Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"Reckless!" Lang Xue spat, her eyes filled with disdain towards the young woman’s irresponsible actions. The expert may not have been a Heavenly Genesis expert, but he was still her subordinate and willing to take a risk for her. She shouldn’t have sent him to test the dangers of the outside and subject his life to such unknowns.

To her, people like this was despicable. A life, regardless of how frail or weak, deserved to be treated properly. Despite her thoughts, she only coldly snorted and turned her gaze away. This gaze tried to shroud her intense fear with irritation at the young woman’s actions. Unfortunately, her heart that seemed to reverberate so loudly that even Tao could hear betrayed her emotions.

Tao’s eyes were calm despite the situation. He analyzed the information available, organized it, and tried to make a deduction. Yan Zaizen was doing the same. At the moment, trying to conceive a plan would be better than staying here. Luckily, since no one knows the dangers or rules of this bizarre space yet, there hasn’t been anyone who has decided to fight or rob.

From where he was, he could sense the sinister greed of others piercing over. After all, externally, Lang Xue was the strongest expert. Yan Zaizen’s vital energy intensity barely reached the second-floor Heavenly Genesis realm. Externally, Lang Xue and Yan Zaizen were slightly equal, but the Heavenly Path had far more advantages and was more troublesome than the Bodily Path.

"We’re at the eye of a storm," Tao surmised. Lang Xue trembled at his words. At first, she wanted to directly smash his concept as that made zero sense, but after thinking about it, it seemed true. The current location seemed to be safe, but outside caused the soul and body to be subjected to the same force as the spatial laws or soul energy.

Yan Zaizen nodded, agreeing with his assumption. The Border Expanse was dim and dark. It also held countless unknowns. If an invisible storm that twisted spatial laws and soul-based fluctuations were to be created suddenly, then it’s possible. He recalled Bai Lufeng, checking on his state. He was currently cultivating in peace. After all, he was in a sound-isolated room. With his low cultivation base, why would he send his sense outwards when nothing happened?

He decided not to interrupt his cultivation. I mean, if they died, it doesn’t really matter where he was, right?

"If this is a storm, how was it formed?" Tao asked, his senses weren’t strong enough to figure this out. From the information gathered, he just knew it was formed somehow. It’s not like it was always here. If it was, then the realmships would be far more than just this few dozens. It was probably formed recently, very recently. After all, the myriad realms had hundreds of thousands of realmships soaring across space. A majority of them belonging to grand realms.

Yan Zaizen thought on this...

Wait.

Taking a deep breath, Yan Zaizen’s gaze flickered. "This space has essence, it’s faint, but it exists."

"What?! How?!" Lang Xue was in disbelief. The Border Expanse couldn’t house essence. This very reason was why it wasn’t habitable for normal lifeforms. However, after rotating her cultivation base, she discovered the same. The essence was faint, almost too thin to even notice, but still there.

"Miss Hong Hong, please!" An elderly man, with a profound cultivation base at the third-floor of the Heavenly Genesis Realm, pleaded with an exhausted voice. The young woman from earlier was having another tantrum. She pointed towards the other side of the bubble wall. It seems she was demanding her subordinates to attack it with all they have.

Everyone witnessed this and couldn’t help but shake their heads. Dealing with know-it-all young ladies and masters were difficult as all hell. "Hmph...brats like these deserve death." Lang Xue exclaimed with a tinge of hatred.

Yan Zaizen, however, felt odd. It was as if something was at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t discover it.

"If she attacks the bubble, what if it collapses and lets in the storm?" Tao said with deep fear. He was hoping that they wouldn’t take such an action. Others had the same mentality. Whatever force that was outside was outside right now, if they destroyed the bubble, wouldn’t it be inside?

"Wait! Collapse!!" Yan Zaizen’s eyes widened. He looked upwards, then downwards, then to the sides, his eyes flickering with silver light. A profound light erupted from his eyes, "...A sub-realm collapsed here." His words were said softly but it immediately caused the space of a 100 li to go silent. The young woman called Hong Hong turned her eyes towards Yan Zaizen.

Cultivators truly had impeccable senses.

The expressions of everyone was like a vivid movie depicting a process of vibrant reactions.

First, curiosity at why someone would suggest such a thing.

Second, disbelief at the ridiculous idea of it.

Third, thoughtful recollection.

Fourth, further disbelief at the ludicrous idea but a tinge of fear in their eyes.

Fifth, contemplation at the legitimacy of the idea.

Sixth, consequences if the idea was true.

Seventh, a flash of brief fear.

Eighth, further investigating the signs to disprove this idea.

Ninth, ABSOLUTE HORROR!!!

The world exploded in an uproar almost simultaneously. Everyone, EVERYONE, including Hong Hong went absolutely batshit crazy. Lang Xue underwent the same states of expressions, her eyes flashed with such fear that she visibly trembled. Her heavy chest bounced without order.

Yan Zaizen and Tao were the only calm individuals, but their hearts were sending waves and waves of fear throughout their bodies.

"Holy shit! We need to leave, NOW!" The fifth-floor Heavenly Genesis expert directly brought out his Heavenly Shrine. It revealed a square platform with three wisps of golden flames lingering above it. Above the square platform was a thicker square platform with two larger wisps of golden flames. Immediately, the entirety of the five wisps directly expanded to three hundred feet.

HE WAS IGNITING ALL FIVE OF HIS FLOORS!

The world started to rage and roar, the sheer power of a full eruption of five floors was extraordinary. The surrounding space started to seethe and burn. It seemed the three hundred feet wisps of golden flames wanted to incinerate space itself. Shockingly, the expert didn’t even consider anything. He directly grabbed his young master, a handsome young man that held a valiant red dot between his brows, and forcefully concentrated all of that immense power into a single hand.

RIIIIIP!!!

He clawed in front of him, space immediately produced a small, very small, spatial slit. With the quickest speed possible, with the young master at hand, he dashed unhesitatingly into the spatial slit. The moment he entered, the heavenly shrine vanished into dust, obviously its power was fully concentrated into this single action.

The other individuals on the realmship revealed expressions of horror seeing the top expert decisively cripple himself to save himself and his young master. A third-floor Heavenly Genesis expert followed suit, he ignited all his strength, but he didn’t take his young master, instead only himself. He believed, with his strength, he could only save himself.

Unfortunately...

He ripped open space and entered. However, at the outside of the bubble barrier, he appeared just a few li away. When this happened, everyone noticed him. Many even verbally shouted and pointed out the man’s existence. Without his heavenly shrine, he vanished faster than the man from earlier.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone knew that...unless you reached the fourth-floor or higher, leaving was likely an impossibility.

Yan Zaizen’s brows furrowed, "If it’s a collapsed sub-realm, then next would be..." He looked towards the middle of the realm and his eyes started to quiver with fear. The moment his gaze moved to the center, everyone else seemed to have felt something and followed suit in unison. A small, very small silver hole calmly floated.

This miniature silver hole that wasn’t even an inch was rotating like the swirling black hole in Yan Zaizen’s glabella.

A third-floor Heavenly Genesis expert fell to his knees, his very existence revealed despair and hopelessness. "We’re doomed."