Chapter 266 - 261: Changing Heaven and Earth, a Miraculous Realm Emerges

Beneath the stars, white-capped waves surged to the heavens.

The vast expanse of water stretched into the distance, seemingly slicing the distant mountain peaks clean off at the horizon. This created one massive, winding cliff face after another, from which waterfalls like bolts of white silk cascaded down, a torrential deluge like the river of heaven itself.

Hundreds of colossal, rune-etched pillars connected heaven and earth, soaring into the sky and plunging deep beneath the water.

The mysterious, indecipherable symbols were both primitive and uniform. At times they seemed as solemn and weighty as mountains; at others, they flowed with the unrestrained immensity of the ocean currents, sprawling across the heaven-reaching pillars. They emanated an indescribable, primordial aura that left the onlookers dazzled and breathless, their spirits utterly captivated.

The Cultivators on the shore all craned their necks, their gazes fixed on the scene before them.

For a moment, nearly all of them were struck speechless.

It wasn’t just because of the breathtaking, seemingly supernatural spectacle before them. It was also because... because of what, exactly?

At last, someone in the speechless crowd managed to blurt out, "This... this waterfall, these mountains, this terrain... This place didn’t look like this before! Is this the work of some power that can move mountains and create oceans? Has the whole landscape been reshaped?"

They were right. The vast, magnificent body of water before them had not existed previously.

While Pinglan City was indeed bordered by the Hengshui River, its course lay to the southeast of the city, not to the north.

This new body of water seemed to have materialized from thin air, or perhaps gushed up from deep within the earth.

Enormous waves surged through the mountains north of Pinglan City, turning paths into riverbeds and valleys into cascades. Who could witness such a world-altering spectacle and not be profoundly shaken?

Amidst the shock, someone suddenly cried out, "No, wait—look! What is that?"

All eyes snapped in that direction. The lines of light stretching from Pinglan City were finally converging and coalescing in the center of the waterway, right between the hundreds of heaven-reaching pillars!

And within that coalescing orb of light, countless living beings had appeared at some unknown point.

These beings included humans and beasts, flora and fauna, insects and fish, as well as various low-level Demons and Spirit Monsters.

The humans were dressed as commoners, appearing to be ordinary mortals. They slept peacefully within the massive orb of light, seemingly oblivious to the calamity that had befallen them.

The other creatures—the birds, insects, beasts, Demons, and Spirit Monsters—were all in the same state, slumbering just like the humans.

Though they slept, they were all frozen in the exact state they were in before slumber took them. It was clear this was no natural sleep; some strange power had caused them all to fall into a deep slumber in an instant.

In their slumber, some birds still held insects in their beaks; the bird slept, and so did the worm.

Some predators were frozen mid-bite, jaws clamped on their prey; the predator slept, and so did the prey.

Some Demons were in the middle of tearing a human apart... and likewise, the Demon slept, and so did the human.

Seeing this, Song Ciwan’s brow furrowed.

Looking closer, she saw that the humans in the orb were also frozen in the middle of everyday activities, holding various implements. Some held hoes, others spatulas, and still others held scraps of cloth with a needle and thread. One person was posed as if about to throw a basin of water, while another was in the middle of changing clothes...

The poses were too numerous to describe in full.

As the orb of light began to rise slowly between the hundreds of giant pillars, most of the onlookers could only watch, completely baffled.

Suddenly, a low, gravelly male voice spoke with grim certainty. "These people... their style of dress is of our current dynasty. They... they are the people who lived in the North Suburb!"

The voice sounded familiar to Song Ciwan. It was Jiao Zuo!

Standing beside Jiao Zuo were several others in the uniform of the Lantern Hanging Department’s Demon Extermination Envoys, though Yu Miaomiao was not among them.

Hearing Jiao Zuo’s analysis, Song Ciwan’s heart sank.

’So the sleeping people in the orb really are the residents of the North Suburb?’

Someone chimed in, agreeing with Jiao Zuo. "That’s right. With a Secret Realm appearing and creating a new landscape out of thin air, it’s only natural that all the original life in this area would have to make way for the new waterway."

But someone else asked, confused, "When a Secret Realm appears, shouldn’t it be like Illusory Nether City, manifesting in the Otherworld—on the other side of reality? Why would it create a landscape out of nothing like this, turning mountains into rivers? What Level of Secret Realm is this?"

Jiao Zuo explained, "There are many types of Secret Realms. Some, like Grotto Heavens, exist independently within a spatial fissure; their world does not overlap with our own. Others, however, burst forth from some unknown space to manifest in the mortal realm."

After a moment’s pause, he added, "Have you all noticed? The concentration of Vitality here is starting to skyrocket."

Indeed, Pinglan City was already considered a place with abundant Vitality.

After all, it was a County capital. Compared to a barren place like Su Yang, Pinglan City was practically an ocean of Vitality.

And within all of Pinglan City, the place where Vitality was most concentrated was undoubtedly the Wangjiang Cave Mansion.

The cave mansions on Wangjiang Mountain were an iconic feature of Pinglan City.

Naturally, someone immediately made the comparison. "He’s right!" a man exclaimed in pleasant surprise. "The Vitality concentration has gone up! It’s so rich here, it’s already comparable to a Yellow Level Cave Mansion on Wangjiang Mountain!"

The words had barely left his mouth when someone sat down cross-legged on the shore.

Among the Cultivators who sat down, a burly man let out a hearty laugh. "Well, I’ll be damned!" he said cheerfully. "Usually, I work my ass off just to scrape together a few Primordial Pearls, and it still doesn’t get me much Cultivation time in a cave mansion on Wangjiang Mountain. But now, the Vitality here is already at Yellow Level. Why go looking for some other opportunity? This right here is the opportunity! Haha!"

He had a point. For many low-level Little Cultivators, getting to absorb Yellow Level Vitality for free was an enormous boon.

Why fight for anything else?

Who knew what they’d get out of fighting? If they lost their life in the process, it’s not like anyone would compensate them.

A good number of clear-headed Cultivators immediately sat down to begin their Cultivation. Some announced their intentions, but most did so in silence.

’Why make a fuss? When an opportunity presents itself, you take it quietly.’

’As for everything else... they’d just have to wait and see.’

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, watching and waiting. More and more Cultivators gathered on the shore, and a thousand people had a thousand different reactions.

Jiao Zuo and his group, for instance, looked down on mere Yellow Level Vitality. They remained on the shore, waiting and watching for the Secret Realm’s next change.

It was also worth noting that there were quite a few Demon Beasts present on the shore as well.

But this was, after all, the Pinglan City Suburb, right on the edge of the city where the Human Race held power. In a gathering of so many Human Race Cultivators, any Demon or Demon Beast present made sure to hide itself away.

Even the larger ones that were difficult to conceal stayed tucked away in distant corners, not daring to make direct contact with the Human Race Cultivators.

Demon Beasts have an instinct to fear the strong. Even low-level ones, lacking spiritual intelligence, instinctively knew how to conceal themselves.

As for any Demons at or above the Spirit Communication Stage, none were visible for the moment.

’Perhaps they were hiding farther away, or perhaps they were hidden among the crowd. Who could say?’