212: Chapter 212 Wheat Cake's Hardcore Daredevil Adventure

That damned sense of familiarity... The Void Region! He had fallen into this nightmare wasteland for Cultivators once again!

He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart, focused his mind, and called out frantically deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

"System? System! Respond immediately!"

His Sea of Consciousness was deathly silent. After a long while, just as he was about to give up hope, a hoarse, fragmented electronic voice that sounded as if it could be extinguished at any moment rang out intermittently.

【Static... Region... Interference... Functions... Restricted... Static...】

That was the only sentence, and then there was no more sound. That cold prompt, at this moment, became the final straw that broke his mental defenses.

"System! Answer me!"

He called out dozens of times in succession, but within his Sea of Consciousness, there was no response other than his own echoes.

Su Changge's face turned ghastly pale. The System, his greatest reliance, had completely lost connection in this wasteland.

Refusing to believe it, he forcibly circulated the pitifully weak Spiritual Qi of his Qi Refining First Layer within his Dantian. A wisp of Spiritual Qi, as thin as a hair, rose from his Qi Sea and flowed slowly along his Meridians. However, when this wisp of Spiritual Qi barely reached his wrist pulse point, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, silently swallowed by the surrounding Void Realm, without even causing a ripple.

That feeling was like a Mortal sinking into the ten-thousand-foot deep sea, unable to even release a bubble to call for help.

Su Changge's heart sank into an bottomless abyss.

His last hope was pinned on his Divine Sense. He concentrated intently, trying to project his Divine Sense outside his body to perceive everything around him. As soon as his Divine Sense left his brow's ancestral aperture and extended less than three feet, it melted away instantly like snow thrown into a raging fire. It was a form of erasure originating from a higher level, making him unable to even clearly perceive his own fingertips; as far as his eyes could see, only blurred outlines floated in the darkness.

A piece of ancient record from the Old Ancestor Xuantian's memory clearly surfaced in his mind at this moment.

The Void Region in the Northern Territory was a forbidden land formed when the Dao laws of a certain Progenitor-level existence from the ancient era collapsed upon their fall. This place had incomplete rules and a fractured Dao, capable of devouring everything in heaven and earth, whether tangible or intangible. Spiritual Qi, Divine Sense, magic power, blood energy... any form of energy would be assimilated and annihilated by it. Even those Body Integration Stage old monsters who looked down upon all living beings, once they mistakenly entered, if they lacked heaven-defying means, would not last more than three days before being sucked into dried husks, their Dao extinguished and their Divine Soul destroyed.

And he, Su Changge, was merely a Cultivator at the Qi Refining First Layer who couldn't even fly on the wind.

In this wasteland, he was no different from a Mortal. No, even worse than a Mortal, because this place lacked even the air and water that Mortals relied on to survive.

This was a true dead end.

"Fellow Daoist? Fellow Daoist, where are you? I... I'm so scared..." Lin Waner's tearful call came again, her voice filled with helplessness and fear.

Su Changge dared not respond loudly. The Old Ancestor Xuantian's memory told him that in such wastelands, strange creatures that defied common sense often emerged. Any unnecessary sound could invite a fatal disaster.

He tore a small piece of cloth from his robe, identified the source of the voice, and tossed it gently in that direction.

In the weightless Void Realm, the piece of cloth traced a slow and straight trajectory, floating for a long time before gently touching Lin Waner's arm.

Lin Waner shuddered, and then, as if she had grabbed a lifeline, she hurriedly grabbed the cloth and used all her strength to pull herself bit by bit toward the source of the cloth.

The moment their bodies made contact, Lin Waner could no longer hold it in and was about to cry out loud.

Su Changge was quick-witted; he raised a finger to her lips, made a gesture for silence, and whispered in her ear using only his breath: "Don't make a sound, it's... not clean here."

Lin Waner abruptly covered her mouth, tears swirling in her eyes, but she held back firmly, not daring to make a single sound.

Su Changge stayed close to her, his brain working at an unprecedented speed. The System, Spiritual Qi, and Divine Sense were all rendered useless; the only things he could rely on now were his own mind and the vast, sea-like memories of the Old Ancestor Xuantian.

Last time... How did he escape when he fell into the Void Region last time?

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning. Reaction force!

In this weightless, resistance-free Void Realm, Newton's third law became the only rule of action! By throwing an object in one direction, one would gain a force in the opposite direction!

A faint spark ignited in Su Changge's heart. He quickly checked himself; fortunately, the fall was too sudden, and the Storage Pouch on his person had not yet been opened. Dry rations, water skins, and spare clothes were all still there. These seemingly useless mundane items had now become their only hope for survival.

He fished out a dry, hard-baked wheat cake from the ration bag and weighed it; it was about half a catty. He adjusted his posture, had Lin Waner hold onto him tightly, and then, aiming at the endless darkness behind him, threw the wheat cake out with all his might.

The moment the wheat cake left his hand, a clear push came from behind. Su Changge and Lin Waner's bodies began to float forward slowly, yet firmly.

