Chapter 32 Youth Fades in an Instant
An earth-shaking tiger’s roar reverberated throughout the mountains. It sounded both like the rumbling of thunder and the surging of ocean waves. Everyone’s expressions changed; the roar had come from where they had just rested.
Pang Bo and Zhang Ziling exchanged a glance. They knew that Liu Yunzhi and Li Changqing were now finished. A grown tiger would definitely not let them off, especially right when they were caring for their cubs. A female tiger protecting her cubs was the most savage.
The faces of the others were pale. They had just walked out of the Ancient Desolation Forbidden Land, but they already almost met such a huge, vicious beast. If they kept on going, just what would they encounter ahead? Although that deathly forbidden land had been terrifying at night, it was still very safe during the day.
“After escaping from the Ancestor Crocodile, experiencing countless dangers, passing through the empty universe, we finally came to a new world with life. But losing our lives here would truly be lamentable,” said Zhou Yi. He was looking back at where they had stopped.
The tiger roar was probably due to Liu Yunzhi and Li Changqing. This was the thought that quickly passed through people’s mind. They could imagine the bloody scene, the vicious tiger ripping their bodies. Sharp teeth and claws dripping with blood as it tore through them. This chilling thought caused them to tremble.
“Hurry and leave!”
This was definitely not a suitable place to stay for too long. They were still too close to the tiger’s territory. Only after rushing over two kilometers away did everyone calm down.
“This forest is too quiet. Did we walk back into the Ancient Desolation Forbidden Land?”
The old trees around them were tall enough to hide the sky. It was just as eerily quiet as the last forest. There were no birdsongs or beast roars. There weren’t even any bugs or butterflies. All the animals seemed to have suddenly vanished without a trace.
They hadn’t gotten lost, but everyone seemed to faintly sense that something was wrong and so they became even more cautious.
After walking another two kilometers, the huge old trees gradually became sparse, and an open space appeared before everyone’s eyes. They were now walking on a very flat and hard ground, almost as if they were walking on a marble floor. Not even a blade of grass was growing out of the ground. There were only a couple huge boulders.
“Why is it black ahead?”
“It looks like…a huge black lake.”
The boulders had previously blocked their view, but now that they walked around one, the shocking scene revealed itself before them.
A huge lake appeared before their eyes. It was completely silent and motionless, as if it were made of iron; not even the slightest ripple formed on it. And most shocking of all was the color. It was completely pitch-black, as black as ink.
“Now I finally understand there really is truly dirty water in this world. Just looking at this black lake makes me feel sick.”
The huge lake was completely lifeless, without even the slightest movement. Moreover, even the land around it had turned barren, without even weeds. This place was apparently a forbidden region for life.
A woman’s face was slightly pale as she said in a shuddering voice, “I think…I can hear something.”
The others now realized they could hear an indistinct, strange noise. It sounded very depressed and muffled, like the whimpering of someone in pain.
Kacha.
Suddenly, the sound of something shattering and disintegrating rang out.
“There…it’s coming from there!” Liu Yiyi’s face was completely pale. Her finger pointed towards the other shore of the black lake. A huge boulder that was tens of meters long was lying there.
There seemed to be something behind the boulder, but only part of its body was visible. Its skin was completely black and metallic. It looked both hard and cold as it reflected the light.
“What is that thing?!” Everyone was stunned.
“It doesn’t matter, we have to hurry and leave this place!”
Something that would rest beside this black lake which was completely barren was definitely not some cuddly creature.
Crack.
The shattering sound and a muffled roar once more rang out, and this time the roar appeared to be even more in pain. The thing behind the boulder struggled, and it managed to turn its body, slamming it into the boulder.
The huge boulder that was over seven meters long and ten meters high actually overturned, tumbling into the ink-black lake water, causing waves to ripple out over the lake.
Only then could everyone clearly see that fearsome beast. The beast was less than three meters long and less than one and a half meters tall. It didn’t appear like it possessed such a great strength, but that was what shocked everyone. Its three-meter long body could actually flip such a large stone boulder into the lake. Such an enormous strength was extremely outrageous.
“What is that?!”
No one had ever seen such a beast. It didn’t have fur or scales. It was covered by what appeared to be black iron and its whole body possessed a metallic luster.
It was less than three meters long, appearing like a pitch-black lump of iron which was extremely sturdy and which gave it a sense of power far beyond man. At first glance, it might appear like a bull, but looking carefully, they were substantially different. It had nine extremely sharp black horns on its head. Even more shocking, it had five eyes which emitted a bloody light when they blinked. It exposed a mouthful of sharp teeth that were as long as a hand, each tooth like a dagger. Its sinister air frightened people, and it possessed the bitter breath of a fiend.
This was a dreadful beast that they had never seen or heard of. With just a distant glance, people could tell that it was extremely vicious, causing their hearts to beat madly in their chests.
“It seems to be shedding…” noticed some people in surprise.
The beast’s back was split open, and another body could be seen emerging from it. This new body was even more black and lustrous, as if it had been created from black metal.
“Hurry up! Take advantage of the time that it’s shedding and get as far away as possible!”
It was shedding like a cicada, an extremely peculiar site to see on such a demonic-appearing beast. It was lucky that it was shedding; otherwise, the consequences would definitely have been terrible.
If the previous tiger which had released that earth-shattering roar came now, it would appear like a meek little kitten in front of this beast. The strength of a creature that could knock a huge boulder that was seven meters long and over ten meters tall into a lake was definitely terrifying.
