<h4>Chapter 1049: Secret of the Cloudy Sky</h4>


    The stretch of emptiness was boundless and stretched for as far as the eye could see. When would they reach the end?


    The most annoying part wasn’t that there were no beasts, nor was it the abominable nature of the environment. The most frustrating part was that there was absolutely nothing in their surroundings. It waspletely empty, and they could do nothing at all.


    “This… Big Boss An Lin, this ce feels a little bit off.” Lan Xiaoni—who was following behind An Lin—couldn’t help but make a remark.


    An Lin rolled his eyes. “Isn’t that tantly obvious?”


    “But… I just want to say something, even if it’s nonsense. The emptiness is so scary…” Lan Xiaoni had a nervous expression as she nced around at their surroundings. It looked as though she was afraid that something life-threatening would suddenly leap out from the emptiness.


    An Lin: “…”


    Sometimes, extreme silence could also be terrifying.


    One would develop the fear of suddenly being attacked.


    “Let’s continue forward,” An Lin said resolutely. “I’m sure that this ce doesn’t stretch on forever.”


    Lan Xiaoni nodded and continued following behind An Lin.


    Whenever she felt nervous or afraid, she would nce at the white-clothed figure before her. This reliable male’s figure was able to alleviate her anxiousness somewhat.


    So what if the enemy was strong? Big Boss An Lin would be able to pummel them with a single strike of his fist!


    The two of them continued flying through the boundless sea of clouds.


    One hour, two hours…


    Twelve hours, one day…


    There was nothing, still absolutely nothing!


    An Lin silently stopped his brick kinesis flight. “This is impossible,” he said solemnly. “How can a ball realm be so big?”


    Lan Xiaoni scratched her head. “Well, the unique property of the realms of each ball does differ after all…”


    “With the amount of distance we’ve flown these past few days, we would’ve been able to fly around Earth a few times already! Even if we line up all the Xiangpiaopiao[1] that people consume, it still won’t be as long as the distance that we’ve flown! This Small World can’t be thatrge!”


    Lan Xiaoni looked at An Lin with a dumbfounded expression. “Say what?”


    An Lin: “…”


    <i>Oh, right… I forgot that this mermaid doesn’t know about Earth-rted matters.</i>


    Lan Xiaoni’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Say, do you think this ce is like the ce that we first entered? Maybe we need to activate something to cause some changes to ur in this realm…”


    An Lin fell deep into thought. “Unlimited de Works[2]?”


    Lan Xiaoni was dumbfounded. “Say what?”


    An Lin: “…


    “That ce was very simr to here. It was also a boundless stretch ofnd. I could only exit that realm after I activated the Sword Burial Ne and absorbed all the dead swords.”


    An Lin paused for a moment before continuing, “In fact, the number of dead swords there was nowhere near as much as it looked. We’ve been flying for ages, and it’s possible that we’ve been flying over the same stretch of the sky over and over again.”


    Lan Xiaoni was astonished. “So, you’re saying that we’re going around in circles?”


    An Lin pursed his lips. “Yeah, something like that…”


    He nced at the fluffy white clouds and said, “This ce is most likely a trap like that. Perhaps we’ve been flying over the same stretch of the sky this entire time!”


    An Lin and Lan Xiaoni both fell silent.


    If this was really the case, then what could they do?


    Before, An Lin had the Sword Burial Ne. Now, however, he had nothing at all. In other words, they were still lost…


    “Sigh… Perhaps we’ll be able to discover something if we fully understand all the matter and void in this realm. However, that’s impossible…” Lan Xiaoni murmured softly as she sat down on her gigantic flying shell.


    <i>Fully understand all the matter and void in this realm?</i>


    An Lin was momentarily dazed upon hearing this. Then, his eyes gradually lit up.


    “Heh, who said that’s impossible?” An Lin grinned.


    Lan Xiaoni turned her beautiful eyes toward An Lin. “It can’t be, right?” she yelped in astonishment. “Could it be… that you can also achieve such a task?”


