203: Abyss Trials and Hunting Moments

Fei Ling Clan Holy Land, Earth Abyss Entrance.

This was a massive basin surrounded by seventy-two sky-reaching stone pillars. In the center of the basin, pitch-black mist churned like boiling water, with heart-wrenching ghostly wails and wolf howls echoing from time to time.

The leading Elders, Saints, and Saintesses of the seventy-two branches of the Fei Ling Clan had already gathered here.

"Oh, isn't this the Grand Elder of the Tian Peng Clan?"

In the formation where the Chirong Clan was located, an old man covered in sparks laughed sarcastically, "I heard you finally managed to scrape together two people this year? Or are they bastards picked up from outside? Hahaha, if they all die inside this time, your Tian Peng Clan will be removed from the list of great clans!"

The Tian Peng Clan Grand Elder's face turned blue with anger, but he did not retort, only looking at the two people behind him with concern.

Lei Lan gripped her twin swords tightly, her face pale. Although she was also a Prodigy of her clan, she still couldn't hide her fear when facing the notorious reputation of the Earth Abyss.

Standing beside her, Zhou Wannian (Li Feiyu) had his arms crossed, looking up at the three suns in the sky with a look of utter boredom.

"Brother Li..." Lei Lan whispered a reminder, "The Chirong Clan is provoking us."

"Oh."

Zhou Wannian let out a yawn.

"Just a few turkeys waiting to be slaughtered, why bother with them?"

"Who are you calling a turkey?!" The Chirong Clan Saint (the burly man who was stepped on last time didn't dare to come; this time they sent a stronger one, at the Soul Transformation Middle Stage) was furious.

"Silence!"

An Elder from the Wuguang Clan, the main clan hosting the trial, shouted coldly, suppressing the commotion throughout the field.

"The hour has arrived! The Earth Abyss gates open!"

"Duration is one month! Life or death is immaterial! Enter!"

Boom!

A crack split open in the black mist at the center of the basin.

Hundreds of Fei Ling Clan Saints and Saintesses turned into multicolored streaks of light, racing to charge inside.

"Let's go."

Zhou Wannian spread his wind thunder wings and, without any visible effort, instantly disappeared from the spot. Lei Lan only felt her vision blur before she was enveloped by a gentle wind force and swept into the endless darkness... the first level of the Earth Abyss.

There was no light here, only endless darkness and highly corrosive Nether Qi. For ordinary Soul Transformation Cultivators, their Divine Sense would be compressed to a range of only ten miles.

"Is this the Earth Abyss? It's so dark."

Lei Lan brought out a night-luminescent pearl, only to find that its light could only illuminate three feet in front of her.

"Turn off that lightbulb."

Zhou Wannian's indifferent voice came from the darkness.

"Turning on a light in a place like this, do you think you're not dying fast enough?"

"But I can't see..."

"Who said you have to use your eyes to see?"

Blue light flickered in Zhou Wannian's eyes (Ming-Qing Spirit Eyes), while Tie Zhu's electronic voice rang out in his mind.

"Wide-area radar activated... Terrain modeling in progress... Hostile biological markers in progress."

In Zhou Wannian's vision, the pitch-black Earth Abyss instantly turned into a clear 3D map. Where there were monsters, where there were medicines, and where there were traps—it was all crystal clear.

"Three hundred feet straight ahead, there's a 'Nether Flame Fruit' in a rock crevice. Tie Zhu, go pick it."

"Five hundred feet to the left, an 'Earth Abyss Demon Mouse' is buried underground, Soul Transformation Early Stage. Hmm, the fur is decent; it could make a pair of gloves."

"To the upper right..."

The rest of the journey was nothing short of a magical "spring outing" for Lei Lan.

She only needed to follow behind this man.

Then she watched him as if he were strolling through his own back garden, stopping occasionally to dig up rare Spirit Medicines from extremely hidden corners that would even make the Grand Elder envious.

Or she watched him point casually into the darkness.

*Puff!*

An invisible Sword Qi shot out.

A Yao Beast's scream would echo from the darkness, and then a complete corpse would be dragged back by that strange Puppet named "Tie Zhu."

"Brother... Brother Li..."

Lei Lan clutched a pile of Spirit Medicines, feeling her worldview collapsing.

"Aren't we here for a trial? Aren't we here to run for our lives?"

"Run for our lives?"

Zhou Wannian casually tossed the inner core of a rank-six dark beast into his mouth (a snack for the Ti Hun Beast), crunching it loudly.

"That's a game for the weak."

"The game for the strong is called 'stocking up'."

...Three days later.

Third level of the Earth Abyss, core area.

The Nether Qi here had thickened to the point of liquefaction, and an ancient, oppressive aura permeated the air.

"Help!!!"

A sudden burst of terrified screams came from ahead.

Over a dozen Saints and Saintesses from other clans (including that arrogant fellow from the Chirong Clan) were sprinting this way like stray dogs. Every one of them was wounded, their expressions filled with extreme terror.

"Run! Run fast! There's a monster behind us!"

