Chapter 47: Is the Apocalypse Fun?

The two barely managed to steady themselves, and as they swept their gazes around, their expressions shifted drastically.

What met their eyes was a desolate wilderness. The sky hung low like a lid, the clouds stained an eerie dark red, resembling cotton balls soaked in blood, pressing heavily down upon their heads.

Leng Feng whipped his head around, shock filling his eyes: “Brother, how did we end up in a place like this in the blink of an eye?”

Ye Lingtian didn’t answer. Closing his eyes to concentrate, his divine sense swept out like a tide, only to instantly pull back as his expression darkened: “This must be Yue’er’s divine art.”

Before the words had faded, a deafening roar erupted across the heavens and earth. The ground beneath their feet trembled violently, countless fissures exploding in the exact same instant as scarlet magma erupted like subterranean dragons, shooting straight into the sky.

“Dodge!” Ye Lingtian roared. Spiritual energy burst from beneath his feet as he propelled himself into the air.

Leng Feng’s reaction was no slower, leaping into the sky almost simultaneously.

Suspended mid-air, the two were finally able to take in the full picture.

—The earth was being torn apart, magma converging into rivers, countless living beings crying out and fleeing amidst a sea of fire. Some were splashed by magma and instantly transformed into fireballs; others had their retreat cut off by fissures, plunging along with their final foothold into the rolling molten lava. The air was filled with the burnt stench of charred flesh, the pungent reek of sulfur, and the fishy sweetness of blood, assaulting their senses and making them violently nauseous.

Leng Feng stared hard at the purgatory beneath his feet, his Adam’s apple bobbing: “Is this an illusion?”

Ye Lingtian didn’t reply. Formulating a sword-finger, a stream of clear light shot forth, a flying sword humming as it tore through the void to pierce the magma below. The flying sword streaked past, flipped its body, and flew back to hover before them, its tip stained with a thread of magma that slowly dripped down.

“A test will tell.”

Ye Lingtian reached out a finger to gently brush against that thread of magma, closing his eyes to channel his spiritual energy into it for a careful scan. A moment later, his eyes snapped wide open: “It’s real! We’re in big trouble this time!”

Just as Leng Feng was about to press for answers, a spatial ripple suddenly erupted behind them.

The two turned simultaneously, watching space ripple like water as two figures burst out from within.

Leng Feng’s pupils contracted to pinpoints: “Why are you here?!”

Lady Wang’s face was deathly pale: “You suddenly froze completely still, and the moment we started to go check on you, our vision blurred and we were dragged into this place!”

Ye Lingtian let out a deep sigh, exchanging a look with Leng Feng as the two of them swept forward to meet the newcomers.

The arrivals were none other than Lady Wang and Madam Zhao.

Madam Zhao rushed straight to Leng Feng’s side, grabbing his arms tightly with both hands as she anxiously scanned him up and down: “Brother Feng, are you alright?”

Leng Feng shook his head.

Lady Wang swept her gaze across the surroundings, taking in the churning magma below and the wailing creatures in the sea of fire, the last trace of color draining from her face: “Lingtian, where on earth is this place?”

Ye Lingtian sighed once more, briefly recounting what he had just witnessed.

Hearing it out, Lady Wang’s lips trembled slightly: “Just now, the two of you struck at Jiaoyue, but right as you started, you suddenly froze and stopped moving entirely. My sister and I kept shouting your names at the top of our lungs, but you acted as though you couldn’t hear us at all.”

Madam Zhao took over: “Then you suddenly flew up into the air, as if you’d seen something terrifying. Right after that, Big Brother Lingtian’s flying sword suddenly thrust straight at me—thankfully I dodged quickly.”

Ye Lingtian and Leng Feng’s expressions shifted synchronously.

Ye Lingtian looked horrified: “You mean… our physical bodies are still back at the Spirit-Taming Sect?”

Lady Wang nodded forcefully: “Yes! But it’s as if your souls were sucked out; you couldn’t see or hear anything.”

Ye Lingtian drew a sharp breath: “Actions taken within the illusion map onto the physical body without exception—when we attacked in the illusion, our physical bodies thrashed blindly in reality.”

Madam Zhao chimed in immediately: “Right, you looked just like you’d lost your souls.”

Leng Feng suddenly remembered something, pressing urgently for answers: “What did Yue’er say?”

A complicated glint flashed in Madam Zhao’s eyes: “She said… once the flood begins to destroy the world, she’ll let you back.”

That sentence dropped heavily into everyone’s hearts.

Weren’t they currently placed squarely inside the apocalypse?

—Heaven and earth crumbling, all living things perishing; could these merely be the prelude to that “world-destroying flood”?

Just as a heavy weight settled in their chests, Lady Wang raised a hand sharply, her voice pitching so high it nearly cracked: “Look at that!”

The four of them looked up simultaneously and drew a synchronized breath of cold air.

High above in the firmament, that moon—which ought to have been bright and pristine—was staining itself with an unholy crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Beneath the blood moon, a woman’s silhouette was stepping through the empty air.

With every step she took, the world rang like a funeral bell. With every bit closer she drew, that blood moon expanded by a circle—growing from the size of a bronze basin to a cartwheel, then to the size of a mountain, blotting out the heavens as it pressed down overwhelmingly.

Following that, heaven and earth began to truly crumble.

Mountain ranges cracked inch by inch like porcelain, continental plates overturned and capsized, and scorching magma mixed madly with freezing groundwater, steaming into a blinding white fog that obscured the skies.

In the distance, a towering, thousand-meter tsunami rose from the earth, roaring forward with the might to destroy the heavens and level the earth. Wherever the giant wave passed, mountain peaks were beaten to powder, magma was quenched to black stone, and everything was wiped away.

“Fly higher!” Ye Lingtian roared. The four channeled their spiritual energy simultaneously, their forms climbing frantically toward the firmament.

Leng Feng, flying at the very front, shifted expressions drastically and turned back to shout: “Brother, there’s a barrier above us!”

Ye Lingtian swept his gaze over the furiously chasing flood wave and made a decisive call: “Strike together!”

The four of them pooled their strength simultaneously, various colored auras condensing frantically in their palms and along sword edges, the air vibrating violently at the nexus of their gathered spiritual energy.

At the most critical split-second, a voice drifted lazily from the nine heavens.

The voice sounded half-mocking, the tail end dragged out long and slow: “Hey-hey-hey… don’t strike! If this grand protective sect array shatters, Jiaoyue’s probably going to come hunt me down for revenge…”

As the words fell, all things in heaven and earth came to an abrupt, simultaneous halt.

Immediately following, a disorienting, spinning pulling force surged from all directions, frantically tearing at their divine senses.

When the group finally opened their eyes, the ornate vaulted ceiling of the Spirit-Taming Sect’s council hall came into view—carved beams, painted rafters, and wisps of incense curling lazily as everything remained peaceful and intact just as before.

The two men looked at each other in shock, their faces completely devoid of color, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads.

Blood Moon looked down upon them from on high, the smile growing deeper.

“Was it fun?”