I changed the world.

Page 209

Zhang Jing sat in his study, holding a pendant in his hand. This pendant was taken from the body of a dead intruder. Ever since an intruder appeared in his own house, Zhang Jing had some suspicions. After all, the timing was too coincidental, making it impossible not to make connections.

Sure enough, after a search, Zhang Jing obtained the pendant in his hand.

The pendant was a sphere set in a silver setting, which was engraved with Buddhist incantations and other patterns. However, what attracted Zhang Jing's attention was not the setting itself, but the silver sphere hanging from it.

What attracted Zhang Jing was that this sphere was remarkably similar to the storage sphere he had obtained last time.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Jing took a small pair of pliers and, after fiddling with them, disassembled the pendant and the silver ball fixed to it.

The sphere is not large, about 3 centimeters in diameter. It is smooth to the touch and not very heavy. It is silver in color and covered with fine patterns, giving it the appearance of a piece of jewelry.

If he's not mistaken, this ring setting was likely custom-set for someone after they acquired the silver ball.

He thought for a moment, then tentatively tried to probe in with a wisp of his divine sense.

The next moment, the silver bead began to spin lightly, then broke open, opening from the inside like a flower. At the center of that flower was a vortex like a black hole, swirling like a miniature galaxy.

At this moment, the flowers formed from the beads were in Zhang Jing's palm, and in the instant they changed, Zhang Jing connected with them using his divine sense. In Zhang Jing's divine sense perception, a space had appeared out of thin air within the vortex on the flower's stamen.

The feeling is like reaching into a pocket; you can clearly sense the bag's presence and size.

That's right, this is a storage bead. Zhang Jing knew it clearly. He could even clearly sense that there were several unknown items inside the storage bead.

As the saying goes, "sending someone's head a thousand miles away"... Zhang Jing guessed that this was probably related to his previous wish. He never expected that this time he would deliver an opportunity to his doorstep.

Having made this guess, he had to see what exactly was inside the storage bead.

The next moment, he had an object in his hand. It was a flatbread-like object, which looked like a food. Because the space inside the storage bead was slower than the outside world, the flatbread was obviously no longer usable when it was taken out, but its function was still evident.

Of course, Zhang Jing had no intention of studying the food of the ancients. He casually found a bag and put it in. Even if the items obtained from the storage bead were worthless food, he would not throw them away casually, but would eventually burn them all.

The second item was a container for water...

The third item was also some kind of container, containing some white powder. After examining it, I realized it was probably table salt.

........................

The seventh item was a broken sword. Two-thirds of the blade was broken, and the blade was covered with numerous serrated notches of varying sizes, indicating that it had been through a fierce, even brutal, battle.

The eighth item was a jade plaque, which was bluish-white in color and of quite good quality. The front of the plaque had a fine relief carving of a strange pattern with an unclear meaning, while the back of the plaque was carved with four divination characters.

Chapter 373 Purple Palace

Zhang Jing examined it and determined that the words written on it should be "Zishu Tianfu".

At this moment, Zhang Jing was no longer the novice who had just entered the path of cultivation. Holding the jade tablet in his hand, he sensed it slightly and knew that it should be a cave heaven jade tablet, the same as his jade tablet from Lishan Cave Heaven.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Jing didn't immediately communicate with the jade tablet to explore, but instead set it aside for the time being. Then he continued to take things out of the storage bead.

There weren't many items in the storage bead; most were food, water, and other necessities, along with some broken weapons. It seems the previous owner of this storage bead was perhaps on an adventure or travel and didn't store many items inside.

Zhang Jing summoned a maid and handed over all the useless items, except for a few, to her, after which they were burned and destroyed.

Next, he planned to ask his teacher, Zhang Taihe, to accompany him in exploring this unknown cave.

Of course, he had to do some preparation before setting off.

Then Zhang Jing took out a wishing book and made a wish:

"I made a wish that I would have good luck in the next 24 hours."

..........................................

In the empty, dark void, a feeling of unsettling weightlessness persisted for a while. Zhang Jing silently counted a few seconds in his mind. When he counted to the third time, the surrounding light stabilized again, and he felt his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

This is a gloomy world, dimly lit, with thick, leaden clouds obscuring the sky, and faint flashes of thunder within the clouds.

A pungent smell permeated the air. Zhang Jing frowned after taking just one breath. The air was extremely thin and seemed to be mixed with other gases, clearly unsuitable for ordinary people to live in.

Fortunately, with his current cultivation level, he was able to continuously draw energy from the void, and breathing was no longer a necessity for survival. Therefore, this situation did not pose much of a problem for him.

There were no large plants on the ground around, only some gray-green weeds no taller than a hand and some smaller mosses that were still surviving tenaciously.

His teacher, Zhang Taihe, was not far away from him, also observing the surroundings.

