At the instant they heard the miserable scream, Third Master He and Xia Shuanghe's expressions changed drastically.
With Zhai Que'er here, the search had actually entered a state of near stagnation. They recalled the scattered subordinates and had them set up a perimeter nearby, ready to answer any summons. The scream just now had come from one of those outer checkpoints. It had been so shrill and agonized that even several miles of distance and thick layers of earth and stone had failed to completely muffle it.
What followed was a low rumble like thunder. Beneath their feet, it seemed as though a surging river were rushing past.
The temperature was rising!
With all these signs coming together, not only He and Xia, but even Zhai Que'er, who had always worn a smile, furrowed her brows.
Yu Ci listened carefully and discovered that beneath them, countless explosions had merged into one, with barely any interval between them, becoming a roaring sound like great river waves. On closer inspection, the shockwaves pushing forward one after another rose higher with each surge, causing tremendous damage to the strata. In merely two or three breaths, Yu Ci felt the ground beneath his feet turning soft and crumbly, while collapses in the underground tunnels farther away were occurring everywhere.
This time, even without the shadow ghost's warning, Yu Ci knew what had happened—the two Longevity True Men had struck again. And this was no longer the lukewarm probing from before. This time, they were fighting for real.
But why were they so close?
The immense pressure generated by a battle between True Person cultivators would not be overstated even if called heavier than ten thousand jun. On top of that, there were their dense and intricate fluctuations of aura, driving heaven and earth essence