Trials of the Abyss

Although it was daytime, the sky outside the cave was gloomy.

As Pang Jian stepped outside, he saw a vast, humid swamp spread out before him.

He looked to his left.

Heading left would lead him to where Fan Liang had arranged for him to stay. Many rogue cultivators gathered there, and it was also the Shadow Specter Sect’s stronghold in Misty Swamp.

He then looked to his right.

That path led deeper into Misty Swamp, where many Vicious Beasts similar to the Black and White King Python and one-horned rhinoceros roamed.

Pang Jian hesitated. After mulling it over some more, he decided to head right.

Forests, swamps, poisonous miasma, Vicious Beasts, and Spirit Beasts. These were the environments he was accustomed to.

***

Dozens of rogue cultivators gathered, discussing the Vicious Beasts within Misty Swamp.

Meng Qiulan, the newly appointed Hall Master of the Shadow Specter Sect, appeared with her two female disciples. The rogue cultivators’ expressions instantly brightened as they cast lecherous glances in her direction.

Meng Qiulan snorted coldly.

A tan, skinny man appeared behind her, grinning maliciously at the crowd.

"Ling Qing!" At the sight of the skinny man, the rogue cultivators’ expressions changed as they hastily hid their audacious gazes.

These rogue cultivators had long been active in Misty Swamp and had no sect to back them.

Meanwhile, Ling Qing was different. Although his background was uncertain, they knew he had an organization behind him.

Moreover, Ling Qing was also the commander responsible for overseeing this stronghold.

Meng Qiulan nodded in satisfaction. She then went to the most well-kept wooden hut, per Ling Qing’s arrangements.

After closing the door, Ling Qing bowed and reported, "Hall Master Meng, that boy visited once and has since disappeared. He said he wanted to explore Misty Swamp, but half a month has passed, and he hasn’t reappeared."

Meng Qiulan knitted her brows.

She had intended to see if Hong Tai’s nephew had any potential. After hearing that he had not shown up for a long time, she did not dwell on it and instead asked, "I’ve heard that the fragmented lands near Divine Fortune have been acting strangely lately..."

"Hall Master, not many people know about this, but we, the Shadow Specter Sect, have come to know it." Ling Qing replied, nodding vigorously as he did, eyes wide with surprise. He paused to gather his thoughts. His look of surprise shifted into fear. "The tainted energy of the Fifth World is permeating the fragmented lands under the jurisdiction of the Ouyang Clan."

Meng Qiulan took a deep breath and asked solemnly, "Have many people died in the worst affected fragmented lands?"

Among the many hall masters of the Shadow Specter Sect, the Sect Leader of the Shadow Specter Sect favored Meng Qiulan the most. She had rushed to the fragmented land of Divine Fortune to verify the truth of the matter.

Ling Qing’s voice trembled slightly as he replied, "There are few survivors, and the survivors are said to have turned into terrifying aberrations. The murky energy of the Fifth World is fundamentally different from the murky energy in Misty Swamp or other restricted areas in the Fourth World!

"Even the city lords and their families that the Ouyang Clan assigned to those fragmented lands don’t seem to have survived either!"

Ling Qing licked his dry lips before he continued, "The Ouyang Clan has sealed off the information. The other clans may not be aware of this yet. I just hope the anomaly in that region won’t affect us."

The two female disciples behind Meng Qiuland paled at his words.

"That’s strange. The Sect Leader mentioned that such disasters haven’t occurred for many years." Meng Qiulan shook her head bitterly. "The Sect Leader sent me here to understand why the murky energy of the lower worlds has started to permeate the Fourth World."

***

Pang Jian traveled alone through Misty Swamp. Although he occasionally encountered cultivators hunting Vicious Beasts, those cultivators would hurriedly avoid him once they saw him.

Half a month ago, shortly after arriving in Misty Swamp, he had killed a group of rogue cultivators with ill intentions.

Luo Hongyan’s Spirit Devils had been refined from those rogue cultivators’ souls.

That act made other nearby rogue cultivators aware of his proclaimed identity as Hong Tai’s nephew. His ruthless actions and Hong Tai’s fearsome reputation meant no one had dared to provoke him since.

Pang Jian wandered the swamp aimlessly, eventually arriving at the bog where the Divine Spirit Pagoda was buried.

After vigilantly watching the area and confirming that no one had noticed the white pagoda, he ventured deeper into the swamp.

By nightfall, he had reached an unfamiliar forest.

The trees and plants here were exceptionally lush, and the humid air was filled with the scent of vegetation.

Taking a deep breath of the humid air, Pang Jian felt an unexpected urge to cultivate.

Since arriving in Misty Swamp, he had only cultivated with spirit stones and spirit jades for efficiency.

Now, for the first time since they had arrived, he felt the impulsive desire to cultivate using his surrounding spiritual qi.

Sitting down, he entered a state of cultivation, silently practicing the Qi Nurturing Divine Cauldron Art.

Pang Jian’s thoughts drifted to the Giant Abyssal Serpent. He wanted to check on it.

However, the last time he did so, his mind had been so severely drained that it had caused him to faint. Thus, he forcibly suppressed the desire to spy on the Fifth World.

