CHAPTER 1266 THE END OF THE WORLD
Once everyone left the training grounds and cleaned up, they gathered at the dining table, where Meifeng served a feast.
"Since it's been a while since we ate together, I decided to celebrate a little," Meifeng said.
Yuan smiled, "Thank you."
Sometime later, after dinner ended and the table was cleaned with everyone present, Yuan took a deep breath before speaking, "What I am about to tell you will sound crazy, but it's happening, and I don't want you to freak out."
"You are already freaking me out, Yuan…" Wang Ming swallowed nervously.
The others nodded in agreement.
Yuan then asked them, "Do you remember when I told you guys about the truth behind Earth— how it used to belong in the Nine Heavens before it got separated?"
They nodded.
"Unfortunately, Earth drifted a little too far away from the Nine Heavens and became starved of spiritual energy. Normally, when something like that happens, the world will eventually stop being able to support itself and get destroyed. But fortunately, the Lord has been protecting this world through a formation for millions of years now, preventing it from destruction."
"However, his power isn't unlimited, and he won't be able to support that formation one day. For some reason, the formation that is holding this world together has been demanding more spiritual energy as of lately, and at this rate, the Lord won't be able to support it anymore, and when that happens…"
"The end of the world…?" Shi Lang muttered in a dazed voice.
Yuan nodded, "Yes, Earth will cease to exist, alongside its inhibitors."
"What?!"
Everyone there exclaimed in a shocked voice after hearing this news.
"W-W-Wait! This is something that will happen far into the future, right? Please tell me that it will happen only long after we are dead!" Wu Zao cried out loud.
Yuan shook his head with a solemn expression and sighed, "The Lord estimated that he will only be able to support the formation for another hundred years if the formation continues to absorb his spiritual energy at its current rate." Belonging to .
"A HUNDRED YEARS?!?!"
"Of course, that is only if the formation's current condition remains. Unfortunately, the Lord also predicted that it might get worse in the future, so we probably have less time than that."
"W-We have less than a hundred years before the world ends…? How am I even supposed to respond to this…?" Wang Bingbing muttered with a dreadful look on her face, her complexion as white as a ghost.
Unsurprisingly, the others had similar looks on their faces. After all, they were all looking forward to their future which seemed incredibly bright until just moments ago.
"Why didn't the Lord tell us something this important? He had plenty of chances to…" Hong Xiuquan muttered in a puzzled manner.
"He probably didn't want you guys to worry about it needlessly," Yuan sighed.
"He was right. There's nothing we can do about it even if we knew, so we'd only be needlessly worrying about it. We're useless." Wang Ming gritted his teeth in frustration.
"I wouldn't say that." Yuan quickly said, and he continued, "The Lord trained you guys for a reason. Although it won't give us more time, you guys can make it easier for the Lord to maintain the formation by transferring your spiritual energy to him."
"Also, we already have a plan in motion, so just leave everything to me. I will do everything in my power to save Earth."
"You do? What do you plan on doing? Is there anything we can do to help?" Meixiu asked.
Yuan shook his head, "I'm afraid not. We have several ways to save Earth, but most of them are either too time-consuming or logistically impractical, so we decided to restore the Lord's diminished power, which will buy us more time to find another method to save Earth."
"That will require a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, correct?" Meifeng asked.
Yuan nodded, "Yes, so I need to find a soul belonging to a God Ascension realm cultivator in the Nine Heavens and bring them to Earth to help us."
"What? That seems impossible no matter how you think about it!" Xi Murong said.
"It's possible." Yuan retrieved his Empyrean Overlord and explained, "Soul Weapons can store a single soul in them, and since I can summon my Empyrean Overlord on Earth, there's a good chance that I can bring back a soul with me."
Chu Liuxiang then asked, "How strong is a Cultivator in the God Ascension realm?"
"They're practically at the peak of cultivation— the strongest cultivators out there."
Seeing Chu Liuxiang's face afterward, Yuan continued, "I know what you're thinking. I already have an idea where to go to find someone that powerful."
"Anyways, until I find this soul, there's nothing we can do but pray that everything works out."
"This isn't going to be easy, but try your best to not worry too much about it." Yuan knew that he would only make them worry needlessly by telling them this information, especially when they could not do anything about it, but he did not want to keep them in the dark about something this serious.
"What should we do now?" Meifeng suddenly asked him.
"I know there's nothing we can do to help you, but surely, there is something we can do to lessen your burden, right?"
Yuan smiled and said, "Just keep doing what you normally do. I will be more at ease that way, too."
"If you say so…"
After the meeting ended, everyone returned to their rooms to ponder about the situation.
"Hey, what do you think of the situation?" Wang Binging stopped Wang Ming before he entered his room and asked.
"What is there to think about? Once again, we're too weak to do anything, so Yuan is forced to do everything by himself. Although there's nothing we can do this time, it won't be like that next time."
Wang Bingbing smiled after hearing his words and nodded, "I agree, but if we're going to be of any use to him, we'll really need to step it up. So, I'm thinking of ascending to the Third Heaven soon."
"That… might be a good idea." Wang Ming said with a look of relaxation.
"Okay! I've decided! I'm going to ascend as soon as I'm done with my current training at the sect!"
"I bet I'll ascend faster than you." Wang Bingbing then said.
"We'll see about that!" And without saying anything else, Wang Ming entered his room.
When Wang Bingbing returned to her room, she immediately went into Cultivation Online and began planning to ascend.
Meanwhile, inside their room, Chu Liuxiang said to Yuan, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing so suddenly?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Because last night… even though you probably weren't in the mood…"
"That's nonsense, and there was no way you could've known. While I admit that I wasn't in the mood at first, I didn't regret it, as I felt much better afterward, so thank you."
"Does this mean you'll immediately return to Cultivation Online?" Chu Liuxiang then asked.
As much as she wanted to spend some more time with him, she couldn't blame him for leaving again.
However, to her surprise, Yuan shook his head and said, "No, I am still going to stay here for a little longer to spend more time with you guys— with you and Meixiu."
"Really?!" Chu Liuxiang's face immediately brightened after hearing his words.
He nodded with a calm smile.
Chu Liuxiang suddenly tossed herself at him and said, "If that's the case, you should see Meixiu tonight. After all, you'll be mine tomorrow— the whole day."
Yuan chuckled, "Sure."