After Three Months
Zhang Yong quietly opened his eyes. Everyone had already finished some time ago.
Zhang Yong had made good progress. "The Fire Law has reached the sixth level, and my mastery of it surpasses that of the Ice Law. But..."
Zhang Yong began to think back to the time when he absorbed the ice crystal. He had hoped to see a similar scene, but he had raised his expectations in vain.
Still, he shook his head calmly. 'I shouldn't try to force things. That won't help.'
Zhang Yong rose from his meditative posture, then looked at his companions one by one.
"Alright, since Zhang Yong has finished and everyone has rested, I suggest we move on to a new area now," Liu Yan said in a decisive voice.
A brief silence ensued, then everyone nodded confidently.
The group advanced quietly, crossing the volcanic lands.
During this period, Zhang Yong was somewhat preoccupied. 'Yuni, you need to explain some things.'
(I know what you're thinking, but it's different.)
'The Heavenly Boundary World... is it the same as the Trial World?'
(Yes and no. The Trial World is also just a distorted copy of worlds. This world is mixed, so it could be a coincidence.)
'Yuni, is there a connection between your creator and this place?'
This question had been the most puzzling in Zhang Yong's mind. Until now, he had never asked Yuni about her creator because he knew she wouldn't answer. But now he was starting to wonder. Not that anything would change if he knew.
(I can guarantee there is no connection between them.)
As they continued advancing through the cracked rocks and steam rising from the earth's fissures, the atmosphere was filled with silence, save for the sound of their footsteps echoing on the scorched ground.
After a while, a massive red wall appeared, stretching boundlessly toward the sky. They had reached the regional wall of the Fire Law.
Liu Yan placed her hand on the wall. "This is the regional wall... I didn't expect to reach it so quickly."
The group made their way through the rift with difficulty, and when they penetrated it, they felt as if they were being pulled through a tunnel of light.
It was strange because it was their first time experiencing this.
They fell one by one onto solid ground. But this time, the place was different.
The sky was blue, adorned with stars. The ground was rocky and gray. A purple moonlight appeared in the sky, and in the distance stood a black mountain, from whose peak rose a pillar of silver light.
Everyone stood stunned before the new scene. None of them had expected to transition to such a radically different environment.
Jiang Ruyan looked at the purple sky in astonishment. "I've never seen this region before. Which Law is this?"
Zhang Yong raised his gaze and, using his Heavenly Eye, looked at the marks of the Law in the sky before his eyes widened. "This!... It's the Law of Spirit."
"The Law of Spirit?" Su Ming said, stepping forward slowly. "According to the teacher's words, no one can comprehend that which is formless. So shouldn't this region be formless?"
Wu Ruxian nodded, crossing her arms. "It's true that no one can comprehend the spirit, which is formless. But things like emotions and wills—they have no form yet they exist. In that case, can we truly call the spirit formless? After all, the human body is a vessel for the spirit, and liquids take the shape of their container. Therefore, it's easy to say it has form while being formless."
Zhang Yong felt a shiver run through his body at her words, but he calmly organized his thoughts.
The group headed toward the mountain as their initial destination.
"This place makes me feel uneasy," Long Yuliang said, her body shivering slightly.
About halfway there, they heard a faint sobbing sound seemingly coming from ahead—more precisely, from the mountain itself. The closer they got, the louder the sound became.
The sobbing was like the moans of a thousand lost souls, each one screaming to return to life from the depths of a bottomless hell.
Long Yuliang suddenly stopped, covering her ears, the pain evident on her face. "This sound... I can't bear it..."
Wu Ruxian grabbed her arm, maintaining her outward calm, but her eyes shone with seriousness. "Don't retreat. If you do, the situation will get worse."
Su Ming said in a hoarse voice as he walked beside Zhang Yong, "This... it hurts. It hurts so much."
Zhang Yong looked at the others before his mental energy shone and a pure flame of mental energy ignited on his forehead. Immediately, he spread his spiritual consciousness around everyone. "This should work for a while."
Under the temporary protection that Zhang Yong spread, everyone managed to regain some mental balance, but they weren't entirely fine.
