Chapter 111: Ten Li
Every time they advanced a little along the street, they found themselves tangled in a dense barrage of attacks from both sides. Gong Chenying couldn't help but furrow her brows, this speed was simply too slow.
Taking a deep breath, she circulated her powerful spiritual energy and barely managed to fly up onto a pile of rubble. The shop there had completely collapsed, leaving nothing to obstruct her view. Behind the ruins stretched an endless field.
But just as she attempted to fly farther out, she felt herself crash into an invisible barrier that violently repelled her.
After stabilizing herself, Gong Chenying slowly raised her right palm. A rich spiritual light surged upon her jade-white hand before she suddenly struck forward.
“Boom!”
A muffled thud echoed through the air. Her body trembled in midair and nearly fell. Even with her powerful physique, she felt as though she had just slammed into an eternal glacier forged over ten thousand years.
The spot where she struck remained completely unchanged. She could still clearly see the boundless fields beyond as if looking through a transparent window. She could gaze at it from afar, but not advance even half a step.
Seeing this, Gong Chenying had no choice but to change her approach. She swiftly returned to the street, stabilizing herself about a zhang off the ground. She began flying forward along the street’s center, one hand gripping her halberd, the other continuously casting spells.
Amid booming roars, formidable spells swept toward both sides, raining destruction down upon the shops. As the buildings collapsed in succession, the intensity of the ambushes diminished greatly. This immediately reduced the pressure on the Qi Condensation disciples below, allowing them to pick up speed at the center of the street.
Just as the group heaved a sigh of relief, thinking they could proceed this way to escape the street, Li Yan suddenly felt his heart pounding wildly. The earth-element spiritual energy within him surged uncontrollably. With a growing sense of dread, he quickly looked around and what he saw made his heart sink.
“Sixth Senior Sister, disaster is coming!”
While using one hand to form seals and block the projectiles from the shops, Li Yan pointed toward the path they had come from.
Everyone was stunned by his words and turned to look back. When they finally saw clearly, their souls nearly flew out of their bodies.
High in the sky above the street they had passed, a colossal black shadow loomed, blotting out the sun. It slowly pressed forward. And the more it moved, the larger it grew like a giant brush dipped in ink, gradually painting the sky black, layer by layer. A suffocating weight pressed down on everyone’s hearts like molten lead.
Earlier, when they passed by, some of the shops had remained intact. But now, as the black shadow swept over them, those buildings silently and eerily crumbled into fine powder. The dust was then drawn into the shadow as if sucked by a whale, causing the inky mass to roil and thicken further.
All that remained below was a barren, empty street. Everything had happened without a sound. If one didn’t look back or deliberately scan with divine sense, they would not notice a thing.
“Move! We need to put distance between us and that thing!”
Realizing their current pace wouldn't suffice, Gong Chenying shouted sharply. The azure and yellow radiance on her hands flared brightly as she struck repeatedly at the shops on either side of the street.
She spared no expense of spiritual energy, clearing a longer, safer path ahead for the Qi Condensation disciples below and reducing the attacks from both flanks.
While Gong Chenying launched her assault, the people below also quickened their pace. Some even chose to tank the incoming projectiles directly, a tactic that burned through both energy and defensive talismans. Who would usually dare such extravagance?
Spiritual aura surged wildly across Gong Chenying’s body. At this moment, she had almost completely abandoned dodging, relying only on her protective barrier to endure the onslaught. Most of her spiritual energy was channeled into attacking and maintaining her flight.
She found a moment to glance down. Seeing the group of disciples trailing just three meters behind her, she let out a small breath of relief.
Her eyes landed on Li Yan at the back of the team. Ever since entering the Wheel of Life and Death, Li Yan had made several timely warnings. Could it be he practiced some secret technique? But now wasn’t the time to ask.
Below, none of the Qi Condensation disciples thought back to Li Yan’s repeated warnings. Their nerves were taut and aside from his brief alerts, Li Yan was also focused on resisting the shop’s flying fragments like everyone else. He hadn’t done anything too conspicuous.
Before entering the Wheel of Life and Death, they had already learned of the black shadow’s terror, contact with it meant instant death. Now, seeing the monstrous shadow creeping up behind them like a devil grinning with bloodthirsty intent, their minds were gripped by tension. They had no space for other thoughts, all they wanted was to escape.
As the group desperately pushed forward, none noticed that although they had already been inside for over half a quarter-hour, the sky, though dim, showed no sign of shifting into true night. The lighting remained just as dusky as before.
The gloomy light spilled across the ornate shopfronts lining the street, like a twilight in the end times, heavy and oppressive.
Above, the air grew thick with dull and piercing sounds. Smashed wine jugs and broken dishes fragmented into even denser swarms of projectiles. Heavy furniture, sharp farming tools even vile things from foul latrines howled through the air like cursed arrows of chaos.
Immediately, some were blocked by the protective spiritual aura, shaking the cultivators' bodies with its impact. Clearly, these were not ordinary mundane attacks, but items driven by spells. This desperate charge forward had already left many cultivators with wounds on their bodies.
At this moment, if someone could fly very high up, they would see twenty long strips swirling and circling within a spherical space. Yet the people walking atop them felt no sign of the strips’ motion; they even believed they were treading upon solid ground…
Li Yan only felt waves of attacks crashing down one after another, without the slightest pause, as if it would go on endlessly.
