Trials of the Abyss

I am Pang Jian’s Tree!

Li Yuqing’s expression shifted into one of astonishment.

Her slightly plump but beautiful face was filled with disbelief.

She recalled the time in Eight Trigrams City when she had hastily carved a line of words into the stone pavement, telling Pang Jian not to come looking for her.

She also vividly remembered hiding and watching as Pang Jian rushed out from the City Lord’s Mansion and anxiously called her name in the square, telling her to leave Eight Trigrams City.

"Pang Jian’s tree..." Li Yuqing knitted her delicate brows.

Every green, glowing leaf of the young World Eater Vine trembled.

The line of characters had been scratched out based on Pang Jian’s instructions. The World Eater Vine could not read and did not understand the meaning of the characters. It was too scared to move an inch.

Its young mind could not comprehend much. It did not understand why the girl in the sky wanted to destroy it and was utterly terrified.

The plea for help was instinctively sent to Pang Jian out of fear and helplessness. It sensed that a mysterious bond tied it and Pang Jian together, and while it did not know how Pang Jian could help, it had no choice but to seek his aid.

The World Eater Vine sensed the girl floating before it was vastly more powerful than Pang Jian and possessed the terrifying power to destroy the entire Divine Fortune.

Secretly doubting its scrawlings could change the girl’s murderous intent, it could only tremble in quiet apprehension.

As it waited in despair, it eventually noticed the terrifying girl had been in a daze the whole time.

The earth-shattering sword intent of the massive silver-white sword had vanished.

Although deeply confused, it resolved to engrave the line of characters into its memory.

These unknown characters held a mysterious power that had dispelled the girl’s deadly intent toward it.

The young World Eater vine was determined to learn this strange script well in the future.

After some time, Li Yuqing snapped out of her daze. She stared at the strange and potentially dangerous World Eater Vine and asked, "Where’s Pang Jian?"

The branch of the World Eater Vine that had carved out the characters pointed upward.

Li Yuqing looked up and exclaimed in surprise, "The Third World?"

The World Eater Vine shook its leaves as if responding to her.

"So, it really is a World Eater Vine. It already has remarkable sentience despite being so young." Li Yuqing hesitated, then added, "As you grow, your vines will extend infinitely, eventually linking Divine Fortune and the fragmented lands in the surrounding Shangguan Clan’s territory together. You used to be one of the sources of the murky energy in the Fifth World…

"But you’re also Pang Jian’s tree." The girl sighed.

Whoosh!

The massive silver-white sword behind her shrank and flew into her spatial ring.

"I’ll spare you for now! I’ll decide whether or not to eliminate you after I meet Pang Jian!"

The girl then turned into a streak of light and vanished from Divine Fortune.

***

The exhausted Pang Jian sat drenched in sweat in a volcanic cave in the Third World. He severed the connection with the young World Eater Vine, ignoring its flurry of confused thoughts.

Maintaining a connection with the World Eater Vine in the Fourth World while being in the Third World had massively drained his energy. It was vastly different from his occasional check-ins while in Misty Swamp.

It’s the distance! The World Eater Vine’s too far from me. It was incredibly taxing on my mind."

The fatigued Pang Jian was about to fall asleep.

His mind whirled with immense shock and a sense of intimidation.

He did not realize that the girl from the dark tunnel was so powerful!

He was even more surprised that the World Eater Vine’s scrawl had been enough to stop Li Yuqing!

He had heard Li Yuqing’s terrifying description of the World Eater Vine.

As the World Eater Vine grew, its vines would extend to and link the nearby fragmented lands.

Furthermore, it used to be one of the sources of murky energy in the Fifth World!

Pang Jian realized the fearsome nature of this young World Eater Vine far surpassed that of the Giant Abyssal Serpent!

Pang Jian’s thoughts continued to wander, and he soon drifted off while clutching the Primordial Sun Technique manual.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw was Luo Hongyan.

"You’re being too careless," Luo Hongyan scolded, shooting him a sharp glare. "Given your cautious nature, I expected you to have set up some defenses before sleeping, like placing some Nine Heavenly Profound Thunder or Refined Ghost Miasma at the cave entrance.

"How did you not wake up when I entered the cave and stood right next to you?"

Luo Hongyan shook her head in displeasure.

"I’ve been exhausted lately," Pang Jian responded dismissively.

His prolonged connection with the World Eater Vine had drained so much of his mental energy that he fell into a deep sleep.

"Balance your cultivation with rest. Don’t strain your mind too much or it’ll hinder your progress," Luo Hongyan advised.

"Besides sleeping, how else can one restore mental energy?" Pang Jian asked earnestly.

"Some spirit-nourishing pills and herbs can help quickly restore mental energy. However, it’s best to wait until after you reach the Profound Abode Realm. You can learn a soul-nourishing technique after forming your divine sense."

Luo Hongyan then took out a few bottles of pills from her spatial bracelet and handed them to Pang Jian with a smile.

