"Save ME!!" A beautiful young woman shouted towards a fourth-floor Heavenly Genesis expert. The expert had taken out her heavenly shrine, ignited it, and focused her power into her hand. She formulated a blade with it and struck forward. She directly ignored her young miss and escaped.
Earlier, a fourth-floor expert tried to escape with a person, but he barely made it out of range in the storm. They couldn't see the fifth-floor cause he was too far away, but the fourth-floor expert appeared just at the outskirts. When everyone saw him, they were shocked. Unfortunately, the distance simply wasn't enough.
He and his young master was directly pulled back into the storm and turned to dust.
This expert wasn't risking it.
In truth, her decision was the right one.
Yan Zaizen watched this happen. Essentially, everyone was trying something. Most ignited their heavenly shrines if they believed they had sufficient power to escape. Some worked together in hopes of clearing the path, unfortunately, the more people entering, the less distance traveled in the spatial slit. Even in cooperation, it still wasn't enough.
There was even some who crushed spatial talismans crafted by Heavenly Genesis experts, but the results were the same.
Yan Zaizen understood why people were igniting their shrines. They needed enough power to rip open a spatial slit far enough to escape, but the force within the bubble restricted this action heavily. If they didn't do so, they would never garner enough distance to escape the storm. Also, if they don't, then they were essentially waiting for their deaths.
His gaze turned towards the silver hole. It was no longer an inch but two inches. The distorting force and disruption capabilities were increasing. He felt that if it grew any more, it would be hard for him to even use the Meteor Ring. With a wave of his hand, he sent Tao, Lang Xue, Bai Lufeng, and the realmship into it. Also, many people were trying all sorts of methods and abandoned their realmships. It seemed the distortion made accessing their heavenly shrines personal space an impossibility.
His eyes glittered with greed. With a wave of his hand, he snatched those ghost ships with zero hesitation. He had already obtained three, and one was several times larger than his current one.
Hong Hong, the young woman dressed in red, saw this and felt a trace of contempt and disdain. Despite their situation, she STILL had the guile to look down on others! Her subordinates felt despair and were collapsing mentally. They tried to contact the outside for help, but the distortion of soul transmissions and relay formations were too powerful.
They were on their own.
After collecting three realmships, his eyes were smiling. However, after realizing the circumstances, it flickered with solemness. "Any idea on what we will do?" He asked Pinaka.
"Use your concept of death," Pinaka suggested. In truth, Yan Zaizen already had this idea, but he wanted to see if there was a better option. He galvanized his vital energy. With a thunderous eruption, he entered Herculean Avatar Art: Deathly Form! He dashed towards the bubble but didn't exit. Instead, he sent his Siphoning Shadow of Death's deathly aura towards the bubble.
The surrounding space was being absorbed. The deathly aura exited the bubble, but the moment it did, it was ripped apart in the vicious yet invisible storm. It almost pulled Yan Zaizen towards the storm, Yan Zaizen decisively severed the aura from his body. The aura entered the invisible storm. It distorted violently, growing and weakening with each millisecond. The myriad of changes that occurred lasted for one second.
The deathly aura disappeared.
"..." Yan Zaizen and Pinaka were silent. He knew that the law of death wasn't invincible, but why now?! Every other time it's been triumphant. Yan Zaizen felt unlucky. In truth, he was and wasn't. The invisible storm's distorting force simply exceeded the siphoning speed of the shadow. It fought viciously trying to absorb it, but it was whittled down and subsequently destroyed.
The weakness of any absorption law was the speed of absorption vs the consumption of energy. If the former exceeds the latter, the absorption law will always win. If the latter exceeds the former, the enemy will always win. This was a simple truth.
If his vital energies were of a higher level, it may be able to resist or overcome the storm.
Yan Zaizen turned around. The silver hole was three inches now. At this point, everyone was trying everything or had just given up. Some even penetrated the storm with a shroud, many groups tried this idea too, but the storm mercilessly ripped them into nothingness. Yan Zaizen felt inwardly shaken but also felt sad.
"They are holding so much wealth, why do they have to throw it away?" Internally, he was crying blood at this blatant waste of wealth. He wasn't going to stop them, at this point, he couldn't save them even if he wanted to - he hasn't even figured out how to save himself. The distortion force was so strong that access to his Meteor Ring was nearly impossible. He could probably only place and take out a small object.
He regretted not taking more realmships earlier.
"Focus!" Pinaka shouted impatiently.
Yan Zaizen's expression turned gloomy. It's not that he lacked focus, but he was confident that, somehow, he would succeed. This was unyielding confidence displayed to its fullest extent. The full confidence in your ability in the face of seemingly impossible-to-overcome adversity. It allowed his mind to roam to other things with a carefree attitude, while somber calmness enabled him to remain calm.