At this moment, he finally understood the meaning of the “Wheel of Life and Death.” Ever since entering, he had been constantly in battle or on the run, with no time to rest at all. The five reservoirs of spiritual power within him were running wildly, endlessly churning.
But he also knew that if things continued like this, within another hour, he would be spent, his spiritual power would be completely exhausted.
Right now, the earth element spiritual power in his body had gradually calmed down, and the Five Elements were circulating normally, but he still felt that the circulation speed of the Five Elements spiritual power here was two to three times faster than in the outside world.
He believed others wouldn’t feel this, because only with a mixed Five Elements spiritual root could one sense the endless cycle of the Five Elements.
“This damn street, why doesn’t it have an end?”
At that moment, someone beside Li Yan spoke.
It was Wu Shixi from the Spirit Insect Peak, a member of the same squad as Li Yan. At this time, he was commanding five striped centipedes to crawl around his body, constantly spewing colorful mist that wrapped around him.
Any object flying at him would dissolve into wisps of smoke upon contact, dispersing into the air. And the scarred face he bore now appeared even more sinister, clearly enraged by this endless assault.
Everyone was running with all their strength, and no one answered his question, but many of their faces clearly held the same doubt. Quite a few glanced ahead in the direction where the street extended.
Beneath the dim sky, ahead appeared only an endless stretch of street and shops. The area not yet reached looked exceptionally quiet and eerie, a stark contrast to the chaotic, apocalyptic battle raging here.
“Maybe there’s a convergence point ten li ahead. Things might be different there.”
At that moment, the scholar dressed Yu Yiyong held a large calligraphy brush in his hand. With each stroke he drew, a green ancient character would flash into existence in midair, then quickly dissolve into strokes, dots, and dashes of green light that met the incoming attacks.
Li Yan had also thought of the ten-li mark but hadn’t spoken of it. Before, Li Wuyi had told him that the Wheel of Life and Death only stretched for ten li at its beginning. Why emphasize that number?
Li Wuyi hadn’t explained clearly, perhaps he didn’t fully understand himself and had only quoted ancient texts or sect instructions. Because of that, some speculated that perhaps ten li ahead was an intersection with another path or that every ten li could be such a convergence point.
On the gloomy street, there was calm ahead and ruin behind. Both ends were silent, while in the middle, all sorts of colored lights danced, with constant explosions ringing out. It was a scene eerie and somber in its dusky hue.
Looking ahead, the feminine silhouette striking from the air was filled with explosive might. Each blow was fierce as fire, swift as thunder, blasting one house after another on both sides into flying debris, she was an unstoppable force.
Li Yan looked back toward the path they had traveled, silently calculating. They had been moving for about a quarter of an hour and had likely advanced four to five li. That meant in another quarter of an hour, they should reach the ten-li mark.
By then, what awaited them?
At first, he had also shared Gong Chenying’s earlier idea, to break out from the side and escape this street altogether. Many disciples likely had the same thought.
But after seeing Gong Chenying's earlier attacks, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn’t break through the barriers on either side. They had no hope of doing so themselves.
Right now, they were like people trapped in a narrow alley, with only two options: forward or back. Forward meant life, backward meant death.
Each cultivator kept their lips tightly sealed, numbly resisting the attacks. At first, they had felt stifled. Aside from defense, they couldn’t counterattack at all. Even if they struck back, they could only destroy incoming objects; they couldn’t kill their enemies.
Defend, defend, defend-nothing but defense. Even their hand movements had become mechanical. But seeing the black shadow slowly pressing in from the back of the street, they realized all they could do was desperately resist while running forward. There was nothing else they could do.
Time passed little by little amid the oppressive atmosphere and constant explosions. The high-intensity, uninterrupted use of techniques had left some cultivators soaked with sweat, and their protective barriers were beginning to show signs of instability.
But most cultivators at the peak of the Qi Condensation realm still looked as though they had energy to spare. A few had been injured, but fortunately, only lightly.
They had mostly gotten hurt during those waves of concentrated attacks. One moment of carelessness and a sharp object would pierce through their body, leaving a trail of blood. Luckily, they had instinctively avoided their vital points.
“Team Six, the outer perimeter will be formed by cultivators at tenth level Qi Condensation. The inner members will form a spiritual energy net to assist, guarding against missed attacks.”
Gong Chenying called out as she continued her attacks.
Right now, the most exhausted person was clearly Gong Chenying. She was shouldering the vast majority of the assaults. To maintain speed, she relied solely on a spiritual energy barrier to withstand the attacks coming from both sides of the street.
Those originally lifeless objects seemed to have recognized her as the greatest threat. Gradually, over half of the attacks were being directed straight at her in midair. Gong Chenying had no choice but to use more spiritual power to endure them head-on. At this point, she was already drenched in fragrant sweat.
She glanced around anxiously but had no solution. This trial was designed to force people in one direction. The other three paths either led to death or were simply impossible to break through.
One could only stare helplessly at the dark, endless fields on either side but could not reach them, driving one nearly mad with frustration.
Just as she felt her spiritual power had dropped to only forty percent of normal, Gong Chenying prepared to descend to the ground. While this would diminish her offensive power from above, it would also reduce the spiritual energy drain from flying.
And just then, a bright light suddenly appeared before her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she had glimpsed the end of the street, not an infinite stretch of winding alleys and shops but a massive sphere glowing with yellow light, blocking the center of the street.
(Chapter End)