Outside the Nefarious Sanctuary, everyone felt an unpleasant premonition as the sky above the sanctuary became turbulent; dark clouds rumbled high above while flashing a domineering light within.
Everyone felt disturbed upon noticing this particular event in the sky. King Cedric and Queen Elara felt worried about what's happening inside. Meng Fu and Bai Feng stood calmly, but deep inside, they also felt trepidation. They knew that Hazel Grove was protected by an Immortal Artifact which fuels a Formation that keeps Hazel Grove filled with life energy. And the turbulent cloud seems to negate the effects of the formation, and its looking like it has the same origins, with the energy that was inside the Nefarious Sanctuary; a dark and corrupted energy.
Inside, Prince Archilles braced himself and circulated the entirety of his internal energy and sent a powerful barrage of Thunderous Rain Sword against the Illusory foot that was about to descend.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Amidst their torrential attacks, the Nefarious Sanctuary rumbled as if howling in suffering. The First Step of Suppression was executed perfectly by Neebo, and the attacked caused the dust from the ground to completely cover the training hall.
As the dust settled down, Prince Archilles could be seen within the sunken ground by a meter deep, battered and badly beaten as he laid flat on the surface. His sword fell a few meters away from him, the ground displayed a hundred cuts from Prince Archilles's sword rain. The outcome of the clash seems clear, as Prince Archilles struggled to get back up, he coughed a mouthful of blood as he glared furiously towards Neebo.
Neebo was about to speak when the Nefarious Sanctuary's rumbling became even more stronger and its howling, more pronounced. Both Neebo and Prince Archilles felt uneasiness and foreboding. The huge cracks within the training hall spread like hundreds of snakes crawling outward from Prince Archilles's crashing site.
Neebo gaze focused on the ground beneath Prince Archilles. Prince Archilles saw through Neebo's reaction, and felt alarmed. He could feel that something beneath him was coming out from the ground, something that gave him immense fear. He stood up and struggled to leap out from the crash site, but just as he leapt, the ground sunk deeper. It looked like the ground was being devoured as a huge suction force erupted and swallowed the training hall's ground.
Prince Archilles struggled to resist the suction force, as he was about to let go of his resistance; Prince Archilles felt a strong force grabbing hold of his body. It was a familiar energy, and as Prince Archilles looked around, he saw his master, Meng Fu coming to his rescue.
"Leave the place at once!" Meng Fu's voice gave a strong and serious tone as he commanded his disciple to retreat from the sanctuary.
After Meng Fu appeared within the sanctuary, Neebo was concerned about what's happening. Meng Fu seem to be closely focused on the huge pit that was sucking everything it could grab hold off. As Bai Feng appeared along with another man carrying a huge greatsword on his back, Neebo felt even more unease and sneaked away from the scene.
Suddenly, the loud rumbling within the suction force carried an eerie laughter that echoed within the Nefarious Sanctuary.
"Brace yourselves!" Meng Fu announced.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
A huge explosion rang out, as the pit of five-meter-wide suddenly exploded into a thirty-meter-wide hole, sinking the entirety of the training hall.
Neebo and Ultgar who was hiding away from the epicenter crashed below while Meng Fu's viridescent Qi blanketed Bai Feng and Prince Archilles as he slowed down their momentum as they too fell inside the pit. The man carrying a greatsword on his back, Zhu Hongwu erupted with his own golden Qi and slowed down his descent.
As everything settled; after falling fifty-meters deep within the pit, Neebo struggled to get up and scanned his surroundings. Deeper within the epicenter was a meter crack that was floating above the ground. The crack seems to be the origin of the dark violent energy within the sanctuary, as it leaks out stronger and far denser dark energy from inside the crack spreads towards the interior of the Nefarious Sanctuary.
"Aaaaarrrgh!"
Ultgar who powerlessly fell alongside Neebo, landed closely to the crack and was immediately overwhelmed as he was swallowed by the dark energy that was leaking out from the crack. And in no time, Ultgar fell unconscious with blood leaking out from his eyes, nose and mouth as the dark violent energy seeped into his body; after a short while, his eyes turned white, skin turned pale, and his body became lifeless. He had clearly become another soulless body within the sanctuary.
Neebo was immensely frightened, this amount of dark energy could have a huge effect on his mental resistance, worst, he might lose his life if he falls prey on the energy. He was greatly alarmed for he was most sure that he couldn't risk being devoured by this amount of energy. He retreated away from the crack and tried to look for a way to distance himself from the energy.
Neebo was frightened, as he carried the weight of the metal balls chained with him, he felt frustrated and agitated. Neebo couldn't climb up, his only chance was to seek help from the slowly landing Immortal Cultivators. Maybe they have a safety plan to stray away from this lethal energy.
Suddenly, the crack began to rumble once more, and the eerie laughter resounded once again. And at that moment, when Neebo stumbled fearful on the ground; something came out from the crack. It was a huge spider limb seemingly climbing out from within the crack. The spider limb extended five-meters out from the crack, as more and more limbs came out.
