Chapter 2296: Destruction Crisis

"A storm?" The women's faces all turned pale. Although Zu'an had explained some information about this world before they came, seeing it with their own eyes now still left them somewhat incredulous.

This boundless sense of oppression felt as if an enormous star was about to collide with their planet.

It was truly difficult to describe in words if one hadn't witnessed it firsthand.

In his previous life, Zu'an knew about the Great Red Spot storm on Jupiter, which was 40,000 kilometers long and 15,000 kilometers high. However, based on what the True Demon Envoy had said earlier, and now seeing it with his own eyes, the storm in this world was incomparably larger than Jupiter's.

No wonder it could directly destroy a powerful world civilization.

As Zu'an was musing, a sudden cracking sound startled them. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Xie Daoyun staring at the formation plate in her hand, her face ashen.

The formation plate, which had been sparkling and translucent just moments before, had now lost all its light, turning a dull, deathly gray. Countless cracks quickly appeared on its surface. Xie Daoyun frantically cast talismans, trying to preserve it, but to no avail. With a final 'bang,' the plate shattered into countless irreparable fragments and dust.

The women were speechless.

They had relied on that large teleportation array and this very plate to arrive in this world. Now that the plate was gone, didn't it mean they could never return?

Xie Daoyun was so anxious she was almost in tears. "It wasn't intentional," she stammered. "I don't know what happened."

Zu'an picked up a handful of ash from the ground and examined it for a moment, then reassured her, "This has nothing to do with you. The formation plate was most likely designed to be single-use or equipped with a self-destruct mechanism. I didn't notice it before, so don't blame yourself."

Given Xie Daoyun's mastery of formation arrays, she should have been able to deduce this herself. However, her concern had clouded her judgment, leaving her no time to think it through properly.

"Why would the True Demon Envoy make the formation plate like this then? Doesn't he need to return to our world?" Pei Mianman asked, puzzled.

"If I'm not mistaken, he probably did it as a precaution, fearing the formation plate might be seized by the Demon Lord. So, he set it up this way, either hoping to gain great merit and rewards from it, or..." Zu'an paused, then continued slowly, "He might not have intended to tell the Demon Lord about it from the very beginning."

The women nodded in agreement; such an action was indeed consistent with the True Demon Envoy's character.

In fact, in some ways, demons' intentions were no different from human ones: they all had various agendas, and their personal interests might not always align with those of their superiors.

"What do we do now? Does this mean we can never go back?" Jiang Luofu asked, somewhat worried.

At her words, the other women also became visibly anxious.

Ji Xiaoxi, however, secretly glanced at Zu'an, thinking that as long as she could be with Brother Zu, staying here didn't seem so terrifying.

Sorens also had a slight blush on her cheeks. "Fortunately, we have both men and women here," she thought. "Our race can continue to multiply. Maybe we can even start a new race with Big Brother Zu then..."

"Oh, Sorens, Sorens," she chastised herself, "the world is about to be destroyed, and what are you even thinking about?"

"We can make another formation plate," Zu'an said calmly. "Sister Ling'er and I studied that teleportation array and this plate before, and we've largely understood its principles."

Hearing his words, Xie Daoyun hesitated, on the verge of speaking. It was true that they had largely understood it, but there was still over ten percent of the content they weren't entirely sure about; otherwise, they wouldn't have failed to detect the plate's self-destruction mechanism.

For such an interstellar teleportation array, even a one percent discrepancy, let alone ten percent, could lead to a massive failure.

However, being intelligent and perceptive, she immediately guessed that he was saying this to comfort them.

As expected, upon hearing his words, the previously panicked women gradually calmed down.

Even Jiang Luofu couldn't help but look at him with admiration. This man remained so composed even in seemingly hopeless situations and always found a solution—he was truly quite dashing...

Despite herself, Xie Daoyun couldn't suppress her worry. She discreetly transmitted her voice using vital energy, "Big Brother Zu, there are still many parts we don't understand. I'm afraid we might not be able to recreate it."

