CHAPTER 507: THE SHIFTING REALM

When Han Yu finally woke, the first thing he noticed was the silence.

It was not peaceful silence, but a heavy, unnatural one. His body felt weak, as if he had just carried a boulder up a mountain. Every limb ached faintly, though strangely, there was no sharp pain. The ground beneath Han Yu was cool, and faint traces of ash drifted in the air.

"Ugh!" He groaned softly and pushed himself up.

His head throbbed, and for a moment, his vision swam. It took several breaths before he could focus again.

The oppressive pressure had not vanished. It was still there, faint but ever-present, pressing on his chest like an invisible hand. Yet compared to before, it was now tolerable. He could breathe again, even if each breath came with a slight tremor.

He glanced around. The landscape looked even worse than before. Entire hillsides had collapsed, and the sky above was a dull, bruised gray.

Then he noticed something odd. The sky was brightening.

"What in the..."

A faint shimmer of light spread across the heavens, glowing brighter with each passing second. At first, Han Yu thought it was the sun piercing through the clouded illusion of the realm. But the light’s hue was wrong: cold, pale, and unearthly.

The hairs on his neck stood on end.

A sound echoed through the air, sharp and distant.

Crack.

Han Yu froze. Another sound followed, louder this time.

Crack

Then another.

CRACK!

He looked up, his eyes widening in disbelief.

Cracks were forming in the sky itself.

Thin fissures of light spread across the heavens like a spiderweb, splitting apart the fabric of the Inner realm.

KACHA KACHA KACHA

The sound of fracturing glass filled the air as the cracks spread downward, reaching the horizon, then the ground beneath his feet.

Even the air itself began to fracture, glowing lines splitting through the empty space around him.

Han Yu stumbled back, his heart pounding in terror. The very world around him was breaking apart.

"What... what is happening!?"

He could only stare as the cracks deepened, spreading faster than before, until the entire sky looked ready to shatter like fragile crystal.

And somewhere, deep within the tomb, the red light flared again, brighter than ever before.

Han Yu stood frozen as the world around him groaned and split apart.

The cracks that had first appeared as thin, glowing lines were now spreading in every direction. The sky looked like a great mirror shattering above him, and the ground beneath his feet trembled so violently that standing upright became nearly impossible.

He didn’t know it, but what he was witnessing were not ordinary fractures or illusions.

These were Spatial Fissures: rips in the very fabric of the realm itself. Every one of them bled with faint light, their edges trembling as if alive, and when they spread far enough, the air inside them folded upon itself, distorting everything nearby.

The Inner Realm was no longer stable.

Unknown to Han Yu, this was not a local phenomenon. It was a grand shift, a catastrophic unraveling of the space that bound the entire inner realm to its own dimension.

If someone could observe the realm from beyond, within the boundless expanse of the Lesser Void, they would have seen the entire pocket world convulsing.

The vast sphere of the inner realm drifted like a wounded beast, pressing violently against the walls of the void. Its surface flickered with countless fine runes, woven like threads of silver and gold.

These runes were the foundation of the great formation array that had held this world together for countless years. Each symbol burned faintly, resisting the chaos that surged from below.

But the balance was breaking.

From the tomb at the heart of the realm, the crimson light had grown more violent than ever. The pillars of red energy were no longer simply rising, they were piercing through the heavens, extending beyond the inner realm and into the void itself.

The ancient runes holding the fabric of space together shuddered under the assault.

The red energy twisted and coiled, carving through the silver and gold runes like venomous serpents devouring light. Each time it advanced, the runes dimmed, their glow fading into nothing.

The protective web of formation lines that once stabilized the realm was now fracturing, unable to resist the intrusion. And with every moment, the red energy crept further outward, breaching the barriers that separated this realm from the world outside.

Outside the Inner Realm, chaos erupted across the land.

The sects stationed near the outer tomb, both orthodox and unorthodox, had already felt the tremors, but none had expected the sky itself to betray them.

KACHAAAA!!!!

A deafening crack tore through the air, followed by a blinding light that streaked across the heavens. Disciples screamed as they saw the sky split apart, revealing yawning black fissures that twisted and turned like serpents made of nothingness.

Elders rushed to act, their spiritual energy flaring as they raised barriers to protect their people. But the fissures were not ordinary. The power emanating from them distorted spiritual energy itself, making every defense unstable.

"Everyone, retreat!" one elder bellowed, his voice barely audible over the rumbling earth. "Fly if you can! Those who cannot, grab onto someone who can and take to the skies!"

The command was repeated by others across the encampment. The ground split open as entire tents, formations, and artifacts were torn apart. Trees were uprooted, swallowed by the earth.

"SAVE ME!!!"

"I’m falling! HELP!"

Disciples cried out as the ground beneath them fell away, and many were unable to react in time. Some were caught in the fissures, their bodies stretching and distorting before vanishing into thin air. Whether they were dead or alive, no one could tell.

The air shimmered violently, and one of the elders from the Twin Leaf Peak Sect flew toward the senior-most Elder in sight. His expression was grim, his face pale from both fear and exhaustion.

He could only hope the senior elder in front of him had some insight.