Chapter 146: Spatial Rift

As the crimson rain threatened to submerge the circular platform, everyone instinctively looked upward, where a stone gate floating mid-air abruptly materialized before them.

Before Ye Bai could utter a single word, the surging crimson rain completely engulfed him. Meanwhile, on another circular platform, Bai Wan'er caught sight of the very things she had witnessed while trapped in the illusion.

In fact, back in the passageway, Bai Wan'er had already deduced that the gecko mentioned by Tian Xin was likely the dragon that guarded this region, and the murals lining the tunnel recorded the dragon's past and present lives.

The dragons here were not those mythical creatures of the previous era capable of soaring through the heavens, traversing the earth, and summoning clouds and mist; the creatures depicted in all the murals along the way were presumably species from that bygone era.

Nearly every mural featured a small gray-skinned snake and a gecko. Combining this with what Wang Jiao had told her, Bai Wan'er surmised that both the dragons and the snakes here were likely mutated forms of animals native to the previous era.

And the recessed pattern on the gate might well be the key to opening it.

In less than several dozen seconds, the crimson rain submerged everyone and continued to rise upward, forcing the scattered individuals to gather together.

Just as everyone reached Bai Wan'er and Tian Xin's side—with the members of Tianmu Academy positioned at the outermost perimeter—the smart bracelets on the wrists of Ye Bai and Bai Wan'er began to emit a glow.

"What should we do? The elemental energy within me is depleting very rapidly." Dao was swimming continuously near Ye Bai, his bracelet flashing with a stream of incoming messages.

Ever since the Dark Era, anyone who successfully awakened elemental energy—regardless of whether they awakened water-elemental energy—could sense its presence. Though they could not manipulate it directly, their breathing remained unaffected, yet speaking aloud was impossible.

Ye Bai knew that Dao's situation was unique; elemental energy was arguably far more vital to him than to others. Very few medicines could affect the physique of a Demon Hunter, making elemental energy their sole means of healing wounds.

"Don't worry, we'll figure something out together, and we'll get out of here soon." The elemental energy within Ye Bai was also draining rapidly. As he said this, he was partly comforting himself as well. If Dao's situation was special, wasn't he himself the one with the lowest baseline strength?

Bai Wan'er, standing nearby, pointed upward at the stone gate, and immediately afterward, a message popped up on everyone's smart bracelets.

"There is an indentation on the stone gate. If I'm not mistaken, that should be the key to leaving this place, and I happen to have seen the pattern on the gate—it should be a dragon's claw and python skin."

"A dragon's claw and python skin?!" Lang Xin's eyes widened in sheer disbelief, while the people from Tianmu Academy wisely chose to remain silent, silently enduring the agony of their fading elemental energy.

"Yes," Bai Wan'er affirmed with absolute certainty. A moment later, another message flashed across Ye Bai's bracelet: "A gecko's claw and the skin of a small gray snake."

"Where are we supposed to find those things now? Whether it's a dragon's claw, a gecko's foot, or whatever skin that is?" Dao circled around the perimeter, seeing nothing related to these items. Aside from the water that devoured elemental energy and the stone gate, the circular platform beneath their feet had vanished at some point.

In the time it took to exchange these few messages, Ye Bai could distinctly feel that his elemental energy had plummeted to the initial beginner stage.

Suddenly, bubbles began to well up ahead of them. Hui Xin's face turned beet red as if she wanted to say something, but she was choked by the water. Lang Xin's elemental energy flickered in his hand, forcing the water out of Hui Xin's mouth, and five words rapidly appeared on everyone's bracelets:

"There is something underneath."

A chill ran through Ye Bai's heart. Good grief, what on earth was this place? He finally understood that there was not a single benign spot in this entire domain.

Countless dark shadows emerged from unknown depths underwater, surging upward crazily, resembling churning mud. As they steadily closed in, they continuously dissolved into the water.

With a muffled thud, Ye Bai felt a surge of heat on his back, followed by the sight of Liu Yun drawing the red crystal longsword from his back, hacking at the approaching mud monsters with the fire-elemental energy that had recovered to less than fifty percent.

"What was that just now?" Bai Wan'er watched the monsters swimming past her, as scenes from her hallucination flashed through her mind. "A tailless rabbit?"

At this moment, the smart bracelet on Ye Bai's wrist lit up once more—it was a message from Bai Wan'er: "I understand now. These mud-formed monsters must be the native species that originally inhabited this world. Somewhere in here, there should be a gecko and a snake locked in combat. Do not let them disappear."

Bang! Ye Bai threw a punch, shattering a mud monster drifting near him, but there were simply too many mud monsters around, and some inevitably made contact with his body.

Every single time they brushed against him, the elemental energy within him diminished by a fraction, while the mud monsters grew larger and more vigorous.

"These mud monsters and the crimson rain are the same; they are continuously devouring our elemental energy. Hurry up and find the gecko and snake Bai Wan'er mentioned, or before long, we'll all die from total elemental energy depletion."

They could no longer afford to stall. His body was flashing incessant warning signals urging him to get out of this place. The elemental energy inside him was down to less than forty percent; he had now regressed to the state of having just broken through the Body Forging stage.

The eight of them formed a defensive circle, casting aside past frictions—simply staying alive was a luxury now. Ye Bai and Dao were likely the two weakest among them, both stuck at the beginner stage.

