[V6C20 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
A barrier resembling a hazy glass suddenly appeared before Qianye. As he circulated his Profound Combatant Formula, it seemed as though an invisible hand was wiping the mist away to reveal the void realm behind. It was so boundlessly vast that his minuscule consciousness might be devoured at any moment.
Qianye’s will was like a small boat in the midst of the raging waves. From time to time, he would be tossed upon the waves or pressed into the depths. Those surging tides of origin power were hundreds of meters tall and immeasurably vast. Moreover, no one knew where their origin.
The fluctuations in the depths of the void had already affected the Evernight Continent. A blood-colored opening had appeared in the sky through which ferocious void origin power was pouring in continuously. Immediately after entering the world of Evernight, the origin power ignited into raging flames which flowed down like an infernal waterfall.
The thousand-meter stream of flowing fire wasn’t extinguished after falling to the ground and, instead, stretched out in every direction.
The openings in the sky increased in number as though the world was sustaining numerous injuries. The flaming waterfalls fell from the sky and transformed the world into a purgatory.
Qianye was beside himself as he watched the apocalyptic scene in a daze. Who could withstand such a great calamity between heaven and earth?
A notion emerged in Qianye’s heart. Could this be a scene produced by the battle between Sky Demon and the dark monarchs of Evernight?
Time seemed to be moving very slowly, yet it also felt like a mere moment. The origin tides in the void eventually calmed down, the tears in the sky gradually restored themselves, and the earth also stopped trembling. After the void origin power vanished, the heavenly flames on the ground were also extinguished one after another. Looking down from the sky, however, one could still see that charred fissure, a standing monument of the pain Evernight Continent had just suffered.
A layer of deep leaden color emerged and swept over from the distant sky. That was a familiar sight Qianye had beheld countless times—the Iron Curtain. However, the reappearance of the Iron Curtain this time contained an extraordinary significance.
Could it be that the great dark monarchs had been defeated?
The Iron Curtain had just swept through half the sky when an incomparably resplendent star lit up far far away. It then exploded abruptly and disintegrated into dozens of brilliant specks which flew off in every direction.
Most of the lights vanished as soon as they emerged, while the remainder only dispersed after traveling for quite some time. Whenever one of them vanished, Qianye could sense an extremely tyrannical aura flicker and disappear.
While these auras were different from one another, they were inconceivably powerful. Meanwhile, Qianye was still in a wondrous state brought about by the Profound Combatant Formula’s contact with the void. Moreover, he was tens of thousands of kilometers away. Even so, he could actually feel the sharp sting!
In the end, only several streaks of light remained. They flew far across the distance and disappeared over certain areas of the Evernight Continent.
After which, radiant splendor poured out from the distant star to shoot off in all directions. The peculiar energy was capable of traversing tens of thousands of kilometers, aweing everyone in sight. However, Qianye clearly sensed that this wasn’t a true vision, but a certain type of beckoning. The brilliance was calling upon all the experts of the world and leaving a vision within their consciousness.
At this time, Qianye’s body shuddered as the Profound Combatant Formula slowly ground to a halt, and the faintly discernible corner of the void completely receded from his consciousness.
Qianye retracted the luminous wings that were starting to grow dim and gradually fell back onto the ground. There was a certain revelation in his heart—the star he had just seen was likely the object Sky Demon sought. For some reason, it had shattered into numerous fragments, many of which disappeared along the way as peerless experts moved to retrieve them.
As for why the star had shattered, it was likely the result of that earth-shattering battle.
Wait! There were several of them that hadn’t yet been retrieved! Qianye suddenly recalled how several beams of light weren’t collected by anyone up until the point where they vanished over a certain place.
The Iron Curtain spread quickly across the sky and dark clouds rolled over thunderously. Behind the Iron Curtain, Sky Demon’s will once again swept over the heaven and earth. But this time, Qianye could clearly sense an inexplicable wrath within it.
Sky Demon’s will swept over Qianye, ignoring him and moving rapidly into the distance. Quite shockingly, it was actually moving toward the direction where the final pieces of light had vanished.
Qianye pondered for a moment before turning back along the road from which he had come. No matter what that light was, it held no significance to the current Qianye. Since even he could see where the lights had vanished, it must be the same for all the experts observing this battle. Moreover, he knew he wasn’t even qualified to approach a battleground belonging to the level of great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs.
Although Blackflow City was thousands of kilometers away, Qianye wasn’t quite sure how widespread the effects of that battle were.
As Qianye ran back through the wilderness at top-speed, he found all the places in the wake of those shockwaves had turned into lands of disaster, and even the rivers had changed course.
However, most people wouldn’t know that the center of this battlefield was already tranquil, and one could see the distant firmament through the huge gaping hole above. It was as though that piece of defective Iron Curtain could never be repaired. The land beneath had also vanished completely, and a bottomless giant vortex was slowly revolving therein.
Precipitous cliffs surrounded the vortex, but there was no dark mist swirling at its bottom. There were even motes of starlight flickering at the center—it was as though the void were hanging upside down here, and no one knew just how deep it was. There were dozens of figures standing in the air on each side.
These shadows were as insignificant as pebbles before this peculiar phenomenon of the heaven and earth. However, their auras were like precipitous cliffs and dense peaks capable of connecting the heaven and earth. Even that bottomless vortex didn’t seem like an impassable chasm to them.
