Chapter 859 - Escape

The two had lost their sense of time, their only anchor being the steady rhythm of their heartbeats.

"Space is an independent entity composed of length, width, and height. It can take multiple shapes, like a circle or a square..." Liu Wuxie murmured. The desolate world had formed an independent space, making his comprehension much smoother.

Meanwhile, the Heavenly Dao Book continued its analysis. After several days, a glowing dot materialized on its pages—the result of its calculations.

"A single point..." Liu Wuxie fell into deep thought as he looked at the spot of light in the book.

If a point is used to cut a plane, it forms an independent plane. Similarly, multiple spatial shards can merge to create a singular entity.

His understanding sharpened, a realization settling within him—at its core, space was just a single point. By concentrating all energy into one point, an entire area could be imprisoned.

Space has no defined size because it's completely independent. For example, a porcelain bottle meant to contain pills has its own internal space, making it an independent entity. The house functions similarly; even the entire universe or a world comprises countless independent spaces.

All along, Liu Wuxie believed space was singular whole, but his perspective had been incorrect as every space was independent. This meant the world contained countless spaces, including his body. The space in his body was entirely different from the outside world.

Liu Wuxie's consciousness grew sharper after having a new understanding of space. When he raised his hand and reached out, a spatial shard appeared in his hand.

He began manipulating the spatial shard, shaping it into a cube with an internal space and then transforming it into a sphere, adjusting its internal space accordingly. These were the fundamental transformations of space.

Though the shard's shape shifted, its internal structure remained stable. Once one mastered the profundity of space, they could manipulate everything around them.

By altering the shape of space itself, one could mold it to their will—even restricting it entirely. This was the essence of the Great Divine Confinement Art.

Simply put, the surrounding space was composed of countless independent shards, much like the way porcelain bottles were crafted to contain pills.

The bottle was narrower at the top and broader at the bottom. If Liu Wuxie altered the spatial laws, reversing its structure to be wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, it would lead to one inevitable result—the bottle would shatter. The internal space would become unstable, unable to sustain the sudden shift.

There were countless intricacies involved, and Liu Wuxie's understanding was still shallow. He had merely scratched the surface of spatial comprehension.

Grasping the nature of space was one thing; altering it was an entirely different challenge. The two couldn't be conflated, as true spatial modification was a feat only those at the Heaven Profound Realm could achieve.

Given Liu Wuxie's current cultivation, merely touching the threshold of spatial laws was already an impressive feat. However, he was still far from forging an independent space.

The Great Divine Confinement Art was even further beyond his grasp. The surrounding space fluctuated, interrupting Liu Wuxie's meditative state. He opened his eyes and turned to look at Qiao Bian.

The disturbance had come from Qiao Bian as the spatial shards swirled around him.

"Such an impressive, profound mastery in spatial laws!" Liu Wuxie murmured with a hint of shock. He had only comprehended the profundity of space relying on the Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron.

Drawing on his will, Liu Wuxie began manipulating the spatial laws around him, attempting to arrange them according to his intent.

As the pressure mounted, the surrounding space solidified into an independent domain, severing their connection to the Spatial Beast. Liu Wuxie and Qiao Bian had moved from their defensive stance to an offensive one.

An immense pressure appeared within a radius of five to six meters.

Rumbling sounds echoed as the spatial beast sensed what Liu Wuxie and Qiao Bian had done inside its body, causing it to lose a portion of space.

"Brother Qiao, we have to escape immediately!"

The spatial pressure intensified as the spatial beast gathered more energy to suppress them. If they didn’t escape soon, they would be crushed. Their current understanding of spatial energy was nowhere near enough to counter the beast's overwhelming force.

"Agreed! We can only create an exit if we combine our spatial energies!" Qiao Bian stood up and felt the dire urgency of their situation.

Although their power was insignificant, they had a sliver of hope that they could break through the spatial resistance and escape.

It looked like they had been trapped in a large container; the spatial beast being the container, and they the prisoners.

If they wished to escape, they had only two methods. The first was to break through the container, but they had already attempted this earlier. The walls were too firm, and no matter how they attacked, they couldn't even leave a dent.

With no other choice, they resorted to the second method. The spatial beast's body was structured through spatial laws, and as with any space, there had to be flaws. Their objective was simple—identify and exploit those weaknesses to break free using their independently formed space.

This was no longer a battle against the spatial beast alone but a battle against the very nature of space itself.

Liu Wuxie and Qiao Bian exchanged determined glances before swiftly forming seals, weaving through the spatial shards encased in energy. They scanned their surroundings carefully, searching for even the slightest imperfection.

Minutes passed before their eyes simultaneously locked onto the same spot.

"Over there!" they shouted in unison.

