Crushing It Casually

She felt a summons, growing stronger and stronger.

She felt the thing in her hand guiding her onto a new path, but she couldn't take that step no matter what.

The Abyss of Despair beneath her feet bound her tightly, giving her no chance to break free.

The resistance grew stronger. From the abyss at the end of the mountain slope, a special power began to emerge, transforming into dark chains as it fought against the summons.

These chains materialized out of nowhere. Two bound her collarbones, one her neck, two her wrists, and one her lumbar spine.

The ends of all these chains disappeared into the abyss behind her.

Two more chains bound her feet, their other ends disappearing into the mountain slope beneath her.

All of this restrained her, preventing her from making a choice even when she had the opportunity.

She stood there, motionless, the small piece of beef jerky in her hand glowing brighter and brighter.

Meanwhile, in the unknown dark void, the churning black sludge had already enveloped the entire mine. The King of Hungry Ghosts' twisted upper body was already tens of thousands of feet tall, and the mine, spanning dozens of miles, was barely comparable to its form.

Its eyes, burning with blood-red flames, gazed into the depths of the void. There was a waymark there, and a power was obstructing its call.

Within the void, the drifting mine was swept along by it, flying towards the direction indicated by the waymark.

Halfway through its journey, it seemed to suddenly discover something. It turned its head to glance at the dark void. The churning black sludge transformed into a great river, surging forward. In an instant, it stretched for over a thousand miles, its crest condensing into one of its hands, reaching into the darkness.

With a plop, a point of light shattered and was annihilated in its palm.

It turned its head again, continuing its flight along the waymark's guidance.

Time slowly passed, and the King of Hungry Ghosts' aura grew stronger. The closer it got to the waymark, the more calls it heard. Endless pain, endless despair, and the wails of the dying burned in its eyes, making it stronger and stronger.

It flew through the dark void for an unknown duration. Without any reference points, everything seemed to be standing still.

Suddenly, the churning black sludge materialized two pitch-black claws with a metallic sheen. The two claws simultaneously pierced into the dark void, and as they slowly tore outwards, a luminous crack appeared.

On the other side of the crack was a sky filled with wind and snow, everything a blinding white, the light piercing.

An Lan had not left yet; she was still here because more people from Da Gan had arrived.

They wanted to see if there were any remaining Jinlan Ore deposits after the semi-blessed land had fallen into the void, and to scavenge as much as they possibly could.

After all, semi-blessed lands were rare, and a part of it had overlapped with the Wasteland.

Exploration and excavation had been ongoing. They had clashed with people from Great Li several times in the past few months, but she had not recklessly unleashed the full power of One Day Cold again.

Great Li had lost a Nascent Soul expert, and before dying, he had destroyed a semi-blessed land. How could Great Li possibly let such an abnormal event go unaddressed?

An Lan, who had just finished a battle and hadn't rested, suddenly sensed something. She landed at the edge of the massive pit, searching for what had alerted her.

Then, she saw it: the sky had split open.

A colossal rift, piercing heaven and earth, shot straight up from the bottom of the pit into the sky.

Giant, pitch-black claws emerged from the rift, which stretched for hundreds of miles, forcibly tearing open the space here.

Along with the claws, something like black sludge also seeped in through the rift.

A terrifying pressure, accompanied by a violent aura, gushed out from the rift. The wind and snow that filled the sky were blown back, and the leaden clouds that had lingered for months were shattered by this terrifying aura, scattering in all directions.

An Lan, standing at the edge of the pit, was hit by the close-range impact. She instantly froze in place, her face as pale as paper. The terrifying pressure, even without targeting her in the slightest, had solidified her true essence, making it impossible to circulate.

Her Sea of Qi contracted into a ball, her divine soul stiffened, and her body felt as if it had encountered an insurmountable natural predator, freezing in place instinctively, daring not to move, doing its best to minimize its presence.

At the same time, a word appeared in her mind out of nowhere.

"Hungry ghost."

The next moment, the black sludge, surging out of the rift like a black tide, descended upon her like a tsunami.

Her eyes trembled, filled with despair. But at such close range, looking directly at the King of Hungry Ghosts, she could do nothing. She couldn't even muster the slightest thought of resistance.

Silently, her physical body, her divine soul, her magic treasures, everything – without even a token resistance – was annihilated in that tide.

Of course, there was a silver lining: at least she knew who had killed her.

The bad news was that the King of Hungry Ghosts didn't know who it had casually crushed before it had truly entered the Wasteland.

The King of Hungry Ghosts' materialized colossal body propped open the spatial rift with its arms. Its head emerged from the rift first, glancing towards the Abyss of Despair.

The area was completely sealed. Large swathes of talismans floated in the air, and formation flags were planted around the Abyss of Despair, forming pillars of light that completely sealed it.

They were originally waiting for people from Langya Academy to see if they could refine and move this strange domain as a whole.

On the other side, the Locust tree forest, which had also been blown away by the explosion at the time, was now mostly intact and also sealed by formations, awaiting further research.

