The Calamity Has Arrived

In the grand hall, Wei Yuan set down the history book in his hands, stood up, and headed toward the bookshelf near the entrance, seemingly intending to swap it for another book to read. When he arrived by the entrance, as expected, he saw that young girl once again. From Wei Yuan's present angle, he could see most of the gallery. The girl emerged from the side veranda as usual. By past routine, she ought to turn left and walk away from the hall. But this time she did not; the girl turned right and walked directly toward the hall. Wei Yuan seemed slightly hesitant, but his footsteps did not falter. Just like before, he arrived at the bookshelf, placed the history book back, browsed for a moment, and picked up an exceptionally thick volume. Wei Yuan suddenly sensed that something was off with the atmosphere. He abruptly turned his head—spinning it a full 180 degrees—to look behind him. The girl had neither walked away nor lingered at the entrance to watch; instead, she had entered the grand hall and was striding briskly toward him! Wei Yuan spun his body around in an instant, holding the thick history book before his chest, just in time to block the dagger she thrust forward! With a dull thud, the dagger pierced through more than half the book, stopping just short of going all the way through. Both looked down at the same time. The girl looked at her dagger, while Wei Yuan looked at his history book, each reassessing the other. Without a word, the girl swept a hand across the dagger, and a luster interwoven of dark gray and bright white suddenly surged across the edge. Wei Yuan was greatly shocked, speaking for the first time: "What are you doing?" "So, you can talk." The girl's voice carried a peculiar stiffness, as though she had not spoken in a very long time. Once she discovered that this Wei Yuan before her could actually speak, her aura surged violently. The dagger in her hand turned into a longsword, its blade fading into an ethereal, indistinct form. Wei Yuan paled with fright and cried out, "What are you doing?! Are you trying to rebel?!" "Finally... found you." The girl slashed downward with her sword, but Wei Yuan dissolved and shifted like a bubble. The scene before her eyes warped, and suddenly she was standing at the entrance of the grand hall again, expelled from the hall by some unknown means. The girl charged into the hall once more, only to perceive countless bookshelves shifting rapidly before her. The path ahead shifted ceaselessly, transforming into an immense labyrinth. The moment she took a step and dashed into a newly materialized passage, her vision blurred, and she found herself back at the entrance once again. Frowning slightly, the girl looked up at the grand hall. She suddenly swung her sword, unleashing a thousand-zhang beam of sword light directly at the hall! The hall also dissolved like fireworks, revealing its true form. At this moment, the grand hall was entirely covered in writhing black vines, dotted with blossoming faint-blue flowers. Only a few patches of the hall were barely exposed, uncovered by the vines. Viewed from afar, the hall now resembled the lair of some monstrous beast—bizarre and horrifying. The girl struck the black vines with another sword slash. Under the grayish-white light, countless vines turned to ash, yet in the blink of an eye they grew back frantically, restored to their original state. She slashed out several times in succession, but the vines perished and regenerated with no sign of vanishing. When the vines briefly dispersed, the hall underneath was revealed to be riddled with gaping holes, continually spewing roiling clouds of black mist. From the black mist, countless more vines sprouted, and in an instant the hall was restored once more. From within the hall came Wei Yuan's voice: "This hall has already been refined. Whatever you do now is useless. If you are willing to let me out, perhaps I might consider sparing your life." A cold sneer appeared on the girl's face. In a flash, she charged into the nest-like hall once more. In the next moment, having taken a wrong turn, she was teleported back outside. Yet with another flash of movement, she dashed back in. Repeating this over and over, in just the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, the girl had charged into the hall several hundred times, mapping out a small area by the entrance in a single breath and drawing close to the first row of bookshelves. Inside the hall, Wei Yuan was considerably shaken. His expression turned grave. The shifting speed of the corridors inside the hall accelerated instantly; every few dozen times the girl rushed in, the hall's layout would alter completely. Only thus was he barely able to keep her barred outside the first row of bookshelves, locking them in a stalemate. Though Wei Yuan did not know how the girl could harm him, recalling the moment her dagger had nearly pierced through the history book gave him chills. He instinctively sensed that he must never let her touch him. Moreover, he had to find a way to eliminate her; otherwise, with her barricading the entrance, he could accomplish nothing. "It seems I must resort to some methods native to this place." This Wei Yuan began inspecting the bookshelves one by one. A moment later, he returned to where he started, his face exceedingly grim. In such an enormous hall, spanning nine full rows of bookshelves front to back, every single volume on them was actually a book of history! What use were history books at a time like this? Could he just find some random object, engrave the eight characters "Ordained by Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity" onto it, hand it to the girl, and expect her to revere him as her lord? Even thinking with one's ass, anyone would know that was impossible... could it be? Wei Yuan suddenly had a peculiar feeling—as if thinking with his ass would truly yield a different result? But why would he have such a bizarre thought? Was an ass even meant to be used like that? Wei Yuan only felt his mind growing muddled. Ordinarily, once that gaze from beyond the heavens vanished, it should have been his turn to rule this world. But what was with the girl outside? Was she a guard