43: abyss

Burial King City was built incredibly fast! Chu Xinghe, along with his array master disciples, took the remnants left after the Asura King disintegrated, as well as the malevolent resentment permeating this Burial God Demonic Land, and treated them all as treasures, fusing them into the foundation of the grand array.

The entire city was pitch black, its walls made entirely of obsidian demonic iron, dug from the depths of the Heavenly Abyss and marinated in demonic energy. They were covered in array patterns, and every now and then, dark red electric arcs would crackle from them. A large plaque hung above the city gate tower, bearing the words "Burial King City" personally written by Lin Xuan, using powder ground from the Asura King's bones mixed with blood. It exuded a murderous aura, causing those with lower cultivation to feel dizzy if they looked at it for too long.

The busiest places in the city, besides the newly opened Merit Hall, which was ten times larger than the one in Po Luo City, was the Asura Bone Pillar, a massive column standing in the center of the city! It was a hundred zhang tall, constructed from several of the Asura King's thickest vertebrae, with half of its lizard-like lower jaw still attached to the top. The pillar's surface was pockmarked with the sword cuts, blade holes, and scorch and freeze marks left by the disciples during their siege, and it still exuded faint, heart-stopping traces of King-level malevolent energy. This thing was a massive deterrent signal, shouting: “Look! Even a King-level being fell! Little ones, kill with all your might for this Seat!”

As soon as Burial King City was established, the disciples of the All Heavens Star Palace went completely mad!

“Brothers! A new Bone-Eroding Worm Plain has been discovered south of Burial King City! It's full of worms made of skeletons! They're crunchy to chop! Merit is calculated by weight! Brothers who refine bone powder, come quickly!”

“West, Corrosive Poison Marsh! Mutated Poison Sac Frogs discovered! Their poison glands are the main ingredient for refining high-grade antidote pills! Merit doubled! Priority to those with anti-poison magical artifacts!”

“North! North, Howling Canyon! Suspected small Asura lair! Void Refinement Senior Brother is leading the expedition! Strong MTs and healers needed! Report immediately!”

“East district, holy crap! A demon crystal marrow vein has been discovered! The purity is incredibly high! It's guarded by a group of Nascent Soul peak-level Crystal-Devouring Demon Ants! Mine and kill ants simultaneously! Get rich today!”

In the temporary communication array, various team-up shouts flashed across the screen like a frenzy. The disciples' eyes turned green, and they roared as they charged into deeper, more dangerous areas of the Heavenly Abyss. Foundation Establishment cultivators chopped down small soldiers, Golden Core cultivators gathered materials, Nascent Soul cultivators teamed up to hunt elite monsters, and Soul Transformation and Void Refinement cultivators specifically sought out tough challenges. The entire outer perimeter of the Heavenly Abyss became a giant hunting ground and resource collection area for the All Heavens Star Palace. The numbers on the Merit Ranking List kept soaring, making people dizzy just looking at them.

As for Lin Xuan, the old man was currently squatting in the core hall of Burial King City, sifting through the hard-earned spoils he had pried from the Asura King, as if dividing loot.

A pitch-black, slightly pulsating heart, the size of a millstone – the Asura King's Heart! As soon as it was taken out, the temperature of the entire hall dropped by eight degrees, and a wicked aura of destruction, tyranny, and the end of all things drilled into people's bones. Scattered nearby were several exceptionally hard purplish-black scales, a severed horn wreathed in ghostly green soul fire, and a mass of purplish-black mist, forcibly restrained and constantly twisting and struggling – that was a remnant of the Asura King's primordial will!

“Tsk tsk, King-level is King-level, this heart is potent!” Lin Xuan rubbed his chin, his Law-Breaking Chaos Eyes sweeping over the heart, clearly seeing the viscous, magma-like primordial destruction flowing within. “Refine it into the Immortal Slaying Array Diagram? No, the array diagram's grade is already high enough; adding this might cause indigestion. Feed it to Split Sky? That kid can't handle this level of malevolent energy right now; he might turn into aSilly Tiger (idiot tiger) if he eats it.”

His gaze then flickered to the struggling purplish-black mist of primordial will, and he curled his lip: “A brainless thing, only this much ferocity left.” He flicked a finger, and a wisp of grayish-white Chaos Nirvana Divine Fire drifted over. With a hiss, the mist, as if encountering its nemesis, let out a silent shriek and was instantly burned away, leaving only a tiny clump of crystal-clear primordial essence crystal exuding a pure aura of destruction.

“Hmm, this crystal is still somewhat useful, purified.” Lin Xuan collected it with satisfaction. As for the scales and horn? He casually tossed them to Chu Xinghe, who was waiting nearby, “Take these and embed them as core materials for the defensive grand arrays of Po Luo City and Burial King City! Let these two cities also bask in the glory of a King-level being!”