At this moment, sensing the King of Hungry Ghosts' aura, the first to change was the still-unrecovered Locust tree forest.

The thick layer of fallen leaves covering the ground began to churn, revealing the earth. In front of each locust tree, paths appeared.

The locust trees split open in the middle, and hungry ghosts emerged from them.

They were all emaciated, their limbs skin and bones, their bellies shriveled as if their internal organs had been hollowed out. A large number of root-like structures covered their backs, the backs of their arms, and the backs of their legs. One end of these structures was embedded in their bodies, and the other was connected to the locust trees.

As they emerged, many of these connections snapped, but none of the hungry ghosts cared.

They walked out of the locust trees, prostrated themselves on the ground, and let out silent roars, welcoming their King, their beginning and end, to this world.

The King of Hungry Ghosts didn't spare them a glance, its gaze locked onto the Abyss of Despair.

There was a power there preventing its summons, and it had dared to withhold its waymark.

This was, of course, unacceptable.

Its two arms continued to widen the massive spatial rift, and the surging tide of black oil and filth surged directly towards the Abyss of Despair.

Just as it was about to arrive, the towering tide of black oil and filth suddenly condensed, transforming into a metallic claw.

Before the impact, the light pillars of the formation sealing the Abyss of Despair shattered layer by layer. The formation flags ignited with a roar, turning into dust. A large pile of talismans floating in mid-air also turned to ash.

With a single strike, the Abyss of Despair was directly materialized, like a gray, giant bowl inverted on the ground.

The terrifying, distorted power instantly tore countless cracks across its surface. With a crack, the entire outer layer of the Abyss of Despair was shattered by the blow.

The extended claw pierced into the Abyss of Despair, reaching directly towards the abyss behind the hillside.

As the claw penetrated the abyss, something within the dark depths let out a soul-stirring wail. In an instant, all sound ceased, and the hidden power there vanished.

The King of Hungry Ghosts' claw did not continue to grasp. It grabbed Cècè, who had been standing there with her head held high and a smile on her face, and pulled her away from the Abyss of Despair.

The chains suddenly tightened, and Cècè's bones were torn through her skin. She furrowed her brows, but her smile remained. When she looked back at the abyss, there was still a hint of mockery in her eyes.

The King of Hungry Ghosts seemed enraged. Two streams of blood-red flames shot from its burning eyes, plunging into the abyss.

The pitch-black abyss was completely illuminated at that moment, with blood-red flames burning within. The end of the abyss seemed to connect to another place, where raging infernos now burned, transforming into a sea of fire—an unquenchable flame.

The flames burned upwards, severing the chains and completely breaking Cècè's connection to the depths of the abyss.

As the King of Hungry Ghosts retracted its massive claw, the entire Abyss of Despair began to twist and lift off the ground along with Cècè. They were distorted and compressed by the King of Hungry Ghosts' power and surged into Cècè's body.

When the King of Hungry Ghosts, with brute force, forcibly pulled Cècè out of the Abyss of Despair, the roles were completely reversed.

The domain formed by the Abyss of Despair was completely transferred to Cècè.

Even if she didn't accept the summons now, didn't take that step, it was still hers.

This was because the King of Hungry Ghosts didn't care for it, nor did it ever consider this small benefit a gift. It was merely a side task completed while searching for the waymark.

After the King of Hungry Ghosts pulled her out, its massive claw transformed back into the surging tide of black oil and filth.

Cècè stood on the ground, looking up at the colossal King of Hungry Ghosts. Without hesitation, she smiled and took a step forward.

The next moment, she transformed into a gaunt, emaciated, and hideous hungry ghost with a shriveled abdomen and skin stretched over bone, but her smile remained. Countless pieces of information appeared in her mind out of nowhere.

She raised her head and saw that the King of Hungry Ghosts had already widened the massive spatial rift sufficiently.

Its enormous body, carrying the Jinlan Mine, completely entered the Wasteland.

The massive mine settled back into its original position, but it was much higher than before, as if a vast mountain range had suddenly appeared on the land.

This was because, this time, it was no longer a semi-blessed land.

It had been forcibly squeezed into the Wasteland by the King of Hungry Ghosts tearing open space. The mine was now no different from the other mountain ranges in the Wasteland; it belonged to the Wasteland.

Behind the King of Hungry Ghosts, the massive spatial rift slowly closed.

Cècè glanced towards the southeast, east, and northeast. Then, she looked at the King of Hungry Ghosts, whose aura was still rising linearly. She tightly gripped the glowing beef jerky in her hands and walked towards the depths of the mine.

The surging tide of black oil and filth, the power that distorted everything, automatically parted under the light of the waymark, clearing a path for Cècè.

She walked all the way, delving deeper underground, following the path cleared by the black oil and filth, and arrived at a cave at the deepest point.

As the black oil and filth ahead parted, she saw Yu Ziqing, floating quietly in the black oil and filth. His eyes were tightly closed, he was emaciated, his face still bore traces of pain, and he gritted his teeth, no longer resembling a human.

She stepped forward, cupping the waymark in her hands, and approached Yu Ziqing.