Trials of the Abyss

Dazzling lights crisscrossed over the flat rocky area on the summit of the First Peak of the Primordial Wilderness, resembling sharp blades that emanated a cold brilliance. From a distance, this dense web of lights blanketing the summit resembled a cultivator's protective shield.

A Demon Scale Race Warrior instructed a Rank Five Demon Armor Beast to stealthily climb the stone steps below.

Shing!

As soon as its natural steel-like skin touched the sharp light, its scales were sliced open. The Rank Five Demon Armor Beast howled in pain as its flesh was torn apart and it retreated in horror.

Yang Rui stood at the edge of the summit slashing a long blade covered in flame at the Rank Five Demon Armor Beast.

Whoosh!

As he swung his long blade, a dazzling sea of blades formed, leaving the Demon Armor Beast in pieces.

"Yang Rui, well done," Lady Hua openly praised.

The rogue cultivators, Blood Moon Sect's members, and the Sinister Soul Temple's members on the summit all nodded in agreement.

The valiant Yang Rui, with his Profound Abode Realm cultivation, guarded a corner of the summit. Whenever foreign race warriors or Vicious Beasts emerged, he would greet them with his blade.

Those warriors and Vicious Beast below Rank Six rarely escaped after the combined attack of the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array and Yang Rui. Even the Rank Six powerhouses from the Demon Scale Race and the Celestial Race feared his strength.

"It's all thanks to the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array," Yang Rui said modestly, shaking his head with a calm expression. "If it weren't for the grand array connected to the spirit vein in the Primordial Wilderness, the First Peak would have fallen long ago."

Yang Rui's imposing figure seemed to glow under the sunlight. Coupled with the radiant sun emblem on his robe, he almost appeared as if he could be the son of the sun god. Female cultivators gazed at him with admiration and adoration.

Most women were drawn to strength. Yang Rui had exceptional talent, outstanding combat prowess, and a tall, imposing stature. Not to mention, he was the cherished genius of the Radiant Sun Sect. These factors combined made it impossible for him to remain low-key.

"It's also the result of everyone's joint efforts," said the exhausted Lady Hua. She did not forget to throw Yang Rui a flirtatious glance before sighing heavily. "After this battle, the spirit vein in the Primordial Wilderness will probably take hundreds of years to recover."

Deploying the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array to fend off the fierce assaults of the foreign race warriors was slowly depleting the reserves of the underground spirit vein.

"We just need to hold on a bit longer," Lou Yunming of the Sinister Soul Temple said, wearily swallowing a Soul Nourishing Pill after a tough fight with a Rank Six Demon Scale Race warrior. "I've already reported to our sect master using secret techniques. He said that flying vessels from the major sects are being used to transport people and supplies to and from the lower worlds..."

As he spoke, he glanced at Jiu Yuan of the Blood Moon Sect and Wei Wenhan of the Radiant Sun Sect.

When the invading forces from the Fifth World first appeared, Wei Wenhan, an elder of the Radiant Sun Sect, had tried to reach the peak where their Fire Cloud Ship was anchored.

Along the way, he and Yang Rui encountered frenzied assault from the foreign race warriors and the Vicious Beasts, forcing them to retreat to the First Peak of the Primordial Wilderness.

"Yes, I understand the situation is unusual and reinforcements from the major sects won't arrive as soon as we hoped." Wei Wenhan nodded, gazing toward the sky with a heavy heart. "Given the usual approach from the higher-ups, as long as they know the attacking foreign race warriors aren't above Rank Seven, they'll likely stand by and do nothing."

Jiu Yuan cursed, "The attacking forces probably know the habits of the higher-ups, so they didn't send any Rank Seven powerhouses or Vicious Beasts!"

Cao Mang remained silent. He had occasionally visited the Second World and was well aware of the situations Wei Wenhan and Jiu Yuan had described as such occurrences had happened before.

Even if terrifying Vicious Beasts or foreign races caused trouble in the dangerous restricted areas in the Third World, the upper worlds would let the five major sects handle it themselves as long as the threat was below the Rank Seven.

Only when they truly could not handle it and suffered significant losses would the higher-ups in the upper worlds step in. It was like an unwritten rule.

"We must find out how they got here!" Wei Wenhan frowned at Cao Mang.

Suppressing his anger, Cao Mang said coldly, "I've activated the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array and led the charge, killing many foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts. Isn't that enough to clear your doubts about me?"

Wei Wenhan remained indifferent. "Your secret dealings with the Fifth World are real. Who knows? Maybe you leaked some information or provided key spirit materials for them, leading them to create a Mirror Tunnel and target the Primordial Wilderness?"

"Wei Wenhan, if you slander me again, I'll chase you off the First Peak!" Cao Mang roared, unable to contain his anger.

Cao Mang felt utterly wronged. He knew someone was deliberately framing him. However, he could not fathom who had the power to convince the invading foreign race warriors to insist he had invited them.

"Cao Mang," Wei Wenhan addressed him directly by name, arrogantly waving the sleeve of his old scholarly robes. "You should think about your future after this battle. The higher-ups will investigate. It does not matter whether or not you invited these invading forces from the Fifth World. It still happened under your watch, so you can't escape your responsibility!"

Cao Mang's expression darkened at his words.

***

In the valley between the Fourth Peak and Fifth Peak, Fang Boxuan put away his blood talisman after his exchange with Jiu Yuan.

Scanning the area, he noticed the spatial pouches on Bai Guanjie and Chen Min's bodies. In the area between these two bodies were the belongings of his senior brothers in the Innate Realm.

