385: Dark Storm

Two streaks of light sped across the dead, scorched earth, heading straight for the colossal, light-devouring sinkhole on the horizon.

The closer they got, the heavier the eerie aura emanating from the abyss-like maw of the sinkhole became.

The rock layers at the edge of the sinkhole appeared vitrified, melted and then rapidly cooled, with countless massive cracks spreading out like a spiderweb.

The air was filled with a nauseating mixture of sulfur and metallic rust.

"Go!" Blood Heaven roared, transforming into a condensed streak of blood and diving down the knife-sharp, steep pit wall.

Xiao Zhuo followed closely, his Divine Eye of Illusion Breaking operating at full power, its silver glow like two faint searchlights in the dim sinkhole, piercing through the pervasive dust and distorted light.

The sinkhole was bottomless, as if it led straight to the Nine Netherworld.

As they descended, the light rapidly faded, eventually leaving only eternal darkness.

Only Xiao Zhuo's and Blood Heaven's protective light barriers illuminated their immediate surroundings.

On the surrounding rock walls, occasional giant claw marks, charred pits left by energy impacts, and more unnamable traces, as if corroded by some viscous fluid, could be seen.

Silence was the main theme here.

Even the air seemed to have solidified, with only the faint whoosh of wind caused by their high-speed descent.

Suddenly!

Xiao Zhuo's Divine Eye of Illusion Breaking caught a subtle movement—not a sound, but a tremor in space itself!

He abruptly looked up at the thick, inky darkness above the sinkhole, which suddenly surged and swirled!

Countless tiny, black fluids, emitting a decaying and ominous aura, converged from all directions, drawn by a black hole, frantically pouring into the sinkhole's entrance area!

They collided, fused, and tore at each other, instantly forming a terrifying, inky-black storm vortex that spanned the sinkhole's entrance and covered an area of millions of miles!

The storm was silent, yet it exuded a terrifying aura a hundred times more dreadful than the Chaos currents of the World Sea.

Wherever it passed, even the hard, vitrified rock layers at the edge of the sinkhole were silently stripped away, devoured, and annihilated like sand!

Space was torn and twisted like fragile cloth, emitting a soul-stirring "creak" of agony.

"Dark Realm Storm! Hurry!" Blood Heaven's face changed drastically, and he shrieked.

He knew the horror of this Dark Realm Storm better than Xiao Zhuo; it was a terrifying natural disaster capable of obliterating a Quasi-Saint's Dao Body and eroding the Origin of a Great Thousand World!

Once caught in its core, even in his prime, his chances of survival would be slim!

The two instantly accelerated to their maximum, like two meteors plummeting madly into the bottomless dark abyss!

"Old Ancestor! Look over there!" Xiao Zhuo's Divine Eye of Illusion Breaking was fixed on a spot on the pit wall below.

Just before the destructive currents stirred up by the storm swept down, a silver glow pierced through the dust, revealing a pile of shattered architectural debris, overturned and stacked like mountains by a massive shockwave.

At the bottom of the debris, a broken, massive black stone tablet covered in profound runes was obliquely embedded in the rock wall, and beneath the tablet, a deep, secluded cave entrance, barely wide enough for a few people to walk abreast, half-hidden by rubble, faintly appeared!

The fragmentary demon patterns remaining on the edge of the cave entrance were ninety percent similar to the entrance to the Primal Demon Realm's Abyssal Demonic Cavern in Luolaha Cha's memory!

"Charge in!" Blood Heaven did not hesitate, enveloping Xiao Zhuo in a swirl of blood light, like an arrow shot from a bowstring, he narrowly, yet perilously, shot into the narrow cave entrance at the critical moment when the all-devouring inky-black storm behind them was about to touch their backs!

Boom—!!!

Almost the instant their figures disappeared into the cave entrance, the black storm torrent violently slammed into the piled debris and the broken tablet!

The debris was torn to shreds and swept away like paper, the giant broken tablet let out a wail of unbearable strain, its surface runes instantly dimmed and cracked, and finally, carried by the storm, along with large sections of the pit wall, it completely vanished into the raging darkness!

The cave entrance was mostly collapsed by the shockwave, with rubble falling continuously, almost completely sealing the entrance.

Inside the cave, it was pitch black, impossible to see one's hand in front of their face.

Only the protective light barriers emanating from their bodies provided a faint light source.

