When everyone rushed out of the cave and saw the scene before them, a new wave of despair filled their hearts.
In front of them lay a cliff, and below it—a sea of molten lava.
There was no road ahead.
Xu Ming carried Shi Xin and flew into the air above the lava sea to avoid being swallowed by the rising magma. The others did the sa.
They hovered in midair, watching as lava gushed from the cave entrance and rged into the fiery “ocean.” Their minds were tense, already envisioning their inevitable fate.
This cave actually had multiple exits.
More cultivators erged from other openings, just like different streams flowing into a great sea.
The only difference was that this “ocean” of lava was steadily rising.
Soon, every single cave entrance was sealed off by the magma.
There was no way out. The lava inside the caves continued to rise, leaving them trapped like beasts herded together—waiting for the mont they would be swallowed by the inferno.
Around five or six hundred cultivators were now floating in the air, their heads pressed tightly against the rocky ceiling, trying to keep as much distance as possible from the searing heat below.
“Are you afraid?”
Xu Ming turned to Shi Xin.
Shi Xin lifted her head and t Xu Ming’s gaze. “No. Death is an inevitable part of life—why should I fear it?”
Xu Ming was montarily stunned, then smiled and nodded. “That’s true.”
Buddhist cultivators usually had an open-minded view of life and death.
For Shi Xin, it was even more so.
The lava continued to rise.
It was now only about ten ters below their feet.
“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”
Faced with the surging lava, so cultivators broke down and began crying, their ntal state on the verge of collapse.
They would rather be killed by another cultivator than wait here for death.
If soone killed them, at least it would be quick and unexpected.
But this—this slow, agonizing wait—was pure tornt.
So had already begun to regret their choices.
If only they had never co to the Rootless Secret Realm, they wouldn’t be facing death now.
If they had stayed in their sects, they would still be enjoying their status and respect.
What they didn’t realize was that the mont they had such thoughts, even if they did survive, their path in cultivation would never take them far.
A true cultivator must have the will to fight for survival in desperate situations.
Otherwise, how could they battle others? How could they defy the heavens?
“Crash!”
The entire cavern trembled as a wave of lava surged upward.
Several cultivators were engulfed instantly, swallowed into the molten sea without a trace.
The remaining ones desperately searched for a way out—but where could they go?
Every cave entrance was spewing lava.
The lava was rising.
Above them was solid rock.
There was no escape.
Yet amid all this chaos, Shi Xin still had the presence of mind to chant sutras, offering prayers for those who had perished.
Xu Ming couldn’t help but wonder—You’re praying for them now, but when you die, who will pray for you?
“Such excessive kindness,” Xu Ming sighed, shifting his gaze away from Shi Xin.
But he was not so pessimistic.
To Xu Ming, no true dead end existed. There was always a way out—it was just a matter of finding it.
He activated his Dao Pattern Eye, scanning the surroundings.
Then, when his gaze swept downward, sothing felt off.
The lava was still lava—no doubt about that.
But in Xu Ming’s eyes, it looked too red.
Sothing about the magma below felt different from the lava that had erupted from the cave entrances earlier.
“Could it be…?”
A bold idea ford in Xu Ming’s mind.
“I think I’ve found the key to breaking out of this situation,” he said to Shi Xin beside him.
“What?” Shi Xin tilted her head, looking at Xu Ming in confusion.
“It’s hard to say,” Xu Ming shook his head. “It’s just a guess for now. But… do you trust ?”
Shi Xin thought for a mont. “Do I have any other choice but to trust you?”
Xu Ming was montarily taken aback before chuckling. “That’s true. Aside from believing in , your only other option is to wait here for death.”
“Then let’s go.”
Xu Ming grabbed Shi Xin’s hand and plunged straight down—into the sea of lava.
Shi Xin had no idea why Xu Ming was choosing to die, but she did not hesitate.
She trusted him.
To the other cultivators, however, it simply looked like Xu Ming and the bald-headed woman had given up all hope and decided to die together.
The heat intensified as Xu Ming and Shi Xin fell.
The fiery ocean below grew closer and closer.
In less than a breath’s ti, with a splash of molten rock, Xu Ming and Shi Xin vanished into the flas.
Shi Xin thought she was dead.
But when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in an entirely different world.
“So I was right after all,” Xu Ming murmured.
Shi Xin turned to look at him.
A smirk played at Xu Ming’s lips as he took in his surroundings.
Above them stretched a sky of deep crimson, void of clouds. A blood-red sun hung high in the heavens—but it was incomplete, partially broken.
Beneath their feet lay scorched red earth, crisscrossed with rivers of molten lava. Jagged mountains dotted the land, spewing flas into the air.
There was no sign of life.
It was a wasteland—like the end of the world.
The scene reminded Xu Ming of the ti he had stood within the Sword Tomb of his Consciousness Sea on Sanshi Peak.
“Is this an illusion?” Shi Xin guessed.
Xu Ming nodded. “That’s right. This whole place is an illusion—including that so-called lava sea. It was all fake. But the illusion was so real that when people were consud by the magma, their minds truly believed they had turned to ash—and so, they died.”
“This is why illusions can kill.
The only way to break free… is to embrace death itself.
As long as you have the resolve to charge forward without hesitation, the illusion unravels on its own.”
“Then… what is this place?” Shi Xin blinked in curiosity.
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“For that answer,” Xu Ming said, turning his gaze forward,
“You’ll have to ask her.”
Not far away, a woman in a crimson dress was approaching.
A long sword hung from her hand as she strode toward them, step by step.
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