Trials of the Abyss

In a remote corner of Brocade Cloud, Liu Youyu poked her head out of her Flying Fish Boat and stomped her foot in frustration.

"Pang Jian!"

She had sent a message through the wooden token urging Pang Jian not to enter Brocade Cloud, but he had completely ignored her.

"He's just like Li Zhaotian, never willing to heed a friendly warning. What a troublesome guy."

With some reluctance, she reluctantly maneuvered her Flying Fish Boat to follow Pang Jian.

Liu Youyu considered herself someone with control of the bigger picture. Concealing herself in an inconspicuous corner of Brocade Cloud, she had prepared to bide her time for the emergence of Rank Eight Vicious Beasts and foreign races.

She had a hunch that there was more than met the eye when it came to the frenzied Vicious Beasts.

Decisive action was necessary to strike down Rank Eight Vicious Beasts or foreign race warriors if they appeared.

Only then could she swiftly quell the chaos in Brocade Cloud.

With this in mind, she had suppressed her aura when entering the fragmented land, ensuring neither the Vicious Beasts nor the foreign race warriors would sense her true strength.

However, Pang Jian's reckless actions disrupted her plans.

"Young Master Zhou!" A rogue cultivator named Wu Xuanfeng shouted. "The Sword Boat is heading toward the mountain!"

Two Rank Six Golden Armed Apes were hurling enormous boulders at him using their bloodline power.

Repeatedly glancing in the direction of the Sword Boat, he urgently exclaimed, "If the Sword Boat is destroyed, it'll be nearly impossible for us to escape Brocade Cloud!"

Zhou Qingchen created a sea of interwoven blade light with his long blades that enveloped several Rank Six Fiery Solar Beasts.

"We'll be able to leave without any trouble when the Vicious Beasts in this fragmented land are defeated," he replied calmly.

"That's easier said than done!" Wu Xuanfeng grumbled.

Boom! Boom!

Meteor-like boulders shot across the sky and shattered Wu Xuanfeng's Celestial Mystique Barrier, forcing him to move closer to Zhou Qingchen for assistance.

"It won't be that difficult with Pang Jian here."

Zhou Qingchen used his divine soul to control a long blade and cleave through the massive boulders aimed at Wu Xuanfeng.

A dazzling burst of silvery radiance exploded between the two Rank Six Golden Armed Apes, blowing them apart and scattering their remains across the ground.

With a wave of his sleeves, his long blade brought the two Rank Six Golden Armed Apes' heads to Zhou Qingchen, and he swiftly tossed them into his spatial bracelet.

"Pang Jian?" Wu Xuanfeng stared in disbelief at the Sword Boat as it gradually disappeared into the distance.

***

Elsewhere, the Celestial Lagoon Sect's Yu Huan used her divine soul to control her Blackwater Mystic Pearl while fighting a Rank Seven Earthbound Lizard,

"There's something wrong with the river water!" she cried.

The spectral soul of a green snake within the saint-grade Blackwater Mystic Pearl had detected many corpses lying on the murky riverbed.

Another Celestial Lagoon Sect cultivator in the Soul Wandering Realm observed a Vicious Beast. Its body was several dozen zhang long and could move in the ground like a dragon, occasionally leaping out to attack human cultivators.

"This Earthbound Lizard only recently achieved a bloodline breakthrough!" he yelled. "It still hasn't fully mastered its new bloodline power!

"Its old skin from Rank Six hasn't even shed yet—its breakthrough likely occurred just two or three days ago!"

Other cultivators from the Celestial Lagoon Sect also shouted their observations.

"It's the river!"

"The wounded Vicious Beasts are desperately drinking the river water to enhance their strength!"

Suddenly, the Rank Seven Earthbound Lizard leaped out from the ground and lunged toward a swiftly approaching Small Boat in a frenzy.

"The Sword Boat!"

"Pang Jian!"

They cried in shock.

A grayish-green iron ball shot toward the Rank Seven Earthbound Lizard.

The iron ball, initially the size of a fist, rapidly swelled a hundredfold in just a few breaths, lightning crackling on its surface.

The Primal Sphere, now as huge as a mountain, carried an overwhelming momentum and pummeled the Earthbound Lizard into a bloody pulp mid-air.

As the Earthbound Lizard crashed to the ground, the iron ball chased after it, smashing a giant crater into the ground.

The Rank Seven Earthbound Lizard was reduced to a smear of flesh at the bottom of the crater. Even its head was nothing more than a pulpy mess.

Whoosh!

The fearsome iron ball shrank back to its original size and darted back toward the distant Sword Boat in the blink of an eye.

Yu Huan and her fellow Celestial Lagoon Sect disciples stood in stunned silence as they watched the Sword Boat continue toward the towering mountain.

It was a long while before they snapped out of their daze.

"Was that Pang Jian?"

"He's the only one on the Sword Boat. Who else could it be?"

"Didn't they say he just entered the Soul Wandering Realm and hadn't yet stabilized his cultivation realm?"

"That Rank Seven Earthbound Lizard is on par with a Soul Wandering Realm human cultivator, but that massive iron ball reduced it to a pulp in an instant. Do you truly believe someone with that kind of power and mastery could still be struggling to stabilize his cultivation realm?"

The members of the Celestial Lagoon Sect discussed animatedly amongst themselves.

Whoosh!

The grayish-green iron ball shot out from the Sword Boat again, as small as a bullet and swift as lightning.

It pierced through several Rank Six Ghostshadow Vultures, causing them to fall lifelessly to the ground one after another.

