Chapter 364: Facing the End of the Past

The planet had been torn apart, the sky burned fiercely, the continental shelves plunged into the molten core, and above the fractured world hung a mad array of stars; a dying leviathan slowly crossed the already depleted upper atmosphere, passing over the rift that pierced the entire planet—and upon the leviathan's back, Yu Sheng and his companions finally descended slowly.

The leviathan's back was boundless, seeming like a great island floating in space; around the beast, an unknown force had condensed the last atmospheric structure, resisting the apocalyptic scene outside, and upon this "earth" lifted by the leviathan, like a lone boat in the apocalypse, there lay a lush peach forest; at the forest's edge were clear spring ponds, bamboo houses, and small bridges, clearly man-made.

But the bamboo houses were long empty, the clear spring ponds nearly dried up; when Yu Sheng descended riding the fox demon, the only living person here was Zheng Zhi.

He was unharmed, sitting somewhat dazed beneath a peach tree in the center of the forest, with an unfinished game of chess still laid out on the stone table before him.

"Great-nephew!!"

From far away, Irene, sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder, shouted loudly.

Zheng Zhi, who had been dazed, instantly snapped awake; he hurriedly turned his head and saw Yu Sheng and the others approaching on the silver-white fox demon, along with the figures of Qianji Zhenren and Xuanche flying through the air; a flash of joy instantly appeared on his face: "Brother Yu! Hey, you've finally arrived! I thought I was definitely dead this time!"

Yu Sheng flipped off the Hu Li's back and quickly came before Zheng Zhi; immediately following him down were Luna and Princess Rapunzel—the mermaid was the last to descend, and she was sent to the ground wrapped in Princess Rapunzel's hair.

"Ah, Rapunzel and the mermaid, you two are fine too," Zheng Zhi said, his face showing relief as soon as he saw Rapunzel, "Great, I thought you two had fallen straight out there; if you had fallen out, you'd definitely be dead... I've dragged you two down..."

"For us, you are the one who fell 'outside'!" Rapunzel said quickly, then immediately looked Zheng Zhi up and down, "Not bad, your life really is quite tough."

Zheng Zhi raised his hand to scratch his head, still seeming somewhat confused about the situation; then his gaze fell upon Yu Sheng: "Brother Yu, is this the 'Otherworld' you were exploring before?"

"Theoretically, yes, but the scene we saw when we entered last time wasn't this intense." Yu Sheng looked up at the distance, seeing the tilted horizon slowly rising from the edge of the leviathan's back; the torn planetary surface was being silently ejected by the pressure of internal magma, with massive amounts of rock vapor and fine debris escaping into space.

Then he lowered his gaze, looking at the great-nephew before him who remained unharmed thanks to the leviathan's protection: "Have you been hiding in this forest the whole time? Have you been here since you 'fell' in from the real world?"

"Yes, I fell straight here," Zheng Zhi nodded, "And when I first landed, there was an old man here..."

Yu Sheng had no reaction to the first half of the sentence, but at this point his eyes instantly widened: "What? A person? You met a person here?!"

"Ah, yes," Zheng Zhi was startled by Yu Sheng's reaction, but hurriedly answered, "He looked like a celestial with wind and bone; he said this peach forest was his, and that this was his raised Qiankun Beast; I didn't quite understand, then he pulled me to play chess, but I said I couldn't; he looked quite disappointed..."

While speaking, he raised his hand and pointed to the stone table under the peach tree not far away.

The unfinished chess game on the stone table still lay quietly on the board.

In the Otherworld, there was a "person"?

"... I've really never seen this situation; there's actually a 'person' in the Otherworld; even Red Hat probably hasn't seen it," Princess Rapunzel muttered blankly, then suddenly turned her head and stared at Zheng Zhi, "So where is he? Where did that old man who pulled you to play chess go?"

"He suddenly disappeared just now, said the time had come, the Emperor summoned him or something," Zheng Zhi answered honestly, "I originally wanted to ask him who he really was, and also ask about a way to leave here, but I didn't get the chance to open my mouth."

Yu Sheng and Irene looked at each other.

Qianji Zhenren nearby let out an "Ai," his tone quite regretful: "Ai, delayed, delayed! If we had found this place a bit earlier, there might have been a chance to meet the ancestors..."

Xuanche nearby, hearing this, instinctively spoke: "Do you think this is..."

Qianji Zhenren did not answer immediately, but suddenly raised a hand, pointing to that corner of the tilted sky above the peach forest.

Xuanche looked in the direction of the other's finger, and after a few seconds of confusion, his eyes suddenly widened.

"Recognized it?" Qianji Zhenren looked into his eyes.

Xuanche merely opened his mouth, his expression struggling to change several times, but nothing came out.

The Lingxi Mirror floating beside Qianji Zhenren floated up; the mirror quietly reflected the scene in that corner of the tilted sky.

