Chapter 707: The Great Collapse

This time, not only was Yu Sheng caught off guard, but even the Holy See standing opposite was taken by surprise.

After the first Living Saint dove into the rift, a second followed, then a third...

These radiant figures with wings on their backs barely paused in midair after emerging from the curtain of light before they charged without hesitation into the deep, crisscrossing abyssal rifts of the underground cavern. The chaotic psychic resonance was mixed with sharp whistles, and after a brief moment, everyone heard a series of continuous rumbles from deep below.

It sounded like explosions had occurred at the bottom of the rifts—the figures plunging down seemed to be breaking through some kind of barrier.

Yu Sheng saw glorious pillars of light erupting from the deep valleys. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of white. Turning his head, he saw that the artificial angel floating beside him was also instinctively flying forward.

Yu Sheng was startled on the spot. "Hey..."

Before he could even finish his exclamation or raise his hand, he saw the artificial angel fly halfway, then turn and float back, shaking her head as she floated.

Although he couldn't hear her speak, Yu Sheng felt she was mumbling under her breath.

...The Eden Gate at the planet's core was attracting those "artificial angels"? Was this one, the only one with a mind, unaffected?

Yu Sheng had the thought instantly, but just then, an angry shout interrupted his train of thought: "Come back! You should obey my commands first!"

The Holy See, floating in the air, had light swelling and contracting around his body, as if the psychic forces making up his shell had been greatly disturbed. He hastily cut off the maintenance of the holy light curtain, but the Living Saints who had already emerged from the light screen were all charging toward the underground fissures.

An unsettling rumbling echoed from deep underground, growing louder.

The entire underground cavern shook again. The rocks and giant crystal pillars supporting the cave system showed signs of further collapse and cracking.

Just then, the blurred face of the Holy See suddenly had another moment of vacancy.

In the wilderness of the soul, a rumbling thunder rolled across the chaotic gray sky.

A dazzling bolt of lightning poured down from the clouds, knocking Luna and several knights flying. But in the blink of an eye, more knights rose from the tall grass, charging wave after wave toward the giant figure standing in the wilderness.

A young maiden knight helped Luna up from the side, then leaped forward, hurling a silver-glowing javelin with all her might.

In reality, the original of this javelin might have been casually tossed into a furnace by some Inquisition priest. But in this wilderness of the soul, the streak of silver light cutting across the sky was the sum of a soul's memories and imagination of childhood and homeland.

The giant figure staggered, the light around him dimming a little more.

It was at that moment that Luna suddenly saw a vague shadow emerge from the "Holy See's" body.

It was a gloomy-faced middle-aged man, with sunken eyes and messy short hair, wearing a thick, sturdy protective suit that seemed to be that of a pioneer.

He flew out of the Holy See's spiritual body in a daze, but almost the next second, he returned to the giant shell.

Another rumble came from midair. A particularly tall brass knight leaped high in the charge, his heavy sword shining as it struck the Holy See's torso fiercely.

The body flickered violently. The illusion of a young man with black hair tumbled out from within, but disappeared into the air in an instant, turning into specks of starlight that re-merged into the Holy See's shell.

Luna felt a blur before her eyes, and somehow Yu Sheng's figure had appeared on the wilderness.

"What's going on..."

Yu Sheng looked at the scene in some surprise, muttering to himself.

The Holy See's body began to show further signs of instability.

He staggered, swayed, and stepped back across the wilderness. The holy light enveloping his body kept peeling away and reforming. The triple halo suspended above his head went dark and lit up again.

His face, which could not be accurately described or observed, also began to change, showing various appearances—old man, young man, male, female, even child.

Just as the knights were about to converge for the next attack, the body suddenly burst out with a strong flash and then dissipated into the wilderness with a rumble.

"It's over, it's over, it's over!" Eileen's noisy voice startled Yu Sheng awake. The little puppet climbed onto his shoulder using all her limbs. "Everything around is collapsing too! There's no place to stand anymore!"

Yu Sheng grabbed the little thing that was about to fall off his shoulder, while looking up at his surroundings.

The entire underground cavern was collapsing. The abyssal rifts that had cut through the underground space were rapidly expanding, shedding layers as they fell into the bottomless fissures leading to the planet's core.

A giant crystal pillar that had once supported the rock ceiling suddenly broke. A hundred-meter-tall boulder collapsed into the rift.

And the figure of the Holy See floated above that rift—he still seemed dazed, until the crystal pillar was about to crash onto his head. He suddenly waved a hand.

Holy light burst forth, actually slicing the giant crystal in half at the waist.

Burning crystal dust scattered into the black abyss leading to the planet's core. The Holy See looked down at this scene. After a long while, he let out a bizarre laugh.

