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Chapter 253 - Mystic Realm?
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 07:00:10 +0000 UTCSome time before the chaos began...
Envoy Lemure watched as the last batch of cultivators jumped into the portal. "Okay, everyone has safely entered the portal. Envoy Trudy, deploy the formation again!"
Now, all they had to do was maintain the connection until the explorers returned.
Beeeep! Beeeep! Beeeep!
"Emergency! Everyone, an object is approaching at an unbelievable speed. High danger alert! Eliminate it now!" A loud voice blared from the facility's speaker system.
WHAT?? The Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Realm cultivators outside the facility were shocked by the alert. They immediately prepared for battle, their auras skyrocketing and causing tremors and wind pressure in the atmosphere.
Very soon, the Soul Formation Realm cultivators detected the object first, their wider spiritual sense range allowing them to catch a glimpse of it. All they saw were blurs piercing through their spiritual sense, heading straight for the facility—or more precisely, the portal!
"Fuck! It's too fast! What the hell is that? Attack it! Block it! Whatever!" President Albert roared, his voice cutting through the chaos. He thrust his hands forward, summoning a massive fire cauldron that burned with golden flames. The air around him shimmered with heat as the barrier formed, dense, reinforced with every ounce of his Qi.
Other cultivators didn't hesitate. A storm of techniques erupted in the sky. Pillars of earth shot upward, trying to intercept the object. Blades of condensed wind sliced through the air, aiming to cut it down. Bolts of lightning streaked across the sky, striking with deafening cracks. Yet, the object didn't slow. It tore through every attack, every barrier, as if they were nothing.
It slammed into a formation barrier, only to break through it effortlessly, continuing its trajectory until it reached the portal.
BOOOOOM!!!
The entire area erupted in a massive explosion. All the buildings were shredded into pieces, and the shockwave sent the cultivators outside the facility flying several kilometers before they managed to stabilize themselves. Some, particularly those who weren't fighters, tumbled into the forest below.
"What the hell is going on? What was that thing that attacked?" President Albert demanded as he steadied himself, his gaze fixed on the ruined facility. Thick sand and dust swirled in the air like a tornado, obscuring everything. Even his spiritual sense couldn't penetrate the chaos.
The explosion seemed to be the result of the portal being struck, detonating the remaining spatial energy required to maintain the connection to the other side. But the most terrifying aspect wasn't the Qi released—it was the sheer piercing power of whatever had attacked. How strong was its centrifugal force to destroy everything in its path so effortlessly? It had even created a sand tornado in the aftermath of the blast.
President Albert wasn't the only one asking questions. Everyone was equally baffled and alarmed.
No one dared to approach the ruined site. The thing that had attacked the facility might still be lurking, ready to strike again. Most decided to retreat, putting as much distance between themselves and the danger as possible.
"President Albert, what should we do?" Magnus Goldstone asked, his voice tense. Vitali, Tordin, and Vee Ramli, the sect master of the Pill Ascension Sect, had also gathered nearby. As leaders of their respective families and sect, they had plenty of combat experience and had reacted swiftly to protect themselves.
"Please go help my Alchemy Association's people down there and retreat to New Fork City first," President Albert requested, though his tone was laced with frustration. "Tch! These alchemists are so weak. How do they fall so easily? They didn't even have the instinct to put up a Qi barrier in time and got injured by the blast! Maybe I should train them to fight instead of letting them do alchemy all the time."
"Leave it to us," the four leaders replied in unison before flying down to assist the injured.
After ensuring the others were assisting the injured, President Albert conjured a full-body flame armor as a defensive measure and cautiously moved toward the ruined site. By now, the sand tornado had dispersed, but sand and dust still fell from the sky, limiting visibility.
President Albert was the first to check the area, as others hesitated, unsure whether to approach. He was particularly concerned about the envoys—had they survived the explosion? They had been directly in the blast's range.
As he got closer, he used his Qi to gently part the sand and dust from his path, improving his visibility. He could have forcefully blown everything away at once, but he feared that might harm any survivors.
Up close, the destruction was staggering. President Albert knew that anyone below the Nascent Soul Realm in the facility would not have survived.
Suddenly, he detected a faint soul fluctuation to his right. He quickly moved toward it and found Envoy Lemure's wounded soul. It seemed his entire body had been obliterated, leaving only his soul behind. The soul flickered weakly, on the verge of dissipating at any moment.
