Trials of the Abyss

Luo Hongyan stood by the window on the fifth floor of the Divine Spirit Pagoda, watching angrily as Pang Jian disappeared into the darkness.

In Ning Yao’s sea of consciousness, the real Ning Yao was overwhelmed with grief and resentment. She glared at Luo Hongyan and asked, "Are you trying to humiliate me to death?"

Luo Hongyan’s lips curled in disdain. "Do you actually believe I was trying to humiliate you by allowing Pang Jian to make contact with your body?"

"Weren’t you?" Ning Yao exclaimed indignantly.

Luo Hongyan softly snorted, once again gathering the energy in the Profound Yin stones to refine her ethereal form.

She impassively said, "You’ve lost your sense of touch. So, when I made skin contact with him, you felt nothing. However, I still granted you the ability to see through your own eyes. Therefore, you should already know that he opened up four meridians upon entering the Meridian Opening Realm.

"Ning Yao, let me ask you this. When you entered the Meridian Opening Realm, how many meridians did you open?"

Luo Hongyan’s eyes were filled with mockery.

Ning Yao hesitated before responding, "I didn’t manage to open a single one."

"So, why do you feel that I was humiliating you when I used your body to approach Pang Jian?" Luo Hongyan continued to pull on strands of Profound Yin energy as she brashly scorned Ning Yao. "Are you still clinging to the belief that being born into one of the seven major clans grants you a higher status than Pang Jian?"

Ning Yao was stunned.

"What a foolish woman. Even in the Third World, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone with Pang Jian’s level of cultivation talent." With a cold expression, Luo Hongyan shook her head and sarcastically remarked, "Just based on this fact alone, he has surpassed your Ning Clan’s lineage by several levels.

"You still haven’t realized it, have you? You, Ning Yao, are the toad, while Pang Jian is the swan you should be admiring." [1]

Those words seemed to deal a heavy blow to Ning Yao, enveloping her in a cloud of dismay.

"Take some time to consider my words carefully. Stop living in your fantasies."

***

The next morning, Pang Jian woke up from his drunken stupor slightly dizzy. He noticed that he had been lying in the island’s bushes, covered by a fur blanket.

His bamboo basket and Dragonwood Spear rested on the grass beside him.

He vaguely recalled that the blanket belonged to the deceased He Rong.

Confused, he guessed that Su Meng had seen him drunk and asleep, and brought a blanket to keep him warm through the night.

She’s indeed a kind-hearted girl, Pang Jian nodded silently to himself. Pushing aside the blanket, he glanced at the nearby bushes. Noticing the absence of dew, he realized it was very late.

Pang Jian had not expected the alcohol to hit him that hard and leave him in such a state of drunkenness.

He silently reminded himself to drink in moderation in the future. If the evil woman from last night had tried to attack him while he was drunk, or if he had encountered someone like Dong Tianze, he would not have known what hit him. nøvel.com

After scanning the surroundings and finding no one in sight, Pang Jian climbed toward the summit of the small hill.

On top of the small hill, he spotted the evil woman guiding Su Meng through the lush greenery, teaching her how to harvest the exotic plants.

Su Meng nodded repeatedly, showing earnest dedication to her learning and occasionally asking a question or two in a soft voice.

"She’s still here!" Pang Jian snorted. He had not expected the evil woman to linger and continue masquerading as Ning Yao after last night’s incident.

Pang Jian could not accurately gauge the true strength of the evil woman at the moment. However, seeing as she had not shown any immediate hostility, he decided to continue observing for now.

Collecting his thoughts, he let his gaze wander and caught sight of Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping riding a bamboo raft toward the foot of the northern mountain.

The pair were heading toward the mountain peak leading to the far north, seemingly determined to investigate the bizarre mist on the other side of the mountain.

There were no new arrivals on Central Lake Island, and Dong Tianze remained elusive, so Pang Jian settled down where he was.

He retrieved some low-quality spirit stones from his bamboo basket. Using the dissipating spiritual qi on the island and in the spirit stone, he started cultivating

He could only open the four meridians in his legs with abundant spiritual power. After his battle with Dong Tianze, only one-fifth of his spiritual power remained within his spiritual sea.

Pang Jian did not feel secure with that amount. He urgently wanted to replenish his spiritual sea as soon as possible.

In the blink of an eye, it was evening once again.

Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping emerged from the northern mountains. Their expressions were grave as they silently returned to the island on a bamboo raft.

Shortly after, Luo Hongyan and Su Meng also headed toward Pang Jian.

Following their conversation the previous night, Pang Jian’s attitude toward Luo Hongyan was noticeably colder than before. In contrast, Luo Hongyan acted as if nothing had happened, chatting and laughing with Su Meng along the way.

However, Su Meng found it difficult to smile. Her attempts to mimic Luo Hongyan’s smile looked forced and strained.

"You’re the most relaxed among us, not having to do anything. Ah, the rest of us have labored all day, unwittingly passing the day in toil." Luo Hongyan wiped the nonexistent sweat from her forehead, putting on a show of fatigue as she pointed at a pile of spirit plants stacked next to the white pagoda. "The spirit plants He Rong harvested were of too low value. Even if we sold them, we wouldn’t have gotten many spirit stones in return.

"What Su Meng and I harvested today are the most valuable of the spirit plants. We have Blood Cleansing Grass, Nine-Leaf Shattered Star Flower, and Thunderstrike Wood. With this, we should be able to exchange for a least a thousand spirit stones in the market in the Third World."

After she finished speaking, Su Meng’s big eyes lit up.

