"AHHHH! Luo Xiu, are we dood now?!"
In the utter darkness, Master Ping howled in panic. By now, the suction force had held them in its grip, pulling them downward for nearly an hour! Because of the pull, their descent was faster than a freefall.
Moreover, during this process, Luo Xiu and Master Ping could do nothing. The suction force was bizarre, seemingly sealing away all of their abilities. After nearly an hour, they still hadn't hit the bottom, which made Luo Xiu suspect this might be a bottomless pit.
Master Ping sent a Divine Sense Communication, "Luo Xiu, this can't go on! We need to think of sothing!"
Luo Xiu felt completely helpless. He replied, "I know you're anxious, but you need to calm down first."
He was at his wit's end. What plan could he possibly co up with when he couldn't do anything?
"Master Ping, it seems we can only leave it to fate. But I refuse to believe we'll fall forever and never hit the bottom!"
Master Ping suddenly rembered sothing. "I rember now!" he said hurriedly. "This damned place is the Starry Sky Ancient Path! We're shuttling through it right now!"
Luo Xiu asked, "Then where will we end up?"
"Who knows? You already severed the Starry Sky Ancient Path, throwing it into total chaos. Nobody knows where we'll be transported."
Hearing this, Luo Xiu sighed. "Then it seems we truly can only leave it to fate."
The words had barely left his mouth when he felt a sharp pain wrack his body, accompanied by a loud THUD.
The two of them had suddenly fallen into water.
Even with his resilient physique, Luo Xiu was thrown into such utter confusion that it felt as if his soul had been knocked out of his body. All his bones seed on the verge of scattering.
Ice-cold water enveloped him, and coupled with the profound darkness, it made Luo Xiu feel incredibly oppressed, even terrified. He grabbed Master Ping and swam desperately upward. After what felt like a long ti, they finally broke the surface.
"PHEW!"
After erging, Luo Xiu heaved a long sigh of relief. They had finally reached the bottom. Falling into water instead of onto solid ground was a stroke of luck amid their misfortune.
But what kind of godforsaken place was this?
As thoughts churned in his mind, Luo Xiu scanned his surroundings, but he could see nothing but an endless, deathly still darkness. Eyes seed utterly useless here. Moreover, he could clearly feel that this darkness was far denser and more terrifying than the one they were in before being sucked into the Starry Sky Ancient Path; it felt as if it had solidified.
He released his Divine Sense, letting it spread out, and discovered they were in the middle of a massive lake.
Just then, Master Ping slowly flew out of the water. After observing his surroundings with his Divine Sense for a mont, he suddenly cursed, "Damn it! How could the ancient path have sent us to this cursed place?"
Luo Xiu also flew out, standing on the water's surface as if it were solid ground. "From your tone, you've been here before?" he asked.
"I've never been here, but I heard about it back when I road the Celestial Realm... This should be the 'Land of No Return'."
"The Land of No Return?" Luo Xiu frowned slightly.
"It's nad the 'Land of No Return' because it's so dark that it's as if nothing exists here," Master Ping explained. "Kid, you must have heard of the term 'black hole' back on Earth, right?"
"Of course," Luo Xiu nodded.
Master Ping's tone grew grave. "Well, this Land of No Return is probably what the beings of the new era on your Earth call a 'black hole'."
Hearing this, Luo Xiu's feelings grew complicated. "I never imagined I'd get to personally visit the place Earth's scientists are always talking about."
With that, he took out the Sun Well and activated it. A terrifying heat radiated outward... but the darkness remained absolute.
"What the hell!" Luo Xiu exclaid. "The last place was dark, but it couldn't swallow the light of the Sun Well. This darkness can devour even its light."
"That place before was likely just peripherally affected by the Land of No Return. How could it compare to the real thing?" Master Ping said. "In short, no light can exist in the Land of No Return. Furthermore, from what I know, the flow of ti here is different from the outside world. It might be faster, it might be slower, or it could be the sa, of course."
Luo Xiu's brow furrowed. "If the flow of ti is really different, then we're screwed."
"You'd better prepare yourself," Master Ping warned. "You might spend an hour here, while outside, a hundred years—or even thousands, or tens of thousands of years—have passed! By the ti you get out, everything will have changed. Countless friends and loved ones will have grown old, their souls long returned to the dust."
Hearing this, Luo Xiu's scalp tingled, and his heart grew heavy. This formless terror was the truest horror of all. The reason he felt it so acutely was because he had so many people he cared about in the outside world.
"Regardless, we should focus on the present situation first," Master Ping said.
Luo Xiu took a deep breath to calm himself. "I don't know about focusing on the present, but I think there's sothing under my feet right now."
No sooner had he spoken than a deafening roar erupted. The lake surface beneath him exploded as a massive column of water shot into the sky. At the sa ti, a terrifying presence saturated the air.
Master Ping shrieked, "That's a creature of darkness, and it's terrifying! What the hell are you waiting for? Run! Let's play it safe and get out of here!"
Without a second word, Luo Xiu unfolded his Tricolor Thunder Wings, grabbed Master Ping, and rocketed into the distance.
His Divine Sense perceived the mysterious leviathan that had erged from the water: it was a serpentine behemoth with no eyes, only a gaping maw. The creature was not a Demon Beast, yet it radiated an aura so dreadful that even Luo Xiu felt a chill of fear. Unfamiliar with the environnt, he had no intention of tangling with the mysterious creature. The safest choice was to run.
A mont later, Luo Xiu landed on the lakeshore. Though they had escaped the creature, he didn't let down his guard. He swept the area with his Divine Sense and discovered that the vicinity was crawling with grotesque and disgusting dark creatures of all shapes and sizes.
Master Ping had obviously noticed them too. "Don't move," he whispered. "Don't disturb them. We have no need to get entangled with these beasts. Right now, we should focus on finding a way out of here."
"Your power of the Space Law is useless?" Luo Xiu asked.
"Here, the Space Law is useless."
Luo Xiu was about to curse when his expression suddenly sharpened. His Divine Sense, spreading outward, locked onto a bizarre, massive structure thousands of miles away.
"Master Ping, it seems so kind of intelligent life lives here. I sense a building up ahead."
"Shall we go take a look?" Master Ping suggested.
"I think we should," Luo Xiu agreed. "But speaking of which... I suddenly feel exhausted and famished."
"That's just how the Land of No Return is," Master Ping said. "No matter how high your cultivation, staying here will drain your physical and ntal energy. You're lucky your cultivation is strong. An ordinary person would be instantly torn to shreds by the space here."
Luo Xiu focused his left eye, intending to open a spatial portal to the Land of Lawlessness to get sothing to eat. But then he froze. He couldn't open a spatial portal here.
"It's no use," Master Ping said. "Didn't I just tell you? Even the Space Law is useless here, so all of your spatial abilities are nullified. However, your Storage Magical Treasure and Human Sanctuary should be unaffected."
Luo Xiu wore an expression of sheer frustration. "All my food is in the Land of Lawlessness. There's none in my Human Sanctuary."
Master Ping gloated, "Well then, there's nothing I can do to help you!"
Luo Xiu's stomach rumbled, his hunger growing more intense by the second. His Divine Sense suddenly locked onto the nearby, seemingly slumbering dark creatures.
"Then what if we... make do with what's available?"
"Fuck, are you insane? You'd dare eat those things?"
Luo Xiu gritted his teeth. "You just don't get it. When a person reaches a certain level of starvation, they beco more terrifying than a wild beast."
Master Ping sighed. "You flesh-and-blood creatures are so much trouble. Fine, eat if you must. Just don't bla for not warning you when you get the runs."
"..."
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