With each step they took toward the mountain, the sobbing grew more agonizing.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, there was something like a tunnel extending deep into the mountain.
Inside the tunnel, purple light seeped through the rock cracks in a suspicious manner, and the sounds of sobbing became like the screams of thousands of souls all at once, mixed with the sounds of crying children, the moaning of the elderly, and the shouts of dying warriors.
After advancing further, they arrived at what resembled a hall with purple crystal walls. But the most terrifying thing was that there were images and impressions on the wall.
They were ghosts.
They were ghosts with distorted, tormented faces—some with eyes gouged out, others missing arms. Some screamed in silence, while others beat their transparent hands against the walls as if trying to escape.
The group advanced in heavy silence. No one uttered a word. Even the sound of their footsteps seemed to be swallowed up inside that purple crystal hall.
Without warning, the purple light went out for a moment, and total darkness descended.
"I... I can't see!" Jiang Ruyan screamed as she clung tightly to Long Yuliang's arm.
Zhang Yong quickly raised his hand and released the Great Sun Flame from his palm, illuminating the area.
As he did so, a spectral figure stood behind Long Yuliang.
It was a girl wearing a padded floral suit, her feet comically small. She had a wide head with two mouths opening in different directions and four eyes with black pupils and frightening red irises. Her face was white, and her body resembled a balloon.
"Move away!" Zhang Yong shouted and unleashed the Great Sun Flame toward the spectral figure, causing it to momentarily fade with a resounding scream, but it didn't disappear—it merely retreated.
"This place isn't normal..." Su Ming muttered as he struggled to catch his breath, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
"It's here.....It's here!.....Food is here!" the girl chanted as she flew around the hall.
When she chanted, all the sounds of knocking, sobbing, and screaming stopped. Every gaze turned toward one person—Zhang Yong.
"Oh... damn," Zhang Yong cursed as his expression darkened. "Run!"
But his voice came too late. The ground began to shake, the walls to crack, and dozens of other spirits emerged from the crystals. Countless specters poured out, floating in the air and spinning like a dark tornado heading straight toward them.
The hall's purple colors gradually faded into a dead gray, as if life had drained from it, and black mist began spreading from the corners.
A spectral hand extended from the mist and grabbed Jiang Ruyan's ankle, pulling her forcefully so that she fell to the ground screaming.
But Wu Ruxian leaped quickly and severed the hand with a swift lightning bolt she unleashed, causing the spirit to retreat screaming in anger.
Zhang Yong turned toward Su Ming. "Su Ming, ghosts are considered evil spirits. Lightning has an advantage over them!"
Su Ming immediately understood Zhang Yong's signal. "Alright!"
Su Ming raised his hand and unleashed the Queen's Lightning Flame in all directions.
A massive flash of lightning erupted from Su Ming's hand. The Queen's Lightning Flame tore through the air and struck the surging spirits, their screams burning as they evaporated into whirlwinds of black smoke.
But the number of spirits was overwhelming. Whenever one burned, another emerged from the crystals, as if they had entered an endless death cell.
(Death Qi has been detected in the location. Your combat abilities related to death have been enhanced.)
Zhang Yong's eyebrow twitched upon hearing the notification. Death Qi? In this place?
Wait—don't ghosts arise after death? Perhaps they can be absorbed.
Zhang Yong's steps halted while the shadows of his companions rushed past him. Then he turned toward the spirits and slowly raised his right hand.
Absorption Palm!
Yet the spirits continued advancing toward him, and there was no sign whatsoever that they were being drawn in.
Until the spirits were mere millimeters away from him—he jumped back and started running after the others. "Damn, damn, damn! This isn't the time to act heroically! Why didn't it work?!"
Zhang Yong ran with all his strength, the sound of the spirits behind him like wolves howling in the dead of night.
Suddenly, they heard a tremendous crash behind them, as if another mountain had fallen. They stopped, turned... and saw something that should not have been seen.
Deep within the hall, where light had faded and darkness merged with the sobbing, the spirits gathered.
One by one, the spirits melted into a single point, transforming into strands of black and purple smoke. Those strands spiraled around each other like a vortex.