"Take these bottles of Mind Soothing Pills and use them as needed. With your cultivation at the Marrow Cleansing Realm, you typically wouldn’t exhaust so much mental energy. You shouldn’t need the Mind Soothing Pills in the first place."

Pang Jian accepted the Mind Soothing Pills without hesitation.

He took a few, instantly feeling more alert as the medicinal effects spread through his body.

If he had had these Mind Soothing Pills earlier, he would not have had to sleep at all.

A brilliant light suddenly illuminated the small cave as Luo Hongyan revealed dozens of spirit jades, hundreds of spirit stones, and the blood and meat of both Vicious Beasts and Spirit Beasts.

"These are some of my recent acquisitions," Luo Hongyan said, eyes gleaming with delight as she pushed them toward Pang Jian. "The beast blood and meat are from Rank Four and Rank Five Vicious Beasts and Spirit Beasts. I used most of our cultivation resources back in Misty Swamp to reforge my physical body. It’s time for me to repay you.

"Dong Tianze and the members of the Sinister Soul Temple are on their way. I’ll take this opportunity to stir up some more trouble and create more enemies for them. Once they arrive, I’ll leak the information and incite the rogue cultivators I’ve robbed to attack them."

Humming an unknown tune, she cheerfully flew out of the volcanic crater.

"The blood and meat of Rank Four and Rank Five Vicious Beasts and Spirit Beasts," Pang Jian repeated with a stunned expression.

The Third World was indeed on a different level. The beast blood and meat they had painstakingly obtained in Misty Swamp were at best from Rank Three Vicious Beasts.

In contrast, in the Third World, Luo Hongyan had acquired a considerable amount of blood and meat from high-ranked beasts in a short time.

I don’t need the excess blood essence from the blood and meat but the black turtle does.

Pang Jian stored the spirit jades and spirit stones in his spatial bracelet and then started absorbing the blood essence of the high-ranked beasts’ blood and meat.

"The blood essence from higher-ranked Vicious Beasts and Spirit Beasts is so abundant!" he exclaimed excitedly.

The small black turtle within his bronze pendant soon sensed the rich blood essence flowing through his stomach.

The pendant started to absorb the blood essence!

In the following days, Pang Jian remained on the nameless fragmented land, practicing the Primordial Sun Technique and Starflow Technique while consuming large quantities of the beast blood and meat.

Half a month later, the black turtle emerged sluggishly from a crack in the bronze door of the pendant.

Whoosh!

Pang Jian was jolted out of his cultivation.

This black turtle was larger than his palm and looked exactly like the ethereal form of the black turtle he had seen on Central Lake Island.

As he studied the black turtle, the black turtle also curiously stared back at him. Both of them were sizing each other up.

After a while, the small black turtle crawled into a crack in the volcanic rock wall and headed toward the center of the nameless fragmented land.

The black turtle took a long time to reach the center of the fragmented land.

Once there, it fell into a deep sleep.

The black turtle’s presence caused the nameless fragmented land to actively absorb the spiritual qi of heaven and earth. The concentration of spiritual qi on the fragmented land started to gradually increase.

Pang Jian was speechless.

Two days later, a veiled Luo Hongyan flew into the cave.

"I saw a Cloud Sail approaching us. If I’m not mistaken, it’s heading to the Three Immortal Islands. We should take this opportunity to board that Cloud Sail and go," she urged with a smile.

Pang Jian nodded and stood to leave.

When he left the cave, he noticed Luo Hongyan had changed into a rose-red dress and was wearing embroidered shoes. Surprisingly, she was walking on the rocky ground.

Noticing his curious gaze, Luo Hongyan explained, "If I keep flying around, those on the Cloud Sail will be too scared to accept our spirit stones."

"What would happen if a black turtle entered a fragmented land?" Pang Jian abruptly asked.

"The fragmented land would become a spiritual land, just like the small island on Black Orchid Lake. The stronger the black turtle, the denser the spiritual qi," Luo Hongyan casually explained, unperturbed by his sudden questioning. "Black turtles are very lazy and rarely move. They’re also known as Earth Spirits as they possess immense power and can bless the land they inhabit.

"If a black turtle in a fragmented land reaches a high enough rank, it could create a blessed land. Strange mineral veins, priceless herbs, and rare spirit materials can all be nurtured in such a blessed land."

"Why didn’t the black turtle in Black Orchid Lake create such a blessed land?" Pang Jian asked curiously.

Luo Hongyan shot him a fond look of exasperation then patiently explained, "Firstly, that black turtle wasn’t strong enough. Secondly, the Solitary Mountain Range is in the Fourth World, where the spiritual qi is sparse and mixed with impurities. That ultimately stunted its growth.

"If that black turtle were in a different environment, such as the First World, the Second World, or even the Third World, the fragmented land it inhabited might’ve become a blessed land."

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