Chapter Fifty: The Heaven-Swallowing Toad

The world is vast and boundless, its landscapes endlessly varied. Over those five years, Nan Luo had seen countless mountains and rivers, yet in the scope of the whole world, his journey was but a single thread across the earth. For instance, the mountain he now stood upon was one he had never even heard of, let alone seen with his own eyes.

The setting sun stained the snow-capped peaks with a rosy glow.

Snowflakes appeared out of thin air above the summit, shrouding the mountaintop, only to vanish just as mysteriously at the mountainside, as if this place had become a cycle of its own, existing beyond the realm of the world.

Standing at the edge of a cliff beside the Ice Palace, the woman in the pink dress seemed like a spirit untouched by the mortal world. Nan Luo walked over slowly, coming to a stop just behind her, but for a moment, he found himself unable to speak.

After a while, she turned her head slightly, chin raised, a faintly mocking smile on her lips, her eyes cold and proud as she looked at Nan Luo. “So, having your things stolen, you think you can get them back with such methods?”

Nan Luo involuntarily averted his gaze, thinking to himself, If your powers weren’t so overwhelming, would I have to resort to this? Would you have been able to take my things at all?

“I know what you’re thinking. Would you like me to suppress my cultivation to your level and have a match? If you win, you can take back your sword and mirror.” As these words sounded in his ear, Nan Luo replied without hesitation, without even a glance, “Alright!”

But when he saw the smile on her face, his excitement instantly faded, for the mockery in her expression only deepened.

“Why should I do that? Just to prove I can still defeat you with equal power? Ridiculous.” She clasped her hands behind her back, gazing out over the boundless world. When snowflakes landed on her, they vanished noiselessly, as if melting into water.

Nan Luo had nothing to say; he couldn’t even muster anger. He only resolved that, once he returned, he would redouble his cultivation, never allowing such a thing to happen again.

As dusk deepened, she continued to stand there quietly, showing no intention of leaving or entering the Ice Palace. Was she always like this? Nan Luo wondered. It was just as well; if she decided to enter the Xuanming Palace or leave, he truly didn’t know if he would have the courage to follow.

She seemed to have forgotten Nan Luo altogether, standing there alone as if she would become a fixture for eternity, her pink dress occasionally fluttering in the wind, making her appear even more aloof and solitary.

Darkness crept over the land. Snowflakes continued to fall soundlessly, unhurried and tireless, as if they would never cease.

Suddenly, Nan Luo saw a giant maw appear, vast enough to swallow the heavens, as if it would devour the entire mountain in a single bite. The mouth seemed to come from the netherworld, leading into an endless abyss. A powerful suction wrapped itself around Nan Luo.

The maw appeared without a sound. Only when the force enveloped his body did Nan Luo jolt awake. His magic surged wildly; he unleashed the divine power of Manifesting Heaven, but his body continued to slide rapidly forward, utterly unable to resist the suction from that gaping mouth.

After his initial shock, Nan Luo could no longer think—he could only circulate his magic madly, invoking all his powers to resist the force.

A haze of yellow mist appeared around him, slightly slowing his movement. This was the earth-elemental spiritual energy Nan Luo commanded. Ever since he had obtained Kong Xuan’s Five Elements Jade Slip five years ago, he had gained some insight into the weight of earth, grasping a hint of its mountain-like solidity. If it were Kong Xuan, who had already mastered the Five Elements, a single ray of yellow light would shatter mountains and crack the earth.

But Nan Luo could not achieve this. Though he comprehended some of the earth’s heaviness, he still couldn’t stand firm against the swallowing force of the maw.

His body swelled to several times its normal size, yellow mist coiling around him, drifting into the whirling snow and being sucked into the maw. His feet slipped inexorably toward the gaping chasm at the cliff’s edge, yet still clung to the ground.

Strands of yellow mist rose from beneath his feet, merging with the aura around him, but they could not keep pace with the maw’s devouring speed. The mist grew ever thinner, his magic rapidly depleting under the strain. When he instinctively used the Devour Heaven and Earth technique to absorb the world’s spiritual energy, he discovered that here, the energy was incredibly sparse—as if in a vacuum.

Nan Luo instantly understood that the maw was devouring the world’s essence itself, and its flow could never keep up with the speed of that terrifying suction.

