Chapter 767: A Child's Worry |
Once they were a safe distance away, everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to look at Death Wind Mountain or what remained of it.
The earthquake itself lasted over a minute, leaving everything destroyed. The surrounding forests had been torn asunder. The fallen trees, the fragmented ground, the mountain itself reduced to smaller ones, in such a short time, everything seemingly changed.
And the cause of this was that crack in the sky.
"Is everyone alright?"
Ming Yue knelt down and looked at everyone, checking their bodies for any injuries.
Fortunately, none of them were in any dangerous harm. Hongyu had no more than a few cuts and scratches and the three beasts suffered similar wounds. She sighed in relief once she made sure.
"Sorry, Hongyu, it looks like we might have to try another time but..."
She paused for a moment, looking at what was left of Death Wind Mountain.
She faced Hongyu, who looked back at her with a smile albeit a disappointed one. Seeing that look on her face, Ming Yue caressed the girl's cheek. Then she smiled as she thought of something.
"Don't worry, we'll be heading in to Luan City to see Uncle Fei and Aunt Cui! I think Rou'er will be there too!" she told her.
The girl's face brightened up a bit, comforted by this news.
"Come, let's go back home."
Days passed by until a week had gone by and Xiao Yin and the other beasts would return to the house with Ming Yue's students.
The cultivator went to greet them before furrowing her brows.
"Hmm, there's only half of you this week. What happened?" she asked.
One of the kids walked up to answer.
"Some of us couldn't go, our parents didn't want us to after what happened last week."
"The earthquake?" she asked.
The children all nodded.
"Yeah", one of them replied, "My mother almost didn't let me go because of it. They were worried that another one might happen."
"Another one, you say?"
"Mhm, ever since that really big one a long time ago, there have been these little ones happening everywhere. Some people say that it's normal but others say that it's been getting worse and worse."
"The really big one..."
Ming Yue immediately thought back to the incident with Dai Mian, and how he had attempted to thwart the next Calamity from happening. Though he was stopped in the end, he still caused an immense amount of damage after forcing it to come early.
After all, the continent itself was still dealing with the consequences of it after several years. She might have known about this but she didn't think that there would be subsequent disasters.
Could it be that the energy of the Calamity had pierced deeply into the ground, slowly destroying it like what had happened in the Demon Continent?!
Despite thinking that, Ming Yue shot that idea down.
"That still doesn't explain the crack in the sky."
Lost in thought, it wasn't until one of the kids called to her that she awakened from it.
"Teacher, are you okay?"
She looked at them, breaking into a smile.
"Of course, I was just thinking about what you told me", she told them.
"Is everything going to be okay?"
They all looked at her, waiting for some sort of response. Seeing their faces, Ming Yue took a moment. They were worried, scared, she could see that. And so, she knelt down and smiled.
"Of course, nothing will go wrong since I'm here. Now come on, let's get class started!"
With class underway, the children soon forgot about what they were talking about and focused more on cultivating instead. Ming Yue did a fine job guiding them all, checking their progress, and pointing out a few mistakes here and there. But she didn't seem quite all there, preoccupied with the thought of those earthquakes and that crack in the sky.
"Goodbye, teacher! See you next week!"
They waved at her while being brought away by the three beasts.
Watching them leave, Ming Yue started to clean up, picking up the wooden weapons and whatnot.
"Haah, damn it, what am I doing?"
She stopped in the middle of it.
"I have to investigate it", she thought.
Knowing what she knew now, it didn't feel right for her to just wait around.
"Where's Hongyu?"
She looked around, finding the girl tending to the garden.
"Hongyu, I'm going to be gone for a little bit. Are you okay with watching the house?"
The girl nodded.
"Be safe", she quietly said.
"Mm, I won't be gone for long."
The woman immediately flew off, heading towards Death Wind Mountain. It didn't take her more than an hour to reach it, landing just a short distance from the site.
It looked the same as before and it was quiet, eerily quiet. Of course, no creature would be willing to return after their home had been destroyed like that. But she wasn't interested in that, her eyes were looked onto the crack in the sky.
Nothing seemed to be happening at this point, the crack wasn't absorbing more energy nor was it spitting anything out. It just existed.
Staring at it, Ming Yue floated up, flying towards the crack. It wasn't until she was a hundred meters away that she felt its aura.
"Strange, what is this energy? It's like the Heaven's Energy but... different. It's not hostile compared to a tribulation or the Calamity. If so, where does this crack lead to?"
Moving closer to it, Ming Yue felt drawn to its power. It didn't seem to reject her but warped space began to exert more pressure. It wasn't pushing her back but it seemed like she wasn't strong enough to push forward. There was a point where she just couldn't move further, no matter how hard she tried.
However, she was close enough to get a good look at it.
"Damn, there's a wall of light and I can't see past it. What if I do this?"
She pointed her finger at it, creating a single wind needle and shooting it off. However, this little attack would dissipate before it even came close to the crack.
Ming Yue created another one before lowering her hand.
"No, I shouldn't try to mess with it. I'm far from prepared for what it could do."
She gave up there and descended. But she suddenly stopped, sensing something in the distance. Looking around, she noticed a small dot coming towards her.
"What is that?"
Flying towards it, she didn't realize what it was until she was close enough.
"A floating castle?!"
Indeed, it was as she thought, a giant castle made of stone floating towards her. Rather, it was floating towards the crack.
She watched it pass her, this giant structure that made her small. And she heard multiple voices echoing from the castle.
"You there, child, what are you doing here?"
Staring at the castle, she was stunned but quickly realized that whoever resided in this castle was incredibly strong.
She immediately lowered her head and cupped her fists.
"Seniors, I came to investigate this strange crack. After the earthquake had happened, I noticed its energy being absorbed into it. However, I am not strong enough to find the answers that I want."
Ming Yue looked up at the castle, seeing as it had stopped before the crack. She waited for some sort of response and saw the castle spin towards her, the doors suddenly opened.
"Do you wish to know?" the voices asked.
The woman nodded.
"Yes, this is close to my home after all. I must protect it."
"In that case, please come in. But be warned, with your strength, there is only so much that can be revealed."
Ming Yue obliged to that invitation, landing at the doorsteps and walking in.