Unlike the souls of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, which often resembled wobbly glowing orbs, the souls of Soul Formation Realm cultivators had evolved and they typically took the shape of their original bodies. So President Albert immediately recognized him.
"Help... me..." Envoy Lemure's voice reached President Albert through sound transmission, faint and desperate.
"Don't worry. Hang on," President Albert replied. He quickly retrieved an elixir from his space ring and poured it onto Envoy Lemure's soul. As soon as it left the bottle, the elixir turned into a mist, enveloping the soul. Almost immediately, Envoy Lemure's condition improved. His soul stabilized, no longer fading.
"Please, help me check on Envoy Trudy too, President Albert. He should still be alive," Envoy Lemure urged.
President Albert nodded and soon located Envoy Trudy. His condition was better than Envoy Lemure's, but he, too, had lost his body.
President Albert continued to search the area where the buildings had once stood, hoping to find more survivors. Unfortunately, there were no further signs of life. It seemed only Envoy Lemure and Envoy Trudy had survived. What a tragic loss.
"Everyone! Look at this!" Another Soul Formation expert, who had arrived at the site after President Albert, called out. By now, much of the sand and dust had been cleared, making it easier to see.
At the former location of the portal was a massive hole, resembling a desert quicksand with obvious spiraling lines. Sticking out from the center was a huge, thick bamboo-like object covered in spikes.
"A Giant Durian Bamboo? This was what caused all this destruction? What is this thing doing here? Who could have thrown it with such power?" President Albert muttered to himself, finding the situation almost unbelievable.
"Shit! The connection with the Mystic Realm is gone! How are they supposed to return? No, they might not even have reached there safely! Who did this?" Envoy Lemure used advanced sound transmission to address everyone, his voice filled with distress. As a soul, he couldn't speak normally, but his anguish was obvious. Not only had many people died, but the connection to the Mystic Realm had also been severed. All of these happened under his watch.
A few moments later, they sensed a powerful aura approaching rapidly.
"Sigh... I failed," an ethereal voice said. A figure emerged from the air like a mirage, her appearance disheveled and her veil stained with blood.
"Protector Alexandra, what do you mean you failed?" President Albert asked, his tone a mix of concern and confusion.
"I sensed this not wonderful threat and did my best to stop it. But I only managed to slow it down for a few minutes before I was sent flying. I thought I had at least changed its trajectory, but its presence here proves that someone controlled it. Now, so many are dead because of my incompetence. Sigh..." Protector Alexandra's voice was heavy with guilt and defeat.
"Protector, the Mystic Realm explorers might still be alive. When the attack hit, they had already crossed the portal. However, I'm not sure if they reached the other side safely," Envoy Lemure reported.
Her eyes brightened slightly. "Is that so? Haa... it seems my efforts at least prevented the worst-case scenario... but still, so many of our wonderful people died here." Her expression dimmed again, weighed down by the loss.
"Protector! You can't be depressed like this! We have to figure out a way to reconnect the void tunnel! Their return depends on us!" Envoy Lemure raised his voice, his tone firm and urgent.
Hearing his words, resolve returned to Protector Alexandra's eyes. "You're right. I can't let this bring me down. Thousands of our promising wonderful cultivators are counting on us to bring them back. Lemure, Trudy, let's go! We need to report to the geezers first—I mean, the other Protectors. After that, we'll rebuild your bodies and figure out how to reconnect the path. I have a bad feeling about this. We might be facing an unbelievably strong unknown enemy this time." Her expression turned serious, her earlier despair replaced by determination.
Protector Alexandra enveloped her Qi around Envoy Lemure and Envoy Trudy, and in the next moment, they disappeared like a mirage.
President Albert watched the direction they had left, his expression grim. "An enemy so strong that a single long-range attack injured a Soul Transformation expert... This is terrifying. I should go check on my useless alchemists first."
-----
Boom!
A large crater formed as something crashed onto an open, rocky landscape.
"What the heck! Why can't I fly? And why did that portal drop me from the sky? This is attempted murder!" A voice complained.
A few seconds later, a figure emerged from the crater.
It was Leyvi.
"Is this the Mystic Realm? Where is everyone?" Leyvi muttered, looking around. He had the feeling that the Mystic Realm was extremely vast.
He also felt that the spiritual energy here was much denser than even the spiritual energy in the Central Region.
