Chapter 249: Three Heartaches
Where are they?
Seeing this, Yan Ming and Cang Jiuzi, who were in the later stages of the Golden Core realm, immediately unleashed their powerful spiritual senses to cover the entire Fu Yuan Island, searching thoroughly—but they found no trace of those missing team members.
“Excluding those on patrol and Mu Yu and Hua Yu, at least ten people have gone missing…” Yan Ming asked gravely, “Does anyone know what’s going on?”
At this point, only nine people remained on the island, including Su Che.
One person said, “Last night, I sensed a disturbance in spiritual energy coming from Zi Yuan’s house. I thought he was practicing some cultivation technique, so I didn’t pay much attention.”
Cang Jiuzi nodded as well, “I also sensed some activity, but I ignored it too.”
Since they were all cultivators, it was quite normal to experience slight disturbances in spiritual energy during cultivation. If the disturbance wasn’t too severe, no one would pay attention.
“Without a doubt, some expert infiltrated Fu Yuan Island last night and kidnapped many of us,” Yan Ming said solemnly. “To be able to do this silently, one must possess the Yuan Ying realm’s cultivation level.”
“A Yuan Ying ancestor?”
At these words, everyone was shocked. But upon reflection, it made sense—abducting all those in the middle stages of the Golden Core realm overnight and doing so silently was impossible even for those at the peak of the Golden Core realm.
If a Yuan Ying ancestor wanted to deal with them, who could escape?
Suddenly, everyone present looked grim, as if facing a great disaster.
Someone raised doubts, “I feel there’s something suspicious about this. If it really is a Yuan Ying ancestor, why go to such lengths to hide it? A direct attack would still be enough to defeat us completely.”
Cang Jiuzi snorted coldly, “In this vast world, everyone has their own plans. Besides, how could we possibly fathom the thoughts of those senior experts?”
“Yes, maybe they plan to capture a few of us at night to reduce our numbers, then wipe us out all at once during the day…” Someone speculated further, using their imagination.
These words made the others look even more worried as they glanced around nervously, fearing that some terrifying Yuan Ying expert might suddenly appear from the shadows and attack them all…
Only Su Che knew that it was his Soul Seizing ability combined with his advanced disguise technique that allowed him to strike silently—his true cultivation level wasn’t that high. At this moment, he certainly wouldn’t dare reveal himself and “wipe them out all at once.”
Su Che knew that his surprise attack tactic was over and could no longer continue. From now on, those people would surely stay together closely, leaving no openings for him to exploit. In just one day, fourteen Golden Core cultivators had appeared in the Immortal Prison—a quite impressive gain. Su Che believed it was time to stop when things were going well and leave. While Su Che was confident, the others were all in fear. An extremely tense atmosphere filled Floating Abyss Island. Just then, another anomaly occurred! Boom! An unknown shaking force struck everyone’s hearts. Including Su Che, they all felt their hearts jolt violently, causing excruciating pain! Boom! Another shock came, and some people immediately screamed in agony. As cultivators, they could endure such pain to some extent; rather, those screams were purely out of fear. Boom! The third shock hit again. To these Golden Core cultivators, it felt as though the entire world was shaking, or as if an invisible hammer was striking their hearts. What was going on? The treasure hunters on Floating Abyss Island thought it must be some mystical spell cast by the hidden Yuan Ying ancestor, who was about to attack them. They were all like taut bows, ready to flee at any moment. Su Che knew there was no hidden Yuan Ying ancestor. So, could these heart-shaking invisible vibrations be caused by Shui Yue triggering some phenomenon in the ruins in advance? At that moment, hundreds of miles away, Shui Yue, hidden deep in the ocean, was also pale with shock. She had felt the same three shocks as Su Che and the others. Moreover, she hadn’t taken out the key from her Qian Kun bag. Even farther away, Mu Yu, who was searching for Hua Yu, also felt the three shocks. She suddenly stopped flying and looked around in confusion. After thinking for a while, she decided it was better to return to Floating Abyss Island first. Inside a cave far from the sea, Long Fengzi, with his fierce face, also felt the same thing—his heart ached violently three times without reason. He rushed out of the cave, flaring his nostrils as he tried to detect certain scents in the air. Of course, it wasn’t real smells but something others couldn’t perceive… Tens of thousands of miles away, all the Golden Core elders and the five Yuan Ying ancestors inside Tian Xuan Zong also felt three bouts of heart pain…
Even throughout the entire cultivation world, all the great cultivators above the Golden Core stage shared the same feeling; on the contrary, those at the Foundation Establishment stage, Qi Refinement stage, and all ordinary people remained unaware and unfeeling, continuing with their usual activities.
“The heavens tremble!”
Inside the main hall of Tianxuan Sect, Elder Qingxuan let out a long sigh: “The trembling of the heavens, detectable only by those above the Golden Core stage, foretells that a great calamity will strike within a hundred years.”
“The last time the heavens trembled was hundreds of thousands of years ago,” added Ancestor Muye. “That great calamity completely transformed the cultivation world, causing countless cultivators to perish…”
“During such a calamity, someone is needed to lead everyone through it.”