Pang Jian responded indifferently, "Oh."

The one busy harvesting the spirit plants had been Su Meng. Meanwhile, Luo Hongyan had done nothing but bark instructions. And now, she was pretending to be tired.

"I’ll take the Profound Yin stones. The rest of you can divide the spirit stones exchanged for these herbs among yourselves."

Luo Hongyan, annoyed by Pang Jian’s attitude, rolled her eyes. Despite this, she added, "You contributed the most, so you should receive a larger share. Later, when Zhou Qingchen arrives, I’ll talk to him and see how much more he can fit in his spatial bracelet."

Pang Jian had a strange expression. After a moment of silence, he curiously asked, "Are those spiritual plants really worth a thousand spirit stones?"

"Today it’s only a thousand because Su Meng is—because we’re not yet proficient. But tomorrow, the amount of the spiritual plants we can harvest should be worth two thousand five hundred spirit stones," Luo Hongyan calmly explained.

"You’ve worked hard," Pang Jian said, pointedly looking at Su Meng.

Su Meng quickly replied, "It’s all thanks to Sister Ning’s excellent teaching."

Moments later, Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping landed the bamboo raft on the island’s shore and headed up the small hill to look for the trio.

Han Duping, typically known for his frivolity, wore an uncharacteristically solemn expression as he said, "We saw the bizarre mist. We didn’t dare to venture inside and only kept a vigilant watch from a distance. The bizarre mist is anything but stagnant. It’s slowly creeping toward us. At this rate, it will cross the mountain peaks and engulf the entirety of Black Orchid Lake within ten days."

Zhou Qingchen helplessly said, "I think we should leave the Solitary Mountain Range as soon as possible."

Luo Hongyan knitted her brows and asked, "Will it really spread over here so quickly?"

"More or less," Han Duping answered.

"We’ve already explored the mysteries of the Solitary Mountain Range. It’s time for us to return and relay our findings to our respective clans," Zhou Qingchen said.

"Young Master Zhou, if I walk out from the Solitary Mountain Range alive, I will go to the Zhou Clan to find you," Pang Jian softly said.

Zhou Qingchen was so taken aback that he started anxiously pacing back and forth as he took in the meaning of Pang Jian’s words. "Pang Jian, do you really intend on exploring the bizarre mist?!"

Pang Jian nodded.

He had a lingering suspicion that the bizarre mist was where his father had disappeared. Countless tales from other cultivators had painted the bizarre mist as the biggest restricted area in this world.

However, he resolved to take the risk to venture inside and see for himself.

Zhou Qingchen glared at him and asked in a low growl, "Pang Jian, are you even aware of the dangers involved?!"

"I can imagine," Pang Jian answered.

’No, you can’t!" Zhou Qingchen violently shook his head. Taking a deep breath, he explained, "Ever since I can remember, every story I’ve heard about the bizarre mist has been filled with death, unknown terror, and mysterious disappearances. Forget cultivators like you and me, even cultivators with abilities hundreds or thousands of times greater than ours have perished within its depths!"

Han Duping and Luo Hongyan said nothing, but their expressions were equally grave. They were clearly reluctant to broach the subject of the bizarre mist.

Meanwhile, Su Meng stared blankly at the mountain peaks in the far north.

Pang Jian remained silent.

Looking at him, Luo Hongyan knew no one could dissuade him once he had made up his mind. She suggested, "How about this? We still have some time, so why don’t we all take this time to carefully consider the situation at hand?"

"Zhou Qingchen. Su Meng and I have gathered some valuable spirit plants, but we lack storage-type spirit artifacts. We need to borrow your spatial bracelet to store our harvests. We should also discuss how to distribute them among us. I want to make it clear that I won’t take any of the spiritual stones obtained from the sale of the spirit plants, but Pang Jian must have the lion’s share!"

Last night, on the fifth floor of the white pagoda, she and Zhou Qingchen had argued over the ownership of the Profound Yin stones.

This time, however, she took the initiative to fight for Pang Jian to ensure he would obtain the largest share.

Zhou Qingchen sighed and nodded. He then turned to Pang Jian and said, "Please think over the matter of the bizarre mist again."

Pang Jian looked at Luo Hongyan with a peculiar expression and nodded. "Okay."

Over the next few days, Luo Hongyan continued to direct Su Meng in harvesting the spirit plants around the island.

Zhou Qingchen and Han Duping, on the other hand, wandered around Black Orchid Lake, occasionally exploring the surrounding area in hopes of finding traces of Dong Tianze.

Meanwhile, Pang Jian used the spiritual stones he had on hand to tirelessly gather spiritual power.

As time passed, the pure spiritual qi of the island also showed signs of contamination.

As everyone gathered one evening, Luo Hongyan said, "There used to be a barrier on the island that restricted the departure of ghostly apparitions and purified spiritual qi. Now, with the death of the black turtle and the departure of its beast soul, the barrier has also disappeared. With the barrier gone, the spiritual qi has become increasingly polluted and there are no more spirit plants worth collecting anymore."

She and Su Meng had nothing else to do now.

Han Duping suddenly screamed, "The bizarre mist has crossed the mountain peak!"

Pang Jian turned to look at the north side of Black Orchid Lake. A hazy mist steadily crept over the closely clustered mountain peaks.

1. In Chinese mythology, the toad () and the swan () are often used as symbols to represent different qualities or statuses. The toad is typically associated with lower status or unattractiveness, while the swan represents elegance, beauty, and higher status. This imagery is often used metaphorically to illustrate the stark contrast between two individuals or situations. ☜

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