Chapter 4644: The Reality of the Celestial Plane
Chapter 4644: The Reality of the Celestial Plane
*Tsssss...*
The red glow outside quickly returned as the enormous object moved away from Granfel. Almost immediately, the temperature skyrocketed by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of degrees, turning the streets into a deadly furnace once more.
*Arrrgghhhh!!!*
"Nooooo!!"
"Let me innn!!!!!"
Screams erupted throughout the city, coming from those unfortunate enough to be caught near the entrances, but especially from the cultivators still outside who hadn’t been fortunate or strong enough to force their way into one of the many buildings.
Some of the stronger experts managed to resist the unbearable temperature for a few more minutes, desperately trying to crawl their way into shelter. However, their Godly Energy reserves quickly ran dry. Once their barriers failed, their bodies were exposed to the full force of the heat, and their screams soon joined those of the others.
The twins’ group, along with the cultivators positioned far enough from the entrances, could do nothing but watch as the unfortunate newcomers began to burn alive. The smell of scorched flesh quickly filled the streets. At such an extreme temperature, their bodies didn’t even have enough time to burn normally. Their flesh rapidly blackened and turned to carbon, leaving little behind.
Other races, particularly spirits, were at an even greater disadvantage in this situation. Although their cores allowed them to roll around more easily than cultivators with physical bodies, they were also much easier to knock aside during the chaos. Worse still, their cores weren’t necessarily resistant to extreme temperatures. Some cracked under the heat, while others simply burned away, killing them in moments.
It didn’t seem to matter which race someone belonged to. Unless they possessed the necessary resistance, they would die just like everyone else, with only a few very specific exceptions.
Rean glanced toward the street and noticed something that immediately caught his attention. A strange blob of molten lava was moving around outside, seemingly unaffected by the extreme temperatures. It didn’t even appear to be struggling to preserve its energy.
No doubt it was some kind of spirit, but one belonging to a race for which such temperatures were perfectly normal. What would be a death sentence for most cultivators was probably little more than an uncomfortable environment for that particular creature.
Of course, races capable of naturally enduring such conditions were far too rare to make any meaningful difference to the overall situation. Almost everyone else was doomed. Bodies turned to ashes, leaving not even bones behind, while those who had been unfortunate enough to remain exposed for too long simply vanished beneath the scorching light.
Some might consider this unfair. After all, a cultivator’s race could determine whether they survived an environment that others couldn’t endure for even a few seconds.
However, the cultivation world had never been fair in the first place. Regardless of the circumstances, some races would possess natural advantages while others suffered from equally natural disadvantages. Being born into the right race for one situation could be a blessing, but that same race might become a terrible disadvantage somewhere else.
In the end, it all came down to circumstances and luck.
—
The twins focused on resisting the extreme temperatures once more, while Celis discontinued his Energy Draining Prison. Maintaining the ability required more energy than he could recover from the few desperate cultivators who entered its range, making it a waste of resources under the current circumstances.
With the absorption field gone, the other cultivators gradually approached, filling the space that had previously separated them from the twins’ group. Before long, the gap of approximately one meter had disappeared entirely. There were simply too many cultivators packed into the shop for anyone to maintain much personal space.
Rean and Kentucky continued working together to use their Yang Energy to alleviate the heat affecting Kachia. Her Ice Element affinity made the environment particularly uncomfortable for her, and even with her considerable resistance to Godly Pressure, the extreme temperature remained a serious challenge. The two used their Yang Energy carefully, reducing the heat reaching her without wasting more energy than necessary.
Fortunately, there was at least one positive development. The temperature wasn’t as high as it had been before the Cover Hour began. By the time the enormous object had covered the city, the daylight had already reached its peak. Now that the cover had disappeared, the temperature had skyrocketed again, but it hadn’t returned to its previous maximum. Instead, it was slowly decreasing.
That didn’t make the situation comfortable, of course. The heat remained dangerous enough to kill anyone who failed to maintain their Godly Energy barrier. Still, every degree of reduction helped, especially when they needed to conserve their energy until nightfall.
As they adjusted to the renewed heat, another detail gradually became apparent.
Despite the chaos during the Cover Hour, when cultivators had crawled over one another in their desperate attempts to secure shelter, not a single person was now lying on top of another. They were packed tightly together, shoulder to shoulder, leaving no room to move, but each cultivator had secured a separate spot.
That was strange.
