361: Broken Arm Zhuang Bifan

“Damn it!”

Shen Bei appeared at the outer entrance of the nine-story pagoda, looking bewildered.

There is one type of person in this world who is most hated: those who speak in riddles.

Wu Bi'an is truly infuriating.

What does he mean, in ancient times, humans and Stranger were the same race?

He should have explained it in detail!

I wasn't even worried about Zhuang Bifan's life or death, why did he run away so fast!

“Oh, come on!”

Shen Bei was annoyed.

One Martial Dao Pinnacle problem was solved, only for another big problem to emerge.

As Shen Bei thought about re-entering the pagoda to have a good talk with Wu Bi'an, a sudden change occurred.

All the scenery around Shen Bei blurred into fleeting afterimages, rapidly receding.

From the distant sky, a light suddenly appeared, like a scorching sun, falling from the Void Realm, its dazzling brilliance sweeping across, instantly transforming the night into endless day.

The scorching sun hung high in the sky, and a deep, grand, lingering bell chime emanated from it. Ripples visible to the naked eye undulated outwards. The sun was vast and righteous, the bell chime profound, dispelling all evil.

Above the barrier, black clouds dissipated, dark light vanished, and countless massive tomb-guarding corpse beasts revealed their true forms.

But in an instant, the bell chimed again.

“Dong!”

Any one of these hundreds of tomb-guarding corpse beasts was a formidable overlord, yet at this moment, they were utterly shattered into dust in a single breath, as if crumbling effortlessly.

“Dong!”

The bell chimed again, and the reversed cosmos, with a ripple sweeping through, effortlessly returned to its original state.

For a moment, the entire barrier was completely exposed, without any protection. If the bell were to chime just once more, the barrier would likely shatter as well.

“I need to go.”

The current scene clearly indicated that if he lingered, great terror might descend.

Shen Bei immediately jumped into the murky water and quickly swam towards the opposite bank.

After getting ashore, he looked around.

He saw Zhuang Bifan constantly leaping between the mirrors on the ground, rushing towards him.

“What happened?!”

When Zhuang Bifan reached Shen Bei, Shen Bei looked at him in shock.

At this moment, Zhuang Bifan was in a sorry state, but that wasn't all.

His left arm was gone!

It seemed to have been forcefully torn off by some strange power.

Bone fragments were broken, and flesh was a bloody mess.

However, Zhuang Bifan used True Qi to forcibly stop the bleeding from the wound.

Shen Bei's eyes seemed to be covered with a thin layer of dust, and he spoke again with an agitated tone: “Where’s your arm?!”

As he spoke, Shen Bei pulled out a Hemostatic Pill and force-fed it to him in large gulps.

True Qi could only temporarily stop blood from flowing out; once the True Qi ran out, the blood would still gush.

Only Medicinal Pills were the best choice.

Zhuang Bifan chewed on the Medicinal Pill, his face as hard as iron, looking extremely grim: “Don’t mention it. I was caught by those three monsters and had no choice but to sever my arm to survive.”

Shen Bei frowned and quickly said: “Give me your severed arm. Your mirror space can’t stop the flow of time, can it?”

Zhuang Bifan pulled out a mirror, then handed the severed arm to Shen Bei: “Indeed, I need a Storage Ring, otherwise it would rot.”

Shen Bei put away the severed arm: “I see you’re not in a hurry.”

“I’ll have to ask you to accompany me on a trip.”

“Shenxiu Lake, no problem at all.” Shen Bei answered with certainty.

If he hadn't heard rumors about Shenxiu Lake on the passenger ship, Zhuang Bifan wouldn't be so composed now; he would probably have collapsed on the spot.

Fortunately, both of them had a plan.

It was just one more trip, that's all.

“Are you done here?” Zhuang Bifan asked curiously.

Shen Bei nodded: “I’ve seen everything I needed to see. Do you want to know?”