The entire flock of Ghostshadow Vultures lay dead in a flash.

Not a single one survived.

“This…” Yu Huan of the Celestial Lagoon Sect pressed her lips together, hesitating briefly before commanding, "Follow that Sword Boat!"

The disciples of the Celestial Lagoon Sect stood in stunned silence, then quickly severed the heads of the slain Vicious Beasts before they hurried after the Sword Boat.

"A Rank Six Ghostshadow Vulture is worth a hundred contribution points each! He didn't even glance at them—no wonder he still doesn't have a ranking on the leaderboard."

The members of the Celestial Lagoon Sect gleefully stowed away the severed heads of the Ghostshadow Vultures, eager to exchange them for contribution points when they returned.

***

Liu Youyu squinted at the Sword Boat in the distance from her silently gliding Flying Fish Boat.

The Primal Sphere shifted from the size of a towering mountain to a small pellet as it effortlessly hunted down the Berserk Beasts along the way.

Rank Seven Berserk Beasts like the Earthbound Lizard were crushed to a pulp while Rank Six ones had their skulls pierced with a bullet-like Primal Sphere.

"Has he already mastered the Primal Sphere? He doesn't seem as weak as people say. Did I underestimate him?

"Auntie was worried about Li Zhaotian's disciple not being up to the task, but it seems she was overly concerned."

Liu Youyu's mood lightened considerably.

Her eyes curved into a crescent shape as she murmured, "That guy's judgment is always spot on. Chen Weihuang and Hu Yuanfei…the first two had no issues. And well, this one seems to be doing just fine too."

***

A massive warship from the Zhu Clan of the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom hovered silently at the foot of the towering mountain.

Nearly a hundred cultivators from the Blazing Rainbow Army and the Zhu Clan were locked in fierce combat with a horde of Berserk Beasts.

A massive fan unfolded behind Zhu Wenle, unveiling a grand vista of mountains and rivers.

Whoosh!

An illusory but lifelike green mountain flew out from the fan and crushed a group of rhinos clad in icy armor.

He turned his gaze and grand palaces emerged from the fan to encircle a Rank Seven Scarlet-Eyed Demon Wolf.

Zhu Wenle coldly snorted.

"Heavenly Palace Divine Array!"

Nine towering palaces swiftly arranged themselves into an array in mid-air, igniting the surrounding area into a blazing sea of fire that bore down on the Scarlet-Eyed Demon Wolf.

The Scarlet-Eyed Demon Wolf roared as its bones cracked and splintered. Unafraid of death and numb to pain, it unleashed every ounce of its strength, turning the confines of the nine palaces into a seething eruption of flames and blood.

Boom! Boom!

Flames and blood surged relentlessly within the nine palaces, but not a single drop managed to escape.

Before long, the Rank Seven Scarlet-Eyed Demon Wolf was reduced to blood-red liquid within the Heavenly Palace Divine Array, resembling seething magma.

Zhu Wenle smiled in satisfaction as he used a chain to pull out the Scarlet-Eyed Demon Wolf's bare skull from the pool of blood.

"Rank Seven. It's worth at least a thousand contribution points. The brutal battles in Brocade Cloud are the perfect place to rack up contribution points."

Gazing at the battlefield from the hovering warship, he watched as cultivators from the Demon Sect, the Black Valley Sect, the Celestial Lagoon Sect, and other factions locked in fierce combat with the Berserk Beasts.

Casualties steadily mounted on both sides.

"War naturally comes with casualties. They die because they're weak," Zhu Wenle remarked indifferently.

An officer of the Blazing Rainbow Army shook his head and said coldly, "These scattered sect disciples are clueless about coordinated formations and teamwork in combat. Unlike our organized army, they struggle to adapt to this ruthless environment.

"The Eastern Land's three Divine Kingdoms train cultivators for killing armies. That's what makes us a real force on the battlefield!"

The Blazing Rainbow Army and the Zhu Clan's elite formed battle formations centered around their warship, supporting each other seamlessly. If any area faced trouble, Zhu Wenle would intervene.

This coordinated fighting allowed the Blazing Rainbow Army to plow through the enemies and advance to the foot of the mountain.

"Come out!" Zhu Wenle sneered in the direction of the summit, having also deduced that the source of the Berserk Beasts was the river flowing down the mountain.

He aimed to eliminate the mastermind, hoping to stabilize Brocade Cloud and earn him substantial contribution points.

Whoosh!

The Sword Boat came whistling through the air.

Zhu Wenle's expression darkened and he glared at the approaching Sword Boat.

"Pang Jian, before, you refused when I asked you to lead the way. Now, you storm into Brocade Cloud and head straight here—are you trying to steal my glory?

"I can handle this problem myself. Your focus should be on piloting your Sword Boat around Brocade Cloud and taking down as many Rank Six and Rank Seven Berserk Beasts as possible to rack up contribution points," he remarked, having noticed the trail of slain Berserk Beasts Pang Jian left behind him.

While at the Sword Pavilion, he had witnessed Pang Jian move against the Cloud Devourer Marquis and even withstand a direct strike from him.

Both the Cloud Devourer Marquis and the Blazing Rainbow Marquis had praised him afterward.

Unlike the rest, Zhu Wenle knew Pang Jian was no ordinary cultivator and had never underestimated him.

"Proceed with your plan," Pang Jian said, casting a calm glance up at the summit of the mountain. "If you can't take care of the source of this chaos, I'll step in."

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