Pang Jian left in a hurry, likely fearing I'd catch up and kill him, so he didn't have time to take their spatial pouches.

"Senior Sister Chen, it's not that I'm oblivious, but your looks really didn't interest me..." Fang Boxuan murmured as he grabbed Chen Min's spatial pouch.

He then gathered the belongings from the frozen bodies of his senior brothers and sisters in the Innate Realm.

Finally, he arrived before Bai Guanjie's body.

Looking at the cleaved body of his senior brother, Fang Boxuan sighed. "Senior Brother Bai, you were unlucky. You led the charge and were killed in the most gruesome way. You should've figured out your opponent's cultivation realm first. What a pity."

Fang Boxuan shook his head as he removed the spatial pouch from Bai Guanjie's waist.

Preparing to inspect the contents of the spatial pouches, Fang Boxuan muttered to himself, "Next time—"

Whoosh!

He hastily summoned a crimson protective shield.

Without warning, Bai Guanjie's body exploded!

Boom!

An explosive force of heavenly thunder emerged from the splattering of flesh and limbs. The lightning and thunder coalesced into a sphere and slammed into his protective shield, causing Fang Boxuan to groan and stagger backward.

Fang Boxuan's face darkened. "Despicable!"

Further ahead in the valley leading to the Fourth Peak, a tall figure in a blue robe appeared and swiftly approached Fang Boxuan.

"Pang Jian, you're wearing the Sword Pavilion's attire!" Fang Boxuan cried out in shock.

"Qi Qingsong secured a spot for me as an outer disciple of the Sword Pavilion. Once I reach the Sword Pavilion in the Second World, I can officially register with this token." Pang Jian pointed to the sword-shaped token hanging from his waist.

"They're not Jiu Yuan. Wearing that robe and showing your Profound Abode Realm cultivation would've made them hesitate. Why kill them all?" Fang Boxuan asked, warily taking a few steps back and keeping his protective shield up.

As he neared his senior brothers' and sisters' ice-covered bodies, Fang Boxuan tensed up and cautiously avoided them out of fear of more traps.

"Should I just let them kill me then if I didn't have this attire?" Pang Jian replied coldly.

Fang Boxuan paused.

"Leave the spatial pouches behind and you can leave this valley. There's something important inside." Pang Jian snorted as he approached Fang Boxuan.

"When you called out my name, six of your group immediately showed killing intent. They chased me as I fled. They dared to harbor ill intentions and wanted to kill me for my spirit stones, so why shouldn't I kill them?"

Fang Boxuan knitted his brows in contemplation but did not voice any rebuttal.

There's something important in the spatial pouches? he wondered, instinctively releasing a thread of his divine sense to probe their contents.

He wanted to see what was so crucial inside the spatial pouches that Pang Jian desired them.

The instant his divine sense entered one of the spatial pouches.

Boom!

A cloud of grayish-green smoke burst from the opening of the spatial pouch. Fang Boxuan let out another muffled groan. His strand of divine sense dissipated as the smoke enveloped him.

"Pang Jian, you'll die a horrible death!" Fang Boxuan screamed as he threw away the spatial pouch. A blood-colored jade pendant on his chest glowed, protecting his sea of consciousness from the Refined Ghost Miasma. "I've never seen someone so despicable and shameless!

"Junior Sister Zhao from Red Mountain Sect must be blind to help someone like you! First, it was the Nine Heavenly Profound Thunder, and now it's the Refined Ghost Miasma. You even deceived me with words, claiming there was something important inside!"

Fang Boxuan cursed and swore as he fled. His heart was filled with resentment and he felt deeply wronged.

The six corpses of his senior brothers and sisters had been lined up from Chen Min to Bai Guanjie. None of the bodies nor spatial pouches showed any abnormalities up until Bai Guanjie, so he assumed there would not be any issues there either. He had not expected...

Fang Boxuan was on the verge of tears.

Pang Jian had used the first few bodies to lower his guard, only to trigger the Nine Heavenly Profound Thunder inside Bai Guanjie's body when he least expected it. He then used words to trick him into probing the spatial pouches with his divine sense, activating the Refined Ghost Miasma.

His schemes are so malicious! If it weren't for my life-saving treasures, I could have fallen victim and died here without being able to defend myself.

Fang Boxuan had rarely experienced such treachery and was filled with bitterness. As he fled, he could not help but look back at Pang Jian in utter fear.

Boom!

As Fang Boxuan ran past a fractured rock, he was struck again by an exploding Nine Heavenly Profound Thunder.

In the blink of an eye, Pang Jian reached Fang Boxuan with his spear manipulation, unleashing a series of Lunar Edges, starlight, and ice shards as he attacked Fang Boxuan with the ferocity of a raging tempest.

"Ugh!" Fang Boxuan spat a mouthful of blood as his protective shield shattered before hurriedly taking out a blood-colored pearl to protect himself.

Ripples of dark red light spread out, but barely held for a second before Pang Jian's Startling Slaughter Spear destroyed it as well.

Fang Boxuan screamed miserably, "Pang Jian, we have no personal grudge, I just—I just!"

Boom!

He summoned a palm-sized bronze bell and placed it over his head, but Pang Jian's spear cracked it with a single strike. Biting his tongue in fear, Fang Boxuan shrank into the cracked bronze bell and activated an escape technique.

"Pang Jian, you won't die a good death!" Fang Boxuan's anguished screams echoed in his wake.

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