Yet, Liu Yun and Xiao Ming looked even more wretched; their complexions had turned sallow, clearly indicating that their internal elemental energy was on the verge of collapsing.

"Where on earth is it?" Ye Bai was burning with anxiety. He could see the dire state Tianmu Academy was in, and his own fate would likely mirror theirs in a moment.

And Ye Bai's silent plea was likely shared by everyone present.

The mud monsters welling up from the bottom of the passage grew increasingly numerous, but very few successfully reached their vicinity. Most were oversized monsters, entirely lacking the geckos and small snakes Bai Wan'er had described.

The more anxious one became, the more elusive the desired object seemed to be. Ye Bai had swept his gaze across the monsters welling up from below at least eight hundred times, yet not a single mud monster meeting the criteria appeared.

Suddenly, a massive bubble erupted from beneath the crimson rain. Trapped in the center of the bubble was a pair of mud monsters locked in a fierce brawl. Although there wasn't a single drop of crimson rain inside the bubble, the battle between the wrestling mud monsters was intensely violent, with chunks of dislodged mud occasionally falling to the bottom of the bubble.

As the bubble rose, more and more scattered mud accumulated at its base. With a sudden pop, the bubble burst in the water, exposing the fighting mud monsters to the crimson rain.

Hui Xin had kept her eyes glued to the riverbed. The moment the bubbles began to form underwater, she had noticed them, but between the crimson rain and the ceaseless tide of monsters, she had never dared to confirm whether there was actually something inside the tiny water bubbles.

It wasn't until the bubble ruptured that Hui Xin laid eyes on the mud monsters within. She excitedly tugged at Lang Xin's sleeve, and instantly, a message from Hui Xin flashed across everyone's bracelets:

"I found that pair of monsters! They were inside the bubble that just popped."

"Where?" Liu Yun was the first to respond, followed closely by Dao.

"Right there." Hui Xin pointed in a specific direction, but just as she readied herself to swim over, her movements abruptly froze.

"Where on earth is it?!" Liu Yun's complexion grew increasingly sallow, nearing his breaking point, and he glared back at everyone with eyes filled with anger.

"They were right there just a moment ago! Why are they gone now?" Hui Xin's eyes welled with moisture as she tightly clutched Lang Xin's arm. Having spent the longest time submerged in the water—and being the weakest among the five elemental users—her strength had dwindled to a meager early-beginner stage, leaving her body utterly devoid of physical power.

At that moment, Hui Xin suddenly felt a hand gently stroke her head, and her smart bracelet immediately began to flash incessantly.

"I found them. What should we do now?"

Everyone turned just in time to see that Tian Xin had already reached the stone gate, cradling the pair of fighting mud monsters in her hands. As the mud monsters came into contact with Tian Xin's skin, the mud that had previously been battered apart gradually reformed and recovered its original shape after absorbing her elemental energy.

Bai Wan'er closed her eyes, recalling everything she had witnessed in the illusion until an image flashed of a gecko's claw clutching snake skin.

"Wait... when they fight, one of them should snap off a claw holding onto snake skin. Put that into the groove on the stone gate." Everyone was gambling now: Bai Wan'er was betting that the claw with the snake skin could unlock the stone gate, while the others were gambling that Bai Wan'er could lead them out alive.

Tian Xin stared intently at the wrestling mud monsters in the palm of her hand. Just as Bai Wan'er had described, the snake and the gecko each had a mud-formed tendril beneath their bellies, and they hadn't been directly fighting at first.

It wasn't until the mud tendrils beneath their bellies melted and the tails of both the snake and gecko began to thrash violently that the two finally collided in fierce combat.

Only then did Tian Xin witness the snake bite off the gecko's claw, while the gecko, before its claw was severed, tore off a massive chunk of skin and flesh from the snake's body.

Ye Bai's complexion had turned sallow, and Dao beside him was in even worse shape. Liu Yun's face could no longer be described as sallow; it had somehow turned deathly pale, and though no sweat was visible, one could easily guess he was drenched in cold sweat from head to toe.

Everyone waited for Tian Xin to act, yet no one dared to speak and distract her. Finally, Tian Xin retrieved a clump of mud from her palms, wrapped it in a layer of white energy until the mud transformed into a claw gripping snake skin, perfectly sized to fit into the indentation of the stone gate.

"Quickly, let's go."

The long-awaited sound of eager relief finally echoed in their ears. Ye Bai had never imagined that the notification chime of a smart bracelet could sound so delightful—it was like celestial music.

A blue glow rippled across the stone gate. There was no visible motion of the gate opening; in fact, the only thing above their heads was the stone gate, extending on all sides. Tian Xin stepped through the gate first, yet she did not emerge from the other side, clearly stepping into an alternate space.

Unable to contain his impatience, Liu Yun entered the gate second, followed by Dao, then Ye Bai, and finally Bai Wan'er. The stone gate vanished into the crimson rain, leaving behind only the endless emergence and dissipation of mud monsters.

No sooner had Bai Wan'er stepped through the gate than she heard a rumbling thunder echo from behind it, though she could no longer hear the voices of the others.

"Boom."

Another deafening crash echoed. Across Bai Wan'er's dark pupils, a blood-red bolt of lightning slit open half the sky, and at the trailing edge of the lightning, a black fissure yawned open.