“Let’s go, everyone.”
Jiang Yun glanced at the major sects and clans around him, then was the first to step into the Particle World.
He didn’t bother with the loose cultivators.
He had already spoken clearly, when it came to them, he had done all he could. Whether they listened or not was no longer his concern.
Immediately afterward, the Unified God Sect, the Three Thousand Dao Court, the Primal-Chaos Demon Tower, and the newly arrived Golden Roc Immortal Realm all entered one after another.
The rest of the crowd exchanged uncertain looks.
“Fellow cultivators, the path of cultivation has always been risk and opportunity side by side. If you’re afraid even of this, what’s the point of seeking immortality?” someone laughed heartily.
Then he was the first to step into the Particle World.
After that, more and more people started pouring in.
“This friend, are you going in?” the people from the Blade-Axe Sect asked Xu Zimo. “Let’s go in together, it’ll be safer.”
“Since you’ve shared so much information with me, we’ll go together then,” Xu Zimo replied.
A great tide of people surged into the Particle World.
At the entrance, Xu Zimo suddenly paused, frowning slightly.
He sensed a familiar aura.
After thinking carefully, he realized, it was the same aura he had once encountered on those witch-beasts in Green Serpent City of the Mountain Dragon God-Dynasty.
“This Particle World has something to do with the Liches?” Xu Zimo muttered.
“What’s wrong, Brother Xu?” someone beside him asked.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go,” Xu Zimo waved his hand and stepped inside.
As soon as he entered the Particle World, Xu Zimo realized it was unlike anything else.
The scene before his eyes was more like a labyrinth.
Everyone stood in a narrow cavern that branched in all directions, east, west, north, south, up, and down.
Some tunnels glimmered faintly with luminous crystals, while others were pitch-black, suffocating to step into.
“What kind of Particle World is this?” someone muttered.
Everyone had been scattered randomly. Xu Zimo didn’t recognize anyone around him.
Before he could react further, a shrill scream rang out.
He turned and saw a black shadow, its hands like claws, grab a man by the throat and snap it clean.
The man’s head rolled.
The shadow seemed to melt into the darkness. Xu Zimo couldn’t make out its face at all.
A moment later, it was gone, as though it had never existed.
Xu Zimo frowned, moving forward along the tunnel.
He hadn’t gone far when another scream echoed in the distance, someone else had died.
“What kind of place is this?” a terrified voice shouted.
“I want out!”
“What the hell is that thing, it comes and goes without a trace!”
Panic spread. Some people froze, too afraid to move forward.
Xu Zimo pressed on, but suddenly a chill wind brushed past his ear, raising goosebumps all over his body.
A shadow appeared behind him, silent as a ghost.
With a bang, its claws were blocked by Shadow Tyrant.
Xu Zimo spun, trying to seize it, but his hand closed on nothing, the figure dissolved into the dark again.
Xu Zimo’s frown deepened, but then Paimon’s voice came from within the God World.
“Master, this is the Nine Heavens Ten Earths Interwoven Formation.”
“You know of it?” Xu Zimo asked. “How do I get out?”
“To break this formation, you must first understand its principle,” Paimon explained.
“Most formations rely on array plates, seals, or more advanced array diagrams and flags. Formations are built on the balance of truth and illusion, real wrapped in false, false hidden in real. But this Nine Heavens Ten Earths Interwoven Formation is different.”
“What’s different?” Xu Zimo pressed.
“It is not conjured by formation seals, so strictly speaking, it has no formation core. That makes it vastly harder to break,” Paimon said.
“This kind of formation uses the Particle World itself as the medium, carving the formation directly into its fabric. Which means where you stand is all real, not illusion.”
“I see. This entire place is real,” Xu Zimo muttered. “Then why don’t I just destroy it?”
“The formation seems to have been set by a Saint Sovereign. Unless your strength exceeds his, you cannot forcibly break it,” Paimon shook his head.
“A Saint Sovereign? Isn’t this supposed to be the Bright Emperor’s Particle World?” Xu Zimo frowned again.
“If you want to unravel this formation, Master, you must find its medium objects,” Paimon explained.
He had never encountered something like this before.
“The Nine Heavens are not like the Primordial Heartlands. The longer you stay here, the more you’ll feel the vastness of this world,” Paimon said. “One person breaking this formation isn’t impossible, but it is extremely difficult. That’s why you’ll need allies.”
“Allies? The Dao Courts have probably already formed their own pacts,” Xu Zimo replied.
Slowly, he took out his Heaven-Derivation Astrolabe.
Though it couldn’t break the formation, it could at least show him people’s positions.
As the star disk appeared, starlight spread, driving some of the darkness away.
As it spun, suddenly, a huge hand shot out of the shadows, trying to snatch the star disk.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” Xu Zimo barked.
With a wave of his hand, the void solidified. Darkness receded, and starlight illuminated the attacker.
It was a half-human, half-beast monstrosity.
“A Lich,” Xu Zimo muttered.
He had seen them before, and this was unmistakably one of their kind.
Its face was covered in hair, its mouth a beak, while the rest of its body resembled a human’s.
Caught by Xu Zimo, the Lich said nothing, it simply self-destructed.
The violent explosion nearly buried the entire tunnel.
“This Particle World is getting more and more interesting,” Xu Zimo said with a smile.
The star disk spun again. Starlight scattered, showing traces of others’ presence.
But there were too many people inside, he couldn’t distinguish loose cultivators from the great sects.
Thinking of this, Xu Zimo took out the token Bai Tihe had given him.
Placing it on the star disk, he began a new divination.
The token carried Bai Tihe’s unique aura, which the disk captured. Starlight fell once more.
“Found you,” Xu Zimo’s eyes narrowed, staring toward the distance.
But at that exact moment, the other party reacted swiftly, cutting off the starlight connection in an instant.
“So fast,” Xu Zimo muttered, and his figure shot off toward the location.