Shen Bei asked while looking up at the sky.

Zhuang Bifan shook his head: “No, I don’t.”

Just then, a deafening roar rumbled over.

“Boom!”

The explosion left Shen Bei deaf, seeing stars, his head dizzy and muddled, the True Qi flow in his body stagnant, and his body felt as if it was pressed down by a thousand catties, leaving him weak all over.

A moment later, he slowly recovered, looked up, and his pupils immediately contracted.

The sky shattered like a painting, breaking into countless pieces. Some, after shattering, left behind streaks of flowing light, like meteors streaking across the sky, vanishing into the horizon in an instant. Others turned into nothingness, their phantoms dissipating, as if an invisible mouth had swallowed them.

The cracks in the sky became more numerous and faster. The more cracks in the boundary between the barrier and the world, the faster the process of collapse.

At this rate, it would completely shatter in just a moment.

Zhuang Bifan looked up at the sky. Cracks constantly appeared, extending rapidly from the sky towards the ground. Looking up, he saw a giant tree, dozens of meters high, on a mountain ahead, instantly severed by a crack that opened out of thin air. The severed upper half also fell into the crack and disappeared.

In just a moment, more and more cracks appeared near the ground. By the time they reached the banyan forest, there were also many cracks within the banyan forest, some four or five meters long, others about a meter. Looking through the cracks, one could even see the outside world displayed within them.

“The barrier is about to collapse.”

The collapse of a barrier, what they saw here was merely a phantom, but the Qi leaking from the remaining cracks made Shen Bei feel as if he couldn’t breathe, as if he was about to die and his Dao would vanish.

The sense of stillness, destruction, and powerlessness as everything returned to nothingness, the determination to destroy all life, before such a grand force, anyone would feel the despair of human limitations.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

Shen Bei called out, attempting to fly through the Void Realm, and to his surprise, he actually flew!

“I can fly!”

Shen Bei grabbed Zhuang Bifan and slowly ascended with him.

Shen Bei pulled Zhuang Bifan, flying through the cracks in the sky.

“Dong!”

Another bell chime boomed, and the scorching sun suspended high in the sky spread out crimson ripples. All things retreated, Yin Qi dissipated, and even the air was forcibly pushed back by a ripple. Ten thousand meters up, it was as if a giant hole had suddenly torn open, revealing the boundless starry sky behind.

Above the Nine Heavens, dark green gales and brilliant lightning converged, forcibly swept by the crimson ripples, plummeting towards the ground. From afar, it looked like the sky was falling, inverted. Under such terrifying Divine Might, all things withered, as if even the mountains and rocks were wailing their final laments.

After a few breaths, Shen Bei sped up his flight and rushed out through the crack.

Whew…

The moment he passed through the crack, Shen Bei only saw the scenery on both sides rapidly receding, so fast that even with his eyesight, he could barely make out blurry shadows. All the blood in his body seemed to be pulled, rushing madly towards his back.

After a moment, the pulling force loosened, and Shen Bei landed on the ground, dizzy and disoriented. It took him a while to regain consciousness.

He looked up.

Not far ahead, there was a small mountain range, with low peaks. A few days ago, it would at most be considered a handsome young peak among mountains, neither rugged nor towering.

This terrain was far beyond where the two of them had entered the barrier originally.

“Where is this…?” Zhuang Bifan asked, confused.

Shen Bei looked around: “I estimate we crossed space. Anything is possible in Da Shouzi’s territory.”

“Losing our bearings would be bad news,” Zhuang Bifan said worriedly.

If they couldn't find the correct route to Shenxiu Lake, that would indeed be maddening.

Shen Bei took out the Qi Wu Mask and put it on directly: “You go into the mirror, I’ll figure out our location, and then we’ll head to Shenxiu Lake.”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

“Being too formal is hypocritical, you know.” Shen Bei rolled his eyes: “There’s no need for us to say anything. Let’s go!”