Clearing his mind of all distractions, he started to cultivate. As he used the Qi Nurturing Divine Cauldron Art to absorb the mixed spiritual qi of heaven and earth, he sensed a fresh and natural essence of vegetation mixed with some strange energy. This energy flowed into his dantian alongside the surrounding spiritual qi.

The spiritual qi in the area was extremely scarce.

Pang Jian had learned from Luo Hongyan that any energy that was not pure spiritual qi was considered mixed energy.

Some special techniques, such as the Earth Blaze Technique or the Mystic Yin Technique, used mixed energies to enhance one’s combat power.

The essence of vegetation should also have a corresponding special technique, likely related to growing medicinal herbs.

Pang Jian tried to refine the dense essence of vegetation around him.

The strands of vegetation essence he absorbed into his dantian seemed to flow along his meridians toward the bronze pendant.

This sensation was identical to how the Giant Abyssal Serpent in the bronze pendant had absorbed the murky energy from his body.

Pang Jian briefly wondered about the secrets of the bronze pendant but soon returned his focus to diligently practicing the Qi Nurturing Divine Cauldron Art.

Time flowed like water, and Pang Jian entered a state of deep concentration.

Once he felt he had nearly exhausted the nearby essence of vegetation, Pang Jian finally opened his eyes.

All the trees and plants in the ten-zhang radius around him had withered and died!

Whoosh!

A lush green sapling unexpectedly emerged from the bronze pendant. It flew through the air, glowing with a jade-like green hue.

Pang Jian was taken aback.

He did not even think before following the sapling, fearing rogue cultivators would spot and seize it.

It did not fly for long.

The mystical sapling soon found another vibrant forest and landed on the forest floor.

It immediately took root!

Its appearance dulled, no longer emitting the strange green radiance and blending seamlessly with the surrounding vegetation.

Had Pang Jian not kept his eyes on it the entire time, he would not have been able to realize its extraordinary nature.

First, it was the Giant Abyssal Serpent. Now, it’s this peculiar...vine sapling? Could the urge to absorb the essence of vegetation have come from it? Pang Jian wondered.

The sapling was absorbing the essence of the nearby vegetation like he had done earlier.

This too was similar to the Giant Abyssal Serpent. Once the Giant Abyssal Serpent had emerged from the bronze pendant, it could draw in the murky energy from the darkness without his assistance.

Strange...

A thought suddenly occurred to Pang Jian. Closing his eyes, a new, strange sense appeared in his mind.

He felt as if he had become that sapling. He saw towering ancient trees and gigantic flowers and plants. The grass around him barely reached his chest.

It’s the sapling’s perspective!

Pang Jian was astounded.

The bronze pendant in his chest abruptly turned icy cold.

Peering down, he saw the bronze pendant covered in a layer of ice crystals, like the Mirror Tunnel on the surface of Black Orchid Lake.

Another perspective appeared in his mind.

It was the Giant Abyssal Serpent in the Fifth World.

Whoosh!

The ice crystals covering the bronze pendant shot a beam of strange light toward the sapling.

Pang Jian and the bronze pendant on his chest were pulled into the sapling!

An overwhelming pain enveloped Pang Jian. It was like his body was being torn apart and his head was about to explode.

As he adapted to the pain, Pang Jian also sensed the loss of spiritual power within his body.

Murky energy had once again tainted the spiritual power in his spiritual sea, just like when he had first entered the dark tunnel in Eight Trigrams City.

However, the murky energy this time was much weaker than Eight Trigrams City, and his spiritual power was being tainted at a slower pace.

Pang Jian opened his eyes.

He was no longer in Misty Swamp. There was no sapling beside. The sky above was not a gloomy gray either.

It was absolute darkness!

The Fifth World!

Pang Jian was horrified.

He soon spotted the Giant Abyssal Serpent not far away, shaking its olive-green scales as it devoured an unknown beast.

The newly born Giant Abyssal Serpent sensed Pang Jian’s presence and glanced up at him in confusion.

Terrified, Pang Jian turned to take in his surroundings.

He was not in Eight Trigrams City. This appeared to be the mountainous region he had seen through the Giant Abyssal Serpent’s vision at the top of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar.

As he continued to turn, Pang Jian saw the majestic stone pillar, true to its name, stretching toward the distant sky.

The Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar dwarfed the surrounding mountains.

Glancing up at the pillar from the ground, Pang Jian could not see the top. He could not even spot Eight Trigrams City. The pillar stood in the desolate wilderness of the Fifth World AS IF it had been suppressing all beings for millennia.

Countless beings from the Fifth World tried to ascend to the upper worlds using the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar, only to be reduced to corpses and skeletons.

The newly born Giant Abyssal Serpent had descended into the wilderness of the Fifth World from Eight Trigrams City, which was at the top of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar!

It had crossed the vast wastelands littered with endless corpses and bones and had arrived in the mountains teeming with evil vitality. It grew ever stronger as it hunted the Vicious Beasts of the Fifth World.

"Ah!" Pang Jian cried out in surprise.

Sparse "raindrops" fell from the pitch-black sky. Each of these "raindrops" landed with a boom, bursting into pieces.

Pang Jian realized they were corpses.

They were not just ordinary people, they were cultivators!

The sparse "raindrops" continued to fall all across the Fifth World.

Pang Jian breathed deeply to compose himself. An unimaginable catastrophe seemed to be happening in the world above him.

The Fourth World.

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