It worked!

Su Changge felt a surge of excitement, suppressed his wild joy, took out another wheat cake, and threw it with all his might again.

Their speed increased by a few notches.

All around them was still the unchanging, eternal silence and darkness. Only the barely audible sound of air being broken when throwing objects proved that they were still alive and still moving.

Su Changge dared not be the slightest bit careless. He calculated the efficiency of using his supplies to the extreme, waiting a long time between each throw, stopping after drifting several dozen zhang, and listening intently, trying to catch any unusual movements.

Time lost its meaning in the darkness; perhaps it was half an hour, perhaps longer. When the last wheat cake was thrown into the darkness, he began throwing the water skins. Once the water skins were gone, he threw the spare clothes.

Lin Waner also followed his example, throwing all the ornaments and miscellaneous items she could spare from her person, one by one, behind her.

They floated further and further away, but as far as they could see, it was still that despairing, pure black. No stars, no light, no reference points whatsoever. Su Changge couldn't even be sure if they were moving forward or spinning in place.

Panic and despair, like maggots on the bone, began to erode his will.

When the last piece of extra outer robe on his body also became the power for propulsion, Su Changge's movements stopped. He was left with only a single garment to cover himself, with a few anti-poison pills and the cold token gifted by the Old Priest tucked into his chest. Lin Waner was similarly left with only a thin dress.

They were at the end of their rope.

Su Changge stared into the darkness ahead; that darkness seemed to have come alive, turning into a giant mouth ready to devour them. Was his, Su Changge's, path of cultivation going to end abruptly right here today?

Just as his mind wavered and he was about to be swallowed by despair, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of something unusual.

In the extreme distance ahead, within that pure darkness, there seemed to be an extremely faint light. That light was translucent, dim and indistinct, as if it were there and yet not.

Su Changge thought he was hallucinating, so he blinked hard and looked again.

The light was still there! It was not a point, but a huge curtain of light stretching across the Void Realm, or perhaps, a membrane. Through that translucent thin film, one could vaguely see the scene on the other side—a patch of dark red, like a rock wall illuminated by subterranean fire.

Su Changge's heart suddenly began to beat wildly like a drum.

The boundary of the Void Region! That was the Wall Region!

The Old Ancestor Xuantian's memory had mentioned that the Void Region was not infinite; its edges connected with the physical world, forming the "Wall Region." As long as they could pass through this boundary membrane, they could escape the devouring of the Void Realm and return to reality!

The flame of survival burned fiercely in his eyes!

He searched his entire body and finally found half a cloth towel at his waist that had long been soaked in sweat. This was the last thing he could discard.

Su Changge gripped the cloth towel in his palm, gathered all his strength, and threw it violently behind him!

With the help of this weak yet precious thrust, he carried Lin Waner, turning into a lone boat in the darkness, and floated slowly toward that light of hope.

One stick of incense, then another.

As the distance closed, the boundary membrane became increasingly clear. It was indeed as described in the memories, with a peculiar texture, like flowing glaze or solidified nectar, emitting a faint and stable halo.

Su Changge's chest heaved violently with excitement. Pass through, as long as they passed through, they could survive!

He took out the already empty medicine bottle from his chest, used it as the final fuel, and threw it fiercely backward.

The speed increased again.

Ten zhang, five zhang, three zhang...

Just when they were only ten zhang away from the boundary membrane, a fine, tooth-aching sound suddenly came from the deep darkness behind them.

"Click... crackle... click..."

It was the sound of some kind of carapace rubbing against bone, mixed with the crunching sound of sharp teeth gnawing on hard objects. The sound was not loud, but in this deathly silent Void Realm, it was so clear that it made one's scalp tingle.

The hairs on the back of Su Changge's neck stood on end.

There was something! In that Void Realm, something had indeed followed them!

He dared not look back, nor even imagine what kind of monster it was. At this moment, the only thing he could do was to concentrate all his will on the boundary membrane ahead.

Five zhang!

The gnashing sound grew closer and closer, even accompanied by the shrill whistling of a Sharp Weapon cutting through the Void Realm.

One zhang!

Su Changge stretched out his right hand, and his fingertips were the first to touch that translucent boundary membrane.

The touch was cold and pliable, with a strange, sticky sensation; as his fingertips pressed down, the boundary membrane indented inward.

He no longer hesitated, used his last bit of strength to push Lin Waner, who was in front of him, and slammed his entire body toward that curtain of light.

The moment he passed through the boundary membrane, the sense of time and space returned instantly.

Immediately following, a terrifying pressure that could not be described in words descended with a boom from all directions, from every mote of dust!

It was as if the weight of the entire world had smashed onto his Divine Soul and Physical Body without any warning.

"Creak... creak, creak..."

Su Changge's entire skeletal structure emitted a series of groans as it could not bear the burden, and every inch of his flesh wailed and trembled under this immense force.

His vision went black, and the color on his face faded away completely in an instant.

This... what kind of hellish place is this?!