Chapter 619: The Upper Realm

Stepping onto this path meant there would be no turning back, severing all ties with the lower world forever!

This path was long, piercing through space, hazy and blurred. As one walked, it was as if crossing the river of time itself.

Vaguely, stars flickered, galaxies rotated. The scenery was hazy and perplexing, causing uncertainty and alarm.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, the path violently trembled. Those stellar illusions vanished, replaced by chaotic flickering symbols.

“Not good!” Shi Yi roared with fright. It sensed impending disaster—the path itself was about to break apart. Cracks rapidly spread in the surrounding “boundary walls,” like porcelain shattering.

A surge of spatial energy swept by Shi Hao’s ear, slicing off a lock of his glossy black hair. It had barely missed his head.

“Wu wu…” An eerie shriek echoed as the boundary cracked and violent energy surged.

Shi Hao sprinted furiously, a pair of Kunpeng wings erupting behind him. With each flap, his speed increased to the utmost limit, rushing forward along the disintegrating path.

“Whoosh!”

A stream of radiant light flew towards him, carrying chaotic mist and flashing glyphic brilliance.

Shi Hao evaded, but the glyphic beams were too dense. No matter how he twisted his body at impossible angles, his shoulder still got grazed.

A “puff” sound echoed as blood splattered. Considering his robust physique, ordinary magical weapons would not even scratch him, yet now he had been wounded.

“Run! We must break through or we’ll be doomed forever!” Shi Yi screamed.

Cracks spread rapidly within the void passage, about to collapse entirely—a tremendous catastrophe.

Unquestionably, this was triggered by the collapse of the lower realm’s transport formation. After powerful beings of the upper realm challenged fate, severe consequences followed, severing the two worlds. Even with transport formations, violent backlash ensued. The laws of heaven resisted, making such formations prone to destruction.

Six months ago, things were stable. But in recent months, danger had significantly increased, becoming the fundamental cause of the shattered Sky Road and broken transport formations. As soon as a formation was used even once, it meant instant ruin.

And now, right after beginning this journey, Shi Hao faced imminent danger!

“Chi!”

Another stream of radiant light surged forth, accompanied by a hazy mist. The glyphic power was terrifying. Shi Hao dodged left and right with astonishing agility.

However, his neck still got sliced open, blood gushing forth. He narrowly avoided decapitation, a life-or-death moment!

A buzz echoed.

The void trembled. The passage cracked halfway through, releasing a surge of energy. Countless streaks of light and chaotic mist spiraled outward, escalating the peril.

Shi Hao leapt and sprinted rapidly, his divine wings flapping relentlessly, propelling him forward like a fleeting glimmer through treacherous energy currents and chaotic zones.

Thankfully, the most dangerous chaotic rifts did not brush against him, sparing him a dire fate.

“Almost there! Soon we’ll reach the exit—we’re about to enter the Upper Realm!” Shi Yi exclaimed.

Yet, at that moment, a deafening boom erupted. The void became unstable, rapidly fracturing, glyphic brilliance bursting forth—things had worsened to the extreme.

How could one possibly evade this? Shi Yi stared in disbelief, instantly dropping from Shi Hao’s hair into his arms to hide from peril.

“Boom!”

A torrent of glyphs surged forward. Simultaneously, a dreadful chaos light wove through the void, slashing menacingly.

This was the Void Severance Slash—an energy so terrifying that once struck, not only ordinary experts but even those who ignited divine flames would perish instantly, their bodies severed.

“Break through!”

Shi Hao dodged the Void Severance Slash and quickly opened the bronze treasure box, rushing inside to ride it through the glyphic zone.

A violent explosion followed. The void tore open, glyphic lights scattering across the sky. The passage was utterly destroyed, unleashing a terrifying surge of chaotic energy.

Back in the Xiling Domain, the bronze treasure box had already suffered damage. When Shi Hao once shattered his Supreme Supreme Sovereign bone, it sustained even more damage. Consequently, the recent impact triggered its disintegration.

“It’s cracking!” Shi Yi cried out in alarm.

The bronze box cracked apart. Glyphic energy rushed in, accompanied by brilliant lights, creating a dreadful scene.

Shi Hao’s expression changed. He quickly retrieved the stone cauldron. Though it had lost one of its three legs, its body remained intact—a god-forged artifact with incredible defense that enveloped him.

“Boom!”

The violent energy struck the cauldron, generating a horrifying glow, like burning flames.

Cracks spread rapidly across the cauldron, approaching an imminent explosion. Shi Hao found himself in a dire predicament. He took out the Demon Subduing Mace to defend himself.

The void trembled, glyphic lights wildly surging. A blinding light burned brightly as the damaged cauldron flew out of the shattered passage, crashing into the earth.

Boom!

A tremendous roar shook heaven and earth. A massive explosion occurred at the impact site, sending radiant light in all directions. The divine cauldron shattered, unleashing devastating energy.

Nearby, mountains collapsed, boulders rolled, trees broke, and a massive crater formed on the ground.

A network of enormous cracks spread from the crater into the distance, a terrifying sight resembling a meteor impact.

At the bottom of the crater lay a large pool of blood. Shi Hao lay there, his body twisted, bones broken beyond count.

Not far away, half of a mountain had been severed. The bone-crafted Demon Subduing Mace rested there, dull and lifeless.

“This hurts like hell!” Shi Yi wailed. It had not escaped unscathed—having absorbed several glyphic impacts meant it now bore severe cracks.