Those were the experts of the empire and Evernight. They stood on different sides with a clear line drawn between them.
On the Evernight side, the greatest in number were the vampires. Although there were only three demonkin, the auras hidden beneath those wizard robes were among the most powerful present.
On the empire’s side, Lin Xitang and Luo Mingji’s military uniforms were the most eye-catching. And judging from the positions they had taken up, the experts beside them were probably on the same level too.
The great dark monarchs and heavenly monarchs were absent from both factions. Apparently, they had left to recuperate after Sky Demon was repelled.
Luo Mingji gazed attentively at the bottomless maelstrom with a frown. “An aura of the void is coming from the other end. Might this be a tunnel for spatial transition?”
Duke Wei’s aura was somewhat exhausted after releasing the Myriad Heavens Art three times. “This is the place of burial chosen by the void colossus itself, so it’s inevitable that there are defenses within. It’s quite likely a natural void channel, but the aura within is simply too violent. My perception was only able to go five hundred meters in before becoming obscured by the turbulence within. I have no idea what’s on the other side.”
All eyes fell upon the silent Lin Xitang.
The latter said unhurriedly, “It looks like a prismatic turbulence.”
All the experts were visibly moved after these words were spoken. “Prismatic Turbulence” was the most dangerous natural phenomenon of the void. Most intercontinental airships encountering it would meet a disastrous fate. During the great battle in which Lin Xitang had risen to the peak of his fame, he had led the Northern Legion to a successful landfall through this violent natural phenomenon, consequently rescuing the imperial army from a crushing defeat.
But if this truly were a prismatic turbulence, it was quite likely a defense mechanism left behind by the void colossus, and the other end of this channel had to be connected to a certain area in the void. The remains of primal chaos that had suddenly vanished during the earth-shattering battle just now were likely there, along with the fragments of primordial essence that had fallen in.
At this moment, a champion from the empire stationed at the periphery flew over and said with a bow, “Sires, the Evernight side sent word that Grand Duke Habsburg wishes to exchange information with Grand Marshal Lin Xitang. They believe the vortex to be a prismatic turbulence.”
The imperial experts exchanged glances before looking over at the experts on the other side. A dark-haired vampire was approaching together with several others of his kind. He then came to a stop on the invisible line between the two factions.
Lin Xitang pondered momentarily before saying, “I’ll go and listen to what they have to say.”
Luo Mingji, Duke Wei, and the other experts nodded. Under such circumstances, cooperation between the two sides was the fastest way to solve this problem. Sky Demon might return at any moment and with greater momentum. If they couldn’t figure out the situation quickly and form a countermeasure, it was quite likely that they would have to return empty-handed.
Lin Xitang’s figure flickered a couple of times and appeared a hundred meters from Grand Duke Habsburg. This was also the safe distance between divine champions.
Grand Duke Habsburg still had several years before entering what would be considered middle-age for vampires, however, he didn’t quite maintain an overly youthful appearance. In truth, although this celebrated dark race genius could be considered handsome, his looks weren’t exactly outstanding by vampire standards.
Those seeing him for the first time might not have thought this seemingly ordinary vampire was the famous clan lord of the Sperger clan.
The vampire followers immediately stepped back several hundred meters when Habsburg raised his hand. He himself suddenly walked forward and arrived ten meters away from Lin Xitang.
The latter watched him calmly without any movement.
Habsburg bowed slightly and said with a smile, “Marshal Lin Xitang, it’s been several years since our last parting.”
Lin Xitang reciprocated the gesture and replied indifferently, “Your Excellency Grand Duke, that means things have been relatively peaceful between the empire and Evernight.”
Habsburg’s smile grew deeper. “Is there no other topic of conversation between us apart from war?”
Lin Xitang pointed at the bottomless maelstrom underneath. “This is a type of prismatic turbulence. The other side of this passage likely connects to a certain place in the void. If it is indeed the cemetery void colossus designed as his resting place, it should be on solid land. It may be a meteorite fragment, a natural enclave, or even a minor realm.”
This so-called minor realm was a fragment of a fallen world, and the reason behind their formation remained a mystery to this very day. They would exist as an independent entity within the void and might even be governed by different laws.
At present, the minor realms from each faction could only be passed down by almighty ancient beings. Apart from the dark race’s Black-Winged Monarch Andruil, there had not been a second person in the recent millennium capable of creating them. Even the demonkin who possessed the highest origin power technology in the world could only maintain and operate these realms. They were incapable of constructing new ones.
If it was a minor realm on the other end, there was no telling what kind of price they would have to pay in order to enter and figure out the rules.
Habsburg shook his head and said with a smile, “It’s not a minor realm, but it’s not much better, either. We think that it might be the notorious wind tunnel.”
This time, Lin Xitang couldn’t help but break into a frown. The wind tunnel was a natural danger zone located in the void between the middle and lower continents.
He nodded and said, “Thank you for the information, Your Excellency. Someone from our side will go down to scout the way. Let’s discuss further after the situation becomes clear.”
Habsburg chuckled when he saw Lin Xitang bringing the conversation to a close. “Lin, I’m more certain than ever of one thing after seeing you today. That little scheme those idiots set up to kill you a while back was probably also a trap for you to kill me.”