When Lance Blue and the others entered, they were stunned. The people near the front had already collapsed in droves, and there were many corpses scattered around.
The Strange Fiend roared, "You'd better not touch that light circle."
This was the Strange Fiend, master of the insects. Why was he telling everyone this? But at this moment, those present were already frightened and no longer dared approach the light circle.
Lance Blue knew the Strange Fiend must know something, so he asked the injured fiend, "You're familiar with this place?"
"Obviously! You ignorant fools," the Strange Fiend snorted coldly, then glared at everyone.
At this moment, the crowd was slowly gathering around Lance Blue, while the Strange Fiend stayed closer to the light circle, with many bodies lying at his feet.
"Then you should explain what's going on here!" Lance Blue swept his divine sense over the dead, but it was hard to tell how they had been killed—it felt like they died without a sound.
"Why should I tell you?" the Strange Fiend snorted coldly.
"Then don't blame us for touching that light circle," Lance Blue replied, seeing the fiend refuse to explain.
"Anyone who dares come over, I'll kill them!" The Strange Fiend glared fiercely at the crowd.
"Do you really think you still have that ability now?" Lance Blue asked, looking at the Strange Fiend whose aura was already weakened.
"I'm warning you, don't act smart. This isn't something you should touch." The Strange Fiend knew he was injured; if everyone rushed him, even he couldn't stop them all.
So the standoff continued. Lance Blue and the others were blocked not far from the palace entrance, while the Strange Fiend sat there to prevent anyone from approaching.
Trying to figure out what had happened, Lance Blue used sound transmission to ask those who had entered earlier.
It turned out those people rushed in, saw the corpses, and were shocked. Then, thinking of the terrifying insects and the Strange Fiend behind them, they wanted to see what was inside the light circle.
A few impatient ones went over and touched it. The light circle erupted with intense light, and those at the very front collapsed instantly. Only those who entered later managed to avoid harm.
"What is that light circle, to have such power!" Lance Blue exclaimed in shock after hearing this.
No one knew. Everyone wanted to figure out what was going on.
At this moment, everyone was curious—only the Strange Fiend sat there, as if he was very familiar with the place.
"Are you really not planning to tell us?" Lance Blue asked again.
"Unless you want to die," the Strange Fiend snorted coldly.
"That's odd. Haven't you always wanted to kill us? If the light circle can kill us, why are you stopping us?" Lance Blue, seeing the fiend refuse to answer, tried another way to provoke him.
"Kill you? Once I recover, I could kill you all easily. As for this, I'm only worried you'll bring me trouble." The Strange Fiend sneered.
"Bring trouble? What kind of trouble? Is there something inside the light circle?" Lance Blue asked curiously.
"You wouldn't understand, and I'm not telling you," the Strange Fiend replied.
After that, no matter what Lance Blue asked, the Strange Fiend wouldn't answer. Lance stood there, unsure what to do. If they charged ahead and brought trouble, everyone could be wiped out—then the continent would truly have no hope. But if they waited for the Strange Fiend to recover, that would be trouble too.
Just then, a voice rang out: "Someone has already gone in."
Everyone turned their gaze toward the speaker.
That person was none other than Zane Tiernan.
"It's you!" Only now did the crowd seriously look at him and realize he was the former sect master of Sky Unity Sect. But that grudge was between Sky Unity and him; most had little reason to resent him, though they regarded him differently.
Daniel Pang was also here. When he realized it was Zane Tiernan, his face turned extremely ugly, but he knew he wasn't a match—there was no way to confront him now.
Meanwhile, Lance Blue asked, "Who?"
The Strange Fiend reacted as if stung, jumping up, "Who?"
"Evan Yang," Zane Tiernan replied.
Evan Yang? No one had seen him enter—when did he get in? And how did he do it?
Everyone was confused and looked to Zane Tiernan for an explanation.
Zane Tiernan was gambling everything at this point—he didn't want to waste time here. If Evan Yang could enter, there had to be another way, so he spoke up suddenly.
He said, "I fought him here, and he managed to enter. I couldn't get in."
"You fought him? When did you fight him?" The crowd hadn't seen any battle when they arrived.
To make his story more believable, Zane Tiernan slightly revised it, saying he encountered Evan Yang at Sky Unity Sect, fought him, then both discovered the tunnel and rushed in. They found the End of the Sky here, but Zane couldn't enter while Evan Yang could—so he spread the news.
Everyone was shocked to hear this. So the source of the news was Zane Tiernan—and even more surprising, Evan Yang could pass the restriction.
