Chapter 768: Chapter 189 Life and Death Moment

“We have reached the depths of Black Mountain.”

From the unknown void, it was even darker around them, with nothing visible.

Possessing the Eye of Destruction, Zhou Yan activated various soul powers and could barely make out the outlines of this world as he spoke.

Zhou Yan’s expression was solemn, his face cold, no longer carrying the ease and indifference from before.

“Let’s take it step by step. If we can live, we live; if we can’t, we die. Once you see through this, whatever other dangers there are don’t matter. After all, having made it this far, we have already lived several more hours than expected. We’ve already gained a lot.”

Liu Jin, the fatty, was already clinging to half a life, his soul power nearly completely depleted.

After sensing the surroundings and finding temporary stability, Zhou Yan immediately exerted his powerful soul energy to absorb energy from all around him while using the Undying Rebirth Technique and the Nirvana Rebirth Technique to heal the wounds of people around him.

This ability, once manifested, could induce a transformation as miraculous as withered wood springing to life. Even the fatty, Liu Jin, instantly recovered more than half his strength, and others, such as the Yaochi Saint, regrew half of their bodies right then and there, their strength nearly fully restored.

Zhou Yan’s face turned a shade paler, including the previous consumption, his soul power had suffered a loss of up to seventy percent.

But neither the physical and mental exhaustion nor the depletion of his soul power could diminish the sense of helplessness in his heart.

This was a profound feeling of helplessness that he hadn’t felt for a long time.

It was just like the first time he confronted the Heavenly Destiny plan, faced the deadly trap, and felt powerless against the avatar of the Evil King.

The feeling of helplessness, a strong sense of helplessness, gnawed at Zhou Yan’s heart like a demon.

Zhou Yan saw Wu Ji, his brother’s child, this pitiful kid who had always lived in Zhou Yan’s shadow and became a ‘substitute’ targeted by higher forces. Finally, Wu Ji found his own happiness, but then, suddenly, that happiness was shattered.

Happiness was so fleeting.

In the human world, perhaps the cruelest thing was to shatter the hard-earned happiness, breaking someone’s last straw.

It was the most despairing and cruelest of pure affections.

Zhou Yan understood this pain, just as he had watched Yanyan disappear.

Suddenly coming to his senses, Wu Ji found that his mother’s soul body had shattered and fallen. Reality was often so cruel.

There was also the naturally gifted Qi Fortune Body, and Li Wuxian from the Li Family, one was a follower Zhou Yan took on when he was still Lei Yan King, loyal and never abandoned him along the way.

The other was like a family elder to Zhou Yan, from his parents Zhou Wangchen and Li Yunjin, always protecting his relatives and friends tirelessly.

Now, these two people, who were both teachers and kin to him, also suddenly perished.

And Moon Immortal, she had always admired Lei Yan King, and when Lei Yan King came to the Nine Origin Universe, he did a lot of things, but she always silently watched and helped him deal with the aftermath. She was quietly devoted, un regretfully heartfelt.

Zhou Yan hadn’t forgotten her; he just didn’t wish to touch upon that memory. It was a memory from his previous life when he founded the Thunder Flame Sect. His heart was disturbed, and Demon Heart often acted up, leading him to commit many foolish and evil acts, despoiling many extraordinary women. Moon Immortal was not one of those women because she did not resist when she encountered his misconduct.

It was precisely because Moon Immortal didn’t resist that he didn’t commit foolish acts at that moment, instead becoming lucid at the critical moment and then left.

Now, before Zhou Yan had the chance to face this debt of romance, Moon Immortal had already passed away.

Zhou Yan remembered the words of Xuanyuan Ancestor — to see if something is important in your heart, see how much pain you feel when you lose it… Now, Zhou Yan could feel the loss, desolation, and pain in his heart, realizing that Moon Immortal held a significant place in his heart, not because he was unwilling to face it, but because she mattered deeply.

But everything came so suddenly that it was hard to respond.

…

The words of Liu Jin, like the emotions of everyone else at this time, were equally heavy and despairing.

Although Zhou Yan had healed them, not one of them felt joy; they were all immersed in the sorrow of their companions’ departure.

“Wu Ji clearly had a Demon Heart outbreak. I don’t know the result; this child, truly pitiable.”

Fang Hong suddenly sighed.

He thought to himself: Such a good talent in Qiankun Heavenly Mechanism might be destroyed.

“I unleashed a desperate strike, saw through the momentary illusion, and saw him being hit in the head by another claw of the Ghost. But the specific outcome, I do not know. It was just like a premonition, a momentary scene.”

Liu Jin spoke solemnly, his eyes dim.

Saint Yao, the Evil King, and the Yaochi Saint, all remained silent, their faces filled with grief.

And Fairy Die had also turned sorrowful and started to cry, saddened because Liu Jin had spoken of Wu Ji’s situation.

Throughout their journey, for a long time, they had stuck together, and Wu Ji fought tirelessly, rescuing them from deadly situations countless times. Wu Ji and Jia Yongheng worked seamlessly as if they were the core leaders of the team. Yet, now, they had suddenly encountered a disaster.

It was truly a case of the heavens envying the gifted.

“If that’s the case, I fear… it’s more likely bad than good. Moreover, the Emptiness Saint also chased in, and his family, they all encountered misfortune here.”

Fang Hong could not stop sighing.

He had thought about the ‘calamity descending’, but considering Zhou Yan’s relationship with Wu Ji, he felt it was just a coincidence, just that this place was truly deadly, a disaster area for cultivators, hence he had not thought deeper or suspected anything in this regard.

