WHOOSH!
A violent shockwave trailed behind them as the six cultivators tore through the tunnel. At five kilometers per second, their bodies were little more than streaks of blurred light. Behind them, the Forbidden Mountain was eating itself. The walls and ceiling collapsed in a synchronized roar of stone, chasing them like a hungry beast.
Ye Heimin glanced back, his face tight with adrenaline. "The collapse is gaining! We're running out of tunnel!"
Wang Fang didn't panic. His mind was a cold calculation of distance and speed.
How much deeper does this abyss go?
Suddenly, his golden eyes narrowed, catching a hairline fracture in the ceiling ahead.
"MOVE TO THE SIDE!" Wang Fang's roar echoed over the grinding rocks.
"What is it now?" Su Qingmei started to bark, but his voice was drowned out by a cataclysmic THUD.
A massive slab of bedrock slammed into the floor, sealing the path they had occupied only a millisecond before. Su Qingmei screamed, barely rolling clear as debris sprayed his robes with dust.
"Don't stop!" Wang Fang's aura flared to a blinding crimson. "The collapse is spreading!"
The tunnel groaned, a deep, metallic sound like a dying titan. Cracks shot forward along the walls, racing toward them.
Ye Heimin gritted his teeth. "At this speed, we won't make it!"
"WE WILL."
Wang Fang surged ahead, his foot striking the ground with a thunderous boom. His speed doubled, cutting through the air like a divine blade. Behind them, the path caved in completely, swallowing the light.
"Almost there…" Wang Fang muttered.
A faint, sickly crimson glow appeared ahead.
"The core area!" Su Qingmei gasped.
But as they burst into the open cavern, the air didn't get lighter.
It turned to lead.
The Golden Scale Serpent
Coiled in the center of the massive chamber was a nightmare from Old Lady Shen's fairy tales.
The Golden Scale Serpent was as large as a fortress. Its body shimmered with layered scales that flowed like molten gold, but the space around it warped unnaturally. It wasn't just sitting there, it was a gravitational anchor. The ground beneath it had sunk into a crater, and dust and stones hovered in the air, pulled by its silent, crushing pressure.
Its eyes were twin moons of pure, ancient crimson.
"What the hell is that?" Ye Heimin whispered, his voice cracking with a fear that consumed everyone.
"Look!" Su Qingmei pointed, his hand shaking. "There are people… fighting it!"
Before they could even identify the figures, the world ended.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
It was a "water-nuclear" explosion, a wave of force that didn't just blow things apart; it tore the fabric of space itself, leaving a jagged, black spatial crack in the air.
The shockwave hit them like the hand of a god. Stones shattered into sand. The group was tossed across the cavern like ragdolls. Wang Fang slammed back-first into a jagged rock edge.
"Cough!"
Blood sprayed from his mouth, painting the dust.
As he struggled to breathe, Wang Fang reached out to push himself up. His hand didn't hit stone.
It hit something soft. Cold.
He looked down, and his heart stopped.
Severed hands. Legs. A head with its eyes still open.
The missing disciples, Wang Fang realized with a sickening jolt. They hadn't vanished. They had been here all along, broken into pieces by the gravity of this beast.
Wang Fang tried to stand, but his back was shattered. His vision blurred, turning the world into a smear of grey and red.
How can such an explosion power exist? he wondered.
He looked toward his friends, they were scattered and unconscious.
He forced his eyes toward the closing spatial crack. Beyond it, the Golden Scale Serpent lifted its head.
It did not roar like a beast. There was no sound. Instead, a suffocating tremor spread outward, as if space itself had been struck by a hammer. The ground caved. Stones lifted and shattered. It was a roar of weight, an overwhelming force that pressed into Wang Fang's bones, his blood, and his very soul.
I feel like my soul is being crushed, Wang Fang thought. Who… who could fight this?
He looked past the serpent. Through the distortion, he saw them. Five or more figures stood in the crater, their auras clashing with the gravity of the beast. They looked like gods standing against the end of the world.
Wang Fang's eyes finally gave out. The darkness rushed in to claim him.
But as he fell, he didn't hit the cold stone. A figure moved away from the legendary battle, crossing the distance with impossible speed.
A pair of strong arms caught him, holding him firm against the chaos