Everyone was happy to avoid such a dangerous situation, so they quietly took a detour around the lake. The muffled and pained roars gradually became quieter until they could no longer be heard.
Once more climbing over a small hill, they could again see that building on the tall mountain peak. It was even clearer this time. They could now tell how extremely large a scale it was. Palace halls and rooms extended into the distance, appearing like a celestial palace that had fallen into the human world.
“Why do I feel like my body is getting hotter…?” A woman somewhat embarrassingly asked another woman beside her.
“My body also feels hotter.”
At this moment, everyone noticed this abnormality occurring within their bodies. From head to toe, their skins were getting redder, to the point that it looked like blood was about to come out of them. Each person felt a matchless scorching sensation throughout their whole body, as if a blazing inferno was combusting.
This was not caused by the air getting warmer. It was definitely an issue from within their bodies. Everyone felt their bodies becoming hotter and hotter, as if they were being baked in an oven.
“I…can’t bear it…too painful!” A woman painfully cried out as she crouched down on the ground. “It hurts! I feel like my body is withering…” Unable to control her tears, they fell drop by drop onto the ground.
Following her, a second and third classmate were also unable to bear it. Traces of blood seeped out of their red skins and they fell to the ground, rolling in pain.
“What is happening?!”
Everyone was aware of how severe the problem was. None of them were capable of remaining standing anymore. They all fell and rolled onto the ground while painfully screaming. It felt like their skin was being peeled off, as if knives were hacking apart their flesh.
“AHH!!” In the end, someone was completely unable to bear it as he began incessantly shouting. He rolled back and forth on the ground, leaving behind bloodstains.
“I don’t want to die,” yelled some people in fright.
This was such a sudden crisis. No one knew why their bodies would act this way. All they knew was that they felt like they were slowly dying from their body breaking into pieces.
“Let me die…die from pain…”
People were struggling, wailing, rolling, and shouting, but none of it helped. Many of them were in complete despair as they cried. The pain gradually caused their consciousness to turn fuzzy.
All of them were now curled up on a bloody ground, feeling as if bloody flames were burning them. They violently struggled and painfully howled. This was no longer a tranquil land anymore. All the nearby beasts and birds ran away in fright.
This was an inhuman torment. It was like they were stuck in purgatory, experiencing all of the world’s most cruel tortures. In the end, all of them lost consciousness from the intensity of the pain.
Eventually, the land once more became tranquil as the pained cries faded away.
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Two hours later, Ye Fan awoke, staring up at the sky from the weeds. He was the first to awaken. The sky was completely azure, and he quickly sat up, surrounded by birdsongs and animal sounds. His body was no longer in pain. In fact, he felt full of energy. His whole body felt relaxed and peaceful, and a boundless energy seemed to flow within him. He felt as if he could even tear a live saber-toothed tiger apart.
But he quickly noticed an abnormality. The clothes on his body seemed to have grown larger. They loosely hung on his body, no longer fitting properly.
He extended his arms through the huge sleeves. When he saw his hands, his usual calm broke as he immediately let out a cry of shock. Was this still his hand? It had shrunk by a lot, and it was extremely glossy, not at all an adult person’s hand.
Ye Fan quickly stood up and felt that everything was completely inconceivable. At this moment, the huge clothes on his body seemed as large as the loose robes of an opera singer. But his clothes hadn’t shrunk. It was his body that was now smaller. He now appeared to be twelve years old.
At this moment, Pang Bo also awoke. Rubbing his eyes, he saw Ye Fan and immediately became startled. “Brat, who are you? Tell me where you came from. Why are you wearing Ye Fan’s clothes?!”
Pang Bo sensed that something was wrong, so he stopped and quickly stood up. He immediately looked like he had seen a ghost as he shouted, “Why are my clothes bigger... wait no, has my body turned smaller?” Saying this, he looked at Ye Fan in shock. He stammered, “You…are Ye Fan?” Stopping, he covered his mouth because his voice was sounding more and more like a youth’s young and tender voice.
Foolishly staring at Pang Bo, he saw a young and immature youngster who appeared to be eleven to twelve years old. He could vaguely see the shadow of the adult Pang Bo’s features on the youngster’s face.
“What happened to us?” Pang Bo walked over to Ye Fan. He was yelling and shouting emotionally; this was far too upsetting.
“I think…we probably regressed back to our youth.” Ye Fan also didn’t understand this, so he could only make such an observation. The two of them were now tender youths. Compared to yesterday, their appearance was as different as heaven and earth.
“F*ck, why did such a shameful thing happen to us?!” Pang Bo continued to make a racket. He truly couldn’t understand what was happening.
“Hurry and check the others.”
Ye Fan started climbing back up the hill; they had tumbled ten or so meters off the mountain in their pain. Fortunately, this part of the hill was mostly level with many trees, or they might have tumbled into danger. When they remembered how painful it had been, they involuntarily shuddered.
Arriving at the top, the two of them were immediately dumbfounded. Pang Bo shouted in astonishment, “Who are these decrepit old men and women?”
Looking at what was before them, the two of them were practically petrified. They felt an alarming sense of disaster.
Over ten bodies were randomly lying on the ground. As far as they could see, these people had white hair and wrinkled skin, appearing extremely old. But these people were wearing the clothes of their familiar classmates. They appeared even older than seventy or eighty, reduced to a shadow of their former selves.
“They couldn’t be…Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, Lin Jia, and Li Xiaoman, right?”
In just an instant, their group of youths had become old. The two of them were dumbstruck, standing there like wooden carvings on top the hilltop.