    Countless stars and gxies suddenly shed across An Lin’s eyes. Immediately afterward, his eyes became clear, reflecting the entire heaven and earth.


    <i>Divine Simtion Technique!</i>


    A colorless fluctuation instantly rippled out hundreds of kilometers.


    Regardless of whether it was the shapes of the white clouds, the currents of the airstreams, or the flow paths of the vital energy, all the information about this realm started funneling into An Lin’s mind.


    Climate, space, matter…


    Everything about this ce was clear before An Lin’s eyes!


    “I’ve got it…”


    An Lin’s eyes gradually returned to normal. However, his face had be especially pale.


    “Big Boss An Lin, are you alright?” Lan Xiaoni asked anxiously. She was given a fright by An Lin’s suddenly weakened aura.


    “I’m fine.” An Lin retrieved a high-rank spirit pill from his storage ring and gulped it down.


    The Divine Simtion Technique was an extremely exhausting technique to use, and he could only use it once per month. Otherwise, it would cause great damage to his body and even eat away at his life force.


    An Lin only used the technique once, yet he felt as if all of his energy had been drained.


    Anyhow… the result was a good one.


    “I found the w of this Small World.” An Lin grinned.


    “Are you really alright?” Lan Xiaoni was more worried about An Lin’s state.


    An Lin nodded. “Yeah, I’m really alright. Follow me.”


    He steered his brick toward some direction.


    Lan Xiaoni was feeling a bit anxious as she followed behind on her gigantic shell.


    After a short while, An Lin stopped at some location.


    Lan Xiaoni looked around, yet she didn’t discover anything peculiar about the ce.


    An Lin silently drew his Evil-ying Sword. “To tell you the truth, both of us were wrong. Why do we keep flying above the clouds?”


    Lan Xiaoni wasn’t stupid. Her expression instantly changed upon hearing this. Then, she turned her gaze toward the fluffy white clouds.


    “That’s right, the path is below these clouds. It’s right underneath the clouds in this location!”


    An Lin shed his sword at the clouds below them.


    A pitch-ck sword projection ripped apart the white clouds and tore open a fissure, which measured tens of thousands of feet in length!


    There was a white, helix-shaped spatial passageway below theyers of clouds.


    “My God! How did you discover this aura-less spatial passageway?” Lan Xiaoni looked at An Lin reverently.


    “You won’t understand even if I tell you. Let’s go down.” An Lin couldn’t be bothered exining.


    Lan Xiaoni: “…”


    If it weren’t for the fact that she was weaker than An Lin, she would definitely charge over and give him a good pummeling.


    An Lin wore a serious expression as he flew toward the spatial passageway.


    The difficulty of this ball of light had already far exceeded his expectations.


    If it weren’t for his Divine Simtion Technique, how long would they have been trapped above the cloudyers? This trial waspletely impassable for ordinary cultivators of the Soul Formation Stage.


    It felt like the difficulty increased with every sessive light ball realm that they entered. This had nothing to do with the order in which they picked the light balls. It appeared as though the level of difficulties could be automatically adjusted.


    They passed through the spatial passageway.


    An Lin and Lan Xiaoni arrived in a different realm.


    As before, this was a boundless stretch of a cloudy sky.


    The only difference was that there was a real yet illusory appearing sun in this realm. It was located above the horizon where the blue sky and cloudyers met, and it dyed the clouds a fiery red color.


    “This ce is…”


    An Lin was slightly dazed. Then, a feeling of immense danger suddenly gripped at his heart.


    Two heaven-piercing swords suddenly appeared in the nearby void. It felt as though the terrifying sword intent that they exuded could even crush the heavens.


    A being, which was shrouded in ck mist, appeared in the void. Only its two crimson eyes were visible, and it spoke with an extremely hoarse voice. “Do you prefer life, or do you prefer death?”


    [1] Presumably referring to a Chinese milk tea brand.


    [2] Presumably a reference to Fate Stay Night.