However, deep in his heart, he was feeling immense fear.
"A collapsed sub-realm is a greater deathtrap than a collapsed sub-dimensional space." Yan Zaizen commented. A sub-dimensional space creates a zone of no exit or return, unless you had access to spatial abilities. However, the collapsed sub-realm would create an event that exceeded normal black holes or supernovas. They can vary based on the size and intensity of the realm, but every iteration of a collapse was deadly.
If a star collapses, a black hole is formed after a supernova. If an independent space collapses, it becomes isolated without any basic point of entry or exit. If an entire sub-realm, independent space, star, planets, and essence were to collapse, it would create two things: a storm and an explosion. The outside space of that sub-realm would produce a storm. The point of connection of the sub-realm and the actual realm, an explosion would take place.
This explosion could be described in two words: Heaven Destroying. The sheer force emitted from it was extraordinary, the pressure it brings, and the gravity it creates is ridiculous. The gravity can distort the concept of space and draw everything near it, typically towards the center of the explosion.
Yan Zaizen's eyes looked at the silver hole.
This was the explosion.
It may seem like it's moving an inch a second, but it was far, far worse. The entire sub-realm was exploding and expanding from that single inch. Soon, bits and pieces of surviving sub-realm will be sent outwards in a violent eruption. These bits and pieces would later be scavenged by the Border Expanse residents for their own fortune and survival.
Trepidation shook Yan Zaizen's heart.
The silver hole was four inches.
He could feel the vast pressure exerting itself on his body. The True Essence experts had already turned to dust due to the force in a similar manner to the storm outside, they couldn't resist it regardless of their actions. Despair filled the eyes of everyone present.
"If the explosion point reaches a maximum, it'll send a shockwave so strong it'll obliterate all things beneath the heaven in its range." Gulping, he calculated the time he had. About four to five seconds left. "Could I survive if I maintain Life Soul Form?" Yan Zaizen asked himself, but he knew it was an impossibility. The force will turn him into nothing faster than he could heal. Not even a speck of his existence would remain.
"Miss Hong Hong, please!" The elderly man seemed to be begging the young woman, but she was pouting her lips as if refusing something. Yan Zaizen couldn't help but be curious. She drew everyone's despair-filled gazes, there were faint signs of hope from this commotion. Was it possible this little girl could save them?
Hong Hong could feel the gazes of everyone, she stood on her realmship with a prideful expression, puffing out her flat chest as if this was how it should be - being the center of attention. She spoke arrogantly, "I can save you all!" When she said this, she pulled out a golden talisman. When everyone saw this, their eyes revealed immense hope and happiness.
This was a spatial talisman created by a seventh-floor Heavenly Genesis cultivator with a spatial-attributed heavenly shrine. It contained a regalia of space! Such a talisman must've cost a lot of time, effort, and wealth to make! Was it given to this little girl?
Many were already flying themselves towards the girl. She was their hope, even if they had to swear an oath for a long period of servitude, they were willing!
"Do you all want me to save you?" She said, as if wanting to hear their pleas and offers. A few of the cultivators, both men and women alike shouted.
"Please! I'll give you my heavenly shrine!"
"I can swear a soul oath for one hundred thousand years of servitude!"
"I can swear my entire life away! PLEASE, choose me!!"
Many started to rush towards her area, hoping to be saved. Some even glanced at others maliciously. The thought of eliminating the competition arose in their hearts.
Hong Hong looked even more prideful and arrogant, looking at Yan Zaizen who was looking calmly towards her. She asked, "Do you want me to save you?" Her voice was filled with confidence, as if she would see Yan Zaizen beg for his life.
"..." Yan Zaizen was silent for a moment. Then, he calmly answered, "Hell no." With that, his eyes turned back towards the silver hole. It was now five inches. Despite the events, it took less than a second to complete all this with their extraordinary speed.
"I knew you would but I wouldn't us-" The girl had already begun her prepared speech when her mind caught up with Yan Zaizen's response. What?! Hell NO?!
"MISS!!" The elderly man shouted, obviously afraid that her antics will result in their deaths. Too many people were making their way over, if they reached them, it's possible unforeseen circumstances would happen. Luckily, the pressure made everyone move at a very, very slow pace.
Hong Hong had an ugly expression on her face, she looked towards Yan Zaizen and then the others looking like despair-filled refugees seeking safety. She raised her right hand, then give them all the middle finger. "You all deserve death, you pathetic bastards!"
She crushed the talisman, a spatial ripple shrouded the entire realmship, including them, and started to shimmer out of existence. With a cold look, she stared at Yan Zaizen, "I hope you die painfully!" With those words left behind, she vanished.