Chapter 62—Trapped
Chapter 62: Chapter 62—Trapped
Chapter 62—Trapped
An incredible pressure swept over Lei Cheng’s body. He scowled as shockwaves rippled outward, engulfing the entire courtyard and spreading beyond it.
After a moment, he frowned, glancing down at his own clenched palms.
’My power—it’s decreased.’
He was still at Level One, Limit Break, the true peak. He threw a punch into the empty air, nothing happened. No sound, no force—as if a weak mortal had thrown it. As though his strength of cultivation had vanished instantly.
"My power..." He muttered under his breath. "A Bizarre Domain. It’s this strong."
He had finally felt the true suppression of a Bizarre Domain firsthand. Before, when he’d entered Xiao Ming’s domain, he’d been a pure mortal apart from his intent—he’d carried no cultivation to lose, so he’d never noticed the suppression at work.
Still staring at his palm, he injected Bizarre Blood Qi into it. His porcelain skin shifted to crimson, thin gray veins surfacing beneath.
’Good—my cultivation is still intact. Only the raw power output has dropped.’
He patted his chest in relief. He picked up a sharp three-foot sword from the garden outside and lightly struck his own crimson-tinted skin on the back of his palm. A small cut opened, and blood leaked out.
He clicked his tongue. ’Even with cultivation intact, actual power depends entirely on the domain’s suppression. Even my defense has fallen back to mortal levels.’
"Level One weapons should have been ineffective against me." He muttered as his palm healed with a flash of green light. "But now even mortal weapons can kill me."
He then noticed everything. The sacks were gone. Every single child had vanished.
He bolted for the door.
’Damn it. Shadow has taken them...’ He scowled. ’I only have seven hours to find them.’
Every passing minute now carried the weight of dozens of innocent lives.
He tried to sprint out of the courtyard and confirmed it—even his speed matched exactly what he’d had before ever cultivating.
Outside, the street carried on as if nothing had happened. A few passersby glanced toward the alley and walked on. Only strong individuals or constables seemed to be entering at all.
’Shadow Bizarre took them all.’
He frowned. Not a single child was anywhere in sight.
He then picked up one of the brown sacks from the garden and pressed his ear to it, and put two fingers inside. He snapped them.
Silence!
He snapped again. Nothing.
’A Bizarre artifact,’ he realized, tossing it aside. ’No wonder kids can be kidnapped silently.’
With this discovery, future investigations might have a clue.
He raised his palm—it lit with white-gold flame.
’My intent works as Yue mentioned.’
He dashed out, glancing up at the sun, which seemed to darken a little more with each passing day. Now it had turned almost black.
’I need to find the children within seven hours. But is that really the full Bizarre Rule?’
He rubbed his chin. ’The Shadow kidnaps a child, waits seven hours, then eats them. It claimed the delay was about savoring fear—but that was to hide, without anyone getting hold of its true form.’
He ran a hand through his hair. ’Even so, it admitted this too readily. There must be something it’s still hiding.’
A creature intelligent enough wouldn’t reveal all of its secrets in a single conversation.
He closed his eyes, recalling that he’d sensed nothing from the creature besides Bizarre Qi and Bizarre Intent—no Shadow Intent, despite its apparent nature.
’Yes—it can hide.’ He clapped his hands together. ’That must be its trump card and actual strength.’
He dashed off without hesitation, returning to the slums to find Constable Zhu.
Zhu grabbed his own arms nervously. "What happened? What was that black energy beam?"
"A domain," Lei Cheng explained, sweeping a hand in a circle to illustrate its spread.
"A Bizarre domain?!" Zhu Lin’s face went pale, sweat breaking out immediately. "Let’s run! Let’s run!" He grabbed Lei Cheng’s arm, pointing randomly. "Which way gets us out fastest?"
Lei Cheng glanced around—the slum residents were carrying on with their business, utterly unbothered.
"Wait—didn’t you notice any energy spreading?"
"No," Constable Zhu said, shaking his head. "Besides the light beam shooting into the sky, we didn’t spot anything else."
Lei Cheng frowned. "Wait. How much of your own power do you still have?"
Zhu blinked, then threw a punch into the air—a loud whoosh echoed. "Normal. I have my full strength."
Lei Cheng’s eyes widened. "The suppression only affects actual cultivators."
"Are you saying I’m not a cultivator?" the fat constable retorted, offended.
Lei Cheng waved it off. "Forget that for now. It seems only I can perceive the domain’s formation at all." He looked around—nobody else, not even the children nearby, showed any sign of noticing anything unusual.
The atmosphere and every detail were the same as before. ’Xiao Ming was easy to identify as it changed to forest...’ He glanced at all sides and recalled everything on the way. ’Not even a rock seemed to change.’
The perfection of the illusion made it far more frightening to identify it as a domain.
"Let’s call for backup," he said. "The more people searching, the better our chances of finding them."
The two dashed out of the slums.
As they left, the slum residents eyed him warily, clearly wondering if he’d go back on his earlier promise.
"There’s trouble right now," Lei Cheng told them. "We’ll return. In the meantime, list everyone who needs to be taken in by the Lei Clan." The crowd relaxed at that and nodded.
They almost reached the massive gates of the inner city shortly after—heavily guarded, more than ten armored city guards standing watch, several radiating open hostility and bloodlust.
Just a few meters from the gate, thud! Lei Cheng suddenly winced, rubbing his forehead as Zhu Lin took a few steps backward and rubbed his nose, which was bleeding a bit.
"What was that?" Lei Cheng muttered, punching forward—his fist met something solid, like metal. Bang!He ran his hand along it.
"An invisible wall..." he murmured, "And it’s unbelievably tough."
He lit his hand with white-gold flame and struck again. Boom! Nothing. Not even a crack.
He kept hammering at it with both flaming fists, again and again.
Thud! Bang! Boom!
After several minutes, he pulled back, panting, heart pounding from sheer exhaustion. Brute force had completely failed him.
Until this moment, every obstacle had at least shown some reaction to his white-gold flames. This wall hadn’t even acknowledged the attack, making it feel utterly insurmountable.
’Even my stamina is being suppressed.’
He glared at the entrance just meters away. ’This invisible wall must be from the same source that grants immortality to Bizarre Creatures.’
"What’s wrong?" the fat constable asked, his eyes wide.
’This Shadow creature doesn’t want us leaving.’ Lei Cheng shook his head. "I can’t break it."
Constable Zhu trembled, his knees nearly buckling on instinct.
Ignoring his own fear, the fat constable shouted toward the city guards. "Help! Help us!" He waved his arms wildly.
Lei Cheng sighed. "They can’t see us."
He’d already noticed the guards standing like statues, utterly unresponsive despite his relentless pounding on the wall. He was right—from the guards’ perspective, the street looked completely ordinary. No one had approached the street, let alone requested entry. That wasn’t unusual; only those with status were typically allowed into the inner city anyway.
To the outside world, Azure Cloud City continued exactly as it always had.
Zhu collapsed to his knees, slamming his palms against the ground. ""We’re dead... We’re dead..." His voice was hoarse.
Lei Cheng patted his shoulder. "If a constable feels this hopeless, imagine how ordinary people must feel."
Zhu froze at that.
Then—caw! caw!—a crow’s cry echoed overhead.
Lei Cheng looked up. A small bundle, tied within a bag, was falling from the sky. His eyes narrowed. Whatever had been dropped, it wasn’t a coincidence.