Where there was a mountain, there was now a forest. Where there was daylight, now there was night. Though, no one had ever seen these stars.
Everyone stared at the alien surroundings that did not match up with what they expected to find. None of this made sense to them.
This wasn’t the only indicator that something was out of the ordinary. The qi here was so weak that the Ark wobbled and lost much of its stability, barely remaining airborne. However, in distant places, they could vaguely feel that the qi was much denser as if those places had collected and focused all the qi.
This wasn’t all that unusual. It was normal for qi to be weak — at least for their cultivation — in banal places, but strong in certain other places. However, the amount was something they had never experienced before.
These clues all led them toward the same conclusion, though no one dared to speak it out loud.
“What… what just happened?” Mu Jingyu asked.
Wu Yulan, who had been attempting to jump down to a city that was no longer there, landed back on the deck, with an expression that accurately demonstrated her grief and helplessness.
One by one; heads turned toward Zhu Xuelian as if she was the only person who knew what happened, or held all the answers.
“I… am not certain,” she replied. She looked at her sword, which had now entirely shed the cloak of folded light, and then looked over her shoulder.
Suddenly, Zhu Xuelian ran to the other side of the deck, and peered over the edge, staring into the distance.
“Does anyone… see a mountain? A sect?” Zhu Xuelian asked. Her almost-mortal perception could not make out any of the shapes she thought she saw in the darkness. To her, everything was pitch black.
“It was… right there,” Tian Li said, pointing to where the Galaxy Sword sect and mountain had been, until just a few moments ago.
“This… is this still…? Are we on the same… continent?” Ren Jinhai murmured, though the question didn’t seem directed at anyone.
“I don’t know,” Zhu Xuelian said. “Something must’ve gone wrong.”
Zhu Xuelian had used the function of her sword to physically transport herself into its inner world, but she would always appear on the mountain sect replica within it. She had never seen this landscape before or felt the qi of the land.
She recognized the stars — she had seen them before from within the inner world. They weren’t merely stars, but other inner worlds inhabited by hostile, malevolent entities. She had seen creatures — monsters — traverse the night sky, seeking worlds to devour.
However, though the sky was the same, this place was unfamiliar to her.
Mu Jingyu retrieved her sect jade talisman and looked at it, her expression darkening as each second passed.
One by one, everyone retrieved their jade talismans, and their expressions also darkened.
“I can’t sense the direction my sect is in. What about you?” Lei Yangming said.
Mu Jingyu shook her head. So did the others.
“It is unstable as if it is pointing in every direction,” Xiang Liling said.
“It feels the same way to me,” Tian Li said.
“This is strange. Even if we were on the other side of the world, it should point in the right direction,” Ren Jinhai said.
“So what are you saying? We are not in the same world anymore?” Lei Yangming asked his fellow rogue from the Heavenly Mountain Pavilion.
Ren Jinhai shrugged. “That would be ridiculo—“ he didn’t finish his sentence. Ridiculous was par for the course lately. “The qi must be weak, surely that’s the reason, right?”
Reluctantly everyone nodded. This was a valid explanation, but even so, there was a great seed of doubt within everyone, and it showed in their demeanor and expression.
Mu Jingyu climbed the railing of the Ark and looked into the distance.
“I don’t see any mountains this way. What about that side?” Mu Jingyu said.
Another member of the Frozen Peak Palace climbed the railing on the other side, peered toward the horizon, then shook her head.
“Sister Zhu, anything else we should be looking for?” Mu Jingyu asked. Since none of them could use their methods to figure out where they were, they had to defer to Zhu Xuelian’s. “This way I see… a river… a valley… a hill…”
Zhu Xuelian looked toward Mu Jingyu at the mention of a hill. She didn’t know any hills, but a mountain might look like a hill if it was far away enough.
“I see another river… a lake with a waterfall… and…” the other disciple from the Frozen Peak Palace began.
“A waterfall?” Zhu Xuelian asked. “Can you describe it?”
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“I am not sure where to begin, Sister Zhu. It’s just a waterfall. It’s covered in snow and ice if that helps?”
“The Icy Sword Formation?” Wu Yulan asked, looking toward Zhu Xuelian.
The two of them used to cultivate in a place like this — it had a tremendous ice-attribute qi density, and every droplet of water was filled with sword qi. Even now, were they to carelessly step into the lake, or the waterfall, they would be annihilated by its potent qi.
“Do… do you know this place? Should we go there?” Ren Jinhai asked.
Zhu Xuelian shook her head and smiled. “No,” she said. “I know this place, but I have never been there. A formation showed it to me, and within the formation, I cultivated its qi and sharpened my sword.”
This answer just confused them more. “Can you please explain what you mean?” Mu Jingyu asked.
“It’s kind of like looking at a painting,” Wu Yulan said. “Now imagine if you could step into the painting and experience it with your body. You are not there, but… something similar?”
Comprehension flashed on their expressions.
“So what does this mean?” Mu Jingyu asked.
Zhu Xuelian smiled. “It means we are in the right place. I was worried that we were sent somewhere else entirely.” She even chuckled, relieved of her worries. She was just glad that they were in the same world as where the painting was created, so to speak.
Like how You Wulei tossed them through a doorway and sent them to the Perilous Sword Valley, the formation they experienced must’ve functioned in a similar manner. If that were true, then the place they were seeking should also be somewhere in this place.
“Can… can we go back, Sister Zhu?” Tian Li asked.
