Blue Phoenix

The group ascended into the heavens above, and as they did they noticed that many cultivators were present around them. All of these cultivators were staring at the sky above with astonishment.

“Something big just happened,” someone said as he gazed at the sky above, a glance which contained both hope and fear.

It was clear that everyone here had attempted to leave the world before, only to be stopped by this large formation, and although they hoped that the phenomenon they had just seen meant that the formation had collapsed, no one dared to be the first to test it. The pain from colliding with the formation was all too real in their memories.

“We are not waiting any longer. They might hesitate, but let’s go,” Hui Yue said and he flew straight through the black mist that was surrounding the world.

Everyone simply watched him. There was hope in some of their eyes and hopelessness in others. Some of them just wanted to see him injure himself from entering the black mist and trying to escape, but the majority were filled with anticipation.

The ones who had been in the world the longest had been there for over a year, and although a year was not too long a time for cultivators of the God rank, it was still quite a bit of time to be trapped in this place.

It was even worse as they were in a world filled with deadly ancient beasts that would not hesitate to attack and kill anyone they came across.

Many experts had died here, but this was the Archaic World and deaths were expected when one entered a new world. In some worlds, everyone who entered would die, while other worlds would have a smaller death rate.

In this world more than half of them had already died, less than half now remained. But those who were the strongest of the bunch, the ones with the quickest wits and the ones who were skilled in survival, had been able to persevere and were still alive.

But all of these experts had felt dread when they saw this formation covering the sky as they knew they would have a tough time in this world. Although they had known it was possible to dispel the massive formation, no matter how much they searched, they were incapable of finding even the slightest clue as to how to break it.

Now it had seemingly vanished on its own, and a large group of experts had appeared out of nowhere. Some connected the dots while others simply did not care.

Still, everyone was watching breathlessly as Hui Yue and his friends broke through the black mist and successfully left the world.

At first, they were all at a loss for what they had seen. Was that actually real? Had they really just left? But after thinking it over and analyzing it, they realized that it should be true, and all of them instantly started to fly into the black mist.

Although they had seen Hui Yue succeed, they still braced themselves for the backlash of running into the formation, but it never arrived. Instead, the experts found themselves back in the void of the Archaic World.

“We wasted a full year here,” Hui Yue sighed in frustration. “We were constantly fighting off beasts and being vigilant, and now everyone is exhausted. There is nowhere in the Archaic World where we can take it easy, so if everyone is ok with it, should we return to the blissful realm? If we go back, we can sell the hellhounds and get some rest before we continue onwards, or should we just head into the Archaic World?”

At first, no one answered. “Although it has been exhausting during the last year, we need to remember that this is not a leisure trip,” Tang Tian finally spoke up. “We can return to the Blissful Realm and then we will be able to relax a little, but when we go further and further into the Archaic World, this is not an option we will have any longer.”

“I would say that the best decision is to just keep forging ahead and enter more worlds. We have plenty of storage treasures, and we can bring the hellhounds with us without them decaying. There should be no rush to return to the Blissful Realm yet. Let us at least enter one or two more worlds here in the outer perimeter and test ourselves.”

As soon as Tang Tian spoke none of the others said a thing, they just nodded their heads. They too were determined to do their utmost to find the Alchemist God and to do so they would not be lazy.

Hui Yue felt grateful for having such friends, and he nodded his head. “I will decide on our next world then,” he said, but he took his time as he gazed at the many worlds in front of him.

He completely ignored the realms, the realms were not interesting enough for them as they had no chance of being the world they were looking for, but he was not going to dive head first into any world once more.

His eyes landed on a world not far from them. After observing it for some time, he noticed that there was a steady stream of people entering and people leaving. Since people were capable of leaving it could not be too dangerous, and thus he picked it as their next destination.

“Let’s move,” he said, and the shuttle appeared in front of them. Although the world was visible from where they were, it was still quite far away, and it would take a few hours on the shuttle to reach it, while if they flew it would take more than a day.

Arriving at the world all of them glanced at one another and saw serious expressions all around. Everyone now took the Archaic World seriously, and although they had seen people leave this world, it was impossible to say what would happen to them when they entered.

If they were unlucky, they could arrive straight in an ancient beast nest, ready to be ripped to shreds, or they could arrive in yet another formation or a trap.

They could also be lucky and arrive on a flat plain with no one in sight or possibly even on a treasure mountain. It was hard to say.

