Chapter 135: Catastrophe of the Void

Chapter 135: The Calamity of Space

Wu Hong felt only a parching dryness in his mouth. In a moment of impatience and arrogance, he had thought himself extraordinarily powerful—capable of flattening five great mountains with a single effort—and believed he was already very close to the Innate Realm. That was why he had tried to investigate the situation in the heavens.

Yet he had never imagined things would turn out like this. The monkey in the Crimson Domain had warned him before, but he had foolishly ignored its advice. What was he supposed to do now?

“Wait. If I break through into the Innate Realm, will some powerful expert come and guide me to the place where those who have reached the Innate Realm reside?”

Wu Hong suddenly shuddered and asked the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner.

“Brat, what are you thinking? This is the barrier between the Innate World and the mortal world. Even if you break through here, the heavens will sense nothing, and no one will come to guide you.”

“Why?” Wu Hong asked in confusion.

“In the mortal world, when an expert advances into the Innate Realm, someone comes to guide him because the heavens and earth are governed by order. When a person first reaches the Innate Realm, the vital energy of heaven and earth falls into chaos, and the barrier between worlds grows weak for a period of time. Experts in the Innate World—commonly known as the Origin Realm—will immediately sense it.

“They will descend to the mortal world to receive the new arrival. Talented individuals are scarce in the Origin Realm, and those who come from the mortal world are rarer still. Most of its inhabitants are natives born there.

“An innate expert from the mortal world is exceedingly rare in the Origin Realm, so its experts attach tremendous importance to cultivators who naturally advance from the mortal world into the Innate Realm.

“The moment someone succeeds, they will rush to guide him away. And you should know that not everyone who reaches the Innate Realm is accompanied by a heavenly tribulation.

“Some martial cultivators who have spent their entire lives doing good deeds face a trial of the heart when they advance into the Innate Realm. The heavens and earth naturally cause boundless inner demons to arise within them. If they pass the trial, they will successfully enter the Innate Realm.

“At that moment, the barrier between the mortal world and the Origin Realm loosens. Once the experts of the Origin Realm sense it, they will descend to guide the person away.

“Only cultivators with a strong demonic nature provoke an innate thunder tribulation. It tempers the body and purifies the soul.

“But this place lies between two barriers of heaven and earth. Even if you reach the Innate Realm here, the heavens and earth will be unable to sense it. Naturally, neither your body nor your soul will be purified, and you will be unable to truly advance into the Innate Realm.”

The more Wu Hong listened, the paler his face became. The matter was far more complicated than he had imagined. At the same time, the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner’s explanation gave him a sudden sense of enlightenment.

So that was why King Wuwei had not been accompanied by an innate thunder tribulation in the World-Viewing Mirror. He must have experienced some kind of inner demonic tribulation—something invisible and intangible.

Wu Hong also learned many hidden secrets from the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner.

It turned out that no matter what kind of martial cultivator one was, once one reached the Innate Realm, one could act only three times in the mortal world. After the third time, one would suffer the punishment of heaven and earth and die an unnatural death.

No wonder there were no innate experts remaining in the mortal world. To an innate expert, the spiritual energy there was already suffocatingly thin. Unless someone guided him to the higher world, or he found a way to ascend to the Origin Realm himself, he would eventually perish in the mortal world for lack of nourishment from innate spiritual energy.

But now Wu Hong was in despair. From the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner’s explanation, he understood that this place between the two worlds was forbidden territory.

Any expert, any person trapped here, could escape only by possessing boundless divine power capable of shattering the barriers of heaven and earth. Otherwise, he would die here in confinement.

Wu Hong released the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner. The banner flew madly through the sky, but after a while it drooped helplessly and fell to the ground.

Like a defeated rooster, Wu Hong sank into dejection. Man and banner both racked their brains for a way to escape.

Suddenly, the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner seemed to remember something.

“Unless…”

Its voice rang out in Wu Hong’s mind. Though normally sinister and terrifying, those two words sounded like celestial music to him now—beautiful beyond compare.

Wu Hong hurriedly asked, “Unless what?”

The Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner did not answer him directly. Instead, it asked, “You reckless brat, tell me this: that broken hammer in your spatial storage—has it ever been refined through any special method?”

Wu Hong knew that the banner’s question must be related to a way out. He paid no attention to the way it addressed him and quickly replied, “Refined? No. That hammer was originally nothing more than an ordinary butcher’s hammer. It was made of common mortal iron.”

The Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner was overjoyed and continued, “Has it ever been reforged in any way?”

“No.”

Wu Hong did not understand what it was getting at. He felt the banner might simply be making fun of him, but he still answered readily.

After that, the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner fell silent. It seemed to be considering something.

Only after a long while did it say uncertainly, “There is a legend concerning this. I once read it in an ancient book.”

