The Storm Arrives
The billowing thick smoke gradually dispersed, and light and heat converged in the void.
Several 7th-rank members of the Witchcraft Association scattered around in a sorry state, seemingly not having reacted to what just happened, simultaneously turning their heads to look at the center of the explosion.
They saw that a huge pit had already been blown out of the hard golden ground. Shattered flesh and blood covered every corner of the pit, and a corpse whose human form could no longer be seen fell among the rubble, charred black all over.
The entire Church fell into dead silence.
The several 7th-ranks of the Witchcraft Association looked at this scene in disbelief, then stiffly turned their necks, their gazes converging on the figure wearing the White Lab Coat not far away.
One must know, these two Hall Masters of the Floating Life Painting were both at the 7th-rank level... yet the Lord of Wuji only raised his hand and directly obliterated them?!
Killing 7th-ranks like slaughtering dogs, is this the Nine Monarchs??
At this moment, everyone's gaze towards the Lord of Wuji and Brand completely changed... Among these people, perhaps some had once not fully submitted to Brand, perhaps some had only bowed their heads to adapt to the general trend out of situational pressure. But within thirty seconds of the Lord of Wuji descending, their cognitions were all overturned.
Or to say... did it really matter to the Lord of Wuji whether their group of 7th-ranks lived or died? Even if the Wuji Domain didn't have a single 7th-rank, relying on the Lord of Wuji alone was enough to turn the Nine Great Human Realms upside down!
Before this, some of these people had even tried to negotiate terms with Brand, attempting to seek greater benefits from it. But the Lord of Wuji's single move shattered all their fantasies... No one was qualified to negotiate terms with the Lord of Wuji. This was the oppressive feeling brought by absolute strength.
A white coat floated in the wind. The Lord of Wuji's gaze fell in the center of the giant pit. As if discovering something, his eyes narrowed slightly:
"One actually escaped... The power that two Philosopher's Stones can carry is still not enough..."
"Lord of Wuji, do we need to give chase?" Brand asked respectfully.
"...No need."
The Lord of Wuji said lightly, "The Floating Life Painting has already become suspicious. If these two don't return, they will still take defensive measures... The hidden game of chess is over. Next, it depends on whose fist is harder."
"The Lord of the Red Dust has yet to awaken. In this Red Dust, who else can have a harder fist than yours?" Brand smiled.
The Lord of Wuji didn't answer. His calm eyes looked towards the direction of the Red Dust Domain in the nothingness, and spoke calmly:
"The anomaly in the Wuji Domain will soon spread to all Domains. We must massacre the Red Dust and refine the remaining Philosopher's Stones before the other major Domains join forces to encircle and suppress us, letting me return to my peak state.
Gather all personnel, we... should go flatten the Red Dust."
...
"Guernica".
This was a hollow and empty space of nothingness. There was no sky, no earth, no burning sun, only occasional black giant objects floating past from the nothingness, like predators roaming in the universe.
Black and white were the main tones here. The monotonous colors and the giant objects floating silently past made this place even more hollow, like a small ball bouncing around on an old TV set, or meaningless black and white snowflakes.
And at this moment, a figure clad in red floated silently in the void, motionless like a corpse.
He just drifted silently in the hollowness like this. After an unknown amount of time, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and a pair of bewildered eyes gradually opened.
"Where... is this place?"
Chen Ling frowned and recalled. He remembered that he was still talking to the Second Hall just now. Before he finished speaking, something dragged him into the picture frame...
His gaze swept over the surroundings, recalling a certain vocabulary the Second Hall had mentioned before:
"Guernica".
Although he didn't know what this thing was, according to the Second Hall's description, this should be some kind of high-level prison?
Putting other things aside for now, the Second Hall indeed didn't kill him, which was quite trustworthy... Moreover, if Chen Ling didn't misunderstand, Eight of Clubs should also be trapped here.
Chen Ling looked up and down. There was no place that could serve as a foothold. This place was like outer space. No ground meant he couldn't walk on his feet. If it were the vast majority of other people here, they would probably be like astronauts detached from a space station in space, floating isolated in the nothingness until death.
The good news was, Chen Ling wasn't the "vast majority" of people.
He took a step into the void, and a cloud-like step seemed to appear beneath his feet, supporting his figure to move in one direction... [Cloud Steps] became Chen Ling's reliance at this moment.
Chen Ling stepped on the void and walked slowly in the hollow world. Because there was no reference point, he didn't know how far he had walked either. The surroundings were all boundless darkness, as if walking in an endless abyss.
"Is this the cage?" Chen Ling muttered to himself in confusion.
Chen Ling previously guessed that the so-called "Guernica" used to imprison Dusk Society members should be a quite cruel and dangerous place. He had even prepared himself to endure pain... Of course, with [Blood Raiment] around, physical pain wouldn't be too tormenting for Chen Ling.
But he didn't expect that this place just seemed like a void empty to the point of boundlessness... Could it be that the Second Hall wanted them to feel loneliness, thereby enduring mental torture? But if that was the case, why did he throw both him and Eight of Clubs in here?
Chen Ling pondered for a long time but had no answer, and could only keep moving forward in this empty world.
Chen Ling didn't know how long he walked or how far a distance he crossed either. He only felt that the dullness and tediousness in his heart grew increasingly thick. The next moment, a line of characters suddenly floated up before his eyes:
[Audience Expectation Value -1]
[Current Expectation Value: 44%]
Chen Ling was stunned, and an ominous premonition surged into his heart...
If this place was really the kind of cage he imagined, for others, it might indeed just be a bit boring and tedious, but for him, it was fatal!
As it happens, Chen Ling had absolutely no way to deal with this... It hadn't even been a month since he last used the Timeline Save File, so he couldn't enter it again. The only thing he could count on now was for the other Dusk Society members to find him as soon as possible and rescue him before he was "bored to death".
Just as this thought arose in Chen Ling's mind, he suddenly seemed to sense something and subconsciously stopped his steps.
The next moment, the surrounding scene suddenly faded and disappeared. A swath of night sky shrouded overhead, and a seemingly unreachable star hung on the vault of heaven, silently flickering like a lamp... A twisted and eerie Divine Path extended from beneath his feet, connecting all the way to the end of the vault of heaven.
A new performance is about to debut.