All of them held hands as they descended through the bright ring of light that surrounded this world.

They could feel the energy around them twisting and churning, and soon a gravitation field dragged them towards the ground quickly.

They tried to use their Ancestral Worldpower to stay afloat in the air but it was impossible, and although they had managed to slow down their descent, they were ultimately dragged to the ground.

“Well we are stuck here for now,” Hui Yue sighed, “but it is possible to leave this world, so we just have to figure out how.”

“I think that it is just this area that has such gravity,” Xiao She said, and Hui Yue nodded his head. The others who cultivated in the dao of the earth seemed to agree with her, and since it was impossible for them to fly, they could only run on the ground.

Their speed was severely limited because of this, but they still managed to cover a lot of distance as they ran at the fastest speed possible.

While running, they came across ancient beasts. Some of them they had to fight, while others stayed away from them.

They also came across a few groups of cultivators, but they had their hands full fighting the fierce beasts, and Hui Yue was in no mood to lend them a hand.

Rushing forward, Hui Yue and his friends went through forests and mountain ranges, swamps and volcanic areas.

Finally, they reached a small valley which caused them all to stop in their tracks. In the middle of the valley were the ruins of a major city, and these ruins which should have been empty were now filled with cultivators who had set up stalls selling the many treasures they had found.

“Let’s check it out,” Hui Yue smiled as he saw this. This would be the perfect place to get information on how to leave the world.

As soon as they entered the ruins, they saw that it was possible to fly once more, but when they tried to ascend into the heavens, they found that the further up they flew the more the gravitational pull affected them and eventually they could fly no more.

“They must be new,” someone said with a chuckle, and others laughed as well. It was apparently a rather normal experience that someone tried to fly away, only to fail again and again.

“Seems like this is not the way to leave,” Hui Yue said with a wry smile on his face as he landed on the ground again.

As they landed on the ground, Hui Yue took some time to look around the many stalls to see if there was anything of interest.

What he found were mainly ancient herbs and beasts. There were some ancient pills and some skills and formations but nothing that really caught his attention.

Weapons and armor were not for sale either as those who managed to get these chose to keep them for themselves or wait with selling them until they returned to the Blissful Realm.

“You there!” Huli went towards one of the stalls and her every move attracted the attention of quite a few male cultivators present in the ruins.

The man she had picked also straightened his back and pushed forward his chest as he smiled at her lecherously.

“What can I do for you my beautiful?” He asked, but when the words left his mouth, Huli’s body shuddered in discomfort.

“I need to know how to leave this world,” she said straight forwardly. She was not willing to let Hui Yue waste more Worldpower Stones for information she could easily get.

“I can tell you but only if you warm my bed tonight,” the man said with a smirk, his words causing both Hui Yue and all his friend’s faces to grow dark.

They all knew that Huli was the one who had chased after Hui Yue for a long time, and although Hui Yue had been hesitant at the beginning, he cherished her now.

He knew that Huli was his lover from a previous life and she had managed to carve her own place within his heart so hearing some other man say that he wanted to have her warm his bed was enough to make Hui Yue enraged! These women who were by his side were like the reverse scale on a dragon’s neck, they could not be touched, and if someone were to threaten them, they had to be ready for Hui Yue’s anger.

Huli seemed to agree as her hand shot out like a snake, pinning the man to the ground.

“I was asking nicely,” she said with a ferociousness that was similar to the fierce beasts that roamed over this world. “Now tell me how to leave this world, or you won’t keep your life for another second.”

Huli was no longer coquettish and flirting; she had become a killing machine. She was ruthless and many of the men who had looked at her with lustful eyes before slowly made their way away from her. They were frightened, and no one wished to come to this man’s aid.

“It is really simple,” the man stuttered while being clutched around his neck. “You need to enter the highest mountain peaks, and then you can fly out of the realm.”

“I see,” Huli nodded her head as she threw the man away. He was like an arrow leaving the bowstring as he shot backwards, and when his body smashed into a massive stone, he lost consciousness.

“I suggest we leave this area as soon as possible,” Hui Yue said with narrowed eyes. “No one comes to the Archaic World alone, and he is certain to have comrades. It will be best for us to be away when they arrive.”

They did not know how many comrades he had or their strength, but they were not here to cause trouble, and thus, they all vanished out of the ruins as soon as they had arrived.