It had barely survived destruction.

Shi Hao painfully opened his eyes, his entire body wracked with pain. Each slight movement sent surges of divine power throughout him, blood spurting from his wounds—his injuries were grave.

“I survived,” he murmured weakly. Simply surviving was fortunate enough.

Shi Hao attempted to sit up, but it proved difficult. His bones were shattered, blood soaked the ground, turning soil into crimson mud. His flesh had torn beyond recognition, and broken bones jutted from his wounds—his injuries were even worse than he had imagined!

“Ding!”

A jar fell from his chest, exuding a chilling frost—the divine ice jar that once sealed the Imperial Butterfly. Remarkably unscathed, a golden light escaped, and the Imperial Butterfly emerged.

“Why am I so unlucky!” Shi Yi howled in despair.

“Are we in the Upper Realm or did we fall back to the lower world?” Shi Hao asked himself.

Gritting his teeth, he forcefully channeled his divine power, knitting all broken bones back together and staunching the bleeding, before sitting up with great difficulty.

Silently feeling around, he sensed an astonishingly rich influx of spiritual energy in the surroundings, continuously flowing into his body. Nearby, splendid mountains and glowing waterfalls emitted radiant mist.

“It must be the Upper Realm,” he concluded. The lower world could never contain such abundant spiritual energy.

“We made it! Yayaa!” Shi Yi cried joyfully, equally excited. After enduring countless hardships, they had finally ascended via the Sky Road.

Just moments ago, they narrowly escaped annihilation. Despite surviving, they had lost the bronze treasure box and a divine cauldron.

Surviving such a calamity left them both exhausted and relieved.

The Imperial Butterfly flapped its radiant wings, enveloping the Demon Subduing Mace with glyphic energy and returning it.

Shi Hao grinned, but even the smallest movement sent blood gushing from his wounds. Several artifacts hidden within his ten Cave Heaven spilled out, temporarily unsealable.

Vaguely, he sensed an oppressive force—an inexplicable pressure from the laws of this world.

“Are these the complete heavenly laws? The lower world’s Dao is fractured, its laws incomplete. It’s different here.” Shi Hao instantly felt the change.

After resting half an hour, Shi Hao Reluctantly stood, wielding the bone mace to fill the crater and erase nearby traces.

“At last in the Upper Realm—I guess I’m a stowaway?” He chuckled through the pain.

The surroundings were silent—no beasts appeared, not even drawn by the scent of blood, which perplexed him.

Suddenly, he sensed something wrong. He caught a strange fragrance and his body weakened.

“There’s something odd here!” Shi Hao staggered, gripping the Demon Subduing Mace, determined to leave this mountainous area quickly.

“What… are these mushrooms?” He was astonished—when exiting the mountains, he saw clusters of enormous mushrooms, each as tall as a house, shimmering with colorful light and radiant mist.

Beneath these mushrooms lay countless white skeletons—a deathtrap!

“We must leave quickly!” Shi Yi urged.

Shi Hao desperately channeled divine power to fly, but he stumbled, nearly crashing back to the ground—his heart pounded.

“The heavenly laws here suppress power severely!” He was shaken. It felt as if he had lost the abilities of a Venerable One, as though his cultivation had been nullified.

He found that Reluctantly he could fly, but his injuries hindered him, and the heavy Dao suppression shocked him. No wonder nobles and geniuses descended to the lower realm for cultivation—it offered an unfettered experience.

Suddenly, clusters of mushrooms emitted radiant light, flooding the sky.

“Such strange light—it corrodes divine power!” Shi Hao changed expression. He hurriedly channeled glyphic barriers to prevent disaster.

His injuries were severe. Forcing himself to channel power caused cold sweat to burst from his body. Below, the strange mushrooms emitted brighter light, shrouding him in radiant mist.

“I won’t dwell on you now.” He was gravely wounded and unwilling to fight—these mushrooms seemed devoid of sentience, not worth battling.

Wielding the Demon Subduing Mace, Shi Hao broke through. He flew dozens of miles before escaping the bizarre area.

“These spatial glyphs are truly strange—I could barely endure them,” Shi Hao paled. He had sustained grave injuries during his traverse through the void passage, draining his vitality.

Even now, faint glyphic traces lingered within him, flickering within his bones and flesh, though they weren’t critical. With rest, he would recover.

Eventually, he flew another hundred miles but grew extremely tired, landing to rest.

“There’s a path here—there must be people nearby.” Shi Hao whispered. Then, he heard voices.

He saw a mount—an enormous snail, moving swiftly. On its shell sat more than twenty people of various ages, chatting cheerfully.

Shi Hao’s expression turned odd. A snail as a mount—how unusual.

Besides these individuals, the snail carried numerous trophies: elephant carcasses several meters long, tigers six meters long, and serpents tens of meters long.

This was a group of hunters: some wielding great wolf-tooth clubs, others bearing huge blackbows, wearing beasthide clothes, bare-chested, and exuding a rough, masculine aura.

Also among them were teenagers, around thirteen or so, following the group to gain experience and test their courage.

“There’s someone—badly injured!” a child cried.

Everyone looked. Shi Hao reclined against a green stone, drenched in blood, a pitiful sight.

“His injuries are grave. Take him to the village for treatment,” a middle-aged man leaped from the snail, rushing to his side.

Shi Hao’s heart stirred. His knowledge of the Upper Realm was limited. Perhaps he could accompany them back, slowly understanding this new world.