Chapter 52: What’s bulging up behind ?

That palace seemed carved from solidified abyss.

No ornate eaves or brackets, no gleaming glazed tiles, only twisted, sharp contour lines, as if solidified from pain itself, piercing the sky.

Its massive size, even at such a distance, occupied most of the space where sky and earth met, like a descending, world-covering giant coffin.

—

It moved silently, carrying only an absolute, deathly heaviness.

Wherever it passed, the sky seemed to dim, sunlight swallowed by an invisible maw, leaving a heart-stopping gray decay.

—

“What… what the hell is that thing?!”

Su Zhiyun’s voice was hoarse, every word forced from her throat.

Her mind went blank.

The “Extreme Danger” indicator that had just stabilized on the system panel now seemed like a huge mockery in her eyes.

‘What made me think Extreme Danger was much safer than Lethal Danger!!! This is obviously not safe at all!!!’

Her cry immediately drew the attention of the others.

Jiu Baiyun’s heart clenched at that moment too.

He didn’t turn around, but the fear in Su Zhiyun’s voice couldn’t be faked.

Forcing down the urge to look back, he poured even more demon power into the thin spiritual energy wrapping around Su Zhiyun and A Ran, forcing their speed up another notch with the extra energy.

“Don’t look! Hold tight! Speed up!”

Jiu Baiyun’s voice was urgent, but since he hadn’t looked back, it still sounded steady.

“Wah…”

Xiao Mu, on his back, didn’t know exactly what she’d seen, but Su Zhiyun’s terrified voice and Jiu Baiyun’s suddenly tense body scared her too.

After looking behind for less than three seconds, Xiao Mu bit her lip hard, closed her eyes, and buried her face deep into Jiu Baiyun’s back.

A Ran was also startled by Su Zhiyun’s voice.

Though she wanted to turn her head, she forced herself not to because of Jiu Baiyun’s words.

“Yao Hu… what is that?”

But even with the increased speed, Jiu Baiyun still felt that enormous presence pressing down on him.

Eerie… twisted… indescribable…

He couldn’t help asking.

The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s tone was very grave.

Though not afraid, it was inevitably extremely tense.

“That is… the Heavenly Palace.”

The Heavenly Palace!?

The moment those two words left the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s mouth, Jiu Baiyun’s energy immediately disordered.

The spiritual energy enveloping the group flickered for an instant, causing a sudden jolt.

He seemed to have heard of this faction…

That jolt made the already tense hearts of the group leap up.

In particular, Xiao Mu on Jiu Baiyun’s back squeezed so hard that Jiu Baiyun let out a “wah” and nearly threw up.

“Hey! Jiu Baiyun, can you still hold on!?”

Because of that jolt, Su Zhiyun was both startled and terrified.

She was very worried that Jiu Baiyun wouldn’t be able to hold on, causing them all to fall.

Falling was secondary, but the oppressive feeling from that thing behind them was no joke.

Just two glances at it made Su Zhiyun feel like she couldn’t breathe.

“I can hold on!”

With the infusion of demon power, the dizziness caused by the lack of spiritual energy was largely relieved, so Jiu Baiyun wasn’t feeling so bad at the moment.

But the continuous infusion of demon power did significantly ease the intense dizziness and tearing weakness from spiritual energy depletion.

However, this state of “not feeling so bad” did not come without a price.

The side effects began to manifest violently—Fox Demon Transformation.

The most obvious change first appeared in Jiu Baiyun’s hair.

The originally dark strands, starting from the roots close to his scalp, visibly lost their color, rapidly turning into a cold toned, near-silver with a strange luster.

Su Zhiyun and A Ran both noticed this at almost the same time, but wisely said nothing.

Jiu Baiyun had already expended too much power.

His hair turning white seemed to them very likely a sign of him overdrawing his strength.

Saying anything more at this point would only disturb Jiu Baiyun.

But both their faces were filled with uncontrollable worry.

Especially A Ran, who even blamed herself for hesitating so long.

Su Zhiyun sighed, her throat moving, words unspoken, but she somehow turned to look behind again.

Below that sky-obscuring huge palace, heaven and earth seemed to be reshaped by some indescribable power.

The originally lush mountain forest now looked as if it had been splashed with concentrated acid.

Whole patches of trees let out a “sizzling” corrosive sound upon contact with the black liquid.

Green leaves curled up and withered in the blink of an eye.

Thick trunks twisted and collapsed like melting candles.

The distant mountain ridges, as if gnawed by invisible giant teeth, had layers of rock peeling off and falling into the abyss.

Black liquid dripping from the palace eaves turned into countless sticky tentacles upon hitting the ground, surging and spreading in all directions.

That liquid seemed like boiling, viscous ink, emitting a nauseating stench of decay.

However, what made Su Zhiyun’s stomach violently churn, almost making her vomit on the spot, was not just that.

It was the countless eyeballs floating in that churning, filthy black liquid…

At the same time, Su Zhiyun also noticed a distant mountain village at the foot of a hill.

Many people had spotted the palace in the sky and started to flee.

But no matter how fast their feet, they couldn’t outrun the palace in the sky.

In less than a minute, they were all swallowed by the black liquid, with only screams echoing in the valley.

Seeing this, Su Zhiyun couldn’t help feeling a bit fortunate that Jiu Baiyun was there.

Although they couldn’t distance themselves from the palace, at least they wouldn’t be caught by it.

Just as Su Zhiyun was barely halfway through her relief, the spiritual energy surrounding her flickered again, followed by a violent jolt.

“Damn!”

Jiu Baiyun’s curse came through at that moment.

Subconsciously turning to look ahead, there in front of Jiu Baiyun was another huge flock of Weird Sparrows!

It was almost overwhelming, as if they were trying to force them back.

Both Jiu Baiyun’s and Su Zhiyun’s hearts sank.

Now they could be a hundred percent sure that the sparrow flock and the Gray Feather Mask Man who had chased them last time were deeply connected to this palace.

“Can we break through?”

“What do you think!”

Hearing Su Zhiyun’s words, Jiu Baiyun replied irritably.

Su Zhiyun shut up immediately after being snapped at by Jiu Baiyun.

Although a bit displeased, at this critical juncture, she understood that asking more questions would only make Jiu Baiyun more agitated.

All she could do now was trust Jiu Baiyun…

Just… what was that bulge on Jiu Baiyun’s back?