Quinn and the others stepped onto the bridge woven from willow branches, making their way forward. The bridge twisted and turned, and outside its railings floated chaotic shards of space, refracting light like countless mirror panes with no thickness. Within those fragments, all manner of strange sights could be seen.
The space fragments were extremely dangerous, drifting unpredictably with no pattern, yet somehow the bridge managed to find a safe path through them.
Someone peered down from the bridge, but all they could see were more shards of space—nothing else at all.
"Don't gawk around—make sure every step is steady!"
True God Pang Yu's voice came from up ahead: "If you fall, there's not even a place to bury your corpse—no one will ever find your body!"
They walked for a long time before finally reaching the end of the bridge.
Quinn set foot on solid ground, glanced around, and smiled—this was Taeming Heaven. It was through here that he and King Buddha of Shakya had escaped the pursuit of the Southern Heaven Crimson Emperor, Qi Xiayu, returning to the Great Ruins.
Moreover, when the Great Ruins fell from the Heavenly Court, it smashed through Taeming Heaven—the rift in space was not far from here!
The group stood on the soil of Taeming Heaven, looking around. All they could see was pitch-black earth, raging winds, and swarms of skeletons swept up by the gusts, forming massive balls of bones that rolled along with the wind.
The clattering bone balls rolling through the wind had become Taeming Heaven's signature scenery.
When the wind stopped, the bone balls scattered, clattering to the ground. Countless skeletons climbed to their feet, searching for their own bones. Some even grabbed a leg bone and wrestled over it.
Suddenly, the skeletons noticed them and all turned their heads to look.
Everyone tensed, readying themselves, but Quinn quickly said, "Don't worry, they're just curious—they've never seen humans before. They're actually quite cute and not dangerous at all."
A few bold skeletons came forward to touch the refugees' clothes, and one even pinched a girl's cheek.
Quinn pulled out a few sets of clothes from his Glutton Dragon Pouch and gave them to several skeletons. The skeletons put on the clothes, overjoyed, and dashed around, while the others chased after them, envious.
"There's no nourishment in this soil at all," Granny Sue said, trying to plant medicinal herbs in the ground. The herbs withered almost immediately, and she shook her head.
God Sang Ye sniffed the air and said, "There's no spiritual energy or power in the atmosphere either. No living creature could survive here—maybe only these skeletons can exist in such a place."
"High-Emperor Heaven is falling!" someone suddenly cried out in alarm.
Quinn and the others were shaken, quickly turning to look back along the way they'd come. Through layers of chaotic space fragments, they saw the shards moving unpredictably. Occasionally, they glimpsed firelight from a distant place and could faintly make out High-Emperor Heaven.
Because Taeming Heaven was already a dead, dim world, nothing could be seen from High-Emperor Heaven's side. But High-Emperor Heaven was a blazing sea of magma, so from Taeming Heaven, it was visible.
High-Emperor Heaven was tilting, and the angle of its tilt was steadily increasing.
It looked as though High-Emperor Heaven was about to fall into an abyss!
"What's below the cliff?" True God Pang Yu asked.
Quinn said softly, "Yankang. No, it's the Great Ruins."
Everyone was stunned.
If High-Emperor Heaven crashed into the Great Ruins, it would surely trigger yet another catastrophe!
The Village Chief sighed, "The people of Youdu are ruthless—they leave no room for mercy! We have to hurry. If we don't make it into the Great Ruins before High-Emperor Heaven falls, we'll be lost forever!"
"Follow me!"
Quinn shouted, leading the group toward the broken space ahead. Everyone hurried after him, and along the way, many strange skeletons ran up, reaching out for clothes.
If anyone had extra clothes, they gave them to the skeletons, who ran off in delight.