Chapter 498: Endless Darkness

Dark clouds descended, and no one dared move!
The coverage spanned tens of thousands of miles, easily encompassing the entire Chi Lian Palace. Such a massive celestial phenomenon could indeed be created by a Great Perfection-stage powerhouse with some effort, but it couldn’t form instantly like this—without any prior signs. This was by no means something ordinary forces could achieve.
Thus, the first thought in everyone’s mind was: The Witch God has arrived!
What kind of terrifying presence was the Witch God? The sixty-two Great Perfection-stage cultivators stood frozen, their hearts trembling violently, as if facing disaster, yet they dared not resist in any way.
“Could it be that Tian Yu deceived us all? He must have already sent a distress signal to the Witch God, and his words just now were merely to buy time?”
Many people had such thoughts.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…
Thick black clouds, like black meteorites, crashed down from the sky at incredible speed. Moreover, these clouds blocked divine senses, making it impossible to detect what lay within.
In the blink of an eye, the clouds covered the entire Chi Lian Palace, including Su Che and the other cultivators, as well as all those at the Great Perfection, Tribulation, and Refinement stages.
Within tens of thousands of miles, everything was covered by the black clouds, as if a thick layer of black cotton had suddenly been laid over the land.
Immediately afterward, the massive “black cotton” began to contract inward—whoosh whoosh whoosh—whoosh! At an unimaginable speed!
In just a few breaths, the once vast black clouds shrank to a black sphere no larger than an adult man’s fist. Then, that black sphere soared into the sky, flying out of the atmosphere of Forging Star at near-light speed and disappearing into the vast starry expanse.
Looking at the land where Chi Lian Palace once stood, it was revealed that the palace, covering thousands of square miles, had completely vanished. All that remained was an enormous crater, thousands of feet deep.
Had the black clouds dug away Chi Lian Palace? Entirely?
Whatever the reason, the mysterious disappearance of the powerful demonic sect Chi Lian Palace on that day became one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the history of cultivation on Forging Star.
…
At the moment the black clouds enveloped Su Che and the others, a sense of vertigo struck them instantly. They were lifted into the air, spinning chaotically without control, completely unable to manage their own bodies. All their magical powers seemed sealed within them, unusable.

No matter what level of cultivation one has, at this moment, one is like a leaf in a fierce wind, spinning aimlessly everywhere; as long as the wind keeps blowing, one has no control over oneself. Amidst the dark clouds, they kept tumbling, completely lost of direction, just as helpless as a withered leaf. Yet regardless of anything, Su Che tightly held Tian Yin’s small hand, determined not to separate from her. Meanwhile, the two struggled to get closer to each other before finally hugging tightly together. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… The howling sound in their ears was extremely strange—never had such a wind heard in the mortal world. Su Che held Tian Yin tightly in his arms and kept shouting in her ear, “Tian Yin, hold on tight to me, don’t let go under any circumstances.” “I know, I know…” Even though she had once been a great shaman, Tian Yin had never encountered such a situation. At this moment, she was like a helpless little woman, curled up in her husband’s arms. Though not panicked, she left everything in his hands. Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… The two were tightly entwined, as if they were one inseparable entity. In the dark clouds, nothing could be seen with the naked eye, and their spiritual senses were completely useless. They could only keep tumbling and spinning in the endless darkness, seemingly with no end in sight. “Hahaha…” After several breaths, Su Che suddenly burst into laughter. Amidst the strange howling wind, he shouted in Tian Yin’s ear, “This definitely isn’t the work of the Witch God, right? What do you say, Tian Yin?” “No!” Tian Yin replied loudly, “It definitely isn’t! The Witch God wouldn’t do such a thing!” “I knew it!” Su Che shouted with laughter, “I knew it! My life’s journey isn’t over yet. I don’t need the Witch God to intervene—I can still go on!” At this moment, though he didn’t know what kind of anomaly they were facing, Su Che thought that, no matter what, it was far better than being surrounded by dozens of Great Perfection-stage beings. A new crisis might just be a new turning point! As long as this dark cloud could bring about change, it meant a turning point for Su Che. Take one step at a time—take more steps, gain more benefits. Isn’t that how life is? Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh… In the endless darkness, spinning and tumbling endlessly, neither Su Che nor Tian Yin knew how much time had passed. Fortunately, the Immortal Prison World remained unaffected, and Lao Hei could still clearly calculate the exact time for his master. Gradually, Su Che even got used to this uncontrollable spinning and tumbling. As long as Tian Yin was in his arms and the Immortal Prison World remained in his mind, he felt at peace.