The pressure around them surged, and the spatial laws constraining them trembled, nearing collapse. If the encasement shattered completely, they would be crushed within the imploding space.

A faint rift flickered before them. Though the spatial beast seemed like a complete entity, its form was riddled with imperfections. Even a Heaven Profound Realm spatial beast could not achieve a flawless spatial seal.

It was the same for the True Martial Continent. There were many weaknesses in space, and Heavenly Peak was a perfect example as a spatial rift had appeared, allowing astral winds to enter.

Liu Wuxie channeled his true essence to strengthen his surroundings with spatial laws, ensuring the independent space he created wouldn't collapse. Qiao Bian followed suit, and they were both enveloped in a veil of light.

"Let's go!" Without hesitation, they acted in perfect sync the moment the rift appeared, slipping through it.

As they entered the rift, the spatial laws encasing them shattered under immense pressure from the surroundings. But there was no time to dwell on it—they pushed forward with all their might and burst through the exit.

When they emerged, they didn't even know where they were, as their first reaction was to flee as far as possible.

Now that they had comprehended spatial laws, the pressure of space in the surroundings had decreased, allowing them to fly at double the speed.

The beast's furious roar echoed behind them. Not only had Liu Wuxie and Qiao Bian escaped, but they had also damaged its internal structure.

Liu Wuxie and Qiao Bian didn't know how long they had been flying, and they finally landed on a mountain when they could no longer see the spatial beast in sight.

"That was close!"

"We were lucky!" The two exhaled deeply, their faces pale with lingering fear. If even one of them had failed to comprehend spatial laws, escape would have been impossible. The sight of the open sky had never felt so liberating.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Brother Liu, I'll take my leave first. Since the mission is complete, it's time for me to leave," Qiao Bian said, cupping his hands together at Liu Wuxie.

He had also taken the mission to repair the profound talisman, but Liu Wuxie had beaten him to it.

Restoring the profound talisman wasn't something a single person could achieve alone. Had Liu Wuxie not acted first, Qiao Bian could have perished in the Astral Domain.

The same applied to Liu Wuxie—without Qiao Bian, he would have been swept away by the reverse current, even if he had successfully repaired the profound talisman. Whether it was fate or mere coincidence that led them to meet atop the Heavenly Peak remained a mystery.

"Until we meet again!" Liu Wuxie cupped his hands together and began to retrace his steps after Qiao Bian's figure disappeared into the distance.

After six grueling months, Liu Wuxie had finally completed his arduous mission. Holding the Memory Talisman, a faint smile crossed his lips as his figure streaked through the forest like a comet.

Having comprehended a strand of spatial law, his speed had increased several fold. In the blink of an eye, he had covered tens of thousands of meters, and that was without even pushing himself to his limits.

......

Meanwhile, the Star Cat Race wasn't able to gain any upper hand in the war this time after losing their supply of Brightstones, not to mention they were completely caught off guard by the Stellar Rat Race.

This was mainly because they had devoted too much attention to finding Liu Wuxie, leaving them vulnerable to the assault from the Stellar Rat Race.

Urim was also heavily criticized for her mistake, and she was forbidden from returning to the clan until she captured the culprit. Since that day, Urim had embarked on a relentless journey to find Liu Wuxie.

She blamed everything on Liu Wuxie. If not for him, the Brightstone vein wouldn’t have been depleted.

The Star Cats had captured some Stellar Rats during the conflict, and their interrogation revealed that the Brightstones had disappeared before they even arrived. This led them to a single conclusion—Liu Wuxie had taken them.

For Urim, capturing him was the only way to make amends for her mistake and reclaim what was stolen.

Determined, she led a team of Star Cats and searched relentlessly for five to six days, combing every inch of the mountain range. Yet, not a single trace of Liu Wuxie was found.

By the eighth day, frustration and doubt had begun to creep into her mind. She feared he had already left the mountain range. If that were the case, she would have no choice but to track him into human territory.

Then, suddenly, she sensed a faint ripple in the air. As a fifth-level Spirit Profound Realm cultivator, her perception was razor-sharp—nothing escaped her notice.

Without hesitation, she and her team rushed toward the disturbance. As they neared, they spotted a figure moving at astonishing speed straight toward them.

"It's him!" The other Star Cats saw that the approaching figure was the target they had spent days searching for.

Liu Wuxie was taken aback by the sight of the Star Cats. Although he had deliberately taken a long detour to avoid them, fate had somehow led him right into their path.

He skidded to a halt just in time, narrowly avoiding crashing into Urim. Once steady, he met her gaze with a smirk, amusement flickering in his eyes.

Now that he had reached the second-level True Profound Realm, he no longer felt threatened by her presence. Even against a fifth-level Spirit Profound Realm cultivator like Urim, he was confident in his ability to escape—if not fight back outright.