The shudder from the Void Piercing Shuttle tearing the spatial barrier had not yet fully subsided when the five inside (including Second Senior Brother) already felt the environment distinctly different from the main world. Not the expected absolute silence and darkness, but a kind of chaotic whispers-filled and twisted light-and-shadow bustling weirdness.
Outside the shuttle, there was a grotesque defying common sense. Space was no longer a smooth curtain but like an overturned paint palette, presenting twisted, folded, shattered forms. Color here lost meaning—sometimes a viscous, continuously color-shifting chaos sea, sometimes like a kaleidoscope view composed of countless broken mirrors. In the distance, nebulae like slow-contracting-expanding lungs of dying beasts pulsed ominous light; nearby, twisted spatial rifts like black lightning flashed briefly, emitting dangerous auras devouring everything.
This was—laws chaotic, energy violent, forbidden zone for life, yet also breeding ground for hidden sins.
"Stable navigation, energy shield full power, concealment array output increased to ninety-five percent." Xiao Qi sat at the main control, voice calm without a trace of. His spiritual sense like the most precise radar fully covered thousands of li around the shuttle, carefully avoiding those obvious spatial currents and energy storms.
The Void Piercing Shuttle moved like a flexible silver fish, shuttling through this grotesque. The shuttle surface runes steadily flowing with light isolated most radiation and energy erosion. Yet even so, an invisible pressure could still be felt inside the cabin, as if the entire was rejecting these "intruders."
"Detecting high-intensity, port thirty degrees, distance eight hundred li, recommend evasion." Mu Xue's cold voice sounded; she was responsible for monitoring external environment scanning arrays.
Xiao Qi's spiritual sense swept across; he immediately piloted the Void Piercing Shuttle into a clever sideslip, almost grazing the edge of a continuously exploding color energy mass like a boiling oil pan. That energy mass's emanating fluctuations alone could instantly annihilate a Soul Transformation early-stage cultivator.
"Starboard forward discovered small, morphology jellyfish-like, energy reaction faint, but quantity huge—bypass?" Liu Yun held her sword, gaze sharp through the observation window. Her sword heart was especially sensitive to killing intent and life fluctuations.
Just ahead to starboard, a semi-transparent group emitting faint blue glow like "jellyfish" drifted slowly with. They seemed harmless, but who knew what changes approaching would trigger.
"Blast through directly—activate low-intensity energy, scatter them." Xiao Qi ordered. Time was pressing; couldn't waste even a breath on non-essential obstacles.
The Void Piercing Shuttle's surface rippled with subtle energy waves, spreading forward like sonar. Those felt this unfamiliar disturbance, immediately scattering like frightened fish, opening a passage.
Navigation continued. Besides these relatively "gentle" obstacles, they encountered more bizarre existences:
Once, the Void Piercing Shuttle seemed to have entered a completely static "time" zone—shuttle speed plummeted sharply; even spiritual sense extension became extremely sluggish and viscous. Xiao Qi had to fully activate the Green Lotus Origin, forcefully tearing open a gap in this coagulated spacetime with purifying power, barely escaping.
Another time, an boundless "arm forest" of countless pale arms suddenly appeared ahead. Those arms waved and clawed silently, emanating hair-raising grudge and suction. Second Senior Brother quickly analyzed, concluding it was some destroyed world's life-form grudge, extremely dangerous. The Void Piercing Shuttle immediately changed course, bypassed from far away.
Even they saw an ancient creature's huge beyond imagination, like a floating mountain range, quietly suspended in, the residual might on its bones causing the shuttle's defensive light screen to emit unbearable humming.
"... is more dangerous and... abundant than we imagined." Zhao Tiezhu clicked his tongue. Even someone with nerves like his was stunned by the journey's sights.
"Record all abnormal spatial structures and energy reaction points—these are all precious data." Second Senior Brother's voice emerged from the "iron coffin," carrying a researcher's instinctive excitement despite the dangerous situation.
Xiao Qi didn't divert his attention; all his focus was on navigation and early warning. The closer to the target coordinates, the more obvious the demonic energy residue in became. Occasionally they saw some demons corrupted and twisted by demonic energy, but they seemed to have received orders not to actively attack this shuttle maintaining concealed course, merely watching them pass with malicious "gazes."
"One final long-range jump remaining to target coordinates." Xiao Qi said deeply. Continuous high-intensity navigation and mental tension were no small burden even for him. He glanced at the star map; that locked red coordinate point was already near.
He took a deep breath, adjusting his state to peak.
"Final spatial jump, prepare!"
"Energy core output increased to critical value!"
" stable, spatial anchor recalibrated!"
"Concealment array overload operation!"
"Three, two, one... jump!"
The Void Piercing Shuttle's silver light blazed again, violently tearing the ahead grotesque scene, plunging into even deeper darkness.
When violent spatial fluctuation subsided and the shuttle stabilized, outside the observation window, that heart-stopping, enormous twisted creation—the Demon Nest—was already close at hand!
It was even more shocking than in images, like a living, continuously pulsing dark heart. Its surface demonic patterns like writhing blood vessels emanated nauseating vitality and powerful energy fluctuations. Countless demons like worker bees shuttled across the nest's surface and surrounding airspace, patrolling, constructing an almost airtight defense web.
They had finally arrived at the final battlefield's perimeter.
The Void Piercing Shuttle, like the most patient hunter, silently floated at the Demon Nest's edge, concealed behind a huge demonic energy-corrupted asteroid's shadow, awaiting the optimal moment to launch the fatal strike.
The prelude to the final battle, with this silent infiltration, officially opened.