Seeing Zhou Wannian and Lei Lan, the Chirong Clan Saint didn't even bother to mock them; he only wished his parents had given him two more pairs of wings as he zipped past them.

"Monster?"

Zhou Wannian stopped and looked in the direction the group was fleeing from.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

Dull footsteps made the earth tremble.

In the darkness, two massive eyes like red lanterns slowly lit up.

Immediately following.

A giant hand covered in black scales with claws several dozen feet long tore through the darkness, grabbing a Fei Ling Clan Saint who was running at the back.

*Crunch.*

Like crushing a biscuit.

That Soul Transformation Early Stage Saint, along with his protective spiritual light, was instantly crushed into a mist of blood and then stuffed into a massive mouth full of fangs by that giant hand.

*Gulp.*

The sound of swallowing.

A suffocatingly terrifying pressure swept across the area like a tsunami.

"Body... Body Integration Stage?!"

Lei Lan's legs went weak, and she almost fell to her knees.

It was a terrifying creature hundreds of feet tall, covered in black tentacles—a hybrid of an "Earth Abyss Tree Demon" and an "Ancient Demon."

[Earth Abyss Wood Spirit King] (Mu Qing's Avatar/Subordinate).

Although it wasn't the true Body Integration Stage powerhouse's main body, the aura of this Clone had definitely reached the threshold of the Body Integration Early Stage!

Under the rules of the Earth Abyss, this was an invincible existence!

"The scent of the Human Race?"

The Wood Spirit King didn't go after those fleeing little insects. Its gaze was locked firmly on Zhou Wannian.

"Even though you've disguised yourself as a birdman, that disgusting smell of 'Evil-Warding Divine Thunder'... I can smell it from eight hundred miles away."

The Wood Spirit King's voice was raspy and piercing.

"By eating you... this King can advance!"

Boom!

Countless black tentacles shot toward Zhou Wannian like a volley of ten thousand arrows, carrying Nether Qi that could corrode space itself.

"Brother Li, run! This is a Demon King! We can't stop it!" Lei Lan screamed in despair.

"Run?"

Zhou Wannian stood his ground, unmoving.

He simply raised his hand slowly and snapped his fingers.

"Tie Zhu."

"Present."

"Activate 'Star Annihilation Mode'."

"Charging 100%... Target locked: Wood Spirit Core."

The black Puppet (Tie Zhu) behind Zhou Wannian suddenly began a violent mechanical transformation.

Its chest split open, revealing a swirling core emitting a faint blue light. Its limbs transformed into supports that dug deep into the ground, and its hands became a giant cannon barrel three yards long, engraved with golden runes.

This was no ordinary Magic Treasure.

This was the ultimate individual weapon Zhou Wannian had forged by combining the Artifact Refining techniques from the "golden palace jade book," Mohist Mechanical Arts, and Spirit Realm fragment technology obtained from the Tianji Pavilion.

Powered by the [Yuan Ci Five Elements Mountain].

Using [Evil-Warding Divine Thunder] as ammunition.

[Yuan Ci · Zhengyang Star-Destroying Cannon].

"Goodbye, big tree spirit."

A cruel smile curled on Zhou Wannian's lips.

"Fire."

*Hum——————!!!*

A golden beam of light, only as thick as an arm but ten thousand times brighter than the sun, erupted from the cannon's muzzle.

There was no sound.

Because the sound had been left behind by the speed.

The overwhelming black tentacles, the moment they touched the beam, were vaporized instantly, like snowflakes meeting lava.

The beam pierced through the rain of tentacles without resistance and accurately struck the Wood Spirit King's chest core.

"No—!!!"

The Wood Spirit King only had time to let out a short, sharp scream.

*Rumble————————————*

A golden mushroom cloud rose slowly from the depths of the Earth Abyss.

A terrifying energy storm swept across a hundred-mile radius. The Saints and Saintesses who had just run away were tossed about by the aftershock; they all looked back and saw a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

The Tian Peng Clan Saint they had regarded as a "weakling."

Was standing in the golden radiance.

While that invincible Body Integration Stage Demon King... had a massive hole ten yards in diameter in its chest, its body burning with golden Divine Thunder as it disintegrated inch by inch into ashes.

"He... he slaughtered a King?!"

The Chirong Clan Saint slumped to the ground, his crotch soaked.

"This is a Soul Transformation Early Stage?!"

"This must be the Reincarnation of a Dao Ancestor!!!"

...The smoke cleared.

Zhou Wannian walked to the pile of ashes left by the Wood Spirit King and picked up an emerald-green crystal core emitting a rich aura of life.

[Yi Wood Crystal] (Top-grade wood-attribute material).

"Not bad, I have the Materials to upgrade the green bamboo bee cloud sword now."

Zhou Wannian put away the crystal core and looked back at Lei Lan, who was completely petrified.

"Miss Lei, stop dazing."

"Let's go."

"The fourth level of the Earth Abyss is just ahead."

"I heard the Tianpeng Vertical and Horizontal Art Legacy we're looking for is there."

"Once we get the stuff, we still have to get back for dinner."