Moreover, since Wu Ji dared to borrow Vast Qi from Zhou Yan, he naturally wouldn’t harbor any ill intentions.

Fang Hong laughed at himself mockingly, feeling that the harsh environment had influenced him, even causing such unrealistic thoughts to suddenly arise.

“Ah—”

At that moment, not far away, a female cultivator’s tragic scream echoed, followed immediately by a dazzling energy storm, an eruption of energy from a cultivator’s body.

Another female cultivator was brutally attacked, her physical and Soul Body instantly shattered, exploding in the Void into a cloud of blood mist.

Soon after, numerous ripples of the Ghost Fox devoured all these flesh and soul energies, and the Void momentarily turned pitch black.

“This perilous eruption site is less than a thousand meters away from us; let’s go, I think I can make some judgment now.”

Zhou Yan didn’t hesitate and immediately took action.

Once Zhou Yan sensed someone else’s death, he immediately judged from his previous experiences that the danger to himself was probably imminent.

Indeed, as Zhou Yan carried six people forward using Void Sword Body for navigation and Eye of Destruction for pathfinding, another terrifying ripple appeared behind them.

“Hmm? Life Soul Spring? If we have this, we can activate the Guardian Light of Immortal Black Chess and avoid danger without worry!”

Suddenly, Fang Hong was overjoyed. He caught sight of a Life Soul Spring nearby, flickering with a tempting faint phosphorescence.

“I have a Jade Artifact to collect it!”

Yaochi Saint’s eyes lit up, and he immediately made his move, trying to collect the Life Soul Spring with the High Grade Saint Artifact, the Soul Jade Qiankun Bottle.

But the moment the Soul Jade Qiankun Bottle flew out, Yaochi Saint’s face suddenly stiffened. In that same moment, his Soul Power controlling the Soul Jade Qiankun Bottle was devoured by an inexplicable darkness.

Yaochi Saint’s soul instantly collapsed and dried up, immediately withering and decaying. At that moment, Zhou Yan turned back and launched Soul Slash, severing one of Yaochi Saint’s Void Souls, while simultaneously unleashing the Nirvana Rebirth Technique, lifting the six forward hundreds of meters to dodge unknown dangers.

The remnants of Yaochi Saint’s Cultivation were completely wiped out. Although part of his residual soul was forcibly saved, it was like a withered, nearly dead, shriveled zombie; his physical body had already perished, and his Soul Body was feeble and dim.

In just a moment, the once Peak Saint, Yaochi, nearly met his death by soul devouring.

“All temptations are fake; we must not believe, act, or release our souls to explore! Yaochi Saint, don’t worry, as long as you’re alive, there’s hope. I’ll try to help you recover later. If it truly fails, we’ll try to break and then establish, surviving another life. I’ll find a way to sever your brand and let you live out another life in the True God Plane!”

Zhou Yan said, gritting his teeth.

He had already been incredibly cautious this time, yet the crisis appeared so stealthily and unpredictably.

Moreover, the tempting object was too real, genuinely existing, yet it could not be taken.

“It’s okay, I’ve encountered danger twice in a row; it’s my fault for holding you back.”

Yaochi Saint’s voice was hoarse and weak, filled with guilt.

“No, you just wanted to help us out of danger as quickly as possible; it’s not your fault. If it weren’t for you, I might have died because I’m already not lightly harmed from earlier injuries. If I had gone to fetch that Life Soul Spring, I would surely have died, beyond saving,”

Fang Hong said gravely.

“So, rest assured, I’ll find a way together with Brother Zhou Yan, and enable you to live out another life with our Fang Family. However, due to identity issues, your background may not be as good, only belonging to a collateral branch of the family. Of course, we all need to survive and leave this place for that. If unfortunately, if we’re forever trapped here, my many promises would be but empty talk,”

Fang Hong bitterly smiled, yet he made a significantly serious promise.

At this moment, the Evil King and Qian Yao even felt somewhat envious of Yaochi Saint—after all, in such a desperate situation, he still had a glimmer of hope for the future.

Zhou Yan swiftly led the six through, moving away nearly another thousand meters, and the path ahead immediately turned complicated again.

Zhou Yan looked up and saw the Heavenly Destiny Enlightenment Tea tree ahead.

Under the tree stood a person, one that made his whole body chill, a person drenched in blood, covered with red hair, with piercing cold eyes.

This person was none other than Wu Ji, who had gone mad before, now having taken over the position of the ‘Transformer’, standing there with arms crossed, giving Zhou Yan and the others a sinister, cold smile.

Blood flowed from his seven facial orifices, yet his face gradually blurred, becoming less real.

“What’s the matter, Brother Zhou Yan? Unable to discern again?”

Fang Hong’s voice aptly woke Zhou Yan who looked ahead, and saw nothing but pitch darkness, unable to make out anything.

The previous scene, like an illusion.

But the next moment, Zhou Yan saw it anew, glimpsing the golden path ahead, familiar and incredibly safe.

However, Zhou Yan didn’t keep looking there to see if there was someone; he closed the Eye of Destruction and withdrew the Observing Qi Skill, and the golden path also immediately disappeared.

“It’s okay, just that my learning of the Tai Chu Rune is not precise enough, still unable to judge accurately. But along the way, I have noted down five transmission nodes; let’s retreat, choose the one I am most confident in, and continue to transport and try our luck. If we die, let’s be buried here together,”

Zhou Yan solemnly responded.

As he spoke, he gathered the others, immediately retreating back along the path they had travelled, then abruptly changed direction at a certain point.

Just as Zhou Yan retreated, the Ghost Fox’s claw, that had previously killed many cultivators, hurtled down fiercely, chasing after Zhou Yan and the seven.