Shan Ji circled the great hall again, unwilling to give up, but still found nothing!
Ye Fan and the others had simply vanished into thin air...
"I'll see what's so strange about this place!"
Shan Ji roared, and punched towards the wall in front of him!
His fist was engulfed in golden Vermilion Bird Fire!
"Bang—!"
His fist slammed hard against the wall.
But nothing happened!
Shan Ji's punch was enveloped in Vermilion Bird Fire.
Let alone a wall of ordinary bricks and stones, even a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage might have been made to spit blood.
But in reality, the wall was completely unaffected!
Instead, Shan Ji's arm went numb from the impact!
All of this was too bizarre!
"Bang bang bang bang bang—!"
Shan Ji continued to pound with all his might, but the outcome remained the same...
Then...
Something even stranger happened!
A sea of fire erupted on the floor!
And the color of the flames was also golden!
Shan Ji watched the sea of fire warily.
Within the flames, he felt a sense of familiarity.
It was as if these flames had separated from his own body.
But amidst this familiarity, there was a killing intent!
The sea of fire suddenly contracted violently, finally coalescing into a giant flaming bird!
Shan Ji was certain he had never seen a bird beast of this appearance.
But for some reason, the fire bird gave him a sense of closeness.
Especially the flames on the bird's body...
Shan Ji used to be quite satisfied with his own flames.
Although he didn't know where the golden flames within him came from, it didn't stop him from knowing they were very powerful!
His previous victories in battles against opponents of higher cultivation levels were strong proof of this.
But now, after seeing the golden flames on the giant bird, for the first time he realized how pathetic his own flames were...
Compared to those of the bird, his were trash!
His intuition told him that even a single wisp of flame from the giant bird could make him disappear completely!
What made Shan Ji's scalp tingle even more was that the giant bird was charging towards him!
Shan Ji didn't even have time to react before he was engulfed by the golden flames...
In an instant, Shan Ji thought he was dead!
The searing flames felt as if every inch of his body was cracking!
He was in so much pain that he couldn't even scream...
Shan Ji wanted to run.
But no matter which way he turned, he was met with these golden flames.
Shan Ji didn't know how far he had run, but he couldn't escape the terrifying sea of fire...
Gradually, Shan Ji's consciousness began to blur...
In a daze, a scene appeared in his mind.
It was a beautiful vista, like a utopian paradise, and the people coming and going seemed very happy.
Although the faces of these people were blurred and indistinct, he felt a sense of familiarity.
The scene shifted, and Shan Ji found himself in a courtyard.
Around him were people with indistinguishable faces, and though they were speaking, he couldn't hear their words.
But these people gave him an even greater sense of kinship.
The word "family" naturally popped into Shan Ji's mind!
The scene shifted again.
A group of strangers, also with blurred faces, invaded the paradise.
These strangers began to attack and brutally slaughter the inhabitants.
Shan Ji then found himself pinned to the ground, forced to watch it all unfold!
The people he felt were familiar fell one by one before his eyes...
The people he considered family were all brutally murdered before his eyes...
Those people seemed to be saying something to him as they died, but he couldn't hear a single word.
After that...
All the people around him were dead, and only Shan Ji remained.
Shan Ji's heart ached inexplicably...
A stranger approached Shan Ji, speaking down to him.
But he couldn't hear a word.
At this moment, a fire of rage seemed to be building within him!
A rage that wanted to burn all these people to death!
The stranger seemed to be getting impatient and finally attacked Shan Ji!
Shan Ji's vision went black, and all the images disappeared.
Immediately following this was the scorching fire he had felt earlier!
Shan Ji was burned into unconsciousness. He didn't know how long had passed before he woke up.
Then he was in so much pain that he fainted again...
Back and forth, in an endless cycle.
...
Meanwhile.
Upon discovering that the others were gone, Banana-kun did not resort to violence like Shan Ji.
After a fruitless search, Banana-kun closed his eyes.
He was searching.
Searching for Ye Fan and the others' life essence!
But his usually infallible skill failed him this time!
There seemed to be something invisible around, blocking his divine sense.
Banana-kun opened his eyes and looked in that direction.
At some point, a tree had appeared in the hall.
The tree appeared to be about the same height as the hall, but it gave Banana-kun a feeling of immense grandeur...
Standing before the great tree, Banana-kun felt like an ant in the vast sky...
The tree emitted no special aura; it felt no different from any ordinary tree.
However, Banana-kun felt a peculiar resonance within him.
His intuition told him that there was some connection between himself and this tree...
Banana-kun trance-like raised his right hand and placed it on the trunk of the tree.
The next moment!
Countless memory fragments flooded into Banana-kun's mind!
The fragments came too fast and too numerous for Banana-kun to react!
His mind felt like an overfilled water balloon, on the verge of bursting!
Although Banana-kun couldn't examine the images closely, he could vaguely discern some things.
If he had to describe it with a single word, it would be destruction!
The destruction of all living beings...
Utter despair...
"Thump—!"
Banana-kun's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground!
The next moment, the great tree seemed to come alive!
With a twist of its trunk, it swallowed Banana-kun whole!
Meanwhile.
"Ye Fan? Little Chicken? Big Banana?"
Little Witch called out desperately, but received no reply.
She was now completely panicked.
In the blink of an eye, she was the only one left here...
She searched the great hall for a long time but found nothing.
Like Shan Ji, Little Witch also attempted to find an escape route through brute force.
Unfortunately, no matter how she attacked, it had no effect...
But Little Witch couldn't afford to care about that now; she continued to attack the wall frantically!
Her state was clearly abnormal; she was possessed!
Suddenly, a voice echoed.
"Little girl, it's been a long time."
Even though she hadn't heard this voice for tens of thousands of years, Little Witch couldn't help but tremble when she heard it again!
This voice was etched into her very bones, her eternal nightmare...
Little Witch turned around in disbelief...
And then she saw...
Her nightmare had appeared...
It was a middle-aged old man.
The old man's long hair was casually disheveled, making him look somewhat deranged.
"I only left for a moment, and you ran away. How disobedient!" the mad old man said excitedly, "I must punish you properly!"