Chapter 1408: Going, going and gone? Liam gritted his teeth and unleashed everything he had at the paladin. However, the drop of golden liquid he used was way too powerful to deal with. It was as if the thing affected time itself. Liam couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. His dao fields were all crumbling one after the other. He was only barely holding on. However, right at this critical moment, the cauldron on his chest pulsed. "The other side is using a divine treasure. It’s only fair that you used yours too." The familiar arrogant voice sounded in his mind, and the next second, a strong suction force erupted from the cauldron. Broken pieces of metal chunks, smoke, debris, and all sorts of things started flying into the cauldron. Shockingly, this was followed by the paladin. Liam’s eyes widened in shock as he watched the cauldron actually suck the man inside. He blinked twice as he couldn’t believe it but it was very real. Everything around him was intact, except the paladin was now missing. Liam wanted to ask the cauldron senior what exactly had happened, but the glow on the cauldron had already faded. Also, this was not the time or place to worry about this. Everything around him was exploding left and right. Liam found that he was now able to move. He immediately tried to activate his exit token and get the hell out of there, but he was once again unable to activate it. What the hell was happening? He lifted his head in panic, and the paladin was still nowhere to be seen. So why was he not able to leave? This fucking golden bubble! He needed to break this somehow. He took a deep breath and started to fully activate his Dao seeds again, but then he suddenly stopped. He waited a moment and observed. Something was off. The golden bubble was there around him, but it wasn’t doing anything at all. His movements were restricted, and his mana reserves were low, and yet nothing was happening. Not even the explosions were reaching him. Now that he saw it, the golden bubble was actually protecting him from everything? Liam did a double take as he tried to wrap his mind around this concept. Was this golden bubble actually helping him? He had no idea how this treasure worked. The paladin took out the liquid and then was sucked into the cauldron. Now, without any direction, the golden liquid ended up helping him. Liam’s lips tugged upward into a smile. This was an unexpected gift. His grin widened as he watched everything around him explode and repair repeatedly. It seemed that the Elemental King was giving the metallic building quite a fight. Right now, he was simply a silent spectator watching everything go down from the convenience of his golden bubble. Only popcorn was missing. Liam was amazed as he continued to watch everything for hours and hours. What sort of power did the Elemental King hold to put up such a fight? The world beyond his shimmering prison continued its relentless cycle of explosion and reconstruction—a maddening dance of creation and destruction. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the explosions slowly started to die down. The power of the golden bubble was also starting to wear off. It was still protecting him, but he was now able to move freely. Wherever he moved, the bubble moved with him. With a big grin plastered on his face, he started exploring the metallic ruins. Electricity crackled here and there, and the previously impeccable metallic interior was now covered in soot and smoke and broken parts. There were even huge gaping holes in some places. The metallic golems no longer popped out. Everything was peaceful. The building finally died? Liam casually walked forward when, all of a sudden, a dangerous feeling welled up in his heart. He felt as if he was going to face some crisis that was going to determine his life or death. He froze for a moment, wondering what to do, and then it happened. The next second, a huge explosion rang out. An explosion of epic proportions, something that Liam couldn’t comprehend. Everywhere around him, reality started blurring. Spatial tears started showing up left and right. The metallic structure convulsed violently, its beams and panels buckling as if caught in the grip of some colossal, unseen force. Reality itself seemed to splinter before Liam’s eyes, as spatial tears widened into gaping voids that revealed fragments of alternate worlds—a kaleidoscope of chaos and possibility. Liam’s heart pounded as he stood transfixed in the midst of the unfolding apocalypse. The once-familiar metallic corridors now twisted in impossible angles, their surfaces morphing under the raw, untamed energies unleashed by the explosion. At that moment, every instinct screamed at him to flee, and he started running. He used every bit of power he had left and focused it all on his speed. He did not dare use minor teleportation as it could land smack dab in the middle of the void. The golden bubble around him was also starting to wear thin. What the hell happened? Did the entire building self-destruct to keep the Elemental King out? There was no sign of that mysterious being as he started to run to safety at top speed. The ground under him was only barely stable as he ran from one spot to another. He would only just barely move when a spatial tear would appear in the spot. His heart pounded loudly. He had never been in a peril like this. This was what an exploding world felt like? He ran and ran and ran without stopping until suddenly, the golden barrier around him was only barely visible. His exit token became active yet again, and he was now able to leave this dreadful place. But just as he was about to activate his exit token and slip away from the crumbling nightmare, Liam’s eyes caught sight of an anomaly in the distance. Amidst the chaotic ruins, there was a single structure that stood stable like a lone sentinel—an island of calm amid the storm.