The Vast Expanse
The Vast Expanse
The word vast meant something immense and boundless, and the word universe meant all existing matter and space as a whole. When these two words were grouped together, it meant to say that there was no end to the universe.
And the universe encompasses the galaxy, the heavens, space itself, and hence... that was how the Vast Expanse had appeared beyond the gap.
Su Ming had no idea just how big this place was. He believed that even the black-robed young man on the Feng Shui compass did not know just how far this Vase Expanse extended.
This place was different from the galaxy. At the instant Su Ming stepped out of Harmonious Morus Alba's universe, Su Ming felt a weight suddenly on him. It was as if a mountain had pressed down on him. The mountain was heavy, causing him to feel as if he was unable to breathe. He felt a slight feeling of discomfort.
In fact, he felt as if there were invisible shackles on his limbs, causing him to feel that his movements were slightly jerky when he lifted his feet.
There was also a thin layer of fog around him. Su Ming sensed a certain degree of danger from that fog, and it was as if the fog could devour life and destroy all signs of life.
In his silence, Su Ming lifted his right hand and touched the thin layer of fog. At the instant he touched the fog, Su Ming immediately saw his hand rot. In fact, gray also appeared at his fingertips, as if he was about to turn to ash. Yet soon, as Su Ming circulated his cultivation base, his finger reached a state of balance with the world around him.
'If this is what happened to me even at my level of cultivation, then those in the middle stage of Avanicaya Realm can stay here for dozens of years, as for those in the initial stage of Avacaniya Realm… they would die in half a year, at most. As for those below Avacaniya Realm… once they stepped into the Vast Expanse, they will instantly have all signs of their existences destroyed.
'And…' Su Ming frowned. He did not sense any signs of will or power that could allow him to restore his cultivation base in this universe, which would mean that… he could not restore his cultivation base here. The amount he used would mean the amount of cultivation base he would lose.
To most of the cultivators, this was something they could not bear. But to Su Ming, this was not something that he could not get used to. After all, be it when he was in the Barren Lands of Divine Source or the world in All Spirits Hall, Su Ming had experienced something similar before.
Su Ming was already incredibly used to how he was to release his power in places where he only had a limited supply to his cultivation base. He could even use it to an ingenious level… but besides this, while Su Ming did not spread his will in this Vase Expanse, he could sense that his great will was constantly elapsing.
Based on the rate it flowed away from him, in about one hundred years, Su Ming's will would completely disappear, as if it would be devoured by this universe.
He let out a soft sigh, most of Su Ming's thoughts of avoiding the disaster in the Vast Expanse disappeared. This was not a place where cultivators could exist.
Besides, right then, this thin layer of fog around Su Ming was the most common thing seen in this Vase Expanse. There were also quite a number of existences that even Su Ming would need to be wary of in this place, such as vortices and the strange lives born in this place.
Perhaps others would not quite understand this, but Su Ming had survived his encounter with the black-robed man in the past, he had also seen the mysteries and terrifying aspects in this Vase Expanse.
Right then, when he experienced it on with his body, that feeling became even deeper in his heart.
Su Ming remained in pensive silence for a moment before a glint appeared in his eyes, and a hint of resolution appeared in him. With one move, he instantly turned into a long arc and charged into the distance in the Vase Expanse. He was not a person who would easily give up on his choices. He had three paths to take under the threat of the destructive disaster. He would absolutely not give up on any path due to a simple assessment.
If the Vase Expanse was inhabitable and people could live here, then it would mean that Su Ming had found a way for his friends and family to live through the disaster.
But he was not certain as to whether Cang Lan and the others could leave Harmonious Morus Alba Expanse Cosmos. After all, their levels of cultivation were not high. Over the years, their experiences and the serendipities they received were different, causing the differences between their levels of cultivation to become greater. Su Ming had no way of dealing with this. Forcefully increasing their levels of cultivation was only a temporary solution, and Su Ming could not make it so that everyone arrived in Avacaniya Realm.
Yet no matter what, the Vast Expanse… was one of the three paths. As long as he could be certain that this path was executable, then Su Ming could think of other methods to solve the other problems.
With a resolute gaze, Su Ming charged forward faster and instantly left into the distance to disappear into the seemingly thin fog that was actually very thick.
As Su Ming left into the distance, the thin fog formed gray marks on his body. The marks reached their greatest number when they practically covered every single part of Su Ming's body, but once he had made his cultivation base arrive at an equilibrium with the fog around him, it caused Su Ming to be perfectly fine even though he looked as if he had died.
If the boy was in his place right then, then he would not dare to leave too far into the distance even though he had stepped into the Vast Expanse several times. Instead, he would only move around the area near the gap. Yet even so, every single time he headed to this place, he would require a vast amount of preparation, and the damage of the fog on him was also very great. Practically every one hundred breaths, he would need to swallow medicinal cores and forcefully circulate his cultivation base to regulate his breathing.
