Chapter 213: Challenging the Heavens, The Continent Digs Its Own Graves

The moment Yu Liang’s declaration echoed across the domain, the sound did not just travel through the air.

Subconsciously empowered by the Heavenly Dao Runes, his voice bypassed the physical body and resonated directly within the Sea of Consciousness of every single living being on the entire Cloudwater Continent!

Boom!

The entire continent shook in absolute, unadulterated terror.

It wasn’t just a physical tremor, it was a shockwave. They shock they felt was as if the mountains cracked, the rivers reversed their flow for a split second, and the spiritual energy in the atmosphere violently stagnated.

But this sensation was nothing compared to the mental devastation.

The masses finally realized the horrifying truth. The apocalyptic Heavenly Army, the colossal lightning dragons, the world ending pressure, it wasn’t a natural disaster nor It was a heavenly treasure emerging into the world.

It was descending for a PERSON.

And what was even more terrifying, what completely shattered the Dao hearts of billions of cultivators, was the realization of what that person had just done.

He didn’t beg for mercy nor He did he try to hide himself. But... He... He talked back.

HE CHALLENGED THE HEAVENS!!!!!

Who in the RIGHT MIND does that?!!!

This was the collective, screaming thought of every elder, disciple, and mortal across the Cloudwater Continent.

In the world, the Heaven is absolute. The Heaven is the ultimate law, the supreme will that governed life, death, and reincarnation.

Cultivators were merely ants stealing the spiritual energy of the heavens and earth. To defy the Heavens was the ultimate taboo, the most absolute form of COURTING DEATH!!!

In the Inner City, the Patriarch of the Wang Family, a elder, fainted dead away while foaming at the mouth.

On the peaks of the Cloudwater Sect, the Vice Sect Master’s jaw was hanging so low it nearly touched his chest.

His hands were trembling so violently he couldn’t even hold his flying sword which he prepared to use as formation stabilizer.

"H-h-he... he cursed the Heavens... He actually challenged the Heavenly Army..." the Vice Sect Master mumbled, his eyes rolled back but held on firmly so he can’t loose his consciousness.

Even the newly appointed managers of the Heaven’s Table, who were supposed to be the most loyal and brave subordinates, were currently hugging their family members and crying loudly as their body became completely numb.

But the most absurd and surreal reactions were happening among the low level cultivators and rogue cultivators on the outskirts of the many cities and in the surrounding mortal towns.

In a dusty town square a few miles away from the Jade City, a ragged rogue cultivator was frantically digging a hole in the ground with his bare, bleeding hands.

He was digging with a speed and desperation that made his fingers crack.

Another rogue cultivator, holding a rusty broadsword, walked past him. Seeing this bizarre sight, he couldn’t help but stop and ask in trembling voice, "Brother... what are you doing? The tribulation is in the sky, the situation is tense, instead of finding a safe place why are you digging the ground?"

The digging cultivator suddenly stopped. He snapped his head up and his eyes were totally bloodshotz wide with a mix of madness and little trace of clarity.

"Are you stupid?!" he said angrily as his voice cracked. He pointed a dirty, trembling finger at the pitch black sky. "Can’t you see with those dog eyes of yours?! Look at that massive army! Look at those lightning dragons that are bigger than mountains! And that guy... that lunatic is challenging the Heavens!"

The digging cultivator let out a hysterical, broken laugh. "Do you think we will be alive when that army drops?! If the Heavens decide to wipe out the entire continent just to kill him, we’re all dead! We are ants! ANTS!!! So, It’s better to dig my own grave now and die with some dignity!"

The second rogue cultivator stared at him.

Then, he slowly turned his head and looked up at the sky.

He saw the pitch black clouds that devoured the sun. He saw the colossal, faceless Heavenly Generals holding weapons that radiated the aura of annihilation. He felt the world ending pressure pressing down on his shoulders, making his very soul want to flee his body.

Clang!

The rusty broadsword slipped from his trembling hands and hit the ground.

The second cultivator didn’t say a word in response. He just dropped to his knees, pulled out a small iron bar from his spatial bag, and started digging a hole right next to the first guy.

A third cultivator walking by saw them then he too asked the same question like the second giu asled and got the same response in return.

He looked at the sky then looked at the two men digging, and nodded solemnly. "Makes sense." He too pulled out his flying sword and started digging too.

Then a fourth one came. Then a fifth. Then Sixth

One by one, as if under a massive, continent wide mind control spell, the entire crowd of rogue cultivators also know as loose cultivators, and even some low to mid tier family disciples out on the mission dropped to the ground.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Hundreds of people were now on their knees, frantically digging their own graves. The sound of swords, shovels, and bare hands hitting the ground echoed in a bizarre, rhythmic way.

"Make it deep enough so the wind doesn’t blow the dirt in," one cultivator muttered to his neighbor as they dug side by side.

"I’m making mine extra wide, just in case my wife needs to lie down next to me," another sobbed while digging with bloody fingers.

"Dig faster fellow daoist! But let me say you I’m using the coffin made out of the finest spiritual wood! If that bastard really manages to kill the entire Army of Heaven, I’ll personally crawl out my grave out of shame!" one of the noble family cultivator shouted while frantically digging.

"Shut up and dig! If the heavens win, we’re dead anyway! If that monster wins, then too we’ll be dead because of the destruction, but we’ll probably die for digging too slowly!" another cultivator wailed as tears started streaming down his face.

A third cultivator suddenly stopped digging and looked toward the distant battlefield with a trembling expression. "Wait... Shouldn’t we be digging a grave for other people too? After all, that lunatic is fighting heavens alone!"

The entire group fell silent.

Then, without exchanging another word, they began digging even faster.

This surreal, absurd, yet completely logical in their terrified minds scene was playing out all over the continent.

From the high level elders who were frantically activating their deepest, most heavily sealed ancestral caves to hide like turtles, to the low level rogue cultivators literally digging holes in the dirt to prepare for the end.

The entire Cloudwater Continent was in a state of absolute panic. The Dao hearts of millions cultivators were shattered into irreparable pieces.

All of this, simply because of one man in a private courtyard decided that the wrath of the Heavens wasn’t good enough for him.