With a whoosh, Nan Luo was lifted from the ground, like a leaf swept into a maelstrom, tumbling toward the maw.

Yet his mind was utterly tranquil, his spirit entering a state of emptiness, slipping into the meditative recitation of the Yellow Court Scripture. In that moment, the roar of the wind, the wild dance of snow, all vanished. Before his inner eyes appeared a world woven from five colors: crimson, earth-yellow, tender green, bright white, and deep black. These threads intertwined, forming a mysterious, radiant river.

A gaping maw as vast as a mountain, seemingly from a foreign void, with no body visible—only the abyssal mouth, devouring mountains and rivers. The wind and snow surged toward it, and Nan Luo’s gigantic form slid to the very edge of the abyss.

Amidst the blizzard and the devouring force, the woman in pink stood motionless, her skirt billowing. Her expression did not change, even as she faced the maw that could swallow all; her chin remained slightly raised, her gaze proud and dismissive, as if watching a clown performing before her.

Her lips still held that faint, mocking smile, her eyes cold and condescending.

At that moment, a majestic voice suddenly resounded from the sky, as though seeping from the void, ethereal and elusive. The void trembled inexplicably; the voice was like the speech of the Great Dao, each syllable making the very air shiver.

The woman in pink showed a trace of surprise. In her eyes, just as Nan Luo was about to fall into the maw, his body began to fade, dissolving like mist into the swirling snow.

Nan Luo felt as if he was a fish swimming against the current in that five-colored river, struggling upward while the torrent surged unceasingly toward the maw.

His mind was clear and empty, his spirit stirring the five elements of heaven and earth. If anyone could witness this, they would see that with every step forward, he was swimming upstream along the yellow current.

Heaven and earth utter no words, yet their silent language is always the voice of the Great Dao. Strangely, Nan Luo suddenly felt himself merging with the colored stream, as if his body had truly become insubstantial, the flow passing right through him.

Empty, silent, and indistinct—he lost all sense of time.

Suddenly, the pressure vanished, the devouring force disappeared, and he snapped out of that trance.

A yellow cloud materialized a thousand meters high in the sky. With a flash of green shadow, Nan Luo appeared, standing atop the cloud as if it were solid ground, as though he and the yellow cloud were one.

His face was calm, his mind still lingering in the vastness of the Dao. In his pupils, a faint lamp-flame seemed to flicker. With the Heavenly Gaze, he instantly saw the maw’s true form: a silver-gray toad, as large as a mountain, crouched on a nearby peak, its massive jaws wide, madly swallowing everything.

The woman in pink stood as still as a mountain, unshaken by the devouring force. Nan Luo marveled inwardly, realizing that if he were caught in it again, he might never escape.

He could not see what technique she had used, nor discern her powers. But it was clear the silver-gray toad’s attack had been aimed at her, and Nan Luo had only been swept up at the edge.

Suddenly, a crimson flash shot from the maw—swift as red lightning, as if piercing space and ignoring distance. This sight reminded Nan Luo of the beast that had ambushed him on the road to Jade Void Palace years ago, though this toad’s power and speed surpassed that beast many times over; even with the Heavenly Gaze, all he saw was a flash of red light before it withdrew.

Nan Luo’s heart raced. Facing such an attack, he might not even have time to react, let alone flee. He looked to where the woman in pink had stood—now empty, only snow swirling in the wind.

Swallowed? Impossible. Nan Luo instantly dismissed the thought as he gazed at the now-closed maw.

His eyes flickered with firelight as he scanned the darkening landscape, but saw only gently falling snow and the world returned to silence.

“Xuanming! You stole my lair, destroyed my descendants—today I, the forefather, will avenge them! Come out… come out… out… out…”

The silver-gray toad crouched on the mountaintop, bellowing into the void. Waves of sound pulsed through the air like a stormy sea.

The moment the toad had opened its mouth, Nan Luo sensed danger and vanished. No sooner had his form disappeared into the void than waves of invisible force swept through the space, threatening to collapse it. Countless clouds were obliterated in an instant.

A thousand meters away, Nan Luo appeared again, his hair disheveled, the golden vine he’d braided to bind it now reduced to powder drifting in the air.