Staying too close to the entrance or remaining outside meant certain death when the sunlight returned. Surely, under such circumstances, pride should have been the last thing on anyone’s mind. If crawling over another cultivator could mean the difference between life and death, why wouldn’t they do it? Why wasn’t the shop filled with cultivators piled on top of one another, all trying to escape the heat?
’What? That?’ Howard said when he noticed their puzzled expressions. Having secured his own spot once more, he seemed to have regained enough composure to answer their questions. ’Godly Pressure, of course. You bunch haven’t crawled over anyone since arriving here, have you?’
’If you try it, you’ll see it. Well... feel it, to be more specific. The Godly Pressure increases several times the moment you crawl over another cultivator. That’s why, even though some of them did it during the chaos of the Cover Hour, they certainly didn’t stay that way for long.’
Rean turned toward Roan. ’Shall I give it a try?’
’See if I won’t break all the rules just to get you killed the moment you try,’ Roan replied coldly.
’Meh...’ Rean gave up.
*Rawr!*
’It really is much higher. How strange,’ Luxa remarked.
She was currently lying on top of Rean’s back, apparently finding the position quite comfortable despite his helplessness.
’You’re immune to Godly Pressure, remember? It doesn’t matter how much it increases for you,’ Rean pointed out.
’That’s true! Hahaha!’ Luxa laughed, apparently seeing no reason to feel guilty about enjoying her advantage.
It wasn’t just Howard who envied the Eternal Creatures’ immunity. Even the twins’ group couldn’t help looking at Luxa and Lunelle with a little jealousy.
Roan ignored the two and turned his attention back to Howard. ’Can you continue explaining this place? You started earlier, but we haven’t heard the rest yet. From the looks of it, everyone will be busy resisting the temperature until nightfall.’
’Oh!’ Howard nodded. ’That’s right. Let me pick up where I left off.’
As Howard had explained earlier, this city was called Granfel, and it served as a hub for cultivators leaving protected areas for the first time.
Howard had been quite surprised to learn that the twins’ group didn’t even know what those protected areas were. Nevertheless, he continued explaining, gradually filling in the gaps in their knowledge.
Protected areas were regions where Godly Pressure remained bearable, even for cultivators without any particular immunity to it. Although the pressure still existed, it was sufficiently weakened that ordinary cultivators could move around without constantly struggling against it.
The twins’ group immediately thought of the Grasslands.
That was precisely the kind of environment they had come from, although they had never considered it a protected area in the way Howard described.
There was one problem, however. Howard had never heard of any Grasslands.
He recognized the name of neither the region nor any location associated with it. Nevertheless, he understood that if the twins’ group came from a place where Godly Pressure could be endured without any special immunity, then their homeland must be another protected area, perhaps from some corner of the Celestial Plane he had never heard of.
The Godly Pressure they were experiencing now was what Howard called the real thing. ’In fact, what you’re experiencing here is relatively moderate. There are places where the pressure is countless times more concentrated, to the point that you can actually see it with your own eyes.’
There was no such thing as a Sacred Relic here.
When the twins asked about it, Howard explained that where he came from, such an object was called a Godly Pressure Eraser. Its function was essentially the same as that of their Sacred Relic: it created protected areas by preventing Godly Pressure from reaching certain locations.
However, outside those protected areas, such objects were rarely encountered. Here in Granfel and the regions beyond it, finding places where Godly Pressure had been erased would be difficult. In fact, many cultivators preferred not to have such protection at all.
That answer surprised the twins’ group. After all, from their perspective, the Sacred Relic was one of the most valuable assets a region could possess. Why would anyone deliberately choose to live without something so useful?
Roan, however, quickly understood the underlying reason.
Granfel existed to help cultivators develop full immunity to Godly Pressure. For that purpose, the pressure had to remain highly concentrated. If the city were protected by a Godly Pressure Eraser, its residents would never have a proper opportunity to adapt.
The entire city was built around the idea of forcing cultivators to endure conditions they would eventually encounter in the wider Celestial Plane. The heat, the crawling, the struggle for shelter, and even the severe restrictions on outside assistance all seemed to be parts of a brutal process designed to make them stronger.
But that still left one important question unanswered.
When asked why such a method was used, Howard could only shake his head.
’I honestly don’t know. None of my elders back home knew, either. Why allow so many cultivators to die when they could simply be given more time to adapt to Godly Pressure? Wouldn’t that increase the overall strength of the Celestial Plane?’
It’s hard to say. Perhaps there’s a real reason for it, but it’s not something they will discover anytime soon.