The two hugged tightly, their cheeks pressed together closely… At some point, their lips also pressed together firmly; it was unclear who kissed whom first, or perhaps it happened naturally, as if they simply stuck together. In the midst of swirling chaos and endless darkness, amidst uncontrollable tumbling, Su Che’s first kiss in this life, and Tian Yin’s first kiss across lifetimes, were exchanged under such involuntary circumstances. Under normal conditions, such a kiss would likely be shy and awkward, and probably brief. But in this state, in these circumstances, “shyness” had long been swept away by the constant spinning and tumbling, and “awkwardness” disappeared into the darkness just after a few breaths. Time itself lost all meaning; if this darkness, these tumbling, this spinning never ended, then this kiss would last forever, never to part. All thoughts of witch gods, Mahayana stages, cultivation, or life and death were forgotten, cast aside—there was no room for such things in such moments… It was truly unknown how much time had passed before Su Che felt the strange wind noise around him gradually fading, and the uncontrollable tumbling slowing down. Though his consciousness remained impaired, the corner of his eye seemed to detect a faint light. Thus, the kiss naturally came to an end. Tian Yin, suddenly overwhelmed with shyness, buried her face in his shoulder, silent, her warm cheek pressed against Su Che’s neck, still conveying other words to him… “How much time has passed?” Su Che asked inwardly. This question was almost a habit—every time he entered a meditative state for cultivation or forgot the passage of time for other reasons, he would ask Lao He like this. Although there were many artifacts in the cultivation world that could accurately measure time, Su Che still preferred to ask Lao He. “Master, since entering the dark clouds, it should be one hour and fifteen minutes,” Lao He replied seriously. “But your intimate interaction this time lasted only one hour.” Only one hour? Lao He’s way of answering was clearly meaningful. Of course, for Su Che, it could only be described as “deserving a beating.” Unfortunately, since he couldn’t enter the Immortal Prison, his desire to thrash Lao He never came true; he could only keep accumulating grievances…

At this moment, there was no time for jokes—deep within the utter darkness, at an unknown distance, there was a hole emitting white light, seemingly the exit from this dark space. By now, Su Che and the others were rolling uncontrollably at a very slow pace. They could clearly feel some force pushing them toward the white light; they didn’t even need to struggle to get there. To guard against unexpected changes, Su Che still held Tian Yin tightly, not wanting to let go. Who knew what kind of strange scene awaited them at that white-light hole? It seemed close, but in reality, it was extremely far. After floating for about twenty minutes, they finally arrived in front of the hole. “It’s indeed an exit!” Su Che was secretly nervous, but Tian Yin remained calm and composed, as if being with him meant she wouldn’t be shaken even by death. Of course, this was probably because she had seen many things in her past life. Whoosh! It was as if they were sucked into a vortex. Su Che and the others passed through the hole and, with an extremely powerful force, bid farewell to darkness and finally entered the world of light. Snap! Su Che and the others felt their vital energy resume flowing, and they regained control over their bodies. They adjusted their posture mid-air and landed steadily on the ground. Their spiritual senses were still useless, but what they saw with their eyes shocked Su Che greatly—or rather, left him extremely disappointed. So, they ran into that again! This place was a desolate valley, barren of grass, nestled between several barren mountains. The reddish soil was mixed with some yellow lumps, and its pungent smell resembled sulfur from the mortal world. The poor environment wasn’t the biggest issue—Su Che actually saw the Snow Jade Fairy, Li Jiu, Lord Lin Tian, and over a dozen others scattered around. They must have arrived here not long ago and were still observing their surroundings. Upon seeing Su Che and the others, their expressions turned joyful, as if saying, “Haha, you’ve come too.” Su Che frowned and glanced back, only to find that the white-light hole that had spat him and Tian Yin out of darkness had completely disappeared without a trace. Now, it was impossible to escape back into that darkness to continue their endless kisses.

However, Su Che wasn’t panicked. Instead, he thought to himself, “That mass of dark clouds surely wasn’t created by these Mahayana-stage powerhouses. In other words, we’re all trapped in the unknown, in the same situation with an uncertain future… For me, it’s still better than being stuck in the unsolvable predicament at the Red Refining Palace.” As he was thinking this, whoosh whoosh whoosh… Another dozen figures suddenly appeared in mid-air. From their posture upon appearing, it was clear they too had been spat out from the hole of white light in the endless darkness and had just regained control of themselves. Soon after, more figures appeared one after another. But what was extremely unfavorable for Su Che was that these people were either at the Mahayana stage or at the Tribulation or Void Refining stage—clearly still those who were his enemies. Moreover, their numbers kept increasing, and the huge gap between the strong enemy and the weak himself continued to widen. It seemed that the Red Refining Palace’s situation of being besieged hadn’t changed at all…