Chapter 116: Ash

Xi Renjie’s body crashed heavily to the ground.

The figure opposite him, holding the steel sword, walked slowly toward him. At the same time, the sword in his hand kept changing: a broom, a torch, a tentacle, a toilet plunger... They were all bizarre objects, switching frantically like a glitching television screen, dazzling to behold.

Before Xi Renjie could stand up, the red phantom suddenly flashed in front of him, raised the transformed blade high, and thrust it down violently!

Clang—!!

A cane scraped against the [Iron Garment], sending out blinding sparks.

Terrifying force traveled from Chen Ling’s hands through the fishing rod, slowly piercing the skin on Xi Renjie’s surface. The latter was pinned to the ground, using all his strength to concentrate the [Iron Garment] to block the tennis racket, yet his face was visibly turning pale.

Just then, the ground beneath them suddenly shook.

Chen Ling tilted his head slightly, his hollow eyes turning toward the charred warehouse. On the surface of the wall in the deepest part, a touch of gray gradually spread from the void...

He released the steel sword in his hand and turned to leave. The red paper butterflies filling the sky gradually retracted, curling back into his wide sleeves.

"Officer Xi!"

"Officer Xi!! Are you alright?"

The few enforcers still standing nearby immediately dropped the bananas in their hands and rushed over.

Xi Renjie, having escaped death, gasped for air. He pulled out the blade that had embedded several centimeters into his chest; blood spread along his clothes. If it had gone any deeper, his heart would likely have been pierced.

"...I'm fine." Xi Renjie stood up with the help of the others, his eyes filled with terror as he looked at the departing red-clad figure.

Although the battle was short, the impact it had on them was too great... They had never heard of any Divine Path possessing such a bizarre skill, and the opponent had only used this one skill from beginning to end.

Xi Renjie could tell that the opponent didn't actually have much intent to kill; otherwise, he could have killed everyone here within thirty seconds.

"He just left like that?"

"Wait, why did he go back into the warehouse? Isn't that a dead end?"

"...Ash World convergence! It's an Ash World convergence!"

Someone with sharp eyes spotted the gray tint deep in the warehouse and exclaimed. Xi Renjie’s heart skipped a beat.

Wasn't the Ash World convergence point supposed to be at the steel mill? Why was there another one here?!

Having Ash World convergences in two places at the same time... this shouldn't be possible within the Aurora Domain.

The red-clad figure passed through the charred corpses of the centipedes and stopped in front of the wall stained with gray. He then slowly raised his hand and pressed it against the wall... As a ripple spread across the surface, he stepped into it, and his figure vanished completely.

"He entered the Ash World," Xi Renjie said slowly.

"A human entered the Ash World? Is he not afraid of death?" one enforcer asked, his face full of shock. "The Ash World is the territory of those Calamities. If a human enters, they'll be discovered and besieged immediately... Plus, the entrances to Ash World convergences are unstable. What if the entrance disappears halfway through?"

"That’s not for us to worry about."

Xi Renjie shook his head. Since the red-clad figure wasn't an enforcer, they had no say in where he went... Besides, they couldn't stop him anyway. The opponent’s strength was unfathomable; rather than worrying about others, they should worry about District 3 itself.

Xi Renjie’s gaze fell to the side, where he saw the numerous bananas scattered on the ground turning back into guns under his watch. This time, Xi Renjie still couldn't see how it happened.

"This guy... who exactly is he?"

Xi Renjie muttered to himself.

……

"So this is the Ash World..."

After a slight wave of dizziness, Han Meng’s feet landed firmly on the black earth.

He looked around. The gray-black sky pressed down like heavy lead, and in the distance were rugged mountains sinking into darkness, along with strange, unrecognizable buildings embedded chaotically throughout the land. The spot where he had just landed was exactly beneath a gray vortex in the void above.

Han Meng looked down. His body seemed to have a filter applied to it; his black trench coat remained, but all other colors had been erased.

The red thread on the edge of his shirt, the dark brown surface of his shoes, and even the silver patterns on the tail of his trench coat were downgraded to a uniform gray.

This world seemed to only allow for black, gray, and white; no other colors existed.

This was Han Meng’s first time entering the Ash World. Although he had heard legends about it, only by standing in this world himself could he truly grasp that ethereal, distant "otherworldly feeling." This place was completely different from the world where human domains resided.

Han Meng glanced at the shadow centipedes crawling rapidly in a certain direction on the black earth, then took flight again, following closely behind them!

As Han Meng ascended, his field of vision widened. He could see the endless mountain ranges in the distance and the giant shadows faintly moving upon them... But what concerned Han Meng more were the embryonic forms of vortexes beginning to take shape all around.

These vortexes were still quite small compared to the pit where Han Meng had landed, but they were steadily expanding. Given a little more time, they should be fully formed.

Every embryonic vortex here was a soon-to-be-formed convergence point between the two worlds.

"How is this possible..." Han Meng looked at the dense clusters of embryonic convergence points, and his heart sank.

He had entered the Ash World from the factory area of District 3, and the space corresponding to this place was District 3 and the surrounding major districts. If such a large-scale Ash World convergence were to occur, it would be impossible for them, as enforcers, to resist... This would be a catastrophic disaster for all seven districts!

Just as Han Meng was tracking the shadow centipedes, a massive shadow suddenly enveloped him. Han Meng’s pupils constricted.

The next moment, a white bone claw the size of a mountain descended from the sky!

Boom—!!

A giant skeletal eagle crashed down, smashing Han Meng’s body into the black earth, sending dust and sand flying into the sky.

Amidst the shattered earth, Han Meng’s body was stuck firmly in the gaps of the bone claw. A massive skeletal head lowered to stare at him, and a fierce aura, no weaker than the shadow centipede matriarch, surged out!

He had been targeted.

Han Meng’s heart sank.