Chapter 1482: Successful Escape

One man knocked on the door of heavens, and the other caused the collapse of the nine heavens. Even before the techniques reached their target, the light and forest had already disappeared into nothing. Even the space they were in were beginning to collapse in earnest.

Earlier, Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament did not use their full strength due to various reasons. But now, they were beyond caring.

That said, they made sure to control their force and true intent so that it did not exceed a certain range. They did not want to damage the corpse after all.

It was at this moment the swimming fishes in Ye Qing’s pupils suddenly came to a standstill. Black and white mingled, and yin and yang copulated. Invisible ripples immediately started washing out to the surroundings.

As this happened, Ye Qing reached out and spread his arms wide like he was opening a curtain. He pushed away yin and yang, split apart heaven and earth, and revealed the essence of qian and kun.

In an instant, the view before his eyes abruptly grew clear like a mirror that was wiped clean of its dust, or a sky that was cleared of the clouds.

“Elder Profound, Reverend, follow me!” Ye Qing shouted. He then took off in a certain direction on the Ghost Dragon Boat.

The two Sages did not hesitate. They immediately followed behind it.

In Ye Qing’s eyes, he was travelling in a straight line. But in Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament’s eyes, he was going left, right, up, down, and reverse sometimes. It was indescribably strange.

Even stranger was the fact that colorful lights were appearing here and there around them. Sometimes it was distant, sometimes it was close. There was no rhyme or reason to their appearance. It was as confusing as it was chaotic.

It was impossible to tell what was true and what was fake in this befuddling space. It was difficult to tell forward from backward, left from right, up from down either. In just the span of a few breaths, they had completely lost their sense of direction.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

That said, they realized that the colorful light was weakening over time. The forest was slowly moving further away from them as well.

Another dozen or so breaths later, the befuddling space abruptly receded behind them like tidewater. At the same time, they were greeted by familiar demonic fire and tainted aura once more.

This should have been a repugnant sight, and yet both Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament were beyond glad to see it.

“Hoh... we finally escaped! Hahaha...”

“Indeed. Finally.” Danxia Zi looked behind them, and the colorful, dreamy, strange and mysterious forest was just behind them.

From their perspective, the forest looked untouched and unblemished, calm and peaceful. The lights also looked as colorful and beautiful as ever. It was as if nothing had happened.

And yet, this gorgeous, peaceful-looking forest had nearly become their graveyard.

“You’re incredible, Joyless! How on earth did you find the way out?” A moment later, Old Man Profound Firmament turned around and asked Ye Qing curiously.

“It’s thanks to the two of you, actually. If you haven’t attacked the Figment of Time again and again and forced it to regenerate, I could not have discovered its patterns and the way to escape it.”

“You’re too modest, Joyless. We just got lucky is all. Your Magia was the key to our survival.”

Old Man Profound Firmament waved him off and said excitedly, “Seriously, that visual art of yours is incredible. I think it can see through all illusions and uncover yin and yang? This is the first time I have seen something so incredible.”

“You have a keen eye, Elder Profound. This art is called the Yin Yang Spell Eyes. I happened upon it at an abandoned ruin. I am glad that it was of use in our situation,” Ye Qing half-lied.

He did not think that Old Man Profound Firmament would see through the Yin Yang Spell Eyes in such a short time. It was quite impressive.

As Old Man Profound Firmament said, it was all thanks to the Yin Yang Spell Eyes that he was able to see the truth of the Figment of Time and facilitate their escape.

The Yin Yang Spell Eyes could uncover the essence of all things and see through any illusion or falsehood. At the adept level, it could even see through yin and yang and the cycle of rebirth. It could decide life and death in one look, and enable the practitioner to navigate through tribulations or evade them outright.

As of late, the potency of the Yin Yang Spell Eyes had been growing by leaps and bounds in tandem with his power and cultivation level. Also, knowing that the “Records of Laojun Studying The Dao On A Bull” was a tribulation evading art that even a celestial like Xuanyuan Kun salivated over, he did not dare to skip its practice for even a day. As a result, he had made considerable advancements in both the Yin Yang Spell Eyes and Flowing in the Six Places.

Although his Yin Yang Spell Eyes was not yet at the level where he could see through yin, yang, and the cycle of rebirth, or decide life or death at first look, it was still far greater than what it used to be. These days, he could even glimpse some of the patterns and flows of yin and yang. That was what allowed him to discover the weaknesses in the phantasm of the Figment of Time and escape.

“Yin Yang Spell Eyes, huh? A good name and a good concept!”

Old Man Profound Firmament smiled. “I happen to know a couple of secret visual arts with roots that go all the way back to ancient times. When we have the time, I would like to exchange knowledge with you.”

“It would be my pleasure!” Ye Qing returned it.

The group chatted for a while longer before they decided to take a break.

Earlier, both Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament had pushed themselves somewhat. It wasn’t really a concerning level of exertion, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Considering the kind of place they were in, no amount of caution was too much.

After Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament closed their eyes to rest, Ye Qing turned around and exchanged a look with Feng Qingyou. He shook his head in a way that was imperceptible by the others.

In fact, he had figured out the weaknesses and flaws in the Figment of Time long before Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament launched their combination attack. The reason he hadn’t acted immediately was because he wanted to see just how strong they were.

Most importantly, he wanted to check if the two Sages could be connected to the mastermind behind the City of No Return.

That was why he didn’t act immediately.

And the result? The result was nothing, of course. He found nothing.

He wasn’t disappointed though. It was just a fleeting opportunity that he decided to grasp anyway. It didn’t matter if it yielded nothing.

Of course, it was possible that he was overthinking things. It was possible that Danxia Zi or Old Man Profound Firmament had nothing to do with the mastermind.

That was what he hoped.

But it was difficult to figure out a person. There was no harm in thinking a little harder.

The group took off after Danxia Zi and Old Man Profound Firmament had recovered.

“Strange. It’s getting brighter.”

The further they went, the brighter it became.

The light wasn’t warm and welcoming like sunlight, cool and beautiful like moonlight, or brilliant and dazzling like starlight, however. It was pale.

Empty, cold, desolate, and vacant paleness.

The further they traveled, the paler, emptier, and deader the world became.

Even the demonic fire in the air, the ground of flesh-and-blood, and the distorted and chaotic auras were becoming pale, empty, and desolate.

Over time, even these persistent elements slowly extinguished and became still as if they had lost their energy.

It felt as if the entire world had died. Soundless and colorless, frozen and motionless. There was only pale white and nothing else.

Walking amidst the pale white world where all colors, life, and sound had faded away into empty stillness, the group felt weak and humbled. They were the colors and life in this pale world, but compared to the endless ocean of paleness, they were barely bigger than a boat.