Jing Yi hurried over to Leng Jin Yu's side. "Just what happened? The whole palace is shaking!"
Leng Jin Yu sighed. "I've made a mistake. I thought I was getting closer to the core of the realm to open a passage back to the Leyuan region. Who would have thought …" He shook his head. "The realm is collapsing. I'm afraid …" He sighed again. "We won't get out of here in time."
Jing Yi stared up at the handsome face he had grown accustomed to in the last few years. "You can't mean … We'll die here?" The color drained from his face.
He couldn't die here! He had barely managed to reach the third stage. He was far from ascending to the Nine Heavens, far from finding Tian. He couldn't die yet!
"Senior Martial Brother Yu …"
Leng Jin Yu turned around to him. "I know. Don't worry too much. I'll … I'll try to think of something."
Jing Yi nodded but he knew that there was no use in thinking about it. Yu Jin had already worked on whatever he had found in the courtyard for four years. Could he really find another way this fast?
"Is there anything I can help with?"
Leng Jin Yu looked at the brightly glowing array. Zhong Jing Yi wasn't in trouble but he was. If he wanted to find that person, then he had to think of something, however unlikely it was to find a solution.
"For now, let's leave the palace. The core isn't here and the realm should become unstable here first."
"Alright." Jing Yi nodded and together they turned around and hurried back into the palace.
Jing Yi had spent most of those four years in just one room, cultivating day and night. Only sometimes did he go and take a look at Yu Jin in the courtyard to find out if there was progress or anything he could help with. Now, he had no idea how to get out of the palace. He just hurried after Yu Jin and hoped that they would make it out before everything collapsed.
The ground shook fiercer with each room they left behind. By the time they finally reached the gates of the palace, Jing Yi could barely hold himself upright. Leng Jin Yu looked back at him and grabbed his hand.
"Come on, we still have to leave the mountains. After that, we'll be slightly safer."
"Mn." Jing Yi nodded and accelerated his steps again, relying on Yu Jin's help not to fall.
The two of them finally broke through the gate. The wooden beams below the roof creaked and dust trickled down.
"Hurry! The roof is going to cave in!"
Leng Jin Yu grabbed Jing Yi around the waist and pulled him up against his chest. He took out his sword and they rose into the air, speeding away from the palace of the secret realm's master.
Jing Yi looked back at the place they had spent the last four years of their life at. Now, this place was collapsing in front of his eyes. First, the roofs caved in, then the last remainders of the walls crumbled until only a big cloud of dust remained and obscured his view.
Jing Yi closed his eyes and held onto Yu Jin. Even though he had managed to attain the next stage, there was nothing he could do besides hoping that Yu Jin would have an idea how to get them out. If he managed not to be a hindrance, it was good enough.
Leng Jin Yu didn't hold back this time. Jing Yi wouldn't be able to sense a difference between the stages above him and even if he could what use was there in concealing anything now? They might both die today.
They reached the foot of the mountain but Leng Jin Yu didn't slow down at all. He just sped away further because the more distance he managed to create between the destruction array and themselves the more time he would have to figure something out.
Unfortunately, he had still underestimated the previous owner of the secret realm.
Leng Jin Yu came to a harsh stop.
"What happened?" Jing Yi lifted his head and his fingers tightened around the fabric of Yu Jin's robe. He didn't get an answer and could only turn around to look in the same direction as his senior martial brother. "That … What is that?"
"The work of someone more cunning than me. I thought the secret realm would collapse from the inside out but it turns out the previous master connected the array in the middle to something at the edge. It's destroying itself from both directions simultaneously."
"That means …" Jing Yi looked up at him and the expression on Yu Jin's face made his heart turn cold. So it was true. They would die here today.
Leng Jin Yu closed his eyes and sighed. "It'll take even less time now. I'm sorry. I can't figure out anything. There might be a possibility of brute-forcing our way out of here but I can't promise anything. If I'm not strong enough, then I might just be accelerating our doom."
Jing Yi bit his lower lip. "There is no other possibility, is there?"
Leng Jin Yu shook his head. "There isn't. The realm is collapsing too fast. Even if there is another way out somewhere, we won't be able to find it fast enough."
"Then let's try it. Maybe … maybe we'll really manage to get out of here like that."
"Mn." Leng Jin Yu soared higher into the air. He looked up at the sky but didn't attack immediately. "Junior Martial Brother Zhong."
"Yes? Can I help somehow?"
"No, just … You know if I die here, there would only be one thing I regret. And that is not finding the person I still have to remember."
"Me too."
"Mn. In case you make it out of here alive while I … In that case, if you have a way to find him, then please let him know that I won't be able to come and see him. Tell him that there is no reason to wait for me. He should just … go on without me."
"Senior Martial Brother Yu …"
Leng Jin Yu smiled and raised a hand. He circulated all of his spiritual energy and blasted it up against the sky of the secret realm.