124: The Death Artist's Playground

In the central area of the Heavenly Vault Fortress continent, space presented a morbid distortion.

It was as if a complete piece of glazed glass had been violently smashed with a hammer, creating a gaping hole.

A long, narrow, and pitch-black crack hung abruptly in mid-air.

It neither devoured light nor released energy.

It simply existed, like a never-healing scar leading to an unknown abyss.

From the depths of that crack, wisps of aura emanated, formless and intangible, yet they caused a needle-like prickling pain in the Divine Soul of all surrounding beings.

This was the entrance to the Secret Realm of Souls.

At this moment, thousands of Cultivator had gathered around the crack.

These individuals were all powerful Cultivator at or above the Golden Core Stage, and there were even figures of Nascent Soul Old Monsters among them.

Yet, each of them merely observed from a distance, their faces filled with greed, but even more with an unyielding solemnity and apprehension.

No one dared to cross the line.

The air was filled with a tension so thick it was almost solidified into a deadly silence.

“I don’t believe in this evil!”

A rough voice broke the silence.

Three powerful Late Golden Core Stage Cultivator stepped forward.

Leading them was a burly man with a cruel face, his eyes flashing with the madness of a desperado.

“Fortune favors the bold!”

“An ancient Secret Realm, surely it can’t scare off us three brothers!”

“Go!”

He roared, spiritual light bursting from his body, forming a thick Protective Aura, and he was the first to charge towards the spatial crack.

The other two followed closely behind.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on them.

However.

Just as the burly man was still a hundred zhang away from the crack.

His movements suddenly froze.

The madness on his face instantly solidified, replaced by an extreme, indescribable terror.

His Protective Aura was completely intact.

His Physical Body had not suffered any attack.

But his eyes, in an instant, lost all their luster and turned a dull gray.

It was as if some invisible thing had penetrated all his defenses, directly crushing his Soul.

“Ah—!”

A shrill, inhuman scream erupted from deep within his throat.

He clutched his head and fell straight down from mid-air, his body convulsing violently, white foam spilling from his mouth and nose.

The other two Cultivator reacted slightly faster, attempting to retreat frantically the moment they saw their companion’s abnormality.

But it was already too late.

The invisible attack had no trajectory and could not be dodged.

They met the same fate as the burly man, also letting out heart-wrenching screams, their Divine Soul suffering devastating damage in an instant.

The three still-convulsing bodies were hastily caught by their fellow disciples.

Upon examination, everyone gasped in cold air.

Their Divine Soul had been almost pulverized into dust.

Even if saved with Heaven And Earth Treasure, they would only be three living dead, devoid of consciousness.

Merely approaching, without even touching the edge of the crack, resulted in such a fate.

This Secret Realm of Souls was a hundred times more terrifying than the legends described.

The crowd, which had just been eager to move, completely fell silent.

Fear and horror filled everyone’s eyes.

This place was simply not somewhere they could venture.

In this deadly silence.

Three streaks of light, approaching from afar, landed on the periphery of the crowd.

It was Lin Gou, Su Meier, and the Elder Ji Xuan who led the way.

Elder Ji Xuan looked at the spatial crack, then at the three Golden Core cultivator who had become imbeciles, his face deathly pale.

“Little Friend Lin, this… this place is too eerie.”

His voice was dry, filled with the desire to retreat.

“Let’s reconsider.”

Su Meier was even more extremely nervous; she subconsciously grabbed Lin Gou’s sleeve, her fingertips icy cold.

The warm jade pendant on her chest was her only comfort at this moment.

However, Lin Gou’s reaction was beyond everyone’s expectation.

He looked at the crack emanating an aura of death and despair, and there was not the slightest fear in his eyes.

Instead, he looked like a famished glutton who had stumbled upon a top-tier feast.

In those deep eyes, a nearly fanatical light even burst forth.

“No need to reconsider.”

Lin Gou’s voice was very calm.

“This is it.”

He said, ignoring Elder Ji Xuan’s astonished gaze and the looks from the surrounding crowd as if he were a madman.

He reached out and naturally took Su Meier’s cold little hand.

