Boom!!
The sudden explosion of the colosseum sent Meng Lin spiraling through the air. She could feel the floor beneath her disappearing, replaced by a terrifying emptiness. Her heart pounded in her chest as she twisted her body in mid-air, barely managing to control her descent.
As she plummeted, she looked around to realize that the colosseum had been floating in the sky but now that it had blown to pieces and all the participants were thrown about to fend for themselves in the air.
She could see the debris of the colosseum raining down around her, and the other cultivators who were also flung into the air by the explosion.
She turned her attention back towards the colosseum, she saw the SkyFire Venerable floating in the air, his body emitting a blinding red light. The blood raining down started to pool together, forming a swirling vortex of blood-red energy around SkyFire Venerable.
Another crack appeared in the sky, larger than the first one, and a demonic figure slowly emerged from it. It was a towering figure, its body covered in scales and eyes glowing with a deadly red light.
As it emerged the space around its body twisted and it stretched out a hand towards the SkyFire Venerable, who welcomed it with a sinister grin.
The demonic figure's hand enveloped SkyFire Venerable, and in the next moment, a blinding light erupted from within. When the light faded, the demonic figure and SkyFire Venerable were gone, leaving only the falling figure of a young man who seemed to only be at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The vortex gradually dissipated and Meng Lin came to her senses, she was falling fast and she had to do something.
~~!
The wind was howling in her ears and her heart was pounding in her chest. As she plunged downwards, the swirling vortex of blood-red energy where SkyFire Venerable and the demonic figure had disappeared seemed to loom even larger.
Meng Lin knew she needed to act fast. She quickly gathered her brute qi, focusing it into a protective shell around her. The energy swirled around her, forming a tangible barrier that encased her in a cocoon of qi.
The cocoon shimmered in the air, its surface crackling with raw energy. It was a testament to Meng Lin's intense focus and control over her brute qi.
As she fell, the cocoon spun around her, buffering her against the rushing wind and the debris hurtling past her.
She could see the ground coming closer and closer, but she felt a strange sense of calm. She trusted her qi to protect her, and she knew she had done all she could to prepare for the impact.
With a thunderous crash, she hit the ground, the cocoon of qi absorbing the brunt of the impact. A cloud of dust and debris rose around her, obscuring her from view.
When the dust finally settled, Meng Lin slowly got to her feet. Despite the rough landing, she was relatively unscathed. Her qi cocoon had done its job, protecting her from the worst of the impact.
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And her body was durable enough to withstand the shock of the impact, she looked around, her eyes adjusting to her new surroundings. She was back in the Nether cloud domain, surrounded by darkened fog on all sides.
But something wasn't right.
Her surroundings seemed distorted as if she was looking at everything through a warped mirror. The trees were bent at odd angles, the fog seemed to be shifting colors, and the ground beneath her feet was unnaturally cold.
Meng Lin was quickly answered as to why as a crack in space appeared a few meters away from her, with it a suction force pulling at her.
Jumping back Meng Lin escaped the pulling force but before she could get her bearings straight another crack appeared in the space above her, its edges jagged and unstable. She barely had time to react before she felt a powerful force pulling her towards it once more.
She quickly activated her brute qi and used it to propel herself away from the second crack, soaring through the air with remarkable speed.
However it seemed to be meaningless as a few seconds in the air Meng Lin felt a force pulling at her at an even faster rate than the others, without a moment to react she was sucked into the crack, her face in shock.
***
Meng Lin opened her eyes to see that she was now standing on the edge of a mountain cliff. The sudden change in scenery once more was disorienting, and Meng Lin couldn't help but feel a sense of confusion.
As she looked around, she realized that she had returned back to the Thousand Mountain Region.
She wasn't alone. Roughly a hundred cultivators, just like her, stood on the cliff, their expressions equally bewildered. Among them, she saw Luang Chen, Senior Sister Yue Feng as well as Lu Xuan and Xu Ruan from the Soul Shattering Sect however she couldn’t see the other four.
Meng Lin's mind raced as she tried to make sense of the situation. How did they all end up here? And where were the others, were they dead?
Before she could gather her thoughts, a sudden pressure came from the sky and an elderly man with white hair came floating from the sky, it was Division Head Zheng who had been waiting for them.
He quickly descended to the cliff with a thud, his eyes filled with seriousness. He quickly approached Xu Ruan, the leader of the group to ask what had happened.
"Xu Ruan, what just happened? Can you explain?" Division Head Zheng asked his voice firm and commanding.
Xu Ruan took a deep breath, still trying to process everything that had transpired, he didn’t know what had truly happened so he didn’t know what to say.
It was Luang Chen who chimed in to quickly recounted the events, describing the final trial, the explosion in the colosseum, the appearance of the demonic figure, and their subsequent teleportation to the mountain cliff.
Division Head Zheng listened intently, his expression growing graver with each detail. He nodded, acknowledging the seriousness of the situation.
"This is a grave threat," he said, his voice filled with concern. "The cracks in space and the appearance of the demonic figure are signs of a powerful being interfering with the Nether Cloud Domain, normally that shouldn’t be possible but…”
Crack!!!
A crack appeared in the space where the portal to the Nether Cloud Domain was and a deafening boom echoed through the air as the crack shattered into countless pieces, raining down spatial shards of cracks onto the disorganized cultivators on the cliff.
Division Head Zheng's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the shards falling. He quickly formed a barrier of energy around the Soul Shattering Sect disciples, not bothering to protect the others on the cliff.
As for the remaining cultivators, some in the Gold Core Realm were able to react fast and avoid the falling spatial shards, their cultivation allowing them to sense danger and move swiftly.
Puchi!!
However, most weren’t lucky. The spatial shards descended with incredible speed, piercing through flesh and bone, leaving a trail of blood and agonized cries in their wake.
“We have to return to the sect at once.” Division Head Zheng said with a dark expression, not paying attention to the surrounding cultivators who had received the onslaught of shards.