"Ah, so that's how it is."

As he finished speaking, the light around him dimmed sharply. Under the holy glow, his once glorious and majestic body withered and shriveled like a dried corpse in the blink of an eye.

The next second, his body sank, plummeting straight into the valley below.

Yu Sheng had no time to dwell on the sight.

Because the collapse of the underground cavern had already spread to just a few steps in front of him.

"Hu Li, take the others up first."

He turned to the nine-tailed fox and spoke quickly.

The fox girl instinctively lowered her head. "But benefactor, you..."

Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, his feet gave way.

The next instant, the stone he was standing on crumbled, and he fell into the rift.

The little puppet let out a shriek—not because she was falling, but because Yu Sheng suddenly grabbed her collar and swung her up, throwing her out.

Eileen flailed and landed right in the big fox's tails.

Luna rushed over at that moment, also peering with the great fox into the great rift that reached the planet's core.

The rift had no visible end, only faint dark red glimmers and turbulent currents of light.

Eileen pulled her head out from the big fox's tails, poked her head down, and looked below.

"This might be a little deadly."

Hu Li and Luna exchanged a glance, then turned and left. As she walked, Hu Li muttered, "Hurry, hurry, hurry. If we're slow, benefactor will be back alive."

Eileen added another comment, "Hey, what about that ghost-girl?"

Yu Sheng was still falling at this moment. As he fell, a white light suddenly appeared beside him.

He turned his head and saw the artificial angel flying alongside him, also descending.

Her face, which had originally been so blurry and vague that no features could be discerned, was now slowly becoming clear, revealing a still somewhat youthful countenance.

She tilted her head and curiously imitated Yu Sheng's head-down posture.

Yu Sheng initially felt a moment of emotion, thinking there was at least someone who cared about his life this time—unlike those guys at home, who, every time he died, just wanted to use the thirty-minute window to do something.

Then he vaguely realized that this artificial angel seemed to think his head-down flying posture was impressive.

"Why are you following me?!" Yu Sheng glared. "Go follow Hu Li and the others—the one with a bunch of tails."

The artificial angel nodded and turned to fly upward.

Credit where credit was due: at least she listened—that was one thing ahead of Eileen.

By now, Hu Li had already reached the exit leading to the surface with Luna and Eileen.

A huge crack split the cavern roof ahead. Stones, dirt, and fragments of architecture kept falling from both sides of the crack into the depths. Through the crack, the faint light of the sky outside could be seen.

"Hey, hey, that ghost-girl is catching up," Eileen said, holding onto the fur on the big fox's back and looking back, happy. "She's fine."

The great fox didn't turn back. "No duh. She can fly."

Eileen lifted her head. "I can too. If I grab a string, I can fly."

Hu Li frowned. "Actually, I've always wondered, when you're swinging around holding a thread, where is the other end of that thread tied?"

Luna, who was also sitting on Hu Li's back, worn out from the earlier battle, mumbled in response, "Tied to, Eileen's, decency."

Eileen thought for a moment but couldn't figure it out.

So she simply stopped thinking, furrowed her little brows, and started calling out in her mind, "Yu Sheng, how's it going over there? Is that glowing show-off down below?"

Yu Sheng: "I don't know. I'm still falling."

The little puppet was instantly startled. "That deep?! Did you see the Eden Gate?"

Yu Sheng: "I don't know. I'm still falling."

"...Did you lag out?"

"Lag my ass! It's pitch black down here, rocks all around. I don't have spiritual sense like Hu Li, or radar like Luna. I can't even see what's below," Yu Sheng's voice sounded a bit helpless, but then he paused. "Wait, I think I see something down there. A faint light."

The endless fall seemed eternal. In the darkness, the only things visible were the falling boulders and crystals, repeating over and over, even throwing off Yu Sheng's sense of time and distance. But suddenly, all of this came to an end.

He saw an exit ahead at the bottom of the underground rift. Beyond the jagged rocks, a weak light appeared.

Then he shot through the opening.

The boundless inner shell of the planet loomed above his head. The "starcrust" was covered in various rock pillars and quartz, with faint light flowing across the surface of the inner crust, reflecting and refracting among those crystals.

Below the inner crust was a daunting, dim void.

But the void was not empty.

Yu Sheng saw something even darker—it seemed to be a hole in the fabric of spacetime, absorbing all light, with edges that gave a visual impression of constant flickering.

And a staggering figure floated above that dark structure.

A massive skeleton, coated in holy radiance, devouring the shadows.

The skeleton raised its head, calmly watching Yu Sheng as he fell from the fissure in the crust.

(End of this chapter)