But when they arrived, there was no trace of anyone. That meant only one thing: Evan Yang had already gone in.
Everyone looked puzzled, hoping the Strange Fiend would explain, but he was furious: "Damn it, he's a real troublemaker!"
"Now you can tell us what's going on, right?" Lance Blue asked.
"Hmph. Anyone not afraid of death, come on!" The Strange Fiend snorted, wrapped himself in a spiritual-energy barrier, and charged straight into the light circle.
He went in? Just like that?
Everyone stared at each other. But earlier, anyone who touched the circle triggered the light—so people hesitated.
Lance Blue frowned, "I'll try it. Wait here." With that, he formed a spiritual barrier and flashed inside.
When everyone saw Lance Blue could enter too, they were completely confused.
Others started feeling restless. Soon, someone rushed forward, but it was a tragedy—when he touched the light circle, it flashed again.
The people at the front collapsed just like that. This was the second time everyone had seen this happen, but the two who went in earlier managed it—why couldn't anyone else?
"Looks like it's related to strength," Mason White said, his eyes gathering light.
Everyone knew how formidable Mason White was—if he said so, no one else dared try. But leaving was hard to accept.
"Let's wait here," Mason White sighed.
The rest had no choice but to wait. Meanwhile, outside, the insect army arrived.
"Those damned things are here again!" Connor Hawke shouted.
"Perfect, let's use them for an experiment. We'll lure them into the light circle," Mason White said. Everyone agreed and quickly prepared to fight the insects—and to lure them into the circle.
A fierce battle broke out here—while inside the light circle, what was happening?
Inside was a mist array. The Strange Fiend searched for something, until he reached a pillar of light and stopped. "Could he really have escaped?" the fiend exclaimed in shock.
Lance Blue followed. The two locked eyes.
"You should tell me what's going on now," Lance Blue said curiously.
"Fine, I'll tell you—otherwise you'll die without knowing why," the Strange Fiend snorted.
Lance Blue sensed the Strange Fiend was very familiar with this place, so he grew curious about his identity.
"This pillar of light is a formation connecting to other places. Years ago, I came out from here, but I was badly injured and didn't want anyone to know I'd arrived, so I destroyed the teleportation array inside the pillar. Now you understand?" The fiend seemed to recall old memories.
"Where does this formation lead? Isn't it to our continent?" Lance Blue asked in surprise.
"That's right—it leads to the outside world, which is much more complicated than here," the Strange Fiend replied.
"If you destroyed the array, why are you still worried?" Lance Blue asked suspiciously.
"The outside array can't connect here, so they can't come. But if the array here gets repaired, guess what'll happen? Then this place won't belong to Spirit-Wandering cultivators, and certainly not to me," the Strange Fiend snorted.
"I said I surpassed the Spirit-Wandering Realm, but didn't know what to call it. Turns out this place is cut off from the outside world." Hearing there were other worlds, and even stronger ones, Lance Blue was filled with excitement.
"Kid, you must have cultivated yourself crazy. Outside, you're nothing—those people are so high above, killing you is as easy as slaughtering an animal." Thinking of the outside world, the Strange Fiend shuddered. When he arrived here, he found only the strongest Spirit-Wandering cultivators, so he was delighted, wanting to make this place his private garden, keeping everyone else out.
"It's better than thinking you're a master here." Lance Blue was fired up, eager to see if the world the fiend described really existed.
"Unbelievable," the Strange Fiend snorted.
Just then, the weather changed—many insects rushed in, along with Spirit-Wandering experts of late stage and above, entering the mist array.
"Overestimating themselves," the Strange Fiend snorted when he noticed.
Suddenly, countless crazed voices echoed.
There were even screams of agony.
Lance Blue expanded his spiritual sense and saw many people with bloodshot eyes, as if possessed, and the insects were also slaughtering wildly, like they'd gone mad.
"What's happening?" Lance Blue frowned.
"This is part of your continent. When I first arrived, it was the same. If your strength doesn't reach our realm, you'll fall into madness here. If you stay too long, you'll never wake up—just keep going crazy." The Strange Fiend explained. Some of his insects went mad like this, but thankfully he didn't, so he quickly led them away and saved a few.
"Damn it!" Seeing so many late-stage Spirit-Wandering experts and even those at the peak enter, Lance Blue shouted, then flashed forward to try and get them out.
The Strange Fiend also flashed forward, quickly driving his insects out.
After a while, once everyone who entered had been driven out, they finally came to their senses. They were drenched in sweat, and just remembering what happened made them tremble all over.