Clearly, this place has suffered destruction from a powerful force...

They were now in a desolate ruin, surrounded by collapsed pavilions, broken halls, and crumbling walls. This scene was not unfamiliar to him, because when she first came to Lishan Cave, she was faced with the same scene.

Not far ahead was a grand hall.

However, it was now in utter ruin... The eaves were broken, the pillars had collapsed, and the ground was covered with rubble and traces of fire.

Apart from the main structure, which still exists and barely keeps the main hall from collapsing, the rest of the building is no different from the ruins left after the earthquake.

Zhang Jing then took out a storage bead and retrieved a sophisticated small drone, which had already been tested. After taking it out, Zhang Jing launched it into the air.

However, the drone only flew up about ten meters before it started swaying like it was drunk, then lost its balance and crashed to the ground.

Zhang Jing reacted quickly, landing beneath the drone in two leaps and scooping it up in his hand.

After checking, there seemed to be no problem. However, why would the drone malfunction?

"There is a secret technique here that prevents air movement." The voice of Zhang Taihe, the teacher, came from the side, resolving Zhang Jing's doubts.

Since the teacher said so, Zhang Jing put away the drone. He then saw Zhang Taihe meditating with his eyes closed for a while. Zhang Jing was not sure if he was using some kind of secret technique. After about ten breaths, he opened his eyes again and pointed towards the direction of the main hall: "Go that way."

The master and apprentice continued forward, their eyes meeting only ruins. Zhang Jing frowned; the damage here was even worse than that of the previous Lishan Cave. Zhang Jing bent down, picked up a piece of charcoal from the ground, and with a flick of his two fingers, the ash crumbled and fell to the ground. The area was covered in traces of high-temperature burning; apart from the stone structures, virtually nothing remained.

Originally, Zhang Jing had been thinking about whether he could loot the entire complex, but now it seemed unlikely.

The ground was covered with large cracks, which crisscrossed and some of them went straight through the entire ground underfoot. The cracks flickered with a deep light and occasionally flashed with red electricity. Zhang Taihe frowned and stared at one of the cracks for a while before turning to Zhang Jing to explain a few words.

Zhang Jing then learned that this cave-world space seemed to be collapsing for some reason, to the point that the cave-world was no longer able to maintain some basic functions, such as the land and the air...

Essentially, the principle behind this grotto-heaven is no different from that of the Lishan Grotto-heaven. It is a magnificent man-made creation carved out and fixed in the space between the void and reality. However, just as everything has a beginning and an end, such creations can still collapse under certain circumstances. The current situation is clearly the result of the grotto-heaven having suffered enormous damage and not being repaired for a long time.

However, this disintegration, though ongoing, is not a simple process; it may have been going on for thousands of years and will likely continue for quite some time to come.

Therefore, Zhang Jing and his disciples were not worried that this cave world would collapse in the next moment. They simply exchanged a few words and continued to move forward.

....................................

Zhang Jing stopped in front of a skeleton, which resembled an insect's molted shell. Judging by its size, the owner of the shell must have been about two meters tall in life. Zhang Jing held his sword and used the blade to flip the shell, discovering that the soft tissue inside had completely disappeared, and the inside of the shell was already dry and looked like it had long since decayed.

However, even so, Zhang Jing still noticed that the shell was quite strong, very hard, and not easy to penetrate.

Although the shape of the carapace makes it impossible to tell what kind of monster it is, it is likely closely related to the scene of ruins before us.

After walking a while longer, Zhang Taihe suddenly glanced at Zhang Jing and said, "Everyone here has been evacuated."

Zhang Jing nodded: "Teacher is right. Although there are ruins everywhere, there are only monster remains, but no human remains. It seems that an organized group took away or at least buried the remains."

Chapter 374 Stone Beast

The two quickened their pace and passed through the ruins of another hall. Before them lay a colossal skeleton, nearly a hundred meters long. Although only parts of the carapace and bones remained, and some bones were even missing, its original size was still evident.

An invisible force field radiated outwards from the skeleton, and the moss and weeds on the ground around it were twisted into strange shapes. Some of the weeds even spread out vines, and small mouths with sharp teeth appeared on these vines, which could easily give people a sense of déjà vu.

Zhang Jing narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he heard some strange and chaotic murmur in his ears. However, he was no longer the same person who had just begun his cultivation. After the faint rumble of thunder, everything returned to calm.

Judging from the structure of its skeleton alone, it is clear that it is not any kind of creature on Earth that Zhang Jing knows. Some of its structures are twisted and bizarre, to the point that Zhang Jing cannot even imagine its original appearance based on this alone.

“A clan of evil gods…” Zhang Taihe looked at the monster in front of him with a serious expression. However, he lacked further information and could not say for sure which evil god’s clan it was.