specifically left behind by that terrifying gaze? What should he do now? This Wei Yuan was somewhat at a loss. He knew nothing of the world outside the hall, nor did he know anything of the techniques he could learn and employ. The history books filling the room were all written with the strict brevity of Spring and Autumn annals, the authors refusing to spare even a single extra word. For instance, "raising poles to revolt"—what was a pole, how was it made, and why did they have to raise it? None of that was clearly explained. Or take "A great army set out on campaign, returned after three years, taking eight thousand heads." What did they use to take those heads? What equipment did the army use, and how was that equipment manufactured? How many men made an army "great," and where did those people come from...? None of it was stated. Pondering this, a thought struck Wei Yuan: Could the historians of the past have been so impoverished, with such limited paper and brushes, that they treated words like gold? Refusing to give up, he walked toward a bookshelf, intending to comb through it again to see if he could glean anything else. But the moment he took a step, his foot kicked against something, and he nearly stumbled. In his eyes, the grand hall had long since been replaced by black vines, yet he had carefully reined them in, allowing them to creep only to the very base of the bookshelves without climbing higher, so as to protect the books. After all, he had yet to read the vast majority of the volumes in this hall. At that moment, on the floor, a cluster of black vines was wrapped around a square object, pushing it up from the ground. It was this very object that Wei Yuan had just kicked, nearly tripping him. The object was roughly one square foot, cubical in shape, with a jade toad carved upon its top, its entire body seemingly made of jade. For reasons unknown, Wei Yuan instinctively sensed there was something on the underside, so he turned it over and saw eight large characters carved into the bottom: "Ordained by Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity." Wei Yuan felt somewhat bewildered, but at that moment the grand hall began to shudder violently once more. The girl was launching another assault on the labyrinth, and Wei Yuan had no choice but to focus all his attention on dealing with her, unable for the moment to continue refining the hall. *** In the Battle Saint Hall, Han Li slowly opened his eyes. With a thought, the door opened on its own, just as Jun Weizhi walked up to the threshold. "Judging by the hour, it was about time you arrived." Jun Weizhi gave a soft sigh and said, "The appointed hour has not yet arrived, but the calamity has come first. What do you intend to do?" Han Li said indifferently, "The heart is willing, but the power is lacking, so I don't think about it." "Still..." Suddenly, the entire world trembled, and a massive crack split across the room's ceiling, sending dirt, sand, and rubble raining down. Watching the dust fall from the crack, Jun Weizhi remarked, "Your room has become realistic to such an extent?" Han Li said, "I have nothing else to do, so when idle I build houses. Where I live right now was all built by my own hands." "I see. A fine approach. But now that the calamity has arrived, do you want to go out and take a look?" "Might as well." Han Li and Jun Weizhi stepped out of the room. Both lived on the top floor, and not far outside was the rooftop terrace. Arriving at the terrace, the two raised their heads to look at the sky. In the firmament, besides the full moon that had hung there perpetually and the bloody sky that was half black and half red, two new stars had appeared—one large, one small. The large star was an earthy yellow, about a tenth the size of the full moon. The small star, however, was a deep dark violet, its edges blurring into the surrounding darkness. The yellow star was moving swiftly, needing only four hours to cross the celestial vault. The small star, however, was completely motionless, hanging solitary in the sky. Originally, both the large and small stars moved, but from the moment heaven and earth were sealed, the small star suddenly stopped in place. Then the entire sky was dyed the color of blood, the distant horizon turning a red so deep it bordered on black. From that time on, many mortals in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World regarded this small star as an ill omen—a calamity star. The shifts in heaven and earth might go unnoticed by mortals, but how could people like Han Li and Jun Weizhi fail to perceive them? Yet over a dozen days had passed with both of them watching in silence, until the calamity finally descended, prompting Jun Weizhi to seek Han Li out. Han Li naturally glanced toward a certain direction in the sky, and sure enough, he spotted a black speck there. With mortal vision, it was impossible to detect. Yet when Han Li channeled his Dao power, an ordinary Thousand-Li Eyes Dao technique transformed in his hands into a supreme spell that could magnify the heavens a thousandfold or zoom in on the minuscule a thousandfold. Through his Dao-enhanced sight, he could see that the black mass possessed a heavy, greasy texture, like a puddle of black oil firmly clinging to the vault of heaven, slowly writhing as it expanded. It was like an insect formed of black oil, gnawing away at this world bit by bit. Jun Weizhi watched as well, saying nothing. Just then, Fuyao's voice sounded behind them: "You've noticed it too?" The two looked back to see Fuyao and Long Wushuang walking onto the terrace together. When they saw Long Wushuang, neither showed the slightest change in expression, looking at him as if they did not recognize him at all. Fuyao said, "That is a Heavenly Dao from who-knows-where, preparing to assimilate our world. To put it bluntly, the Creation Immortal Venerable hasn't worked very hard. His cultivation and standing are both far too low, and the disparity between the two sides is simply too vast—there is no resisting it. I now have a way to break free, and I can take two more people out with me. Will you come with me?" The two exchanged a glance. Jun Weizhi asked, "Why me?" Han Li said, "Why should I trust you?"