Meng Fu and his company witnessed everything that was happening. Meng Fu had a troubled face while the others had a look of fear and apprehension.
"This must be the Spatial Crack that our predecessors have reported, and it seems like there really are intelligent lifeforms on the other side of that crack." Zhu Hongwu commented, as they were getting close to the ground, he drew his greatsword with his both arms.
"Let's be cautious in engaging the creature, who knows what it is capable of." Bai Feng added.
Meng Fu's mind was on full alert, as he had never encountered any kind of foreign lifeform before. Meng Fu knew that this world they were living was called the Blue Pearl World, and beside it was tens of tiny domains that could lead to other low tiered worlds that was kept heavily guarded by the powerful Immortal Sects of this world. The Nefarious Sanctuary seems to be one among the few recorded gateways into an unknown domain.
Zhu Hongwu released his Qi that slowed him down, as he dove straight into the ground like a rocket. Zhu Hongwu thought that whatever this lifeform may be, one thing is for sure, that it is a threat. And they should commence battle stance as soon as possible.
Meng Fu on the other hand, manipulated their descent as they moved faster. After landing, Meng Fu took out flags and threw it within the pit at specific position. This was Meng Fu installing formation flags to create a seal, keeping the denser dark energy at bay.
Bai Feng also took out his own weapon, a long metal whip that had sharp knife on its tip. Meng Fu noticed this, "Elder Bai, leave this to me and Elder Zhu, you have to safeguard Archilles. I would be greatly in debt to you if you do."
Bai Feng heard Meng Fu's request, deep inside, he felt fearful of the creature that was trying to come out of the spatial crack. He too, has never fought foreign lifeforms before. So he had no confidence facing against it with his early first level Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivation.
Bai Feng nodded and accepted Meng Fu's request and retreat behind the two Cultivators, along with Prince Archilles. "I will leave everything up to you Elder Meng, as you could leave the prince's safety with me."
Meng Fu nodded back. He then returned his focus on the spatial crack and the lifeform that was trying to come out from it. He took a talisman out of thin air and heavily slammed it on the ground, viridescent green Qi erupted from Meng Fu and the tens of formation flags that he had thrown within the pit glowed with the same Qi. The activation of the formation flags created an ethereal wall that stopped the dense dark energy from leaking out from the pit, as it wrestled with great power and resisted the corrupted energy.
Zhu Hongwu nodded towards Meng Fu, to show respect towards Meng Fu's reliability to uphold his duty as the guardian and watcher for the Nefarious Sanctuary, despite the current situation they were in.
Bai Feng's felt at ease after witnessing how powerful Meng Fu's seal was, "You truly live up to your reputation Elder Meng, The Divine Void Sects Formation Grandmaster. This must be your most famous Void Life Seal, Elder?"
Meng Fu smiled and without looking back, he replied, "You are truly knowledgeable, Elder Bai. Indeed, this is my strongest Seal yet. Let's hope that it could hold everything down and not embarrass ourselves from our peers."
"I bet not, Elder! It seems that your Void Life Seal is doing completely fine against the dark energy." Bai Feng replied.
"We have to make sure that that lifeform is also sealed up! Or else, all of our effort would be in vain." The quiet Zhu Hongwu interjected.
"Elder Zhu is right! Elder Zhu, may I request that the moment the creature's body escapes from the crack, we immediately attack with everything we have. We cannot risk probing in to what this lifeform is capable of." Meng Fu requested.
Zhu Hongwu nodded in agreement, and at that moment, Zhu Hongwu stabbed heavily into the ground with his greatsword and another Seal glowed bright gold. The Seal spreads within the entire surface ground of the pit, with ancient and intricate symbols.
"Heavenly Sword Mountain's, Celestial Sword Seal!!!" Bai Feng was greatly stunned. Compared to Meng Fu's self-created Seal's, the Celestial Sword Seal was passed down for millennia by the Heavenly Sword Mountain Sect. It is the number one Seal within the Blue Pearl World, which had trapped countless experts and became part of its famous history. Now Bai Feng felt even great ease, he was even more confident with these two great seals supporting them. All he had to do was to keep Prince Archilles safe.
Meng Fu nodded in satisfaction. He knew that whomever the Heavenly Sword Mountain Sect sends as a guardian for the Nefarious Sanctuary, they would send this Seal along with. But to bear witness to the number one Seal, Meng Fu, who was an enthusiastic person towards Seal Formations, was in awe deep inside. But his reverence towards the acclaimed seal was cut short.
At that moment, a howling sound erupted within the spatial crack mixed with the echoing eerie laughter. The spider limbs that leaked out of the crack displayed massive strength as it tried to widen the spatial crack so that it could escape from the other side.
The creature then tear open the spatial crack wider, and emerged from the spatial crack. The lifeform had a huge eerie spider limbs, but from its torso up to its head was a human-like upper body, that had long slender-hooked-arms, and its face was mostly fangs with four eyes.
"Kyakakakakakakah I've found a lush Life Domain!" a weird eerie noise exploded from the spider creature, that blew a powerful force towards Meng Fu and company.