Chu Xinghe took them like precious treasures, grinning from ear to ear: “Understood, Master! I'll make sure they're firmly embedded! Let those brainless worms and Asura whelps smash their heads to pieces!”

While it was lively here, Su Yuan, who was in charge of intelligence, slipped in, a strange excitement on his face: “Master! A discovery! A major discovery!”

“What's up? Another new mine discovered?” Lin Xuan didn't even lift his head, still pondering how to deal with the King's Heart.

“Not a mine! It's a path!” Su Yuan shoved the deduction compass in front of Lin Xuan. In the center of the compass, a chaotic energy map was projected, but at the very bottom of the Burial God Demonic Land abyss, there was an extremely tiny yet exceptionally stable golden light spot, emitting a fluctuation with a sense of order.

“Look! Our people accidentally triggered this spot while clearing residual spatial turbulence at the bottom of the abyss! The aura it emits is different from any Heavenly Abyss energy we've encountered before! It's more ancient! More like a marker for a passage!” Su Yuan gesticulated excitedly, “Although it's still very faint, enveloped by the abyssal turbulence, this feeling is somewhat similar to the Immortal Realm aura you mentioned before! But not entirely! It's more like a guide pointing to a specific place!”

“Guide?” Lin Xuan finally became interested, his Law-Breaking Chaos Eyes instantly focusing on that golden light spot. The golden light was very faint, but in the vision of his Chaos Eyes, it was exceptionally clear, like a rune branded into the chaotic void, emitting a high-grade aura that caused his Chaos Nascent Soul to subtly stir.

“A guide to the Immortal Realm?” Lin Xuan narrowed his eyes, “Interesting. It seems that the brainless Asura King being able to squeeze through wasn't a coincidence after all. There really are some hidden secrets down there.” His mind raced, “Su Yuan, have your people keep a close eye on this spot! Record all its fluctuations! At the same time, secretly build a spatial anchoring tower in Burial King City, using a wisp of this Asura King's Heart's aura as its core! We must lock down this coordinate! No matter where it leads, this place will be surnamed Lin from now on!”

“Understood!” Su Yuan took the order and ran off, full of vigor.

Just as Burial King City was bustling, Su Yuan was busy researching the guide, and Lin Xuan was pondering how to deal with the King's Heart.

Beneath Burial King City, at the deepest part of the suppressed abyss.

Spatial turbulence, like an unending black storm, tore at everything. Light could not penetrate here; it was terrifyingly silent, with only the faint hiss of energy annihilation. In this chaotic, absolute darkness, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible golden light stubbornly flickered. That golden light was the guide Su Yuan had discovered.

That faint golden light suddenly expanded without warning! Like a stone thrown into water, a faint golden ripple, visible to the naked eye, silently spread out!

Buzz!

An indescribable will, cold enough to freeze the soul, like an ancient primordial beast awakening from eons of slumber, instantly swept across the entire bottom of the abyss! This will carried an evil pure to the extreme, an indifference that looked down upon ants, and a rage at being disturbed!

Rumble!

The entire bottom of the abyss, where the spatial turbulence had been relatively calm, instantly became a billion times more violent, as if a red-hot branding iron had been plunged into it! The pitch-black turbulence condensed into countless ferocious, fanged tentacles, furiously lashing at the surrounding spatial barriers! Large masses of chaotic energy even solidified, smashing like meteorites onto the foundation of Burial King City above! The entire abyss trembled violently! Burial King City's heavy foundation, built from obsidian demonic iron and covered in array patterns, let out a grating groan that set teeth on edge. The Asura King's scales and horn embedded within instantly glowed with dazzling blood-red light, furiously counteracting this sudden impact!

“Holy crap! What's going on?!”

“An earthquake? No! It's from the bottom of the abyss!”

“Look! The city foundation is glowing! The array has been triggered!”

Burial King City instantly erupted into chaos! The disciples were terrified, their faces pale from the sudden violent tremor and the terrifying pressure emanating from the abyss. Huang Yan, busy in the Merit Hall, almost threw her account book away.

Lin Xuan, who was researching the King's Heart in the core hall, sensed it almost instantly! He suddenly looked up, his Law-Breaking Chaos Eyes piercing through layers of rock and arrays, directly to the bottom of the abyss!

“Seeking death!” A cold glint flashed in Lin Xuan's eyes, and his figure instantly vanished from the hall.

The next second, he appeared above Burial King City, standing in mid-air, perfectly overlooking the violently trembling city foundation, where demonic light and blood-red light flashed wildly. He could clearly see the raging spatial turbulence at the bottom of the abyss and the source of that cold, tyrannical will. Near the expanding golden light, space was like boiling water, and an enormous, purely vertical eye phantom, composed of cold will and chaotic golden light, was slowly condensing into form!

