Chapter 4752: Chapter 4751: The Cleansing

“Do you mean that Chu Feng who broke Lord Dugu Lingtian’s records?” Ma Yueyue asked.

“Yes, Senior Ma. I’m indeed referring to that Chu Feng,” Li Muzhi replied.

“Oh? I didn’t expect Junior Li to actually be acquainted with him! That’s the biggest matter I’ve heard ever since coming out of closed-door training. Many claim that he has only succeeded out of luck, and that he’s actually very weak though.

“Junior Li, since you’re acquainted with him, you should have a clearer judgment of the matter, right? How is it? Is Chu Feng the real deal?” Ma Yueyue asked out of curiosity.

“Senior Ma, these six soul possession treasures are Chu Feng’s credit. He’s the one who helped us forge them out,” Li Muzhi replied.

“Are you serious? He... actually possesses such skills?”

Ma Yueyue stared at the ring on her finger in astonishment.

“Of course, Senior Ma. We can all testify to that. If not for Junior Chu Feng, there’s no way we could have successfully forged the treasures. On top of that, the phenomenon he induced when he made a breakthrough was frightening too. That in itself was more than enough to prove that he’s an extraordinary individual.”

Zhao Shi and the others quickly spoke up too.

“It looks like Chu Feng is quite an incredible individual. You should introduce him to me then. I’m still single at the moment!” Ma Yueyue said with a chuckle.

“Senior Ma, I’m afraid that that’ll be a little difficult,” Li Muzhi said with a cheeky smile.

“Difficult? Why? There’s no way that he’ll be uninterested in me after seeing my looks,” Ma Yueyue said.

“Senior Ma, you might not have heard of it since you have just come out of your closed-door training, but the sectmaster is currently holding a matchmaking selection for Junior Zi Ling.”

Li Muzhi quickly informed Ma Yueyue about Zi Ling’s affair and how Chu Feng had signed up for that matchmaking too.

But despite knowing that Chu Feng was interested in Zi Ling, Ma Yueyue wasn’t deterred in the least. Instead, she proclaimed confidently, “Junior Zi Ling is deeply favored by the sectmaster, so it’s unlikely that Chu Feng would be able to win her over. Besides, even if he does succeed, it wouldn’t matter since I don’t mind becoming his concubine.”

The others burst into laughter upon hearing those words. They knew Ma Yueyue well, so they could tell that she was joking with them.

Boom boom boom boom!

Thunderous rumbling suddenly sounded from the distance, and it was growing louder with each passing moment.

They quickly turned their eyes over to take a look, only to be shocked when they saw countless beasts rushing from the depths of the forest in their direction, be it on land or in the sky.

Initially, they thought that they were coming under a coordinated assault by the beasts, but they soon noticed an anomaly. The thunderous rumbling wasn’t coming from the beasts but the quaking of the ground.

This wasn’t just any minor earthquake. The ground beneath their feet swiftly caved in, and it was still extending further at a frightening rate. It wouldn’t take long before the entire Vicious Beast Hellworld collapsed altogether.

These beasts were just fleeing because they caught the scent of danger.

Interestingly, these beasts didn’t attack Li Muzhi and the others upon seeing them. Instead, they circumvented them and rushed off. In fact, even the six beasts under their control were showing signs of unease.

They had to strengthen the possession through the rings on their fingers in order to calm their beasts down.

“Why do I have such an ominous feeling in my heart?”

Zhao Shu and the others subconsciously turned to look at Li Muzhi. Li Muzhi was the strongest one of all here, so he was their backbone when it came to such matters.

“Senior Ma, you’re the most knowledgeable of us here. Have you seen such a phenomenon before?” Li Muzhi turned to Ma Yueyue and asked.

Even though Ma Yueyue was weaker than him, she had a deep passion for gossip, which interestingly made her knowledgeable about all sorts of affairs in the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect, be it big or small.

In fact, she knew of many matters which even Li Muzhi was oblivious to.

“I’m not too sure either. I need to carefully think it through,” Ma Yueyue replied as she stared intently in the direction where the quaking was coming from.

The smile on her lips had vanished, replaced with grimness.

Soon, a black tornado swept over. It moved slightly slower than the earthquake, but still, its speed was nothing to make light off. Black clouds began to gather in the area as streaks of lightning struck down in the background of the scene.

It looked like the apocalypse had arrived.

“This is bad. It could be the emergence of the Hellking. Could it be that the Cleansing is happening prematurely?” Ma Yueyue exclaimed before seeing the black tornado.

“Hellking?”

Li Muzhi and the others frowned upon hearing those words.

Only Zhao Shi didn’t understand the significance of those words, so she asked, ‘What is the emergence of the Hellking and Cleansing?”