The sect leader spoke solemnly, filled with concern: “It’s just unknown whether there will be enough time for him to grow strong enough.”
“There should be enough time,” Zi Xiao said gravely as well. “I bet he’ll be able to form an Infant Soul before the age of thirty.”
“It’s not good if it’s too fast,” Guangwu shook his head gently. “Ascending to the Spirit Realm too early wouldn’t that be even worse…?”
The five ancestors discussed in hushed tones about a certain person and the future of Tianxuan Sect; meanwhile, some key figures from sects such as Taiyi Gate, Wan Gui Sect, Blood God Sect, and Spirit Medicine Mountain were filled with confusion.
“The heavens tremble?”
Taiyi Gate’s leader, “Tai Xu,” frowned deeply and murmured, “How could the heavens tremble? Our actions, though causing chaos in this world, are merely a disturbance—nothing that can shake the foundation of the cultivation world. How could there be a threat of a great calamity?”
Thousands of miles away, Wan Gui Sect’s Elder Wan Gui shared the same thoughts and worries.
These sects had been ordered by the higher realms to stir up chaos in the cultivation world, but it was merely chaos—expanded a hundredfold and under artificial control, it was far from reaching the level of a “great calamity.”
Under such a calamity, everyone would be in danger, and any cultivator could face the risk of perishing.
No one was an exception!
The higher one’s cultivation level, the greater the chance of falling.
The Infant Soul ancestors of the various sects didn’t realize that this tremor was of immense scale—it affected not only the cultivation world but also the Spirit Realm above, where the effects were even more intense.
Many important figures in the Spirit Realm pondered for a long time but could come up with no answer.
Where was the answer?
From some abyss deep within the cultivation world, ripples spread, and a faint voice kept shouting:
“The command flag appears! The Immortals unite! The Witch God returns to seize fate once more!”
“The command flag appears! The Immortals unite! The Witch God returns to seize fate once more!”
……
“The Immortal Union realm—unite!”
Boom!
Another fluctuation occurred—as two imperceptible to the naked eye and even beyond the reach of spiritual perception, the Mi Xian Jings finally merged together…
To be honest, the merging of the Mi Xian Jings was not very noticeable and did not alert anyone in the cultivation world. Yet, it shocked the heavens themselves!
A great calamity was approaching, and out of pain, the heavens sent a tremor as a warning to all beings.
Normally, anyone at the Golden Core stage should be able to sense this tremor no matter where they were. However, a few Golden Core cultivators felt nothing—namely Lao Hei, the Snake Woman, and the Fire Crow inside the Immortal Prison.
“Master, we feel nothing,” Lao Hei reported.
“That’s because you’re hiding inside the Immortal Prison and can’t sense it,” Su Che replied.
Su Che had no idea that those three moments of pain were actually the most feared tremors among cultivators, signaling the approach of a great calamity. Nor did he know that this tremor was caused by the merging of the Mi Xian Jings.
If the Mi Xian Flag could be taken out of the Immortal Prison now, perhaps they would discover something…
Unfortunately, Su Che was unaware of all this and could not retrieve the flag. All he cared about at the moment was how to leave Floating Abyss Island, how to open the ruins, and how to obtain the Level 10 Spirit Fire he needed most…
On Floating Abyss Island, the remaining nine people, aside from Su Che, were all extremely nervous. They mistook those three moments of pain for some magical spell cast by some Yuan Ying ancestor and feared they might die at any moment.
The tense atmosphere was like a heavy mountain pressing down on them. After a while, some could no longer bear this invisible threat, and finally…
Whoosh!
A treasure hunter at the early Golden Core stage soared into the air, chose a random direction, turned into a streak of light, and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
Without even saying goodbye, he escaped!
Seeing him escape unharmed, the others hesitated no longer. One after another, streaks of light pierced the sky as they fled as well.
Seizing this opportunity, Su Che also escaped.
Only Yan Ming and Cang Jiu Zi remained on Floating Abyss Island. As they were both at the late Golden Core stage, together they still had some confidence, even if facing a Yuan Ying ancestor.
After a long silence, Cang Jiu Zi said in a deep voice, “Brother Dao, I have a feeling… those three moments of pain just now seemed to be…”
Yan Ming nodded. “Like the legendary tremors of the heavens?”
“Yes!” Cang Jiu Zi nodded firmly, his aged face showing even more worry.
“When the sky collapses, someone taller will hold it up,” Yan Ming said with a faint smile. “It’s not up to us to worry. Right now, I just have a headache. Could it be that all our efforts are about to go to waste?”
“It’s okay, fellow cultivator.” Cang Jiuzi didn’t seem to worry about it at all. “After Mu Yu returns, we three will be here. Those guys will come back in a few days.”
Just as they were talking, a streak of light flew in from afar and landed on the island. Mu Yu frowned slightly and asked urgently, “What happened?”
Before they could answer, she scanned the entire island with her spiritual sense and asked again, “Where are the others?”