gu Changge? Didn’t he say he was planning to return to the Beyond, that he had only come here to join the fun?
Why would he appear here—and even destroy the gateway out?
“Oh? Looks like you’re all still alive.” Gu Changge seemed somewhat surprised that they were still alive, and smiled faintly.
But that smile sent a bone-deep chill through the Snow Sword Immortal and the others. They couldn’t help but tremble, feeling that the Gu Changge before them was completely different from the person they had known before.
It was a terror that came from the deepest depths of the soul.
“Young Master Gu, you...”
The Snow Sword Immortal forced herself to calm down and tried to greet him.
However, Gu Changge merely smiled faintly, with no intention of continuing the conversation. Taking Ah Da with him, he stepped forward and vanished from the foot of the mountain.
His speed was incredible—he disappeared into thin air almost instantly, then reappeared thousands of kilometers away.
But what horrified the Snow Sword Immortal and the others even more was that no thunder descended upon this place to deliver divine punishment upon Gu Changge!
“This world... is afraid of him?” The Abundance Sword Immortal’s mouth went dry, and he felt his scalp tingle with numbness.