At the end of the horizon, a torn crust was slowly rising into space; fierce magma formed a burning curtain between that fragment and the planet's body, and upon that torn crust fragment, the undulating surface structure could still be vaguely seen—

Mountains stretched endlessly, a thousand peaks overlapped in lushness; former pavilions had all turned to withered ash.

Others would probably find it hard to discern anything from that already twisted and scorched crust fragment, but for Xuanche and Yuanling Zhenren, no matter how scorched and twisted those fragments were, they could see its original form at a glance.

It was the Thousand Peak Lingshan torn from the planet's surface.

A huge volume of information struck everyone present, but just as Yu Sheng was preparing to ask Zheng Zhi for more details, a strange roaring and unsettling ground tremor interrupted everyone's actions.

The "leviathan" beneath their feet suddenly emitted a dying whimper different from before; accompanying this strange sound, a violent shaking and the sensation of the body suddenly tilting struck simultaneously!

Yu Sheng looked up sharply, seeing that beyond the leviathan's back, the already tilted horizon was shaking violently, increasing its angle of tilt; at the same time, the entire land was slowly "rising," with the sea of molten lava and surface fragments constantly detaching from the star body rushing toward them with an extremely oppressive momentum!

Immediately, another loud crash came from the distance; a collapsing mountain peak struck the leviathan's body, countless fragments bursting out from the beast's side, with scorching flames rising like gushing blood at the end of everyone's vision.

The mermaid suddenly covered her ears tightly, as if hearing a sound that made her head split with pain: "It's dying soon!"

In fact, without the other's reminder, Yu Sheng had already felt it—

The leviathan beneath their feet was dying rapidly; it was slowly falling toward the gradually disintegrating planet, and with the death of this astonishing creature, the artificial gravity and atmospheric environment around it began to gradually collapse.

The next second, Yu Sheng without hesitation pulled open a door beside him: "Everyone, retreat!"

No one hesitated or spoke nonsense at this critical moment; the Special Agency's training and the high discipline of the Fairy Tale Organization proved their worth; Zheng Zhi, Rapunzel, and the mermaid quickly passed through the door leading to the Great Hall of the Queyun Palace in the real world, followed immediately by Xuanche.

Qianji Zhenren, before entering the door, looked back once; the scorched fragments of the old Thousand Peak Lingshan were rotating and disintegrating in the dark space; that glimpse of starry sky reflecting red light shone into the lens array in his eye sockets; he seemed to be recording this scene, and after a moment, he stepped into the Queyun Palace.

A sea of fire rose at the edge of the peach forest; with the death of the "Qiankun Beast," the protective power surrounding the leviathan obviously dissipated as well; some scorching fragments erupting from the surface into space ignited the forest; twisted flames spread like a high wall in the field of vision, quickly swallowing the clear spring ponds and bamboo houses with small bridges outside the peach forest.

"You three go over there too." Seeing that Hu Li had returned to human form, Yu Sheng nodded and urged Irene, Hu Li, and Luna.

Irene paused for a moment, then quickly reacted: "... No way, again?!"

"Yes, I plan to watch a bit longer here," Yu Sheng did not hide his thoughts, "This 'Otherworld' has special properties; the next time we enter, we don't know what scene it will be; there might not be a second chance to collect intelligence on 'this scene'—you three go first; if Xuanche and the others ask when you get there, tell them I'm busy with something else and will return on my own in a while."

"... Alright then, anyway I'm used to you dying outside all the time," Irene sighed helplessly, climbed into Hu Li's arms with practiced ease, turned her head and waved at Yu Sheng, "Then we'll go back first; when you're done dying, come over quickly."

Hu Li stared straight at Yu Sheng; after holding back for a long time, she clenched her fist: "Benefactor, keep going."

Yu Sheng: "..."

He felt that the fox and the doll at home were reacting more and more excessively to his trivial matters of life and death...

In comparison, Luna's reaction was much more solemn—she had no reaction.

Yu Sheng waved his hand, saw Irene and the others off, then closed the door.

He turned to face the land that was rapidly tilting and rushing over, and took a light breath.

This was his last time breathing smoothly here.

Wild winds whipped up, almost sweeping him into the air—the last layer of artificial atmosphere surrounding the Qiankun Beast dissipated.

The flames in the peach forest extinguished; this world's last small artificial ecosystem also gradually stopped.

The leviathan beneath their feet died completely, becoming lifeless stone just like those planet fragments drifting in space around it; it continued to roll slowly, some residual reflection within its body still causing occasional slight tremors on the ground, and with gravity failing, Yu Sheng felt his body gradually become very light.

He looked up, seeing the shattered planet already hanging high overhead; the scorching core had been cut open by the power of the apocalypse; firelight filled his vision; at this moment, it seemed as if even the most basic law of gravity had malfunctioned; the magma surrounding the core was gradually taking on a strange blooming appearance in space, and everything was accelerating away from this planet.

Yu Sheng frowned slightly.

A scorching molten rock "droplet" swept past the colossal beast before crashing directly into the peach grove.

Yu Sheng was roasted crisp while observing the planetary core.

(End of this chapter)