Trials of the Abyss

As Ning Yao leaped over the fissures, she occasionally glanced back at Pang Jian, staying aware of his movements and fearing abnormal behavior from him.

Pang Jian stood firm like a statue, showing no signs of moving.

It was not until she climbed the wooden stairs, reached the deck of the Formless Sailboat, searched around for a while, and descended into the cabin that Pang Jian finally stepped over to the thick, broad bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

The Celestial Phoenix’s withered bone towered high like a broad, giant sword, piercing straight into the dim dusk sky. Even the ancient trees nearby paled in comparison to the bone’s height. The majestic, sacred aura emanating from it left Pang Jian in awe.

He paced around the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

He alternated between peering up at the end of the withered bone that pierced the sky and gazing down at where it was embedded in the ground. His eyes gradually revealed a glimmer of hope.

Ning Yao was not wrong. He was not a guileless youth. He found it hard to trust or share anything with anybody else and concealed things from Ning Yao and Zhou Qingchen. After all, he had not revealed the final scene he saw through the Eye of Imprint.

Only he knew that a cluster of mysterious faint lights roamed within the initially unremarkable bone after the murderous vine-like entities withdrew and the tremors subsided. The mysterious lights roamed for a while before gradually fading away, with everything returning to normal.

This was the final scene that he had kept hidden.

The reason he was willing to risk revisiting the withered bone was not out of the kindness of his heart, but to investigate the mysterious faint light roaming inside the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

He mentioned exploring the Formless Sailboat, anticipating that Ning Yao’s distrust and wariness of him meant she would confront him head-on.

As expected, when he mentioned wanting to go to the Formless Sailboat, Ning Yao stopped him and insisted he remain outside. This proved his intuition was correct.

Meanwhile, Ning Yao had hastily rushed toward the Formless Sailboat, eager to unravel the mysteries hidden within the sailboat alone.

She had played right into Pang Jian’s hands.

"It should appear soon." Pang Jian stared intently at the towering, broad bone of the Celestial Phoenix. He didn’t attempt to touch the bone like Zhou Qingchen, but maintained a distance and waited for the mysterious faint light to appear.

After a while, a hazy cluster of faint white light, resembling liquid amber, emerged slowly from deep within the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

The luminous, mysterious lights looked like wandering creatures as they floated up from the bottom of the gigantic bone.

Pang Jian fixed his gaze on that cluster of mysterious faint lights, eyes unblinking in fear of missing any detail.

He could not help but recall the sight of the pristine white divine bone slaying the Green Condor. As he observed the gleaming lights, he felt both nervous and delighted.

Did these same gleaming lights hold the same earth-shattering divine power as the divine bone that so easily pierced and killed the formidable Green Condor? he wondered. Would he also be affected from this distance, like those two bodyguards on the Green Condor who were annihilated?

Apprehensive, Pang Jian held his breath and concentrated, carefully observing the withered bone. However, he did not detect any alarming heat, nor did he see countless runes whistling like drills from the cluster of mysterious light.

"This isn’t the same bone. Zhou Qingchen was right," He realized. The hope and anticipation in his eyes slowly turned into disappointment.

This withered bone was not the one that he had previously seen. It lacked the power to pierce through the sky in the same way. All that remained was a hint of mystery.

With this realization, Pang Jian’s courage increased.

"Since it isn’t the same bone..." He approached the withered bone.

"Mm?" Ning Yao’s surprised voice echoed from the depths of the Formless Sailboat’s cabin. It seemed she had made some discovery in the cabin as she shouted excitedly, "Pang Jian, is everything fine outside? Zhou Qingchen and Shangguan Qin haven’t come over, have they?"

Pang Jian raised his voice to reply, "No, everything’s fine here."

The cluster of mysterious faint light roaming the bone of the Celestial Phoenix appeared to be drawn to his voice. It swiftly approached the area closest to Pang Jian as if silently observing him.

Bang!

The mysterious faint lights seemed to have gained consciousness, striking the walls of the bone in an attempt to break free and enter Pang Jian’s body.

Pang Jian’s expression changed as he stepped back in fear. He was not sure what would happen if the cluster of lights succeeded in entering his body.

He had seen firsthand what had happened to the Green Condor and the two bodyguards.

Pang Jian had returned to the bone of the Celestial Phoenix to investigate the possible mysteries of the faint lights and potentially benefit from it, not risk his life in a situation he did not fully understand.

Boom!

The mysterious faint lights broke through the bone wall!

Frightened, Pang Jian tried to use something to block the cluster of faint amber lights, but it was too late.

The faint lights went straight for Pang Jian’s heart, seemingly intending to pierce through it. However, just as it broke through Pang Jian’s clothing, its fierce momentum abruptly stopped.

