Chapter 717 - 387: Outside the City (Part 2)

Faced with the stares of so many Mutants, Yang An merely sneered before suddenly vanishing from their sight.

In an instant, he was back in Broken Armor.

Yang An couldn’t be bothered with the chaos on the 6th Floor. True or false, what could he do about it anyway? It would only slow his progress.

Now that he had the information he needed, his next step was naturally to cross the area outside the city and head deeper into Broken Armor.

Upon returning to Broken Armor, his vision was filled with darkness. A quick scan of his surroundings revealed that he was beneath a pile of ruins.

The ruins looked familiar; the rusted remains of iron cages were scattered everywhere.

Without a doubt, this was the prison on the 6th Floor where he had been before.

This finally confirmed that the 6th Floor and Broken Armor were directly connected. Perhaps it was a temporal difference—the 6th Floor was Broken Armor’s past, and Broken Armor was the 6th Floor’s future.

The first five floors of the Xian Origin Land were all about the Origin Realm’s past, but the 6th Floor was about Broken Armor’s past. This was something Yang An couldn’t quite figure out.

Unless Broken Armor had completely merged with the Origin Realm, making its past part of the Origin Realm’s past, there was no other explanation.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on it. Time was short, and he had to get to the depths of Broken Armor as quickly as possible.

Countless White Feathers swirled together, forming a drill-like construct that bored frantically toward the surface.

Before long, Yang An emerged from the subterranean ruins. As expected, he was no longer within the disaster’s range but had arrived in a different location.

Without stopping, Yang An then rushed back in the direction of the disaster. He used another Primordial Stone to block the Beng Birds’ perception and threw away all the remaining Primordial Stones on his person.

To him, these stones were only useful for blocking the Beng Birds’ senses, but on the 6th Floor, they were a hot potato.

The journey was smooth; he didn’t encounter a single monster. Yang An quickly re-entered the disaster’s range and immediately crossed back into the 6th Floor.

The scene before him shifted rapidly, as if burning away. Daylight now filled the world of the 6th Floor. A cacophony of loud noises echoed from the distance, sounding like many people were fighting.

The sound came from behind him, from within the city.

The arrival of Qiong Pass had strengthened the power within the Mutants during its presence. They were now battling the Cultivators in the city, and countless ordinary people were caught in the crossfire.

Since this was Broken Armor’s past, what had already happened couldn’t be changed, and Yang An had no intention of interfering.

Now, in the daylight, he could finally see his surroundings clearly.

This was a wilderness overgrown with dense vegetation. The highway extending from the city ended here, and everything else had been destroyed.

As far as the eye could see, there were skeletons and rotting corpses of all kinds—human, animal, and other unidentifiable, bizarre shapes.

Just this close to the city, there were already so many bodies. It was clear that the area outside the city was truly dangerous.

Grasping the Red Feather Blade, with countless White Feathers poised to strike behind him, Yang An stepped into the perilous zone without hesitation.

He walked without stopping for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Soon, Yang An spotted a Mutant in the wilderness—or rather, it could no longer be called a Mutant, because the creature he saw was not human at all.

A dozen or so grotesque monsters spotted Yang An at the same time and, without a moment’s hesitation, charged at him.

’I clearly threw all the Primordial Stones away back in Broken Armor, yet these things still charged at me instantly.’

’Either there’s still something on me that’s attracting them, or they’re just so aggressive they want to kill anything they see.’

But his confusion didn’t hinder his actions in the slightest.

His body became an afterimage. He tightened his grip on the Red Feather Blade and weaved between the monsters with incredible physical speed. The White Feathers behind him trailed like a white jet flame, which then burst outward after he passed the dozen or so creatures.

The monsters charging at Yang An didn’t even have time to react. By the time he was gone, their bodies were riddled with holes, blood pouring out like fountains.

One thing was consistent: a thin, bloody line appeared on each of the monsters. The other wounds weren’t fatal, but a power within this one line began to corrode their bodies.

As the monsters fell one by one, it wasn’t long before all that remained on the ground was a large pool of pus, gathering into a small stream.

Yang An didn’t look back to see their fate. The moment his blade touched their bodies, their end was sealed.

But soon, Yang An ran into trouble.

This time, it wasn’t a group of Mutants, but just one.

It looked mostly human, only it had an extra head and two extra arms, and its entire body was covered in festering sores.

But the appearance of this creature made Yang An sense an aura of danger.

It just stood there silently, like a motionless wooden puppet.

The moment he saw it, Yang An decided to bypass it without hesitation.

For Yang An, the best course of action was to cross this area as quickly as possible, avoiding a fight if he could.

Yang An turned into an afterimage and quickly went around it. The creature paid him no mind, showing no reaction at all, which made Yang An breathe a sigh of relief.

As he ventured deeper into the wilderness outside the city, Yang An soon felt an unusual power.

A faint mist drifted in the air. This mist was like extremely fine dust, and when it landed on Yang An’s hand, it instantly turned black.

"This is..."

Beneath his mask, Yang An’s pupils constricted slightly.

"Turbid Qi?!"

In the Origin Realm, a Cultivator’s body contains two types of power: one is Spirit, the other is Turbid.

As a Cultivator, the moment he saw the mist turn into Turbid Qi, Yang An recognized it with absolute certainty.

He was certain there was no Spiritual Qi in this world—at least, he hadn’t seen any yet. But now, he had found Turbid Qi.

He had originally thought the 6th Floor was only connected to Broken Armor, but now, to his surprise, the Turbid Qi from the Origin Realm had also appeared here.

’Could it be that this world is the true, ancient Origin Realm? A time even more distant than the era of the Five Great Celestial Sects?’

The thought was terrifying, but he couldn’t confirm it based on mere scraps of evidence, which was what frustrated him.

’That old guy, Life Crane, was able to open the 6th Floor for me. He must know something!’

’He’s stopping others from entering the Central Continent. Perhaps if I can just get into the Central Continent, I’ll learn the truth behind many things.’

The Turbid Qi easily entered Yang An’s body. It was something he couldn’t control, but it had no effect on him.

As he was lost in thought, Yang An stopped and frowned at what lay ahead.

A few dozen meters in front of him stood a Mutant. The reason Yang An had stopped was that this was the very same two-headed Mutant he had seen earlier.

’When did this thing catch up to me?’

’With the presence of Turbid Qi, the combat strength of this world’s Cultivators and Mutants will have to be re-evaluated.’

Seeing the Mutant appear before him again, Yang An knew he was being targeted.

The surrounding mist was growing thicker, but the Mutant before him remained silent and motionless.

Yang An was silent as well, his eyes locked on its every move as he subtly shifted his feet.

The next moment, countless White Feathers shot toward the Mutant like a barrage of bullets. With lightning speed, they struck its body one after another.

To Yang An’s surprise, although the creature had given him a sense of danger, its body was like paper. It was instantly pierced by the White Feathers and torn to shreds.

From start to finish, the Mutant made no move, not even to resist.

It had died too easily, putting Yang An on high alert. He had his White Feathers swarm around him, guarding against any potential attack.

A second later, just as Yang An expected, figures appeared one after another from all directions, surrounding him completely.

These figures seemed to materialize out of nowhere. They all looked identical—they were the very same Mutant Yang An had just killed.