Then, something emerged.
A colossal monster, dwarfing any creature they had ever known, formed from thousands of tormented souls. It had torn human faces, multiple heads, and endless screams emanating from each one.
It had six arms, each containing dozens of transparent hands, and each head displayed a specific expression—from a crying child's face to a dead elder, to a stern warrior, to a smiling woman.
The monster screamed—a scream that echoed throughout the entire mountain, shaking the walls and causing rocks to fall. The spiritual whirlwind unleashed a wave of black-purple energy that swept over them.
Zhang Yong unleashed the Sun and Moon Flames to counter the attack.
"I won't last long!" he shouted as blood flowed from his nose.
Su Ming raised his hand and unleashed the Queen's Lightning Flame, supporting Zhang Yong.
"We need to reach the other side!" Su Ming said as he raised his hand, unleashing a massive lightning flash.
"There's a way!" Zhang Yong muttered, then quickly looked at Su Ming. "Su Ming, can you send lightning in a focused manner? At its head, directly, without spreading."
"Understood!" Su Ming replied immediately, raising his hand to merge the Queen's Lightning Flame with immense focus, directing it straight at the monster's head.
But at the moment the electric beam shot toward the monster, a dark aura exploded around it, strangely absorbing the attack.
"Run, now!" Zhang Yong shouted, raising his hand again as the Sun and Moon Flames gathered in both his hands.
Immediately, everyone started running while Zhang Yong remained there.
Hidden in darkness, lost from light—in the darkest nights and brightest days. Golden rays shading the night, white light casting over the world. Beneath the sky, above the earth, no one escapes my gaze. Celestial bodies collide, and the two become one. The absolute dual movement of the Sun and Moon Flames—Eternal Heavenly Judgment.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Then, a golden sun and a silver moon appeared in the sky, spinning in strange harmony.
The two moved slowly toward each other, beginning to revolve, chasing one another. The moment they met, light exploded in all directions, filling the place with deadly, brilliant radiance.
The merged celestial body shot toward the monster with astonishing speed, compressing the air and everything in its path.
The light was so majestic that all the evil spirits around them trembled.
At the moment the merged celestial body surged toward the monster, the earth shook again, darkness surrounded them, and even the horizon around them began to distort. But the monster remained unaffected.
Instead, a dark shadow materialized in the midst of the light explosion, where black and purple threads seemed to wrap around themselves, attempting to absorb the approaching light.
Meanwhile, the others had reached the tunnel leading to the other side, where the light gradually diminished, finally disappearing behind them.
"Zhang Yong! Come quickly!" Liu Yan called from afar.
Zhang Yong's body tensed for a moment upon hearing Liu Yan's call, but he had no time to think. He turned and started running.
"I won't be able to hold on much longer!" he muttered, feeling his remaining mental energy fading. Using the lotus earlier and the lethal dual-flame technique had consumed most of his mental energy.
And this monster—it seemed to have absorbed every attack he had thrown at it. Simply put, there was no option but to flee.
Zhang Yong heard the sound of lightning shaking the entire place. Su Ming had unleashed another beam of concentrated lightning, but it wasn't enough.
"Hurry!" Su Ming shouted again, attempting to launch another attack and buy time for Zhang Yong.
The spirit raised its spectral arm, formed from thousands of hands, and attacked Zhang Yong swiftly before he could escape. Clearly, it did not want him to cross the passage.
The arm descended with force. Zhang Yong turned, and the Demonic Devouring Flame gleamed in his hand.
Devour!
A vortex of dark purple flame erupted from Zhang Yong's hand. The air trembled, and the nearby spectral spirits momentarily shrank back.
The spectral arm that had attacked him began to erode at the edges, slowly shrinking, but it didn't stop completely.
It resisted, roaring with the multiple soul-screams within it, pushing forcefully against the flame vortex.
The vortex succeeded—it didn't devour the entire arm, but it tore enough of it away to temporarily halt its advance.
Zhang Yong lunged forward and leaped swiftly to the other side, toward his companions.
Immediately, Su Ming and Wu Ruxian pushed the stone slabs present on that side, sealing the entrance they had come through.