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Chapter: 11
The Mystic Realm Collapses
“Do you think something good will come out?”
“Ha ha. The boar demon beast you killed had strong earth affinity, so it’ll probably bear a spirit fruit close to that element.”
“Ah, that’s a bit disappointing.”
For Indeok, anything other than lightning or metal attribute spirit energy was nothing special.
Spirit fruits of other attributes only helped by letting him absorb dense spirit energy, so they felt lacking.
“Still, even if it’s not wood attribute, it won’t help me much either. But getting a spirit fruit at all is still something.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Spirit fruits all held dense spirit energy and helped raise the level of spirit accumulation.
Unlike spirit pills, which lost effectiveness once resistance built up from repeated use, spirit fruits barely caused resistance even when eaten many times.
However, if a spirit fruit was refined into a pill, its medicinal effect became stronger, so eating it raw was usually considered wasteful.
That only applied to ordinary spirit fruits.
The spirit fruits borne by the treant were already as dense and pure as refined spirit pills.
In effect, a treant’s spirit fruit was no different from a spirit pill of a specific attribute—
and one that did not build resistance.
“It’s a shame only one flower bloomed.”
“You’re asking for too much from a single demon beast corpse, even after taking its core. It probably bloomed only because of what we fed it before.”
“But last time, three flowers bloomed at once.”
“And the quality was worse.”
“Then this time, will it be better than last time?”
“Probably. If the input improves, the output should match.”
“You’re saying weird things again.”
“I mean what goes in decides what comes out.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Anyway, it’ll take some time. Let’s move again. That thing came from over there, and spirit energy is gathering there. There’s probably a spirit herb.”
“A spirit herb? You can see that?”
“Focus a bit. You can see it too. You’re just distracted.”
“Ah, okay. Don’t get mad.”
Indeok flinched at Ganghyeon’s scolding and watched his mood carefully.
“You really exaggerate. Let’s go.”
“Yeah!”
Ganghyeon sent the treant back into his mind space and flew toward the place glowing with golden spirit energy.
But just as they discovered a kudzu-root spirit herb that the boar seemed to be guarding, a sudden earthquake struck.
Rumble—! Boom—!
“What’s that?”
Floating in the air, Ganghyeon and Indeok looked around.
At that moment, a chill ran down Ganghyeon’s spine, as if a cold wind was sweeping in from afar.
“This… something’s wrong!”
Ganghyeon felt a powerful danger signal from instinct.
“Why?”
Indeok asked anxiously, sticking close to him.
“Don’t you feel it? A gloomy, sinister energy is spreading everywhere.”
“Gloomy? I don’t really feel it.”
Indeok looked puzzled.
Just then—
Boom—!
Another powerful tremor spread.
“Isn’t it an earthquake?”
Indeok realized it wasn’t just the ground shaking, but everything in the mystic realm itself.
He looked around frantically.
“Look over there!”
Ganghyeon pointed toward the distant horizon.
Following his finger, Indeok saw something unbelievable.
“What? Is the land sinking?”
“It’s collapsing. This isn’t normal.”
Ganghyeon hurriedly pulled out a palm-sized wooden boat from his pouch.
He threw it into the air, infused it with spirit energy, and chanted a spell.
“Reveal your true form!”
The small wooden boat swelled, growing large enough to carry several people.
“Get on!”
Ganghyeon shouted and leapt onto the flying vessel.
It was a low-grade flying artifact that Hyeongak had gifted him to celebrate reaching mid Qi Condensation.
Normally, it required late Qi Condensation to use properly,
but for a short time, Ganghyeon and Indeok could manage it.
“What’s going on?”
Indeok climbed aboard and asked.
“The ground is collapsing. Staying in the air is safer.”
“That makes sense. But what’s happening?”
“Be careful. It’s not just the land sinking. Heaven and earth are overturning. Even spirit energy will become chaotic.”
“Even spirit energy?”
“This is a mystic realm. A small world. If something this big happens, even the supports holding the world together will shake.”
“So the entire structure of the mystic realm is failing?”
“I hope not, but probably. The world’s energy is getting muddy and tangled, running wild.”
Ganghyeon’s sensitivity to spirit energy was far greater than Indeok’s.
He could clearly sense the collapsing land rushing closer, along with the chaotic intertwining of the world’s energies.
“Damn it.”
Ganghyeon pushed the flying vessel higher into the sky.
“Whoa—why?”
Indeok looked at him with wide eyes.
“If we get caught in that, the ship will shatter. We’ll just fall.”
“F-fall? Then isn’t it more dangerous the higher we go?”
“Would you rather get sucked into the overturned earth below? Could you survive that?”
“N-no.”
“Once you hit terminal speed, falling doesn’t get faster. We can think after going up. Before hitting anything, we can use flight techniques—if we can still use them.”
“Uh? What?”
“Never mind. We’ll deal with it then.”
Ganghyeon poured in more spirit energy, pushing the vessel to its limit.
But no matter how fast they rose, they couldn’t escape the collapsing world.
The land below shattered and sank into an endless abyss,
and the twisted energies of heaven and earth surged up and engulfed the vessel.
“Ahhh! G-Ganghyeon! I can’t move my spirit energy!”
“The energies are too wild. You can’t control them. Try to hold onto at least the spirit energy closest to your body!”
Ganghyeon shouted while gripping Indeok’s sleeve to keep him from falling.
Crackle—!
At that moment, the flying vessel shattered into pieces, unable to endure the raging energies.
“Ahhh!”
Indeok was swept into the chaos, screaming in pain.
“Endure it! Pull in as much spirit energy as you can and protect your body! Don’t let your spirit energy be torn away!”
“G-Ganghyeooon!”
“Trust your body! You’re way sturdier than me!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Indeok clutched Ganghyeon’s wrist with both hands, screaming as the world overturned.
Even so, Ganghyeon bit his lip, forcing his spirit energy to keep himself suspended.
Whooo—! Boom—!
“Ghk!”
“We’re falling!”
At mid Qi Condensation, enduring the chaos of an overturned world was impossible.
Ganghyeon lost control, his flight technique shattered,
and the two began plummeting toward the ground.
The land lay overturned.
Ganghyeon and Indeok hid in the gaps between the twisted earth.
Roar—! Screech—!
“I-I’m scared.”
“Quiet. We have to act dead.”
At the end of their long fall, Ganghyeon barely managed to release spirit energy to soften their impact.
Immediately after, sensing terrifying presences nearby, he dragged Indeok into the tangled cracks of the land.
“Demon beasts and monsters?”
“Maybe cultivators too, but mostly demon beasts.”
“H-how strong?”
“Impossible to judge. Far beyond what we can measure.”
“How many?”
“At least five… no, six.”
Indeok’s eyes trembled.
“I’ll assess the surroundings. Then we’ll set up a proper hiding place. A formation too.”
“O-okay.”
Ganghyeon pulled out eight formation flags and set them up.
“Survival.”
The formation activated, buying them time.
“Ganghyeon…”
“What?”
“What about the Grand Selection?”
Ganghyeon fell silent.
“We don’t know.”
Indeok lowered his head.
“But what we must do now is clear.”
“What?”
“Stay alive.”
“Right now, nothing matters more.”
And so, in a world where heaven and earth had overturned,
Ganghyeon and Indeok began their struggle to survive alone.