The air was bone-chillingly cold, carrying a strong earthy smell and an indescribable, ancient scent of decaying dust, as if it had settled for billions of years.

"Hoo..." Xiao Zhuo's aura fluctuated slightly; the terrifying, ominous aura from before caused his body to instinctively exude fear.

Blood Heaven's aura was also slightly disturbed, and his expression was extremely solemn.

However, an even greater sense of crisis immediately struck!

"Be careful! The erosion here... is even stronger!" Blood Heaven's voice was incredibly grave, tinged with a suppressed pain.

Xiao Zhuo also immediately felt that the "unspeakable power" that was ubiquitous in the Dark Realm had suddenly increased several times in concentration after entering this passage!

They were like countless cold venomous snakes, frantically drilling towards the protective light barrier, emitting faint but chilling "hissing" sounds, attempting to erode their Physical Body and Divine Soul.

Even more terrifying was the Divine Sense!

Xiao Zhuo habitually tried to release his Divine Sense to probe the passage ahead, but as soon as the thought arose, a strong sense of dizziness and tearing rushed straight into his Divine Soul!

Countless distorted, frenzied, blasphemous, Shattered Realm images flashed before his eyes—rotting stars, wailing behemoths, dissolving deities... as if a collection of countless negative emotions was frantically assaulting his consciousness!

Xiao Zhuo grunted, immediately cut off his Divine Sense connection, and cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

"Divine Sense cannot be used!" Blood Heaven had obviously tried as well, his face even more gloomy and grim.

"There's something strange here! There might be the source of some ominous entity deep within, even my Blood Soul feels a stinging pain." Blood Heaven's blood-red eyes flickered, staring intently into the endless darkness ahead of the passage, "We can only rely on sight and intuition. Xiao Zhuo, can your pupil technique still be maintained?"

"Yes, but the field of vision is very limited, only able to see about a hundred zhang clearly." Xiao Zhuo endured the discomfort, his Divine Eye of Illusion Breaking's silver glow stabilized, laboriously penetrating the dense darkness and erosive mist within the passage.

"A hundred zhang... that's enough. Stay close to me, and don't touch the cave walls!" Blood Heaven said in a deep voice.

He retracted the blood light around him, maintaining only a thin layer on his body to reduce the area of erosion, and took each step with extreme caution.

The passage was winding and sloping downwards.

The cave walls were no longer rock, but some kind of dark, strange substance that seemed to be cast from metal and bone, cold and hard to the touch, its surface covered with twisted patterns, like solidified agony and wails.

Underfoot was a thick layer of sediment that felt like ashes when stepped on.

Xiao Zhuo stared intently ahead, repeatedly comparing and verifying the fragmented memories of the passage from Luolaha Cha.

Whenever they encountered a fork in the road, he would guide the direction based on that vague memory: "Turn left... go straight... turn right at the third fork..."

The power of erosion within the passage seemed to be alive, becoming more active as they went deeper.

The "hissing" sound of the protective spiritual light being corroded was incessant, and the consumption of maintaining the defense sharply increased.

However, one was a Quasi-Saint after all, and the other was a supreme Great Luo comparable to a Quasi-Saint, so they could still bear it, but it was as if they were carrying an invisible giant mountain as they moved through the darkness, which had a considerable impact on them.

Time lost its meaning here; there was only boundless oppression and constant trepidation.

They didn't know how long they had walked, perhaps a day, perhaps several days.

The passage ahead seemed to have reached its end.

In the field of vision of the Divine Eye of Illusion Breaking, a colossal, dark metal gate covered with complex cracks appeared.

In the center of the gate, a hideous emblem, shaped like the roaring head of a Dragon, was largely shattered.

"This is it! The Sighing Gate of the Primal Demon Realm's Abyssal Demonic Cavern... behind it should be the inner world!" Xiao Zhuo's spirits lifted, pointing at the shattered emblem, "This place required specific demon patterns or Bloodline to open, but it's completely damaged now."

Blood Heaven stepped forward, placing his palm on the cold gate, feeling it for a moment, and a blood-red light flashed in his eyes: "There are spatial fluctuations behind the door, the Seal is broken! Force it open!"

The two combined their strength, and immense power slammed into the broken gate.

"Creak—Boom!"

The heavy metallic grinding sound was particularly jarring in the silent passage.

The cracked giant door was slowly pushed open a crack.

In an instant!

A pale blue glow shot out from the crack.