Chapter 405 - 4: New World

Space rippled like the surface of water, and a figure materialized out of thin air inside an abandoned building.

"SWISH!"

Zhu Ju had crossed over from another world. With a light, one-handed Seal Technique, his figure instantly became invisible, vanishing on the spot.

This world-crossing was different from the past.

On his previous three trips, entering the Otherworld for the first time was met with a powerful repulsive force. After a short stay, he would be forced back to the Main World and had to wait a certain period before he could cross over again.

Even as time passed and this repulsive force weakened, he still couldn’t stay long in the Otherworld.

One month!

That was the limit he could stay in the Otherworld.

This time was different.

This world showed no rejection of Zhu Ju whatsoever, even on his first entry.

He even had a feeling that as long as he didn’t want to go back, he could stay here forever.

’I wonder if this change is due to the increase in my Cultivation, or if this world itself is just different?’

As he mused, the surrounding environment flooded his senses, and the expression on Zhu Ju’s face changed.

This place...

...was an abandoned high-rise!

Exposed reinforced concrete, shattered unidentifiable appliances, door signs covered in thick dust.

And...

...the Human-Faced Spiders skittering across the ceiling.

Zhu Ju looked up.

A hairy, human-head-sized spider crawled overhead. Where its carapace should have been, there was, shockingly, a human face. As the spider moved, the face would make various expressions.

Several Human-Faced Spiders scuttled back and forth above, letting out faint, strange cries from time to time.

The cries were sinister and terrifying.

This terror wasn’t just a feeling; it was a bizarre power that could affect a person’s consciousness.

If an ordinary person were to get close, they would likely be scared to death, their heart shattering from fear, and die on the spot.

And these Human-Faced Spiders were far from the only things in this high-rise.

’What kind of world is this?’

Zhu Ju slowly closed his eyes, his perception expanding in all directions, carried along by the breeze.

A vast, desolate ruin appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.

Within the ruins were high-rise buildings that had been abandoned for an unknown amount of time, potholed asphalt roads, and piles of car-like objects jamming the streets.

"WHOOSH..."

A gale swept through.

A dilapidated building swayed and then collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust and disturbing many unknown monsters.

"SCREECH!"

A giant, hundred-meter-long centipede shot out from the rubble. Shockingly, its underside was lined with pale, tender human arms.

Thousands of arms propped up its body as it scurried through the ruins. It arched its head downward, and in the blink of an eye, burrowed into the ground and vanished.

Not far away, a grotesque tentacle covered in eyeballs wrapped around a cheetah-like creature and silently retracted into the darkness.

High above, countless pieces of unknown wreckage and debris floated silently.

An aura of desolation, deathly silence, and frenzied madness saturated the space between heaven and earth, lingering endlessly.

He didn’t know what was going on, but his instincts told him this world was far from normal.

Zhu Ju’s expression darkened slightly. He raised a hand and gently tapped his temple.

The movement was small, but it was like flipping a switch. His Perception Power increased exponentially.

His ears twitched faintly. Every sound within a radius of several miles entered his eardrums; even the slithering deep underground was clearly discernible.

Everything in his ’mind’s eye’ now had color, and the Power of the Five Elements swept mightily in all directions.

...

This level of perception far surpassed that of a Golden Core Cultivator.

Zhu Ju’s Physical Body was intertwined with his Soul. It was no longer mere flesh and blood; he had almost transcended the category of ’human’.

This also allowed him to ’see’ more things.

Opening his eyes, Zhu Ju frowned slightly and looked up at the Human-Faced Spider on the ceiling.

He made no visible movement, but the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in the air suddenly gathered. Primordial Energy Particles collided in an extremely complex pattern, and a moment later, an arc of electricity struck the Human-Faced Spider.

"CRACKLE..."

It was like a flicker of an electric spark.

Celestial Thunder Curse!

The destructive Thunder Power, like an indestructible steel needle, pierced the Human-Faced Spider.

"SPLAT!"

The Human-Faced Spider on the ceiling exploded, its human face shattering as green slime splattered everywhere.

The other Human-Faced Spiders stirred at the sound, skittering about and screeching, but they found nothing amiss. Soon, they retreated to their corners and fell back into a slumber.

Several miles away.

Zhu Ju’s figure appeared in mid-air, his fingers pinching a white, rice-sized crystal.

