Chapter 114 - 113: The two world.

Chapter 114: Chapter 113: The two world.

As the discussion was taking place, far away, beyond the borders of the Great Yan Kingdom, a woman flew across the desolate plain beneath a dull, lifeless sky.

She appeared to be in her early twenties, with long, silvery hair that flowed behind her as she travelled through the air.

Her skin was pale and smooth with a pair of narrow, crimson eyes as she surveyed the land with indifference.

She wore a fitted, dark red robe with black embroidery running along its sleeves and hem, the fabric fluttering gently in the wind.

Had she walked among ordinary humans, few would have suspected that she was anything other than a beautiful young woman.

Yet beneath that human exterior was a demon.

More precisely, she was a Foundation Establishment demon.

She had been travelling for several hours, though the scenery below had changed very little.

The ground remained desolate, broken only by scattered rocks and patches of dark soil, while occasional clusters of crude stone buildings appeared across the wasteland.

As she passed over one of them, she lowered her gaze.

At first glance, the settlement resembled a collection of poorly constructed stone houses, their walls assembled from uneven slabs and their structures arranged without any order.

However, the woman paid little attention to the buildings themselves.

Her gaze lingered instead on the creatures crawling between them, their misshapen bodies dragging across the ground as they squeezed through narrow passages or clung to the rough stonework.

Her eyes glistened at the sight of this.

Without slowing down, she continued toward the centre of the settlement, where a massive opening had been carved into the earth.

Its rim was reinforced with rough stone, and the darkness within was suffocating.

A faint current of air rose from the hole, carrying a mixture of dampness and a foul organic stench. The woman glanced at it briefly before turning her attention forward.

There were many such places scattered across the plain.

They resembled crude villages, fortressess, and even abandoned castles left by some older civilisation.

But clearly enough, these settlements weren’t mean for habitation.

Rather...

They were entrances.

The woman tilted her body slightly, descending toward the opening before slipping into the darkness without hesitation.

The dim light above gradually faded behind her as she travelled deeper into the earth, leaving only the sound of wind rushing past the stone walls.

The passage extended downward for an immeasurable distance, its walls occasionally narrowing before widening again, with rough stone giving way to patches of dark, fleshy material that clung to the surrounding surfaces.

Then, somewhere far below, a faint sound reached her ears.

A low groan.

The woman continued her descent without reacting in the slightest.

Another groan followed, deeper, soon joined by distant shrieks that rose from the depths.

As she travelled farther down, the sounds grew increasingly distinct, merging into a ceaseless chorus of wailing, snarling, and wet, churning noises.

The walls trembled faintly with each passing moment of her descent, while the darkness swallowed the passage.

She frowned slightly and raised a hand, forming a thin barrier of blood around her ears. Only then did she continue downward, her expression returning to its previous indifference as the cries grew louder.

Eventually, the narrow passage opened.

An enormous world spread out beneath the surface.

The woman emerged from the opening and slowed her flight, allowing herself a moment to look across the landscape.

Mountains rose one after another, stretching toward a distant horizon that seemed to have no end.

Yet these were no normal mountains that one might find in the normal world. Their slopes were made of living flesh, piled upon one another in pulsating layers.

Countless demons crawled across their surfaces, their bodies writhing and twisting as they climbed over their own kind.

Some possessed multiple limbs, while others dragged swollen limbs along the slopes, leaving glistening trails behind them.

From a distance, the mountains seemed to move, their outlines shifting beneath the restless tide of creatures.

The noise was unbearable, horrid, disgusting even.

A constant chorus of shrieks, guttural cries, wet scraping, and the ceaseless churning of countless bodies filled the cavernous expanse.

The sounds overlapped without pause, echoing between the fleshy peaks until it became impossible to distinguish one creature from another.

The woman had no reason to linger, so she resumed her journey, flying over the grotesque landscape while keeping a considerable distance from the nearest mountains.

Some of them were covered by enormous, translucent membranes stretched tightly over their uneven surfaces.

Their yellowish skins glistened beneath the dim light of the cavern world’s ceiling, coated in thick mucus that slowly trickled down their slopes.

One of the membranes twitched violently as the woman passed nearby.

The demons crawling across its surface scattered in every direction, tumbling down the slopes in their haste to escape.

The woman glanced at the disturbance but did not stop.

She continued across the landscape, passing one mountain after another until the terrain ahead began to change.

The ground gradually descended into a vast depression, much deeper than the surrounding level of flesh land.

As she approached, the slopes grew steeper and the demons scattered across them became increasingly sparse.

Even the noise seemed to change. The countless shrieks were replaced by the heavy sound of wind rushing through an enormous hollow.

The woman slowed.

Before her lay another opening, its immense mouth stretching across the landscape like a basin carved into the earth.

The woman hovered near the rim for a moment. Then, without any apparent hesitation, she turned downward and flew into the opening.

And this was not the only one.

Across the subterranean expanse, other openings appeared in the distance, followed by yet more beyond them. The same scenery repeated as far as the eye could see.

She continued downward, passing the demons that clung to the walls without paying them much attention.

At first, their numbers were so great that the fleshy surfaces appeared to move beneath the weight of their bodies.

However, the further she descended, the fewer creatures she encountered.

The thick layers of flesh gradually gave way to rough, darkened stone.

The walls stretched downward for an immeasurable distance, occasionally interrupted by enormous cavities that opened into the surrounding darkness.

Some were empty, while others contained clusters of creatures that retreated into their crevices as the woman passed.

She paid them no mind. Then, far below, a layer of clouds came into view.

She slowed slightly as she approached them.

The clouds stretched across the enormous hollow beneath the surface. Wisps of pale mist drifted along the walls, gathering around the opening before slowly dispersing into the darkness.

She looked down at the clouds for a moment before continuing through them.

The mist enveloped her figure, briefly obscuring her silver hair and dark red robe.

A few moments later, she emerged from the other side, and the world hidden beneath the clouds gradually revealed itself.

A vast expanse of green appeared below.

Forests stretched across rolling hills, their canopies forming broad patches of emerald beneath a sky illuminated by a soft, unfamiliar light.

Rivers wound through the land, feeding into lakes whose clear surfaces reflected the clouds drifting overhead.

Mountains rose in the distance, covered in vegetation rather than flesh, while fields of crops surrounded clusters of buildings connected by winding roads.

It was a world entirely different from the one above.

The woman continued flying, her gaze sweeping across the landscape as she passed over forests and rivers.

Villages were scattered throughout the countryside, their houses built from wood and stone.

Further away, towns had developed around broad streets and bustling marketplaces, with larger settlements rising near rivers and the shores of expansive lakes.

Smoke drifted lazily from chimneys, and tiny figures moved between the buildings.

They were humans.

Men and women walked along the streets, merchants arranged their goods in market stalls, and farmers worked in the fields beyond their villages.

Children ran along narrow paths, their laughter carried away by the breeze.

Along the riverbanks, fishermen tended to their boats, while travellers made their way between settlements with carts filled with supplies.

Life continued as though nothing was amiss.

The woman passed over a small village, where several people had gathered near a well.

An elderly man sat outside a wooden house, mending a broken farming tool.

None of them looked toward the sky, and none appeared to notice the lone figure passing silently above their homes.

She continued toward a larger town built beside a lake.

Boats moved across the water, and several figures could be seen working along the docks.

Farther away, a much larger city stood near the base of a mountain range, its walls enclosing tightly packed buildings and its streets filled with people.

There were no indication that the inhabitants understood what lay beyond the clouds above them.

They lived as though their world were complete.

The woman lowered her gaze toward the city in the distance and continued flying.