“A legend says that, regardless of what living creature or object it may be, if something with no foundation or origin manages to advance into the Innate Realm—or an even higher realm—it will inevitably bring about immeasurable changes in heaven and earth and throw the vital energy of the world into chaos.

“Plants and trees in the world can absorb the essence of nature and become spirits, but they all require a particular opportunity or an exceptional innate nature before they can transform into monsters.

“For example, if an ordinary stone, without undergoing any tempering by heaven and earth or receiving any fortuitous opportunity, were to advance into the Innate Realm or a higher realm, it would trigger immeasurable changes in heaven and earth.

“Yet in countless millions of years, nothing like that has ever happened. There has never been any record of an existence without roots or foundations reaching such a realm.

“Your hammer was originally nothing more than the most ordinary mortal iron. It never gained intelligence from killing intent or accumulated resentment.

“Ultimately, it is merely a strange weapon that somehow changed for reasons unknown. If it could advance into the Innate Realm… perhaps…”

Wu Hong roughly understood what the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner meant.

In other words, throughout heaven and earth, there had never been an object that reached the Innate Realm—or an even higher realm—without being transformed or refined. His Ox-Slaying Hammer was one such object.

Still, Wu Hong remained somewhat unconvinced. It sounded difficult to believe.

“Aren’t you nothing more than a weapon? When you advanced into the Innate Realm, nothing particularly dramatic happened.”

Wu Hong spoke indignantly.

“What do you understand? My original body was not made of ordinary material, much less the common weapon you imagine. I am merely a demonic weapon reborn through a series of fortuitous coincidences.

“Furthermore, my body was tempered by the souls of countless wronged spirits long ago, and I had already developed a trace of hidden intelligence.”

Wu Hong’s heart jolted.

Although he did not truly believe the legend recounted by the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner, it was his only hope of escape.

Clearly, even the banner itself was uncertain what sort of change would be provoked. After all, this was only a legend, and no one had ever witnessed it personally.

Wu Hong took the Ox-Slaying Hammer and the Ox-Slaying Blade out of his Cosmic Ring at the same time. By now, neither weapon retained even the slightest trace of killing intent.

This caused the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner to recall several more ancient legends, but it did not tell Wu Hong about them.

Weapons were instruments of slaughter and would normally bear at least a trace of killing intent. Yet Wu Hong’s two weapons no longer looked like weapons at all. They were entirely like a pair of sacred artifacts, radiating an overwhelming and holy aura.

“Reckless brat, success or failure rests on this one attempt. Pour your true energy into the two weapons with all your strength. Hold nothing back. Try it!”

Wu Hong was startled, but he prepared to follow the banner’s instructions.

After all, man and weapon were now trapped together between the two barriers of heaven and earth. They had no conflict of interest.

The true energy within Wu Hong surged as he frenziedly poured it into the two weapons. They expanded rapidly in the wind, and in the blink of an eye each had grown several thousand meters in size.

They were no longer weapons at all. They were two enormous, bizarrely shaped mountains.

Fortunately, the spiritual energy in the place where Wu Hong stood was almost liquid. What this place lacked least was the vital energy of heaven and earth.

The true energy within Wu Hong was completely drained, only to fill again moments later. He continued pouring it into the weapons, exhausting himself and replenishing his strength again and again.

After repeating the process hundreds or thousands of times, the two weapons had grown to nearly ten thousand meters in size.

Had the Ten Thousand Demons Ghost Banner possessed a human form, its jaw would likely have dropped to the ground in astonishment. Two weapons made from the most ordinary mortal iron had undergone such a transformation right before its eyes.

Wu Hong no longer knew how much time had passed, nor how vast or how long the two weapons had become.

He knew only that he had to continue pouring in his energy without limit. Every shred of hope rested upon these two weapons.

“Rumble…”

Thunder suddenly resounded through the sky, though no tribulation clouds could be seen above.

Wu Hong was overjoyed and continued madly injecting his true energy.

The space between heaven and earth suddenly began to change. Gray clouds appeared in the sky, while the earth beneath his feet gradually became a hazy chaos.

The two weapons broke free from Wu Hong’s grasp. They resembled two mountains whose height and length could not be measured, their imposing momentum overwhelming everything around them.

Above the two weapons, the dark yellow earthen barrier, and beneath them, the dark yellow barrier of heaven and earth, both grew indistinct and chaotic. Slowly, they transformed into a gaseous state resembling tribulation clouds.

“Reckless brat, the opportunity has come—but it is incomparably dangerous. This is also your only chance to escape. You must seize it.

“The moment the thunder tribulation descends is when the cloud layer will be at its thinnest. You must pass directly through the tribulation clouds beneath the two weapons and enter the mortal world.

“If you try to pass into the Origin Realm, you will certainly die. The spiritual energy of the Origin Realm will instantly burst you apart. You have never undergone the tempering of heaven and earth. If you do not believe me, you can try.”