Chapter 63: Despair in the Apocalypse

Martial Arts Shen Yu had transmigrated to this world for so many years now, and while he had indeed heard of certain natural wonders, he had never once heard of a storm so terrifying.

Moreover, it was visible to the naked eye that the phenomena before them were clearly no ordinary tornadoes!

Aside from the biting, freezing winds, Martial Arts Shen Yu could even clearly discern intense martial vital energy—*gangqi*—churning within the vortexes!

What was *gangqi*?

It was the breath of unyielding strength!

In this world, it was the ferocious force erupted through the use of true energy. Blade *gang*, sword *gang*, and fist *gang* were merely the fundamental applications of true energy.

Yet right now, he was actually witnessing the manifestation of *gangqi* within a natural disaster.

"To think it could be like this..." The others around Martial Arts Shen Yu, who were likewise gazing upon the immortal treasure, all wore expressions of profound shock.

They stared in disbelief at this unprecedented spectacle.

The impact on them was even greater, for they had never heard of, let alone witnessed, such a sight.

Had they not watched the immortal treasure fly in this direction all the way here, and had the terrain not vaguely resembled what it used to be, they would never have believed that this place was once the grand sect of the Earth Martial Gate.

The former sacred land of body-tempering martial arts had been reduced to a dead zone overnight!

When had this happened?

Did the Earth Martial Gate still exist?

Some individuals with weaker composure even trembled slightly at this moment.

Even though they had learned of the existence of the Great Calamity of Heaven and Earth from the immortals, compared to hunger and biting cold winds, the scene before their eyes undoubtedly embodied the true horror of a "calamity."

And to think that previously, they had foolishly believed they could remain aloof and unaffected.

That was the Earth Martial Gate!

One of the strongest sects in the entire world!

At this moment, Martial Arts Shen Yu also furrowed his brows deeply.

He had visited the Earth Martial Gate before and remembered it very clearly: it had been a vast marshland forest, teeming with dense subterranean earth-qi and bounded by endless mountain ranges. Yet all of it had vanished, completely obliterated within this meat-grinder-like tornado of blade-*gang*.

Could even powerful martial artists genuinely survive under such circumstances?

If they were completely wiped out, how much of the sect's foundational arts and inheritances could possibly remain?

"I still need to investigate and find out the truth," Martial Arts Shen Yu muttered under his breath.

Already, within the depths of his mind, he mobilized the gray fog to contact Interstellar Shen Yu and Modern Shen Yu.

***

Upon hearing the situation, both of them fell into a brief silence.

This genuinely exceeded their expectations. After all, judging from the previous assessments of the apocalypses across the three worlds, Martial Arts Shen Yu's world had seemingly been facing the mildest crisis.

At the time, it had merely been a cold wave.

Yet such a natural disaster had chosen to strike precisely at the Earth Martial Gate...

"The detection device's defense systems are extremely robust; ordinary natural disasters cannot destroy it. However, I am unfamiliar with this 'gangqi' you speak of. We can detach a threat-assessment probe to test the waters," Interstellar Shen Yu paused, his tone growing heavier. "Body-tempering techniques are crucial. A sufficient quantity and quality of data in the early stages will save us a massive amount of time. Whatever reinforcements you need, I will do my best to secure them for you!"

"Understood!" Martial Arts Shen Yu responded heavily.

He felt the immense pressure bearing down on him, yet he wished for the survival of the Earth Martial Gate even more fervently than Interstellar Shen Yu did.

Without hesitation, he detached several small black spheres, which slowly drifted forward toward the tornado storm.

Fortunately, although these tornadoes were rated as possessing "energy weapon attacks," the intensity of the assault grew weaker the higher one went, being strongest near the ground. Thus, the probe could afford to take a risk.

It would delve in from the high altitude.

Ceasing all hesitation, right under everyone's watchful eyes, the detection feed lunged forward abruptly.

Plunging deep into the storm!

A visible layer of protective shields materialized around the probe, and countless razor-sharp blades of *gangqi* crashed against it, utterly unable to inflict even the slightest scratch.

"As expected of a supreme treasure of the immortals!" The onlookers were deeply moved.

Especially the two Supreme Elders of Sword God Peak.

Sword Guiyi even accidentally yanked out a few strands of his own beard.

To be able to soar into the sky, speed through the nine heavens at thousands of kilometers per second, and transmit such vivid, real-time imagery was already astonishing enough.

Yet right now, it could barrel headfirst through such a horrifying storm without suffering a single hair's breadth of damage!

An immortal treasure of this caliber was truly miraculous beyond compare.

However, Martial Arts Shen Yu had no leisure to show off. He directly cranked the probe's scanning power to the maximum while lowering the device's altitude, pushing against the barrage of terrifying *gangqi* tornadoes as he frantically searched for signs of life.

The territory of the Earth Martial Gate was immensely vast, centered around a massive convergence point of subterranean earth-qi.

In the past, it had teemed with population and lush vegetation.

Yet now, aside from deep underground, not a single trace of life could be detected.

It was as if everything upon the surface of the earth had been scraped clean.

Martial Arts Shen Yu kept silent, even entertaining the thought of requesting a few more probes.

***

However, after pushing hundreds of kilometers deep into the tornado zone, Martial Arts Shen Yu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Within the detection feed, a warm red zone had appeared!

It was located approximately twenty meters underground!

Clearly marked, dozens of individuals could be seen huddled together within a long subterranean tunnel. There were nearly a thousand people in total, and judging from the path behind them, they had actually tunneled all the way here from over a dozen kilometers away!

"Martial arts experts truly aren't so easily killed," Martial Arts Shen Yu finally let out a slight breath of relief.

As long as some people remained alive, the inheritance would endure!

Yet upon closely examining the scan results, he realized that the condition of these people was extremely grim.

The temperature inside the tunnel was plummeting, dropping past minus fifty degrees Celsius. The vital signs of many individuals had grown extremely weak, and people were perishing entirely from time to time.

After all, digging a subterranean tunnel was no easy feat, let alone one of this magnitude.

How could oxygen be managed? How could cave-ins be prevented when the permafrost was exceptionally hard?

Being able to excavate over a dozen kilometers could already be considered a miracle brought forth by martial arts.

Yet there were still hundreds of kilometers left to traverse!

A natural disaster of this scale was by no means something the human manpower of this world could resolve—otherwise, it wouldn't be called an apocalypse.

"We can't drag this out any further." Shen Yu swiftly manipulated a smaller probe, directing it to fly down through a ventilation shaft prepared within the subterranean tunnel.

The moment it entered, the scene inside the tunnel unfolded across the three-dimensional volumetric display.

As expected, it was utterly wretched.

The entire tunnel was extremely narrow, barely wide enough for two people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, supported intermittently by stone pillars and wooden planks. Disciples clad in the attire of the Earth Martial Gate wore expressions of profound exhaustion.

They pushed their martial arts techniques to the absolute limit in an effort to maintain their body heat amidst the freezing temperatures, but clearly, their inner reserves were already hollowed out, and once-powerful, robust muscles could no longer provide the slightest warmth.

Some individuals had grown so emaciated that they hardly resembled disciples of the Earth Martial Gate at all.

In the short distance the probe flew, it had already passed dozens of frozen corpses. Others collapsed on the spot right then and there, while the surrounding disciples didn't react much, merely gazing numbly as their fellow brothers drew their final breaths.

The despair of the apocalypse was glaringly evident.