Cultivation System: Elder Edition

Chapter 469

Death (VI)

"W-what is this?! This is impossible!!"

"Run! Get out of here, quick!"

"Sister Wu! Sister Wu!"

"Leave her be! You can't save her!!"

Dai Xiu ran frantically, Wan Lan just to her side, their necks craned sideways as they watched the endless scenes of horror unfold before their eyes.

Perhaps just an hour ago, they'd arrived at the Azure Lake's shore, where they came across dozens of other cultivators who were already there. Some were in groups, some in pairs like them, and some were alone, though none appeared to be fighting and looked as though they were waiting for something.

As such, the two of them found a slightly isolated, empty corner and settled themselves, waiting. Minutes ticked by rather uneventfully as more and more people arrived, and Dai Xiu had started thinking that the entire realm had heard the whispers of this place and decided to come--only for it all to have been a great lie at their expense and for this place to be wholly bereft of anything good.

And she thought so until a pillar of light shot up through the lake's tranquil surface, just a few hundred yards from the shore, illuminating the world like the morning sun. It was thin and piercing, golden in hue, and it went far up into the sky, beyond even her keen eyes.

What followed were the tremors, which stirred the lake's waters, causing small waves to begin washing ashore; the light vanished mere seconds after it appeared, sending everyone in a berserk state as they desperately ran toward the lake to be the first ones in. Dai Xiu was also about to do it until she felt Wan Lan's hand press into her shoulder and hold her back. All the latter said was, "Wait; something is... off."

And thus, the two waited for almost ten minutes, with Dai Xiu's patience growing thinner and thinner. Just as she was about to throw caution to the wind and join the unending onslaught of people jumping into the lake... a few emerged.

Except, there was no joy on their faces--only horror.

Soon enough, the azure waters of the lake began to dull with scarlet, as more people kept coming out with various gashes and missing limbs, screaming and tearing away from the lake as quickly as possible.

A full wave of them emerged, with something not quite human at their tail; screams ripped open into the world as the not-quite-human things clawed and attacked, ripping apart several dozen people right in front of them.

The mere sight prompted both to immediately turn tail and start running, just in time, too, as no more than a few seconds later, a massive leviathan the size of a flying ship emerged from the lake, kicking up a torrent of water so high into the air that it began to rain for a mile around it, slamming into the shore and tearing open a massive crater in the process--precisely where they stood.

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Dai Xiu caught the fading glimpse of it, merely a shadow, and wasn't even certain what it was; it did have the seeming body of some kind of a fish, but she was unable to discern anything beyond that. Not that she was particularly curious to find out, her feet already woven with the wind.

... but it wasn't enough.

"Watch out!" Wan Lan grabbed her rather aggressively and yanked her back with such force that she felt her shoulder dislocate; yet, as she watched a masterful stroke of a sword cut through where she was headed a mere blink of an eye later, all the curses lodged in her throat vanished.

To her left, she saw a dozen or so cultivators be mowed down by a fire-scorched figure, plumes of red-hot flames framing their edges. To her right, there was a stalwart figure, well over eight feet tall, slamming an equally oversized hammer at a group of hapless cultivators.

Every direction, it felt, had shadows emerging into strange, discordant figures who were almost impossibly strong.

Somewhat angered that she had almost been done in, Dai Xiu's eyes turned white red as she executed the Shadow Steps and appeared right next to the sword-wielding figure. Without so much as a whisper, she slammed forward with her fist, donning the gauntlets in the process, hitting the figure squarely into its chest. The latter could have likely dodged but chose not to for some reason--regardless, the gauntlets trembled as she felt Qi rush out of her and form an annihilating wave that obliterated the figure.

Except, there was no shower of blood and gore and viscera--only smoke and ashes.

"Keep running!!"

Wan Lan's voice yanked her back to reality as she sped off, moving southwest and catching up to quite a few of those who were the first to emerge from the lake and run.

The more distance they put between themselves and the lake, the fewer shadows there were. Before long, they caught the glimpse of that massive gash that had appeared out of thin air recently and bore witness to yet another eerie thing: there were thousands of people within the confines of the gash, with ten times more shadows encroaching from all sides... but never crossing that boundary.

Seeing the safe haven, the two sped up even more and leapfrogged those who were the very first ones to emerge from the lake, flying over the last few miles of distance in the matter of a minute, ignoring all the shadows that were looking to attack them and just barely brushing past the cleave of the sky-sized sword as they entered the seemingly safe boundary, just before the massive sword landed and ripped open a canyon that was at least a mile long.

The world quaked, yet the boundary remained; gasping for breath, she looked around and saw others eyeing the two of them, but at least nobody approached.

"Look! There are even more coming from the west!"

"Dammit! What the hell is happening?! Nobody ever mentioned anything like this!!"

"Could it be tied to that explosion? I mean... this is the only place those things don't dare approach. Maybe the explosion woke them up?"

"They are full of Death Qi," some of the more keen-eyed noticed. "It's likely that the remnant energy of that explosion is simply too much for their decaying bodies to overcome."

"... do you see any of the others?" Dai Xiu asked, finally catching her breath.

"No..." Wan Lan's voice was rather desperate as the two looked through the many faces of the crowd but found no familiar one.

"Do, do you think something happened to them?"

"Of course not," Wan Lan's response was rather harsh. "They'll come running soon enough. We just need to figure out what the hell is happening in the meantime."

"Is--is that you, Senior Duan?!!" a rather boisterous shriek alerted the entire grouping, it seemed, as everyone twisted their heads to face the source.

It was a bit to Dai Xiu's right, where she noticed a bald-headed man with an aghast expression staring forward as though he were looking at a ghost. Opposite of him, just beyond the boundary, was a shadow-encrusted figure, a spitting image of him, if a bit aged.

"That... that is my, my father..." the man mumbled as his legs seemed to give out and he fell to his knees. "He... he never returned from the realm. We were told he was k-killed... and, and given proper Nirvanic Burial. Why, why is... why is he here? Why? WHY?!!"

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