As Pang Jian trembled, the sealed doors on the bronze pendant hanging on Pang Jian’s chest parted slightly, revealing an opening as thin as a strand of hair.

Whoosh!

The faint lights, which had been aiming for Pang Jian’s heart, were instead drawn into the bronze doors. The faint lights flickered and vanished, and the slit in the bronze door swiftly closed. It was as if nothing had happened.

Unbeknownst to Pang Jian, an ancient vine, buried deep underground in the fissures, was also undergoing a strange transformation. The sinister ancient vine, with countless branching vines swaying like monstrous trees, had been pierced by the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

After the cluster of faint lights was drawn into the bronze pendant on Pang Jian’s chest, all the bloodthirsty vines, including the source of the ancient vine itself, withered and died in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace of their former otherworldly presence.

However, Pang Jian remained completely unaware of what had happened.

Bewildered, he assumed a defensive posture, only to find himself blocking nothing but air.

The mysterious faint lights that rushed out from the bone of the Celestial Phoenix had vanished.

Even the wall of the withered bone held no trace of a crack.

It was like nothing had happened.

However, for some reason, when Pang Jian looked at the bone again, he could not shake the feeling that the profoundly mysterious aura of the withered bone had vanished.

Looking around, Pang Jian noticed a subtle cut in his clothes. It was as if someone had used a sharp knife to slice open his clothing while he was distracted.

Pang Jian’s expression turned strange as he gazed at the inexplicable slit that had appeared. He wondered if it had anything to do with the faint lights.

He was still deep in thought, pondering where the cluster of faint lights had gone when Ning Yao excitedly rushed out from the Formless Sailboat. "Pang Jian."

Ning Yao hauled a large sack behind her. It was filled with items, giving her figure a somewhat bulky appearance.

"I knew it! You saw the cultivation materials left behind by the Blood Moon Sect cultivators in the Formless Sailboat!" She patted the sack with a delighted expression on her face and said, "Spirit stones are coveted by all cultivators! Just like with spiritual qi, almost all the spirit stones in our Fourth World contain impurities that are hard to get rid of. Although not high quality, the spirit stones in the Formless Sailboat don’t contain any impurities!

Ning Yao’s face was filled with happiness. She excitedly swung her hands and exclaimed, "These are things we don’t have in the Fourth World!"

Carrying the large sack on her back, Ning Yao leaped over the fissures on the ground, her speed noticeably slower than before. She could not hide the excitement on her face.

"Congratulations," Pang Jian offered lukewarmly. Surprisingly, Ning Yao had actually found something of value inside the Formless Sailboat.

"Let’s put it in the net under the warhorse. It’s too eye-catching on my back." After Ning Yao reached Pang Jian, she immediately threw away all the worthless items that originally belonged to Liu Qi from the net under the warhorse’s belly and replaced them with the sack of spirit stones. Coldly, she sneered, "Are you still trying to outsmart me?"

Pang Jian was speechless. "I honestly didn’t know there were spirit stones inside the Formless Sailboat."

Ning Yao pursed her lips in disdain. "Don’t try to trick me! You were planning to use the bamboo basket on your back to carry the spirit stones, right?"

Pang Jian shook his head in silence.

"Never mind, I can’t be bothered to argue with you. Since you kept watch outside, I’ll give you a few pieces for your cultivation." Ning Yao retrieved several jade-like stones resembling shattered bricks from under the warhorse’s belly, then opened Pang Jian’s bamboo basket and threw them in.

She froze. "What’s this?"

A gray stone emitting a faint Profound Yin energy inside the bamboo basket had caught her attention. Pang Jian had repeatedly absorbed the stone’s Profound Yin energy, so at this moment, the Profound Yin energy the strange stone emitted was difficult to detect without touching it directly.

Before, when Ning Yao was close to it, she only felt that the bamboo basket was a little chilly and did not give it much thought. It was only upon closer inspection that she noticed something was amiss.

Frowning, she said, "It’s a stone rich in Profound Yin energy. This thing can’t be used by ordinary people. Only those who practice evil and bizarre techniques can absorb it. Pang Jian, where did you get this rock? Why are you carrying it with you?"

"I picked it up from the stone pile. When I held it, it was cold to the touch, so I was planning on bringing it out of the Solitary Mountain Range to see if I could sell it," Pang Jian answered.

"You’re right, this thing has some value on the market," Ning Yao agreed. "But the demand for such a niche spirit material is usually quite low, so its value isn’t very high."

Without giving the stone further thought, Ning Yao casually threw several pieces of what she considered highly valuable spirit stones into the bamboo basket on Pang Jian’s back, then urged him to ride the horse back.

"Now, remember. Don’t mention the spirit stones to the others," she warned coldly.

"Okay," Pang Jian answered indifferently, spurring the horse to ride swiftly back to where Zhou Qingchen and the others were.

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