Chronicles of Heaven's Chosen - Chapter 78

“I don’t want to die!” Qiu Xingwen’s expression shifted wildly.

“With your strength, leaving this prison leaves only one word: death,” the orange-robed youth said blandly.

Qiu Xingwen grew even more frightened. He had no desire to leave. Every extra day he remained here was another day in which rescue might arrive.

If he left the room, not only would no one rescue him, but he would die even sooner.

“What do you want to do?” the youth asked the three of them.

“Of course we—”

“I want to stay!” Qiu Xingwen gritted out.

Yuan Yao turned to him in confusion. “Why do you want to remain here?”

Qiu Xingwen lowered his head. “I’m only an ordinary cultivator. I don’t have overwhelming strength or any powerful trump card to protect myself. The moment I leave, there will be only one road—a road to death. You may think I’m negative or cowardly, but I truly want to live—even if it’s only for one more day!”

He raised his head, determination filling his eyes.

Yuan Yao paused. “You’re willing to give up every hope of escape just to live one more day?”

“I’m not giving up all hope. I can stay here and wait for the powerful experts to rescue us. Maybe…maybe they’ll arrive in time.”

His voice grew less certain with every word.

“I want to go out!” Gu Zhaozhao declared, lifting her small face with determination.

“So do I,” Yuan Yao said.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Qiu Xingwen frowned.

“Of course I’m afraid. But now that I’m here, I can’t hide in this room forever just because I’m frightened.”

Qiu Xingwen had no answer.

“You can leave. I’m staying!” He turned his face away from them.

“Your opinions are divided,” the orange-robed youth said slowly. “Either everyone leaves or everyone stays. The moment the door of this prison is broken, the entire structure will cease to exist. All of us will then become targets of the Nightmare Beast.”

Yuan Yao immediately seized on the name.

“Is the Nightmare Beast the monster that trapped us here?”

The youth looked at her steadily and nodded.

“Yes.”

He continued, “It has lived for more than a thousand years. A millennium ago, it was sealed beneath Yunming City. It broke that seal some time ago and dragged everyone in the city into its Nightmare Space.”

“It was too weak to hunt during the first few days. As its strength gradually recovered, it began to feed on people. It devours human souls and eyes.”

After a pause, the orange-robed youth raised his gaze.

“It is a sixth-rank demon beast.”

Qiu Xingwen’s face changed in horror.

A sixth-rank demon beast?!

That was equivalent to a human cultivator in the Void Refinement Realm!

The cultivation realms for humans, from lowest to highest, were Qi Refining Realm, Foundation Establishment Realm, Golden Core Realm, Nascent Soul Realm, Soul Transformation Realm, Void Refinement Realm, Body Integration Realm, and Mahayana Realm.

Spirit beasts, demon beasts, and magical beasts were divided into the first through eighth ranks, followed by Sacred rank and then Divine rank.

Qiu Xingwen fell into complete despair.

There were scarcely any Void Refinement experts anywhere on the Ninth Continent!

And even if one came to save them, it would already be too late.

The Nightmare Beast ate one person every day.

Only a little more than two hours remained before its next feeding.

If it chose Qiu Xingwen, he would die.

“A sixth-rank demon beast…” A chill ran down Yuan Yao’s back.

She suddenly realized that the Nightmare Beast must have built countless prisons from mental power. The few strands she had fought before were merely a tiny portion of its total strength.

How powerful was the true Nightmare Beast?

At the same moment, both Yuan Yao and the orange-robed youth seemed to sense something. They looked toward the outside of the room.

There was movement out there.

Yuan Yao could also feel the mental power surrounding the room fluctuate.

“A fight has started outside.” The orange-robed youth rose to his feet. He was very tall, half a head taller than Qiu Xingwen.

Yuan Yao immediately thought of her senior brothers and sisters, as well as the elders from the various sects.

“Who is it? Has help arrived?” Qiu Xingwen asked in delight.

Gu Zhaozhao nervously tugged at Yuan Yao’s hand.

Coming back to herself, Yuan Yao reassured her softly, “Everything will be all right.”

The orange-robed youth approached the door and reached out to open it.

The instant his fingertips touched the surface, all the mental power within the room began to twist and heave.

Gu Zhaozhao screamed.

She clutched her head, her small face contorted in agony.

The Nightmare Beast’s mental power had invaded her sea of consciousness.

“Zhaozhao…” Yuan Yao’s expression changed dramatically.

She immediately crouched, cradled the child’s head between her hands, and pressed their foreheads together, allowing her own mental power to enter Gu Zhaozhao’s sea of consciousness.

Yuan Yao quickly found the tiny strand of the Nightmare Beast’s mental power and drove it out.

At the same time, the pain in Qiu Xingwen’s sea of consciousness was so great that he no longer wished to live. He fell to his knees and began smashing his head against the ground.

“It hurts! Aah!”

The orange-robed youth glanced back at them, his expression still cold. Then he continued using his mental power to break open the prison.

Yuan Yao opened her eyes and immediately checked Gu Zhaozhao. The child had fallen unconscious.

She felt for a pulse.

When she confirmed that Gu Zhaozhao had merely fainted and was in no danger, she let out a breath of relief.

There was no time to deal with Qiu Xingwen. Yuan Yao snapped her head up toward the orange-robed youth.

“Do you know how to fight the Nightmare Beast?”

“Mental power,” he answered without looking back.

The moment he finished speaking, System 250’s voice sounded inside Yuan Yao’s sea of consciousness.

【Target Zhai Qingye’s Awakening Value has reached 2.】

Yuan Yao blinked.

So the orange-robed youth was Zhai Qingye.

Why did that name sound vaguely familiar?

Before she could remember, an explosion rang out. Like a mirror, the entire room split into four and cracked into five.

After a wave of distortion, the world abruptly changed.

Under the murky gray light, identical square rooms stretched toward the four sides and eight directions. The sight was breathtaking.

They were suspended in midair.

As Qiu Xingwen and Gu Zhaozhao began to fall, Yuan Yao summoned the Phantom Spirit Sword and made it expand. Then she grabbed one of them in each hand.

There were prison rooms above them and more below.

Anyone looking up from the ground would have seen countless rooms floating throughout the sky.

Not far away, several figures were battling an enormous mass of black fog.

The moment Yuan Yao recognized them, her expression changed.

Second Senior Sister and Youngest Senior Brother!

There was also Elder Yan of the Sacred Order and four elders from sects she did not recognize.

Zhai Qingye raised one pale hand. A massive saber, red as blood and gleaming with a murderous chill, materialized in midair.