Zu'an replied, "Since the True Demon Envoy manufactured the formation plate in this world, he must have possessed the corresponding array knowledge. If we search carefully from now on, we should be able to complete our understanding."

Xie Daoyun was startled. She wondered why his words instantly brought her so much peace of mind. Then, another thought occurred to her: "But manufacturing the formation plate will require vast amounts of materials."

"No problem, I have plenty of materials on me," Zu'an said. He was currently the ruler of the Human, Demon, and Merfolk races, as well as the Underworld. Whether it was the Young Demon Queen, the Mermaid Queen, Bi Linglong, or Liu Ning, they all stuffed him with various supplies every time they parted, fearing he wouldn't have enough.

His Glazed Pearl, with its vast storage space, held enough supplies for everyone to live comfortably for decades.

"But I saw that the formation plate seemed to contain many precious materials I'd never encountered before," Xie Daoyun began, then suddenly smiled. "We'll gather those from this world, right?"

"Sister Ling'er is indeed as clever as she is beautiful," Zu'an praised, and his approving gaze made Xie Daoyun blush slightly.

Pei Mianman watched the two suspiciously, feeling as though they were exchanging flirtatious glances right in front of her, but she had no proof.

Just then, Ji Xiaoxi's gasp of surprise suddenly broke through the air. "Look, what's that over there?"

Everyone followed her gaze. The view above showed a small mound, tens of meters high, not far away, its entire surface visibly cracking and eroding.

It was as if with every gust of wind, a layer of its surface was scoured away.

Jiang Luofu looked puzzled. "Huh, how can such a small mound withstand this world-ending hurricane?"

Then Sorens' trembling voice cut through. "That's not just some small mound; it's the tallest mountain in the Demon World."

"The tallest mountain?" Everyone looked at each other with strange expressions. It was hard to associate this mere dozens-of-meters-high peak with the title of "tallest mountain."

Sorens picked up a notebook. "This must be the observation log left by the True Demon Envoy. This mountain once soared hundreds of thousands of feet high, its base immeasurably vast. He chose this as the teleportation destination precisely to use the remaining vestiges of this mountain to withstand most of the hurricane's power."

The writing of the True Demon race bore some resemblance to that of the Demon race, allowing her to roughly decipher the contents of the envoy's log through guesswork.

The women's expressions finally changed. What kind of concept was a mountain hundreds of thousands of feet high? Their own world had never seen such a magnificent peak.

Yet, this unimaginably magnificent mountain had now been reduced by the hurricane to a mere mound dozens of meters tall. How terrifying was the power of that hurricane!

Zu'an observed it closely and said gravely, "That hurricane naturally contains terrifying destructive power. Now, mixed with countless grains of sand and moisture from this world's surface, and moving at such high speed, it's tens of millions of times more powerful than any sword qi in the world!"

It was important to note that for the Demon World's tallest mountain to have been so majestic initially, it must have gathered the essence of the sun and moon and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. What remained now must be the very essence of the mountain, arguably the hardest substance in the world; even divine weapons might not have been able to leave a mark on its core.

Yet, under the erosion of that terrifying hurricane, it was visibly melting away. Clearly, it wouldn't be long before the last few dozens of meters of this once magnificent tallest mountain would be completely erased from existence.

Zu'an's current physical strength was already astonishing, but feeling the power of this terrifying hurricane, he knew that if he were to go outside and face it directly, he would likely be scoured down to bare bones within mere breaths.

Sorens then pointed to a line of text in the notebook, marked in crimson letters: "If I'm not mistaken, the True Demon Envoy emphasized here to closely observe that mountain. If its height falls below twenty zhang, it will quickly and completely collapse. And without the mountain's protection, this fortress's defensive array will be instantly destroyed by the world-ending hurricane!"

Hearing this, everyone's hearts sank. The mountain outside now seemed to be less than twenty zhang tall!