“You don’t know about the Hellking?” Ma Yueyue exclaimed in bewilderment.

Li Muzhi and the others began explaining the matter to Zhao Shi.

“The Hellking is a legendary beast in the Vicious Beast Hellworld who would appear once every five hundred years. It’s usually in a state of hibernation, but once it awakens, it’ll devour all lifeforms in the Vicious Beast Hellworld, a process which we call the Cleansing,” Li Muzhi explained.

“All lifeforms... Does that include us too?”

Zhao Shi was finally understanding the implication of this event and started to panic.

“Yes, that’s right. All living beings won’t be able to escape from this calamity. It’s not just moving animals; even plants and trees will wither away and die in its presence,” Ma Yueyue added on.

“Are we really certain that this is the Cleansing?” Zhao Shi asked.

“We have only read about this event in the records, but it looks likely to be the case,” Ma Yueyue said.

“Then what are we still standing in a daze for? Let’s quickly leave the area!” Zhao Shi said as she took out a talisman, hoping to tear it apart.

To her bewilderment, the talisman simply wouldn’t be torn. She cried out in horror, “What’s going on? Why isn’t it working?”

This was a talisman that allowed them to escape the Vicious Beast Hellworld whenever they met with danger, but at this very moment, the talisman seemed to have lost its effectiveness.

“It’s futile. The power of all formations will be rendered useless except for the sealing formation outside when the Hellking awakens. It looks like this verifies that it’s truly the Cleansing then,” Ma Yueyue said with a sigh.

“Are we all going to die here? Why would we be scheduled to enter the Vicious Beast Hellworld on the day of the Cleansing? Could it be that someone has intentionally plotted this?” a male disciple asked in horror.

His voice was quivering in fright, reflecting the mental breakdown he was going through.

He had a bright future ahead of him as a personal disciple, and he didn’t want to die here over a mere event in a trial.

“The Vicious Beast Hellworld would be sealed off ten years in advance before the Cleansing occurred to prevent any mishaps, such that no disciples would be able to enter the area. Judging from the timing, it shouldn’t be the time for the Cleansing to happen yet. Why would it happen in advance?” Li Muzhi remarked with a deep frown.

“Such a thing happened once before, but the Cleansing was stopped that time,” Ma Yueyue said.

“Senior Ma, are you referring to that incident with Lord Dugu Lingtian?” Li Muzhi asked.

It was the one time an irregularity happened in the Vicious Beast Hellworld, and Li Muzhi had heard of it too. Fortunately, all of the disciples who were hunting in the Vicious Beast Hellworld survived the ordeal as the Cleansing was somehow stopped by the legend of the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect, Lord Dugu Lingtian.

“Right, I’m referring to that incident,” Ma Yueyue said.

“Senior Ma, do you know how Lord Dugu Lingtian stopped the ordeal?” Li Muzhi asked.

“I’m afraid not. There’s not a word about that written in the records. Let’s go. Since Lord Dugu Lingtian was able to do it, all isn’t hopeless yet.”

As Ma Yueyue spoke, she controlled the vicious beast under her control to steer it in the direction where the black tornado was occurring.

“Senior Ma, what are you doing? You can’t possibly be thinking of challenging the legendary Hellking, are you?”

Zhao Shi’s face paled as her body began shuddering. She looked extremely averse to the idea of approaching the eye of the storm.

“As long as we’re trapped in the Vicious Beast Hellworld, we’ll be doomed to die no matter where we run too. If we rush over to make a move before the Hellking fully awakens, we might still stand a chance of stopping it. If you’re afraid, you can wait here helplessly and pray that things somehow work out for you, but I’ll be giving it a try.”

After saying her words, Ma Yueyue turned to Li Muzhi and asked, “Junior Li, what do you think?”

“I’ll go,” Li Muzhi said.

Seeing that Li Muzhi was intending to head over too, Zhao Shi gritted her teeth and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s all head over then.”

“Indeed, let’s go together then. Since it’s all doom anyway, let’s at least give it a try.”

“Even if we’re going to die, the least we can do is to put up a good fight!”

The other personal disciples also nodded in agreement.

Having come to a decision, they quickly began making their move toward the black tornado. They knew that great danger lay there, evidenced by how even the beasts driven by their instincts knew to escape from it. Yet, they were marching straight into the face of danger.

Such an incomprehensible act caused even some of the escaping vicious beasts to momentarily halt their footsteps to glance at them, as if they were staring at fools who didn’t know what they were doing.

Of course, there was no way Li Muzhi and Ma Yueyue wouldn’t know how dangerous the black tornado was, but they knew that this was the only hope of survival they had here.