"Hmm..."

The moment Meng Lin was swallowed by the fissure, instead of the familiar sensation of teleportation, a violent force seized her body, and her surroundings blurred in an instant, replaced by an overwhelming gust of wind.

"Ah!"

A sharp cry escaped her lips as the wind howled around her, whipping her hair in every direction.

She felt weightless, tumbling through the air as though gravity didn't exist.

She felt a massive pressure against her chest, making it difficult to breathe, and every attempt to stabilize herself with her Qi was met with another ruthless gust, sending her spinning in a new direction.

Darkness pulsed at the edges of her vision. The sheer force of the wind battered her senses, making it impossible to tell which way was up or down. Then, suddenly...

Boom!

She felt an incredible force slam into her, and everything went dark.

***

Pain exploded through her body as Meng Lin’s senses returned.

She groaned, the sound barely audible over the roar of the wind. She felt her body against something hard—perhaps a boulder—she was pressing against its horizontal surface, debris flying from the impact.

She opened her eyes, barely able to see through the dust and debris swirling in the air like a storm around her.

It was only then that she noticed the air was thick with Wind Elemental Qi.

Her brows furrowed as she tried to circulate her own Qi, but the surrounding turbulence acted like a barrier, as if the very air rejected foreign forces, making it difficult to utilize her Qi.

Meng Lin clenched her fists, forcing herself to move despite the immense force pressing her down. Pain coursed through her limbs as she barely managed to kneel.

Taking a deep breath, Meng Lin extended her spiritual consciousness outward, trying to map the environment around her. The wind was so powerful that it was difficult to even open her eyes, but now that she was no longer tossed helplessly through it, she could sense the terrain more clearly.

The ground was uneven—sharp, jagged boulders pierced the sky at strange angles. The land was barren, with no sign of vegetation or life, just endless stretches of stone and debris.

The air was thick, the wind screeching through the landscape like a living thing, and, most importantly, she didn’t sense any life forms.

'Does that mean Wu Dao and I were not teleported to the same place?' Meng Lin clenched her jaw, bracing against the violent winds that threatened to sweep her off her feet.

Her robes whipped around her like tattered banners, and every breath she took was sharp, the air carrying a cutting chill despite the sheer force of the storm.

"Damn it."

Meng Lin’s frustration showed. She was no stranger to being tossed into dangerous places, but this was different. The entire place felt... wrong.

The sheer density of Wind Elemental Qi was even stronger than the combined Five Elemental Qi that she possessed.

Ignoring the aching in her limbs, Meng Lin took her first step forward, the wind immediately resisting her movement.

Every inch she moved felt like pushing against an invisible force, but she kept going, her spiritual consciousness pulsed outward again, searching...

Nothing.

No people. No structures. No life for miles on end.

Just endless, screaming wind.

Her brows furrowed as she gazed at a floating tablet a few meters from her. The Void State Tablet appeared unaffected by the wind, as though filtering itself out of existence.

“This damn thing...”

Every time she used it to escape one mess, she was thrown into another. First, she’d been dragged into the God Blood Sea. Then, she had nearly been swallowed by an Ancient Voidshroud Whale. And now this—thrown into an unknown realm filled with nothing but Wind.

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What was wrong with this artifact? Was it cursed?

Meng Lin let out a slow, frustrated breath, shaking her head. It doesn’t matter. Complaining wouldn’t change anything.

Whatever this place was, although fiercely dangerous, caused a flicker of curiosity within her.

It was then that she finally caught something within her spiritual consciousness—approximately 28 miles away from where she stood, buried beneath layers of dust and debris, were the remnants of something artificial.

Ruins. Old structures, barely clinging to existence in the face of the eternal storm. It was a faint trace, but it was there.

Although she found something, the distance caused her to have second thoughts.

Normally, such a distance could be covered by her in a few leaps, but in a situation where every inch of movement was tremendous effort, Meng Lin hesitated for a moment.

The thought of using the Void State Tablet to leave this place crossed her mind, but she couldn't help but wonder if there was an opportunity there.

She gritted her teeth and forced herself to tap into another source within her Dantian—her Brute Qi.

Boom

Her aura exploded outward, chaotic and untamed, clashing with the wind that whipped all around, folding around her body as a blue haze.

Meng Lin smiled in joy as she circulated her Brute Vortex Cultivation Method, a chaotic vortex forming around her. The wind howled in fury, but it no longer fazed her. Every step forward was still met with resistance, but it was no longer just a few inches.

So, after hours of struggling against the raging storm, Meng Lin finally saw it—a colossal palace standing alone in the endless wasteland. Its towering walls were cracked but still intact.

Without hesitation, she forced her aching legs to move faster, ascending the steps that led to its entrance. Two giant doors loomed before her. With a deep breath, she pushed them open.

Rumble...

Amidst the rumbling noise of the door being opened, Meng Lin took a step inside. However, the moment she did so, she staggered forward, almost falling, as she came to the realization that the force surrounding her was gone.

And it wasn’t just that.

The deafening howl of the wind, the pressure that had fought against her every movement—it all ceased in an instant.

The air inside was utterly still, the silence so absolute it was almost suffocating. Meng Lin sighed in relief as she stopped circulating the Brute Vortex Cultivation Method.

Her footsteps echoed as she moved forward, her body feeling as light as a feather. Her eyes adjusted to the dim interior.

The palace was vast, its halls stretching endlessly into the shadows. Strange markings adorned the walls, causing a flicker of light to appear once in a while. Meng Lin paused to try and decipher them, but she soon gave up as they were written in characters she couldn’t understand.

