Chapter 1423: Abyss Spreading

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

A dull roar sounded from outside the Tian Shu Domain.

Everyone relying on the Tower of Babel’s layout to desperately fend off the tide of Calamities from the Sighing Wilderness felt the earth beneath their feet shake violently. Even the buildings within the domain swayed intensely, as if they would collapse at any moment.

Although there had been tremors before when the Calamities of the Sighing Wilderness trampled the earth, the current violent shaking was not on the same scale at all. It was as if a subterranean dragon were twisting and burrowing beneath them, easily threatening to turn the entire domain upside down.

"What’s going on?? An earthquake??"

"I’ve never heard of the Calamities of the Sighing Wilderness being able to trigger an earthquake of this magnitude?"

"Is it my imagination? Why do I feel like the epicenter is moving?"

"Wait..."

"The vibration is coming from outside the domain!"

“……”

The craftsmen of the Tower of Babel seemed to realize something. They immediately moved a giant telescope from the top of the tower, adjusted the direction, and looked toward a certain direction outside the Tian Shu Domain...

The next second, everyone stood frozen in place.

"That... that is..."

Rolling dust rose from the earth outside the Tian Shu Domain, like a giant sandstorm, rushing forward amidst the roar, filling every corner of the world.

Countless hair-raising abyssal cracks were spreading frantically across the earth, as if something from the north had pierced through the underground, brushing past the edge of the Tian Shu Domain and charging straight toward another direction!

And the tremor caused by the abyssal crack merely brushing past the Tian Shu Domain was enough to nearly cause the collapse of thousands of buildings, and even the Tower of Babel began to sway precariously!

It was the end of the world; it was the roar of the abyss.

The craftsmen of the Tower of Babel had never seen such a sight.

"The Scarlet Overlord of the Ghost-Mocking Abyss, the Faceless King who mocks fate." Inside the Tower of Babel, an old man muttered to himself. "The last Calamity territory that had always been dormant has finally moved..."

"Is the Ghost-Mocking Abyss joining the battlefield too?? Do we have any way to survive?" Everyone’s hearts sank into an icy abyss.

"No, its target isn't us."

"...Then which domain is their target?"

The old man looked along the direction of the earth’s cracking, and paused slightly.

"Strange..."

"In that direction, there should only be..."

……

The South Sea Domain.

"Damn it..." Pu Xiazhan dragged her exhausted body, staggering along the devastated streets.

Her gaze fell on the corpses of the Pu family members on both sides of the street, their flesh mangled and covered in Forbidden talismans. Her face was deathly pale...

The Pu family members who had broken out of the encirclement with her not long ago had died one after another under the endless Calamity attacks. There were simply too many Calamities of the Forbidden Sea. Every street they passed required two or three major battles. By now, even Pu Xiazhan was nearing exhaustion.

She looked at the South Sea Domain, which had completely turned into a paradise for Calamities, and felt a moment of trance.

She had grown up in the South Sea Domain, and her feelings for this place were beyond words. Now, watching her home turn into ruins while she could do nothing, anger, powerlessness, and bitterness surged in her heart one after another.

Whoosh—!!

Just then, a red signal flare rose from the distance, shooting into the sky.

Seeing that signal flare, Pu Xiazhan paused slightly, her fists clenching silently... Struggle appeared on her face.

In the moment Pu Xiazhan was distracted, a black shadow leaped from the mirror-like frost reflection. A pitch-black, talisman-covered, sharp-spined fish, like an assassin hidden beneath the water’s surface, charged toward the back of Pu Xiazhan’s neck with astonishing speed!

By the time Pu Xiazhan sensed the chill, it was already too late. She turned her head in shock, the Calamity’s spine already before her eyes!

Puff—

A faint gunshot rang out from the distance.

The Deconstruction bullet instantly annihilated the sharp-spined fish into nothingness. It wasn't until the cold wind mixed with a fishy stench brushed against Pu Xiazhan’s cheek that she realized what had happened...

She looked behind her.

The Law Enforcer trench coat fluttered in the cold wind. Han Meng held a black handgun he had scavenged from the corpse of a South Sea police officer, his gaze fixed on the signal flare burning in mid-air:

"The signal flare has risen, which means the last domain train is ready... We should leave."

"Leave..."

Pain appeared on Pu Xiazhan’s face. "...I don't want to be a deserter!"

"Leaving now doesn't make you a deserter."

"No! You don't understand, this is exactly what a deserter is!" Pu Xiazhan's eyes were bloodshot. "I grew up here; this is my home... Now my home has been occupied by Calamities, and the friends I grew up with have been killed by them. I can't just walk away like this!!"

The sobbing wind and snow brushed against Han Meng's cheeks, and he fell into silence.

I don't know how much time passed.

He looked into Pu Xiazhan's broken eyes and spoke softly:

"I understand..."

Pu Xiazhan was slightly stunned.

She looked at the Arbiter's trench coat fluttering in the wind and snow before her, finally remembering something, her gaze filled with immense complexity.

Yes... in this world, perhaps no one understood this feeling better than Han Meng.

The same Sea of Taboo, the same bone-chilling cold. When the Calamities charged into the lands of the Aurora Domain, everything he had once protected was trampled into dust before his eyes... He had already experienced the same thing once before.

"Abandoning your companions and the people to leave while there is still hope—that is what you call a deserter..." Han Meng paused for a moment.

"The South Sea Domain has already become a dead city. You've done your best. Even if you stay, what good will it do to throw your life away to kill one or two more Calamities?

Don't forget, you are the possessor of the Heaven-Reaching Star Rank, the hope of the new generation of humanity. So many people have placed their high expectations on you. If you die here, everything they did will have been in vain...

If you have no way to take these Calamities down with you, then save your own life first, and find an opportunity for revenge in the future."

Pu Xiazhan lowered her head. She struggled internally for a long time before finally nodding.

Han Meng said no more. He took Pu Xiazhan and quickly headed toward the direction where the signal flare had risen. He didn't know how many surviving combatants were left in the South Sea Domain, but he estimated that very few would be able to reach the location of the Domain Train.

Fortunately, both Han Meng and Pu Xiazhan possessed formidable strength, and by coordinating with each other, they managed to fight their way out of the encirclement of several streets.

"Wait."

Just as they were about to reach the Domain Train's location, Han Meng's peripheral vision caught something, and he stopped in his tracks.

Pu Xiazhan followed Han Meng's gaze and saw, amidst a pile of collapsed ruins, a hand exposed to the air. The cuff of a half-visible wanderer's robe looked somewhat familiar to Han Meng...

Han Meng stepped forward and pushed aside the heavy stone wall pressing down from above, revealing the unconscious Zhao Yi to his eyes.