“Let’s move. This place isn’t safe to linger.”
Dustin stepped first onto the slick, broken path, his pace steady as ever.
Yet Margaret could sense that his aura had grown even more restrained than before—
as if he were quietly gathering power, preparing for the unknown challenges ahead.
The group followed in silence, tension hanging thick in the air.
A’Long and the other two guards gripped their weapons tightly, eyes darting to the sides where the dark red lake water churned restlessly,
fearing that another monster might emerge at any moment.
Qingzhu supported Old Zhang, whose condition was worsening.
The erosion of dragon-blood miasma was draining his life force; his eyes were already losing focus.
As they ventured deeper, the surroundings began to change in eerie ways.
The once-clear boundary between the azure lake and the blood-polluted waters began to blur.
The two colors seeped and twisted together like merging paint, creating a grotesque, surreal landscape.
The air itself turned unstable—spiritual energy and foul qi intermingled chaotically,
forming a violent, stormlike current.
Worse yet, an unseen pressure began to bear down on everyone—
not from any visible enemy, but from the very space around them!
The first anomaly appeared in gravity itself.
One moment, their bodies felt unbearably heavy,
as if mountains pressed upon their backs and every step sank the jade path downward.
The next moment, gravity vanished—
a strange buoyancy lifted them, threatening to float them off the path.
They had to channel their inner strength just to stay grounded.
The changes came without warning—sometimes doubling in force, sometimes vanishing entirely—
draining their stamina and willpower at an alarming rate.
“Hold steady! Control your breath—adapt to the flow!”
Dustin’s voice cut through the turmoil, calm yet firm,
carrying a force that steadied their hearts.
A faint, invisible field seemed to ripple around him,
dampening much of the gravitational chaos—though even he had to focus to maintain it.
But the trial did not end there.
Soon, the space around them began to warp.
Though the path appeared straight ahead,
a single step could send one veering sideways—nearly tumbling into the lake.
The scenery stretched and compressed in dizzying ways;
even light itself bent strangely, disorienting the senses.
“It’s spatial distortion!” Margaret gasped, her face pale.
She focused her spiritual energy, trying to perceive the true structure of the space—
but the chaotic laws swirled like a storm, scattering her senses into fragments.
One of the guards slashed his blade toward a particularly warped area—
only for the sword to feel as if it had struck thick jelly.
Its speed faltered, and the blade even began to bend,
forcing him to retreat in fright.
And that was just the beginning.
The deeper they went, the more violent the distortions became.
Invisible spatial rifts would silently appear like transparent blades, slicing through everything in their path.
A guard who dodged a moment too late had the hem of his robe grazed—
it disintegrated instantly into dust, cold sweat pouring down his back.
At times, unstable elemental energy exploded without warning—
a wave of ghostly blue fire flared to the left,
while to the right, thick ice walls crystallized in an instant.
Fire and frost clashed, creating a scene both mesmerizing and deadly.
Sometimes, fragments of alien illusions burst into their minds—
memories and images that didn’t belong to them,
scrambling their thoughts.
This was no ordinary place—
it was a dead zone where the laws of heaven and earth had collapsed,
a realm where even reality had turned hostile!
“Ah!”
Old Zhang, his arm already severed, finally succumbed.
When gravity suddenly increased again,
his weakened body lost balance—
haunted by horrific visions flashing through his mind,
he slipped, crying out as he fell toward the lake filled with invisible rifts.
“Old Zhang!”
Qingzhu screamed, reaching for him—
but a violent air current threw her back.
Just as Old Zhang was about to plunge into certain death,
a blur of azure light flashed beside him.
Dustin appeared like a phantom—
one hand catching Old Zhang’s collar,
the other forming a sword with his fingers and slicing through the air ahead,
tracing invisible arcs through a patch that looked calm,
but was actually filled with dense spatial fractures.
Hummm—!
A strange wave rippled outward,
and for a fleeting instant, the warped space smoothed—
as though a giant unseen hand had pressed it flat.
Dustin seized the moment,
darting through the fleeting gap while carrying Old Zhang,
narrowly dodging invisible blades and bursts of corrosive energy.
In the next instant, they landed safely back on the path.
Old Zhang collapsed, gasping for breath, his face pale with terror.
The others stood frozen, drenched in cold sweat.
Dustin released Old Zhang and looked around, his expression grim.
All around them, distorted light and twisted energy painted a nightmare of danger.
“We’re now at the core zone of the sealing rift’s influence,” he said gravely.
“The Void Dragon’s power has disrupted the laws of heaven and earth here,
creating this ‘Realm of Chaotic Law.’
Every step could be a trap.
Logic will not save you.”
He turned to the group—A’Long and the two guards were pale, exhausted,
while Old Zhang and Qingzhu looked barely able to stand.
“Follow my footsteps. Don’t extend your spiritual sense.
Keep your aura suppressed—minimize conflict with the chaotic laws.”
The journey grew even slower and more grueling.
Dustin led the way, his eyes glowing faintly with a blue-gold light—
not relying on divine sense anymore,
but using a deeper form of perception:
Dao-sense,
feeling, understanding, and adapting to the broken laws that governed this warped realm.
Sometimes he would halt, signaling them to stay still while chaotic energy rippled ahead.
Sometimes he would change direction suddenly,
stepping into what looked like empty air—only for it to be the one safe route.
Other times, he struck out with precise, measured force,
shattering a nascent spatial fissure before it could stabilize.
He was like a helmsman steering a fragile ship through a storm,
guided only by intuition and mastery of the laws of nature.
Margaret and the others followed step by step,
placing their feet exactly where he had walked,
not daring to deviate even an inch.
They gazed at Dustin’s back—
not broad, yet somehow carrying the weight of this chaotic world—
and their awe deepened beyond words.
This was not just a difference in strength—
it was a chasm of realm and understanding.
In this distorted domain, even time lost its meaning.
No one knew how long they walked—
perhaps a quarter-hour, perhaps an hour.
Their strength was nearly spent; their minds frayed thin.
Then, at last—
The warped scene ahead began to fade.
Colors returned to normal, gravity steadied,
and the turbulent space grew calm.
From the distance flowed a wave of pure, vast energy—
still tinged faintly with malice,
but largely gentle, vibrant, and full of life.
They had finally emerged from the realm of death. - Marinien
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