Ahead of her, at the far end of the entrance hall, three paths awaited.

As she stepped closer, she realized that each path was sealed by a barrier—intricate formations and ancient runes flickering ominously, exuding an oppressive aura.

Whatever lay beyond them was not meant to be accessed easily.

Taking a step closer to examine them, Meng Lin’s instincts screamed at her, and without hesitation, she took a step back, her body tensing as a sharp killing intent brushed past her like a cold blade against her skin.

Her spiritual consciousness flared, scanning the surroundings, but there was no movement—no enemy in sight.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the three paths ahead. The barriers remained unchanged, yet the moment she had approached, something had reacted.

She furrowed her brows, contemplating her next move. If even stepping closer triggered such danger, then recklessly charging in would be suicidal.

After a long moment of thought, Meng Lin reached into her robes and pulled out a golden talisman. She hesitated for a moment before crushing it in her hand.

Golden light surged as the talisman’s energy took form, coalescing into a towering stone golem. Its massive body radiated a steady, earthen aura, unmoving as it awaited her command.

Meng Lin’s gaze flickered between the three paths before pointing at the left one. “Go.”

The golem obeyed, its heavy footsteps echoing through the silent hall as it lumbered forward.

Then—

A blinding light flickered from the barrier.

Crackle!

Thunder roared, and in the blink of an eye, a golden bolt of lightning shot forward, striking the golem with devastating force.

Boom!

The entire hall trembled from the impact, and when the light faded, only smoldering fragments remained where the golem had stood.

Meng Lin’s gaze darkened. “A lightning-based formation…” She had expected danger, but the sheer power of that particular formation was beyond what she anticipated.

She raised her hand to her chin and turned to her left, where the same black tablet was floating. “Let’s see if there are any spatial barriers.”

The tablet vibrated, the space surrounding it rippling like water. Before long, the ripple passed through the three pathways, and suddenly Meng Lin felt a shift. Before she could react, the space around her twisted.

In the blink of an eye, she found herself standing behind the lightning formation.

"Ah."

Meng Lin blinked in surprise, momentarily disoriented by the sudden shift. Her heart raced as she instinctively reached out with her spiritual consciousness to gauge her surroundings.

She turned to the black tablet, uttering. "That was too sudden, tell me next time."

Meng Lin furrowed her brows a little as the tablet vibrated, as if nodding. 'It appears the flicker of consciousness within it is growing, hopefully it doesn't lead to anything'. She thought.

The atmosphere was still heavy with an ominous energy, but she had successfully bypassed the barrier—at least for now.

Her mind raced through potential risks, but she quickly shifted her attention to the pathway ahead.

Meng Lin stepped forward cautiously. The corridor ahead was wide and open, and as she continued, the space began to widen even more until she found herself standing in a vast room.

The most noticeable things within the room were a table, a bed, a portrait, and the door at the corner of the room.

Meng Lin stepped into the room, immediately feeling the desolate silence of the place. The air was thick, almost suffocating, as if the space had been abandoned for centuries.

Her footsteps echoed on the cold stone floor, but everything else remained still—too still.

The dusty table sat in the corner, covered with tattered scrolls and books. The edges of the pages were frayed, and the words were fading with time.

She ran her fingers over one, feeling the paper crack beneath her touch, but she quickly set it aside, not wanting to destroy it, the knowledge it contained was still decipherable.

On the floor next to the bed was a broken jade pendant. It still emitted a faint glow, though cracked and damaged, a remnant of its former power.

She picked it up, scanning it with her spiritual consciousness, but couldn't figure out its purpose.

Meng Lin’s gaze fell to a withered flower in a flowerpot, its leaves curled and fragile. It was a strange sight, one that seemed out of place in the otherwise decaying room.

Despite its appearance, there was a faint pulse of life emanating from it, like the last spark of a dying ember struggling to stay lit.

She leaned closer, her spiritual consciousness brushing against the plant, and felt a small flicker of power—weak, but undeniably present.

This flower has to be something special to survive this long. Perhaps it was the flowerpot keeping it alive.

As she studied it further, a sharp sound suddenly broke the silence: the creak of the door at the far end of the room.

Meng Lin tensed, her spiritual consciousness instinctively reaching out. However, once it reached the door, it couldn’t go further in.

The room remained still, and Meng Lin’s thoughts raced, her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden chill in the air and she instinctively took a step back, her eyes darting toward the portrait on the wall.

The figure within it, a person dressed in the traditional robes of a powerful cultivator, stared at her through eyes that seemed too real, too piercing. For a moment, she swore the figure blinked.

A shiver ran down her spine. She turned her gaze back at the door in the corner, but the chill she felt only grew heavier with each passing second, as if something unseen was watching her, waiting for her next move.

Suddenly, a distant rumble sounded through the walls, drawing her attention to the broken jade pendant she had set down earlier. Its faint glow intensified for a brief moment, as if reacting to the shifting energy in the room.

Meng Lin reached down to pick it up again, feeling the hum of power within, but there was still no clear understanding of what it could do.

Her thoughts raced. Could the pendant be part of the key to unlocking something within this room? Something important.

"Lin..." A soft whisper seemed to call her name, faint but distinct, from the far corner of the room. She froze, her body tense.

“Who’s there?” she called out, her voice steady despite the unease growing in her chest.

For a moment, only silence answered. Then, the portrait's eyes flickered again and the room felt even colder.