Then, he led her, step by step, towards the spatial crack that represented a near-certain death.

“Hey! Fellow Daoist! Are you tired of living?!”

In the crowd, a kind-faced old man finally couldn’t help but shout a reminder.

“Didn’t you see what happened to those three just now?!”

“That’s not a spiritual energy attack; it can’t be defended against!”

Lin Gou did not stop.

He even turned his head and gave the old man a brilliant smile.

“Thank you for the reminder.”

“However, in my opinion, it’s just that the entrance to the dance floor is a bit noisy.”

This sentence stunned everyone.

Madman.

This was a complete, utterly hopeless madman!

Elder Ji Xuan was sweating profusely, just about to rush up and stop them, but he was locked by an invisible Qi and couldn’t move.

He could only watch helplessly.

Watching Lin Gou lead the beautiful woman, step by step, towards that death forbidden zone.

Su Meier’s heart was in her throat.

Her palms were covered in cold sweat.

She could feel that as they advanced, the invisible, Soul-tearing terrifying power in the air was increasing geometrically.

Her Divine Soul had already begun to tremble uncontrollably.

But just as she was about to collapse.

A warm and vast aura emanated from Lin Gou’s palm, which held her hand, and flowed into her.

That aura instantly enveloped her Divine Soul, isolating all external intrusions.

She was like a small boat in a storm, suddenly sailing into the safest harbor.

She subconsciously widened her peach blossom eyes.

She saw it.

No, it should be said that Lin Gou made her “see” it.

Under the shared vision of Lin Gou’s “Seed of the Blazing Sun Domain,” this world presented a completely different side in her eyes.

The originally empty space was now filled with countless gray-black, distorted energy currents.

Some of these currents were like sharp blades, some like spinning drills, and some even condensed into wailing, blurry human faces.

They moved at high speed, without any pattern, cutting through everything in this space.

The three Golden Core cultivator earlier were instantly destroyed because their Divine Soul was simultaneously pierced by tens of thousands of such energy currents.

This was simply an impassable ocean of Soul storms.

However.

The man holding her hand walked as if he were strolling in his own backyard.

His steps were not fast, one could even say leisurely.

Every step, every turn of his body, was executed in an incredibly ingenious and precise manner, perfectly avoiding the deadly Soul currents that came his way.

An energy current, condensed into the shape of a ghostly claw, whistled past her ear with a piercing shriek.

The sharp aura even made her cheek sting.

She froze in fright, almost screaming out loud.

Lin Gou, however, merely pulled her gently, embracing her.

His chest was firm and warm.

His voice, with a hint of teasing amusement, sounded in her ear.

“Don’t be afraid.”

“Follow my rhythm.”

“Left foot, right foot, a slow motion.”

Su Meier was completely bewildered.

She was half-embraced by Lin Gou, mechanically following his footsteps.

Her nose was filled with his reassuring scent.

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest.

A feeling of absurdity, tension, excitement, yet with a hint of sweetness that made her blush and her heart race, spread wildly in her heart.

She looked at the side profile of this man.

His gaze was focused and calm.

It was as if this deadly place, which could instantly tear apart the Divine Soul of a Nascent Soul Old Monsters, was truly just a slightly more complex game of hopscotch.

This man.

He was not a madman.

He was an artist, elegantly dancing on the tip of death’s blade.

Behind them, thousands of Cultivator, including Elder Ji Xuan, were all petrified.

They could not see the Soul currents.

They only saw.

The young man in white, leading the peerless woman.

Sometimes taking a step to the left, sometimes sliding to the right.

Sometimes a nimble spin, sometimes a gentle backbend.

Their movements were fluid and graceful, filled with a peculiar sense of rhythm.

Rather than breaking through a barrier, it was more like… performing a thrilling, breathtaking duet.

And so, under the stunned, as if seeing a ghost, gazes of everyone.

Lin Gou led Su Meier, safely passing through the hundred-zhang death zone.

Finally, the two stood unharmed before the pitch-black spatial crack.

Lin Gou released Su Meier, turned around, and even waved to the crowd behind them.

His relaxed and carefree manner seemed to say: See, it’s very simple, isn’t it?