’A Demon Core?’

The crystal came from the Human-Faced Spider. It contained extremely potent energy, somewhat similar to the Demon Core of a Tier Three Demon.

But that Human-Faced Spider was definitely not a Tier Three Demon, and besides, a Demon Core didn’t look like this.

’A strange world, and strange... creatures.’

Muttering to himself, Zhu Ju put away the crystal and cast his gaze down toward a battlefield below.

In the ruins.

A Unihorn Rhinoceros was on a rampage.

The rhino was the size of an elephant, its body covered in hard, fish-like scales. Its single horn flickered with electricity, and with every roar, it could shoot a hundred-meter-long beam of lightning.

Its strength was immense, capable of effortlessly flinging heavy trucks into the air. Its body was indestructible, smashing through rocks as if they were nothing. Yet, under the siege of more than ten people, it was in a sorry state.

"BANG!"

The loud noise came from a man’s hands.

The man held a large handgun. He pulled the trigger, and with a flash of fire, a bullet shot out at an astonishing speed and struck the Unihorn Rhinoceros. The immense piercing force tore through the rhino’s tough scales, creating a sizable wound.

’Firearms? No, not quite.’

The familiar method of attack caused a slight change in Zhu Ju’s expression, but he knew very well this wasn’t Earth.

Although the object in the man’s hand looked like a handgun, its discharge was clearly accompanied by a violent fluctuation of Primordial Energy. It was more like some kind of Magical Artifact.

Or perhaps a combination of both.

"ROAR!"

The Unihorn Rhinoceros roared in pain and fury. It lowered its head and suddenly jabbed its horn into the hard ground.

"Watch out!"

A cry of alarm rang out.

Immediately after, a net of electricity materialized on the field, instantly trapping several people who couldn’t escape in time.

"BANG!"

"BANG..."

Like fireworks, the bodies of those few people exploded, splattering flesh and blood across the scene in an instant.

Zhu Ju did not intervene.

He could see that these people had intentionally provoked the Unihorn Rhinoceros into using this move. The ones who died were all disposable pawns.

As expected.

After killing several people, the Unihorn Rhinoceros’s aura rapidly weakened. The faces of the remaining few lit up with wild joy as they accelerated their attack.

These few were not weak.

Three of them, in particular, could leap several dozen feet in a flash, and their Fist Force was so ferocious it could threaten a Dao Foundation Cultivator.

Combined with the Protective Suits that could withstand attacks of Giant Power and the continuous fire from their guns, they brought the Unihorn Rhinoceros collapsing to the ground in just a few moments.

"Haha..."

One of them laughed loudly:

"With this Thunder Rhinoceros, we should be able to exchange it for a High-Tier Potion and have one of us advance to Martial Artist."

"That’s right." Another person nodded. Just as he was about to step forward and inspect the Thunder Rhinoceros’s corpse, he suddenly spun around, gun raised:

"Who’s there?"

"A passerby." Zhu Ju’s figure appeared from behind a large rock. He walked out slowly with his hands raised:

"I mean no har—"

"BANG!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a bullet had already struck him.

The massive impact made his eyelids twitch. He let out a helpless sigh and slowly lowered his hands.

"Such dense Evil Qi... I should have guessed you weren’t good people. But to shoot without asking any questions? That’s truly foolish."

Shaking his head lightly, Zhu Ju spoke slowly:

"Where are you from?"

His spoken language was actually different from the people here, but sound was merely one form of communication.

His powerful Divine Thought could directly imprint his thoughts into their minds.

"Mutant!"

One of them yelled:

"Get him!"

"BANG!"

"BANG! BANG! BANG..."

Countless bullets cut through the air, their fiery trails converging madly on Zhu Ju’s position.

The supersonic bullets swarmed toward him, but they only made him shake his head lightly.

The extreme reflexes and sensory speed—a hallmark of a Golden Core Cultivator—made time itself seem to warp in his eyes. Zhu Ju even had the leisure to carefully examine each bullet before gently batting it aside.

"SWISH!"

He moved like a flashing afterimage.

All the bullets hit empty air. Zhu Ju now had one hand clamped on a man’s head, wisps of smoke seeping from between his fingers and into the man’s skull.

"I’d better see for myself."

Soul Capturing Technique!