He would not be like Su Ming, not having to stop at all while he charged forward. Su Ming continued on until a glint appeared in his eyes while he was in the Vase Expanse. He brought his right hand up and swiftly seized the fog to his right. With it, the fog in that region immediately shrank, and a face with three eyes showed up. That face was an illusion, and it shone with a dark light. At that moment, there was a ferocious expression on its face, but it gave off a feeling that it possessed no intelligence.
It let out a piercing roar and charged towards Su Ming. Su Ming did not hesitate and grabbed it swiftly. With a bang, the face was immediately torn into pieces, but it did not dissipate. Instead, it turned into a dozen portions that charged towards Su Ming.
Su Ming frowned. He might not have used his full strength in that attack just now, but he could have killed a cultivator in the initial stage of Avacaniya Realm, but while he was here, he could not even kill this sort of strange life form.
He snorted coldly, then in the face of the dozen faces charging towards him, Su Ming swung his arm. This time, he used his will, and as his sleeve fluttered in space, booming sounds tumbled in the Vase Expanse. The dozen faces instantly let out shrill screams of pain. They instantly disappeared into the wind.
But Su Ming's expression only turned darker. Even though he had already noticed that his will would dissipate in this place, Su Ming did not expect that during the instant he used his will, the speed of which his will dissipated would be one hundred times faster than when he did not use it.
Based on this situation, then in one year… Su Ming's great will would wither in this place.
And Su Ming had to use the peak of the power of those in the initial stage of Avacaniya Realm when he killed the strange life form that appeared just now. It was also clear that this sort of strange light form was not rare in this place…
Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he sighed in his heart. There was no longer any need for him to verify anything. This place… was completely unsuitable for cultivators, because even he could only remain for some time in this place, and he could not stay in this place for long. In the end, he would only die.
In his silence, Su Ming did not continue into the distance, and he turned around to go back to the butterfly. From the distance, he could only see a wing that was slanted diagonally upwards, a presence that was completely different from the Vase Expanse.
The wing was so big that Su Ming could not see the end of it.
Looking at something from a different angle would cause the size of something to be different as well. It was just like how Su Ming had felt that the butterfly did not seem too big when he saw it while he cost the Art of Time. When he saw Harmonious Morus Alba's ancient memories under its guide, it was the same case. At that time, the butterflies looked as if they were only the size of a baby's palm.
Yet what he saw right then was so huge that it could not be described with words.
Su Ming stood there in a daze and stared at the huge butterfly before him. He could not see how the butterfly looked like. He could only see its fourth wing. In fact, he could not even fully see the fourth wing.
It was difficult for him to put this feeling to words. It was an incredibly complicated feeling, and there was a strange sentimental feeling in him. He could see the aura of death on the butterfly, and that aura of death was so thick that he might even be able to feel it even if he was very far away.
He wondered if that thick aura of death had attracted the strange life forms in the Vase Expanse around him, causing a distorted dark shadow that looked like a soul to appear once the fog gathered together and shrank again.
In his silence, a determined look suddenly appeared in Su Ming's eyes. He still did not want to give up on the path of trying to survive in the Vase Expanse. Even if his efforts would end in vain and he would even have to pay a certain price for his perseverance, he still... wanted to see just how big this universe was, how many strange life forms were in it… and also see this Harmonious Morus Alba entirely from another angle!
This determination was born in Su Ming. It was just like how determined he had been when he had willingly swallowed a large amount of medicinal herbs so that he could rush out of the house sealed by his elder in the past to help Dark Mountain Tribe, just like how determined he was when he still persisted to use the grass dolls to record the faces he did not want to forget while he bled, even though his emotions had been sealed while he was in the Barren Lands of Divine Source, and just like how he had picked himself up when he fell into depression after he knew that Su Xuan Yi was not his family and wanted Su Ming dead.
This was all determination. If he was not determined, then it would be impossible for him to arrive at this state. If he was not determined, Su Ming… would no longer be Su Ming. He would not obtain his current level of cultivation, and he could only be an average person among the sea of people in the universe.
With this determination, Su Ming swiftly chose to do something that he should perhaps not do in the Vase Expanse… He spread out his will completely.
It was just like what he had declared in his mind. He wanted to take a see the butterfly!
Just like how the Elder of the Berserkers had said that he could see a world no one else could see when he predicted the Berserker Day!
Just like how Su Ming longed to see a world no one else could see when he lifted his head to look at the galaxy!
During that instant, as Su Ming spread his will outwards, countless shrill roars suddenly spread out from the universe. At the same time, the fog in the place tumbled swiftly, as if his will in the universe was a lamp in the dark. At the same time it shone brilliantly, it was also something that could not exist in it!
Su Ming… saw it!
He saw that there were thousands of strange life forms in the Vase Expanse, and he saw… that the universe truly had no end, extending beyond the area where his will could cover. Su Ming also saw… Harmonious Morus Alba's complete body in this universe!
That was a beautiful butterfly. All four of its wings stood erect. At that moment… there was only a sliver left before they overlapped with each other. In fact, at first glance, it was even difficult to see the crack between the butterflies!