New Novel
Chapter 9: Heaven and Earth Collapse

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Heaven and Earth Collapse

Before Li Yaru could finish speaking, Lu Jingyu turned and walked away.

Watching Lu Jingyu’s retreating figure, Li Yaru shot Xu Qingsui a vicious glare.

’Don’t you worry. I will *not* let you get away with this!’

Muttering the vicious threat to herself, Li Yaru walked off in the opposite direction of Xu Qingsui.

Both of them thought their little exchange had gone unnoticed.

But no one saw Xu Qingsui, who was examining the reef pillars, subtly glance back over her shoulder.

Seeing that everyone had dispersed, she couldn’t help but purse her lips.

Her spiritual power had detected Li Yaru’s killing intent the moment it flared.

She hadn’t moved, wanting to see what Li Yaru was planning this time.

But she hadn’t expected Lu Jingyu to intercept her.

The show was over before it started, so she had no choice but to go back to studying the reef pillars.

They had faced so many dangers in such a short time since entering the instance.

The team members couldn’t even think about resting; they just wanted to get out of the instance as quickly as possible.

Soon, all six of them had split up, weaving between the reef pillars in search of clues.

Xu Qingsui checked several reef pillars in a row but didn’t sense the presence of any spirit bodies, and she started to lose interest.

But just as she was about to give up, she suddenly froze.

After a moment’s hesitation, she scanned her surroundings warily.

She didn’t seem to spot anything, and her brow furrowed slightly, but she didn’t let her guard down.

After another tense moment, she suddenly looked down at her feet.

She stomped her foot, and her eyes shot wide open.

"Everyone, be careful! The ground is—" RUMBLE!

Before Xu Qingsui could finish, a tremendous roar erupted from beneath her feet.

Fissures suddenly appeared all over the seafloor.

To the sound of a deafening rumble, the fissures widened rapidly, like a great gaping mouth.

The once-standing reef pillars toppled and crashed onto the seabed.

"It’s a seaquake! Everyone, watch out for the fissures and try to group up with other members!"

Lu Jingyu’s deep voice boomed through the rumbling.

He must have used some kind of technique when he spoke, as his voice managed to cut through the thunderous noise.

When she first realized something was wrong with the ground, Xu Qingsui could only watch as several fissures appeared before her.

One of them seemed to have locked onto her, spreading in her direction as if determined to swallow her whole.

Xu Qingsui could only back away continuously, trying to evade it.

In her panic, her foot suddenly hit something, and Xu Qingsui fell straight backward.

Out of the corner of her eye, her eyes widened in shock.

There was another fissure behind her, now a gaping maw waiting for her to fall in.

Seeing the fissure in front of her closing in as well, with nowhere left to run, Xu Qingsui closed her eyes in resignation.

But the next second, she collided with a solid chest.

A strong arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her into his embrace. He then leaped into the air, carrying her with him.

She opened her eyes to a blur of motion, which then slowly came into focus.

Lu Jingyu was in her peripheral vision, his expression grave as he looked down.

Following his gaze, Xu Qingsui realized they had left the ground and were now standing on a reef pillar that had not yet been completely swallowed.

The tremors on the seafloor continued, and the other team members could only find the nearest reef pillars to take refuge.

But the quaking was rapid. Looking down, the seafloor was a crisscrossing web of fissures.

Large sections of the seabed had already collapsed, revealing dark, bottomless pits.

The remaining reef pillars were all teetering precariously. They had a foothold for now, but once all the pillars were swallowed, they too would become food for the fissures.

"Captain, it’s not going to hold for much longer! What do we do?"

All the team members were red-faced with anxiety, scrambling in a panic, their eyes darting from their crumbling footholds to Lu Jingyu.

Lu Jingyu’s brows were knitted tightly. This was his first time encountering a seaquake, too.

Right now, there was nowhere to stand except for the barely-holding-on reef pillars.

And the pillars they could see were not nearly enough for them to escape the area.

"Ah!" Li Yaru’s shriek was as shrill as ever.

The pillar closest to Xu Qingsui’s was on the verge of collapsing.

Li Yaru clung to her pillar in terror, frantically searching for a new foothold.

Finally, her gaze landed on Xu Qingsui.

At this point, she had only one option.

But Xu Qingsui and Lu Jingyu were pressed close together just to stay balanced. If she wanted to get over there, someone would have to make room for her.

"Captain, save me!" Li Yaru cried out to Lu Jingyu.

Lu Jingyu’s brows tightened, and the arm he had around Xu Qingsui trembled slightly.

As the captain, he had a duty to protect his team members.

Even though Li Yaru had tested his patience time and time again, he would deal with her after they got out, not watch her die in front of him.

In the span of a single breath, cries for help erupted from other directions as well.

For a moment, only the pillar beneath him and Xu Qingsui seemed stable. The footholds of the other members were all about to give way.

Lu Jingyu scanned the area, veins popping on his forehead.

Even if he gave up his own spot now, he couldn’t save that many members.

CRACK!

At that moment, the reef pillar beneath his feet also began to give way.

Caught off guard, Xu Qingsui was thrown completely into his arms.

A delicate fragrance filled his nostrils, and Lu Jingyu’s mind cleared once more.

Looking down at the woman in his arms, Lu Jingyu suddenly made a decision.

’If only one person stands on it, it might hold for a little longer.’

’And in that little bit of time, a chance for survival might appear.’

Just then, the other reef pillars finally gave out.

With horrified screams, the team members plummeted.

Seeing this, Lu Jingyu decisively pushed Xu Qingsui away and fell backward.

His eyes were locked on Xu Qingsui, and only one thought remained in his mind: ’She has to live.’

Realizing what Lu Jingyu was doing, Xu Qingsui scrambled to grab him, but he dodged her hand.

"What are you doing? Even if you can’t save the others, you don’t have to rush to join them in death!"

"Everyone has their own fate! If you can’t interfere with theirs, you should at least fight for your own!"

Xu Qingsui didn’t overthink it. Assuming Lu Jingyu was trying to die alongside his teammates, she couldn’t stop herself from cursing at him.

Perhaps because of her experiences in her past life, she knew that this whole "saintly heart" thing was pure bullshit. Looking out for the heavens and the earth was less practical than looking out for yourself.

’People who sacrifice themselves out of some noble, saintly impulse are just complete morons.’

Just as Xu Qingsui was about to let loose another torrent of curses, a circular blue light flared in mid-air.

One, two, three—three glowing blue rings appeared in succession.

The rules have appeared!

Seeing this at the last possible moment, the falling members gave a bitter smile, but still instinctively obeyed the rules and closed their eyes.

Xu Qingsui also closed her eyes, but for her, it was because she couldn’t bear to watch them be swallowed by the fissures.

And the moment everyone closed their eyes, the blue rings in the air suddenly erupted with a blinding blue light.

Three expanding waves of blue light swept over the fissure-covered seafloor.