To this, Zhu Xuelian proudly straightened her shoulders and smiled. “Go back? Why would we want that? We are in the best place we could be. The treasures of this place are unfathomable, and the progress we will make in our cultivation cannot be measured.”
This was another way for Zhu Xuelian to sing praise to Yaoyue, and she spoke with a passionate tone of deference and worship. However, under the yawning, malevolent sky, the group only became more worried.
Then, remembering how everyone looked at the Sect Jade Talisman, Zhu Xuelian got an idea and touched the black jade core of the sword.
She received two pieces of information when she did so. One made her happy, and the other made her very unhappy.
First, she could immediately sense the direction of the mountain she was looking for.
Second, she received an instruction.
[ Objective: Survive. ]
Just as the instruction processed in her mind, malevolent aura bared, a bird — the size of a person — landed on the deck of the Ark. No one could feel its approach, or sense its presence until the very last moment.
It had multicolored feathers in its wings, and its tail was of a particular shape. Rather than pinions, its tail was made of three sets of long, nimble chains ending with what could only be described as the blade of a cutting spear. Palpable, like air hardened into a metallic substance, a halo of malevolent energy surrounded the bird — a trait of a cultivation stage that had not been seen by anyone in hundreds of years.
The bird’s gaze focused on Wu Yulan, identifying her as the strongest here, and lashed out with its tails.
One tail struck the deck of the Ark, carving it open like it was made of rotten wood. The sound of ripping wood filled the air, crashing and crumbling as if half of the material was steel or glass. The material of the deck was so strong, that even a direct blast from the beam of another Ark would not be able to damage it to this degree, and yet, that tail did, and it effortlessly carved it open like it was nothing.
The other two tails struck Wu Yulan’s sword with enough force to not merely send her flying, but do so in a fashion that made her resemble a meteor, and cause rings of vapor to form around her body before she disappeared from the deck of the Ark.
Without hesitation, or thought for that matter, Zhu Xuelian threw herself forward, forgetting that she was a Qi Condensation cultivator now, and not a Nascent Soul powerhouse. Luckily, before she could reach the bird, a white line appeared, vertically intersecting the bird’s body, and a moment later, Wu Yulan appeared again, her blade following the instruction of the white line.
Wu Yulan’s swordsmanship followed the principle of eternal moments, which for practical purposes meant that she unleashed overwhelming amounts of sword force in a single moment. With this principle, Wu Yulan slaughtered thousands of demonic beasts and disemboweled an elder.
However, seemingly uncaring, the bird raised its wing into the path of the sword, and sparks shot off the metallic feathers, and Wu Yulan’s assault simply bounced off its intended target.
“Fight!!” Zhu Xuelian shouted, tearing the bystanders out of their shocked reverie, and grounding them in the reality that stood before them.
“Dragon-Slaying Thrust!”
“Winter’s End Cut!”
“Grand Galaxy Sword!”
“True North Slash!”
“Maiden’s Snow Blade!”
Each one of these techniques once amazed thousands of cultivators who had seen them performed at the Martial Conference, and they rained down on the bird in an instant.
Winter’s End Cut appeared as a sword made of glaciers, descending from the heavens. The Grand Galaxy Sword was like a sword formed from the arm of a spiral galaxy. Dragon-Slaying Thrust earned its name for its history and reputation of slaying dragons.
Each technique performed was proof that these cultivators were the best and brightest of their generation.
Not a single one could even draw the demonic beast’s notice, or even penetrate the qi protecting the beast’s body, much less strike feather.
“S— Sovereign…!” Ren Jinhai hissed, vocalizing what everyone knew in their heart, even before their awesome assault fell flat before the incredible might of the beast.
Sovereigns. Demonic beasts that crossed the boundary beyond Nascent Soul, severed their mortality and stepped into the realms of semi-immortality. Every time the history of the world was restarted, to common knowledge, it was at the overwhelming power of Sovereigns and Tyrants unleashed in beast waves.
Another bird landed on the deck and unleashed a piercing cry that caused the sky to crack like glass. Each shockwave of its bellow pounded the cultivators on the deck like a physical blow from an elder of their sects. Blood shot out of their mouths, noses, and eyes, as they fell to their knees.
Zhu Xuelian only survived because her Physique was on a level sufficient to compete with the likes of Wu Yulan — at least, defensively.
Her right hand grabbed the bird’s wing and pulled — only successful because the bird did not even see her. A mere Qi Condensation cultivator… even mindless demonic beasts couldn’t stomach the idea of taking one such as her seriously.
“Now, Yulan!” Zhu Xuelian shouted, her nails chipping and breaking as she forcefully held on to the tip of the wing.
Now the bird took notice of her. Even a dumb demonic beast can give an impression of being confused at the prospect of being unable to overpower a Qi Condensation cultivator gripping its wing. Then an air of panic and anger as Wu Yulan’s approaching sword reflected in its beady, black eyes.
In an instant, like a flash of lightning, Wu Yulan's sword passed through the wing.
It wasn’t the sound of a sword cutting bone and flesh — it was the sound of metal grinding and scraping against metal, twisting and groaning in protest. Sinews like crystal separated, and flesh like steel broke free. Then the wing came free, as the sword separated it from the bird’s back, and another howling cry broke the firmament.
“Fight!!” Zhu Xuelian shouted again, just before the bird’s tail struck her in the chest, and sent her flying through the deck of the Ark.
