Krune's group had been making their way to the Core Region without finding too much problems. Well, it was not that the Soren Ruins weren't dangerous, but because their own group was far above the general level. Eventually, they were able to reach the division between the two areas.

"Is this some kind of barrier?"

​​

There was some kind of force field in front of them that didn't allow them to enter.

Lucio couldn't help but comment.

"Hmm... I don't think it was supposed to be here. After all, how long have the Soren Ruins existed? Still, I've never heard of a barrier impeding cultivators and demon beasts from entering the Core Region."

Krune could feel the enormous amount of Spiritual Energy inside that thing.

'Well, I can just use Luvile's power to slowly make an opening for myself. However, if Heavin and Liriu find the same thing on the other side, perhaps they won't enter. Maybe I should consider going around to see if I can meet them.'

However, when he touched the barrier, his hands passed right through it!

"What?! How come there's so much energy, but it doesn't offer protection at all?"

Feifei and Lucio also touched the barrier, and sure enough, their hands went through as well.

"This... Perhaps this thing is not protecting against outsiders?"

"It might be here not to prevent something from entering but leaving instead."

"Well, there's a chance that this really is a protection barrier, but what it protects against is not what we think."

Krune, Feifei, and Lucio were just about to discuss this issue when all of a sudden...

"Not good! Fall back!"

Feifei's voice echoed in their minds. Because Krune and Feifei received that warning from Joty back in the Luvile Universe, the three of them had been at full alert all the time. Feifei, Lucio, and Krune had long decided that whatever warning they received from others, they would act first and ask later. Feifei even kept her Destiny Divine Soul working at full time, calculating everything in her surroundings. Thanks to that, she saw something terrible happening to the environment just a second before the event took place.

*Boom!*

As soon as the three flashed away, the Energy Barrier in front of them exploded with terrifying might! All the ruins around were turned to dust, something that even Krune wouldn't be able to do. If that hit them, they didn't think they would be able to survive. The energy shockwave quickly spread as the three fled back as fast as possible.

However, the energy was so powerful that it disrupted the space around them, so they couldn't teleport away.

With only time to think, Krune brought out his shields. However, they simply wouldn't be able to block the shockwave in time. But still, Krune's reaction was insanely swift. In a normal situation, he would have been able to pull that off. Still, the incoming danger was faster than he imagined.

Fortunately, he wasn't alone. Feifei and Lucio also understood that their only chance would be to have Krune's Purple Lightning and Shields block the energy behind. That being said, they immediately used the best skill they could think of since they also didn't have time to bring out their weapons.

"Destiny Reversal!"

"Elemental Chaos!"

Feifei's ability defied the way of destiny as it acted on the energy blast right in front of them. For a moment, Krune and Lucio saw an illusion of the three of them being hit by the shock wave. However, that illusion quickly shattered, and the attack continued. However, Lucio's Elemental Chaos came right behind. He fused the elements around into Black Energy, including part of the elements in the shockwave right in front of them. The energy shockwave was already pure chaos itself, so it made Lucio's skill easier to activate.

*Boom!*

Once again, the incoming blast was delayed for a small moment. However, that wasn't enough for Krune's shield to be charged with Purple Lightning. Feifei and Lucio knew what Krune was going to do. Hence, as they used their own attacks, they immediately used the counterforce to appear beside Krune.

All the shields appeared around Krune, Feifei, and Lucio as they connected themselves with Purple Lightning. Not even a gap was left behind.

"Purple Tribulation Lightning, 200%!"

"Tribulation Shields Slaughtering Formation, Third Form, Cage!"

The Energy Blast hit the shield as Krune's group was sent flying with it. Krune didn't hold back at all with his Spiritual Energy and Purple Lightning Resource. Luvile also supported him as much as possible, making it easier for manipulation.

The cage of lightning trembled from all sides, threatening to break apart. Fortunately, Luvile's power was a god's power. Also, Krune's Lightning Shields were made with materials from the Godly Path Realm. Thanks to that, they were even more resistant than the ruins themselves.

