Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies Chapter 196 Unexpected Stop?

Lang Xue and Tao cultivated at the deck, but they were separated at far ends. Yan Zaizen piloted the realmship through the spatial tunnel. Only three days passed since their departure from the Deluge Realm. Yan Zaizen's eyes squinted as he looked forward.
For a while now, he felt a bizarre and inexplicable feeling. It wasn't a sensation of danger, deadly crisis, or even discomfort and distrust. It was something he never felt before. It was hard to measure on a scale of intensity, but it was more like a whisper so silent that even if you got close to the origin of the sound, you still wouldn't be able to make it out.
He described his feeling to Pinaka, but even Pinaka didn't know. She may be connected to his soul but she wasn't interconnected to his instincts. It was more so connected to his emotions. If he felt uneasy or afraid, she would be able to feel this directly, but if he had a strange feeling, it was up in the air. That was more so a thought and belief rather than an emotion.
She suggested stopping the Realmship and taking a different path. He did, but the feeling didn't cease or increase. It started to make him feel uncomfortable. After witnessing the creatures of the Border Expanse, he didn't believe that being in the spatial void granted him invincibility.
"Lang Xue, do you feel odd?" Yan Zaizen asked. Out of everyone here, she possessed heavenly sense, so her senses towards heavenly space was a lot are than his own. If she didn't feel anything, perhaps it was something else?
Just like he expected, Lang Xue shook her head in confusion. She even sent out her heavenly sense outside the spatial void but found no difference.
However, this only increased the unease in his heart.
"Should I just stop?" Just as she was contemplating, his eyes widened in shock. Suddenly, the spatial void tunnel distorted like a whirlpool. A second later, it started to vanish like dust in the wind. It wasn't only him who witnessed this, Lang Xue and Tao's eyes flashed open with disbelief and then horror. Was the spatial void collapsing?
This…!
Yan Zaizen's comprehension into space was a lot greater than both of them, so when the surrounding spatial void started to dissipate like dust, he felt like he understood something. He double-checked to make sure, "Yes...spatial tunnel isn't collapsing. It's at its end...an abrupt end?"
His deduction was that the spatial tunnel created by the realmship was being cut-off prematurely. Somehow, the space at the end is warping and being blown away like dust particles.
VROOM!!
Suddenly, they penetrated the end of the spatial tunnel. They exited and entered the Border Expanse.
"WHAT?!" Yan Zaizen and the rest looked ahead with disbelief. There wasn't a horrific creature at the end. Instead, several dozen realmships were situated in a one hundred li range. The moment they exited the tunnel, they seemed to have entered a strange, empty space. Almost immediately, the formations on the realmship ceased functioning.
"What?" One shock after another kept arising. Looking at the realmship, he swept his spiritual sense through but discovered nothing wrong with the formations. It was like some invisible force was causing the formations to deactivate willingly. He tried to interact with the formations but it was unresponsive.
Tao arrived next to him, his brows furrowed as he looked towards the realmships that seemed like dead materials floating in a sea of dim space. Immediately, numerous amounts of spiritual senses and heavenly senses swept over towards the realmship. It seemed they didn't care about the people onboard, but more curious about the state of the ship itself.
After a sweep, they left.
"What is this?" Lang Xue asked with a trace of fear in her voice. She felt the heavenly sense of the people who swept over and they were all at the Heavenly Genesis realm. Some were even at the fifth-floor Heavenly Genesis realm! After all, to own your own realmship, you needed a profound cultivation base or background.
"I'm not sure, but the realmship's formations have ceased responding. Also, the space here is odd." Yan Zaizen explained, he snapped his finger. The spatial void ripples formulated in front of him distorted into a whirlpool and vanished like dust particles. Just as he was testing the space's odd characteristics, a booming sound resounded nearby.
A spatial tunnel that seemed like a cylindrical tube appeared. It was as if something had forcefully cut it in half and twisted it. Just like before, it turned into a whirlpool and dissipated like dust in the wind. The others who watched this swept their senses over as if hoping to understand the situation further. Another realmship appeared.
The moment it did, all its formations powered down and the people onboard seemed shocked into a state of disbelief. Their senses scanned towards the others but they were met by even more powerful senses. The new arrivals senses were directly pushed back while the new senses scanned the realmship with a scrutinizing sweep.
On the deck of this ship, a young woman in a red-dress had an angry pout on her face as if she was insulted. She was making a ruckus, kicking and cursing all the shameless people with little manners. However, the people onboard stopped her from acting out. They couldn't silence her, but they could at least prevent her from taking action with comforting words.
Numerous cold snorts resounded in this small piece of space. The young woman, who seemed to be around seventeen years old in appearance became further enraged. She pointed towards a specific realmship and shouted words such as, "Fire! Attack! Kill those bastards!" However, with the formations deactivated in this space, her words were nothing but empty declarations.
Yan Zaizen focused his attention elsewhere. He wondered why no one tried to exit, but seeing that everyone was staying in their realmship, he had no intention to find out. Having caution towards the unknown was always better than making a mad dash towards it. He attempted to send a soul transmission to one of the other ships, but his soul energy couldn't survive the outside space.
As it was sent outwards, it twisted and faded like the spatial tunnel. His brows furrowed deeply in contemplation. Tao waited for Yan Zaizen to better understand the situation. Lang Xue performed her own tests, but it seemed she wasn't stupid enough to step off the ship.
After a moment, "This space seems to disconnect soul energy and spatial laws." He understood why the formations were unresponsive. They all had a Spirit Forms to operate them, but somehow, in this strange space, the connection the Spirit Forms have with the formations were segregated. His soul energy suffered a similar distortion and disconnection.
Spiritual sense seems to function properly, but it couldn't extend past one hundred li in distance. It was like they were in an invisible bubble in the Border Expanse. He had a faint belief that, perhaps, the spatial tunnels were actually directed to this location instead of them driving through it.
"It's possible the spatial laws are being converged into this area. All spatial tunnels in a range are being drawn to this area, but I don't know how far of a range." Yan Zaizen commented again, but this caused Lang Xue's expression to change greatly. If something was drawing all the spatial tunnels to this area, then is this a lure of a powerful cultivator to take realmships?!
It wasn't just Lang Xue who thought of this. The other experts were cautious. Many were already in a formation ready to combat any event that happens.
"See if you can fly out!" The young woman's voice resounded once more. She had a very domineering attitude as she ordered one of her subordinates to fly out of the realmship into the bizarre space. With a flash the subordinate took off. The expert didn't hesitate despite the possible danger. His body erupted with true-essence. It shrouded his body protectively as he blazed towards the edge of the one hundred li bubble.
The moment he touched the edge, he penetrated it easily. A trace of elation appeared on his face as he turned around. As he did, Yan Zaizen, who was watched in rapt attention, had his eyes filled with unrestrained, intense sensation of horror. The elation on the face of the expert was still there, but his lower body had already distorted and vanished into dust.
He didn't seem to notice. His true-essence directed to return back towards the bubble. However, the moment he hit the edge, it was as if the bubble turned into the hardest barrier imaginable. He smashed heavily into the barrier with a thud. His body exploded into a mist of blood. This mist of blood distorted and vanished into nothingness.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Many of the cautious realmship wielders looked onwards with trepidation and gratefulness. They were grateful that the young woman was an idiot enough to send her subordinate to his death.