That vertical eye was cold, indifferent, filled with a lofty desire for destruction, staring intently at Burial King City above, or rather, at the Asura King's aura within Burial King City's foundation! As if a high and mighty master had discovered that his free-range evil dog had not only been slaughtered, but its kennel had also been occupied!

“Hmph! Playing tricks!” Lin Xuan snorted coldly, his voice not loud, yet it exploded like thunder in the hearts of every disciple, instantly dispelling the fear they felt from that cold will. “Old filth from the bottom of the Heavenly Abyss! Your watchdog died, and its master can't sit still?”

Before his words finished, Lin Xuan pointed his fingers like a sword and, from a distance, slashed towards the raging abyss below!

There was no earth-shattering commotion. A faint, inconspicuous gray sword qi silently shot from his fingertips. This sword qi looked ordinary, yet it contained the most primordial power of chaotic annihilation! It was a casual strike from him, a fusion of Nirvana Sword Intent and primordial chaos, the Chaos Nirvana Sword Qi!

Hiss!

The sword qi silently entered the abyss. Wherever it passed, the spatial turbulence tentacles, violent enough to tear apart true immortals, instantly disintegrated and annihilated as if they had met their nemesis! The chaotic energy meteorites smashing towards the city foundation dissolved silently like bubbles!

That grayish sword qi was so fast it transcended the concept of space; almost the instant it was unleashed, it precisely struck the giant golden vertical eye phantom that was still condensing!

Puff!

A soft sound, as if a giant soap bubble had been pricked.

That cold, indifferent, and supremely majestic golden vertical eye, without even having time to struggle, its phantom trembled violently, and instantly became covered in spiderweb-like gray cracks! Within those cracks, chaotic annihilation power furiously corroded! The last emotion revealed in the vertical eye was no longer indifference and rage, but an unbelievable astonishment. Immediately after, the entire phantom silently crumbled and dissipated like a weathered sand sculpture!

The raging spatial turbulence at the bottom of the abyss, like a duck whose neck had been squeezed, instantly calmed down by more than half! Only some fragmented ripples still surged unwillingly. That cold and terrifying will receded like a tide, vanishing without a trace, leaving only a deathly silence in the abyss, and that golden guide, still faintly flickering as if nothing had happened.

Lin Xuan retracted his fingers, dusted off non-existent dust, and curled his lip: “That's it? Trying to scare people with an eyeball projection through who knows how many layers of realm barriers? Bah! Wasting one of my sword qis!”

His figure flickered, and he returned to the core hall, as if nothing had happened, continuing to research the Asura King's Heart, muttering: “Hmm, the primordial destruction contained in this heart is quite pure. Should I use it as nourishment for the Nirvana Cold Qi in that black coffin? Maybe it can neutralize it, or simply let Nuan Nuan try to bathe it with the World Tree's vitality and refine it into a destruction-attributed nuclear power reactor? Using it as the energy core for Burial King City also seems good…”

Above Burial King City, only Lin Xuan's understated yet domineering voice still echoed. The disciples in the city went from initial terror to bewilderment, and then to fervent excitement, all in just a few breaths.

“Holy crap, what was that just now? An eyeball appeared from the bottom of the abyss?”

“And was popped by the Palace Master's casual sword qi?!”

“My dear mother! That was a will projection through a realm barrier! He just popped it?!”

“Palace Master is mighty!”

“I knew it! Following the Palace Master, all those monsters and demons are just trash!”

“Brothers! What are you waiting for? The Palace Master has stabilized the situation! Go continue earning merit! The treasures at the bottom of the abyss are waiting for us!”

After a brief silence, there was a fervent cheer that shook the mountains and seas! The disciples looked at the core hall with eyes that seemed to be gazing at a living deity! What terrifying abyssal will? In front of the Palace Master, they were all paper tigers! Just pop them and be done with it!

In the deepest part of the abyss, next to that faint golden light.

The lingering aura of the Chaos Nirvana Sword Qi, like a persistent parasite, stubbornly clung, subtly eroding the surrounding space, preventing any further prying by will.

In the absolute silence, as if from an infinitely distant place, a cold hiss filled with rage and a hint of disbelief, pierced through countless realm barriers, faintly reaching, and finally dissipating into the boundless chaos.

Lin Xuan, in the hall, vaguely heard that distant hiss and disdainfully picked his ear.

“Incompetent rage.” He picked up the giant Asura King's Heart, weighed it, and grinned, “It's more practical to figure out how to put you to good use.”

Burial King City stood as firm as a mountain. The Heavenly Abyss hunt raged even more fiercely. As for the path indicated by that golden light at the bottom of the abyss? Lin Xuan said: “No rush. After I've cleared out the Heavenly Abyss, I'll bring a million demolition teams to explore that so-called Immortal Realm properly!”