All of that took some time to explain, but no more than three seconds had passed. Fortunately, three seconds was the limit of the energy blast's threat. As soon as those endless three seconds were over, Krune's shields got the upper hand as the energy outside began to dissipate. Eventually, the shockwave lost most of its power before disappearing completely.

Krune then released his cage skill and was greeted with an empty space. All the decrepit buildings in an area thousands of kilometers around them turned into dust or rubble as they flew further back. In front of them, nothing remained at all.

Krune, Feifei, and Lucio finally sighed in relief.

"No wonder we had a black karma thread connected to these ruins. If not for Joty's warning, we wouldn't have been this ready for this attack. Besides, Master wouldn't be here to give support either."

Feifei nodded.

"Indeed. We wouldn't even see it before the energy blast turned the two of us into dust. But now I can also understand why our karma threads chanced into gray instead of going back to normal. There was still a good chance that we might have died."

Lucio agreed with the two.

"True. We definitely almost died just a second ago. It's too bad that Joty isn't here. Otherwise, I would ask him to see if your threads had gone back to normal. At least, I do think this event just now was enough to be a gray thread."

As mentioned in the past, those with Joty's bloodline worked with the Divine Path Sect. Naturally, as the Sect Master, Lucio was well aware of Joty and his master's power.

"Still, why did it happen? Was it because we touched the barrier?"

Krune nodded.

"It has to be. Also, it's probably something directed at us."

Feifei and Lucio understood what Krune meant.

"Indeed. If it had happened recently, we would have heard something from the other groups we found on the way here. Still, none of them knew anything about it. Then again, why would it target just us?"

Krune pondered for a bit and took two items out of his Spatial Ring.

"I can only think about these two things."

One of them was the small bottle with the Black Water. At the moment, Krune still didn't know that it was the same as his and Lucio's Fused Elemental Energy.

The second item was the piece of metal Krune got from the chamber. He wanted to make a new set of shields with it. However, he refrained from doing so since he wanted to increase his Blacksmith Level. Making Peak Divinity Stars Shields with them would be too much of a waste.

Krune then looked at the barrier far ahead and noticed that it was very dim. Almost all the energy that it had was used in the last blast. Even though it was thousands of kilometers away, it wasn't anything hard to look through with his cultivation as long as nothing was blocking his vision. With the previous event, the entire way ahead was clean.

Krune then separated a drop of Black Water and put it in another bottle. Soon after, he threw it at the barrier in the distance. Space laws gathered around it as it broke through the fabric of space and appeared in front of the dim wall in a flash.

However, the moment it touched the barrier, not only did another explosion not happen, but the bottle broke apart as the barrier absorbed the Black Water instead.

"It seems like this barrier has something to do with the Black Water as well."

Krune narrowed his eyes but didn't pay too much attention to it for now. He then cut a tiny piece of the Chamber Metal and threw it at the barrier as well.

*Boom!*

Sure enough, the moment the metal touched the barrier, it reacted and released all its energy once again. It's just that the barrier had almost nothing left after the last blast, so the explosion it released wasn't anything dangerous, even if Krune's group was near it.

"So that's what happened. Because the metal was inside my Spatial Ring before, the barrier took a few moments to notice the metal's presence. However, now that I threw the metal directly at it, the explosion immediately took place."

Lucio then added.

"You said that the chamber holding the black water was made with this metal of yours. It seems like the one who made the chamber and the one who made the black water are two different existences. Not only that, but it doesn't seem they like each other that much."

Until now, Krune thought that the chamber was made to protect the black water. However, now he was more inclined to believe that it was made to seal the thing instead.

"Anyway, let's go. The barrier's energy is too small for its counterattack to pose a threat to us. We can enter it unscathed even if it explodes right on our faces."

Lucio and Feifei nodded as they immediately departed for the Core Region of the Soren Ruins.