154: The Demon Abyss is reborn, and the Ancestral Symbol stirs.
His consciousness drifted through endless darkness and tearing pain. After an unknown amount of time, Ye Chen struggled to pry his eyes open. A bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped his body, a stark contrast to the vibrant life of the Hundred Flowers Secret Realm he had just left. The air was thick with a thin, chaotic, yet uniquely corrosive energy—Devilish Qi.
He found himself lying among jagged black rocks. The sky was an eternal murky yellow, devoid of sun, moon, or stars; only distorted dark clouds drifted slowly across it. All around were desolate mountain ranges stretching as far as the eye could see, with sparse and oddly shaped vegetation that exuded an aura where deathly silence and madness intertwined.
This was definitely not the Southern Wilderness!
With the slightest movement, a bone-deep pain shot through his body as if it were falling apart. Inspecting his internal condition, things were even worse. His Meridians were damaged in many places, his Chaos Protective Aura was nearly depleted, and the chaos primordial fetus deep within his Qi Sea was dim. Only that chaos ancestral talisman continued to emit a faint glow, protecting his final heart pulse and Soul Origin while slowly absorbing the thin, chaotic worldly energy around him, converting it into wisps of pure Chaos Qi to nourish his broken Physical Body.
“The spatial turbulence from the Secret Realm’s collapse... actually threw me into such a distant and strange region.” Ye Chen felt a chill in his heart. He forced himself to sit up, leaning against a cold rock. The guixu sword was stabbed into the ground not far away; its sword spirit was dormant and needed nourishment.
The urgent priority was to recover from his injuries and regain his strength. He tried to circulate the Chaos Myriad Transformation Art and found that although the energy here was thin and chaotic, the conversion efficiency of the chaos ancestral talisman was surprisingly high. It seemed the essence of this chaotic energy was closer to a certain aspect of Chaos. This was a blessing in disguise.
He took out the Nine-Apertured Lotus Seed he had obtained from the Immortal Lotus. The lotus seed was still translucent, emitting a gentle purifying power and a majestic surge of life. Without hesitation, he carefully swallowed it.
“Boom!”
The lotus seed dissolved as soon as it entered his stomach, turning into a gentle yet vast warm current that instantly surged toward his limbs and bones. Everywhere it passed, damaged Meridians were rapidly repaired and widened, and his depleted Protective Aura surged forth like a spring. Furthermore, a cool sensation rushed straight into his Sea of Consciousness, soothing the tremors and trauma his Divine Soul had suffered from the spatial turbulence.
As expected of a treasure of heaven and earth! The effect was immediate!
In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Ye Chen's external injuries had healed, his internal injuries were seventy percent better, and his cultivation had completely stabilized at the Earthly Fiend Realm Fifth Level, even faintly touching the threshold of the Fifth Level Peak! More importantly, the purifying power of the lotus seed had cleared away the remaining spatial turbulence erosion and minor hidden injuries in his body, making his Dao foundation even more stable.
He rose to his feet and stretched his limbs. Feeling the strength refilling his body, his heart felt slightly more at ease. Although he was far from returning to his Peak, he at least had the power to protect himself.
He surveyed his surroundings, his Divine Sense cautiously spreading outward. This region was extremely desolate, and while the concentration of Devilish Qi wasn't high, it gave off a sense of oppression and danger. He needed to find out where he was as soon as possible, find a safe shelter to fully recover, and try to contact Su Miaojin—he didn't know if she had also escaped safely.
Just as he was about to set off to explore, the chaos ancestral talisman deep within his Qi Sea, which had been quietly converting energy, suddenly gave a slight tremble without any warning!
It wasn't a warning of a threat, but more like a... resonance? Or rather, an attraction from something of the same Origin?
An extremely faint sense of guidance, which would have been almost undetectable if he weren't mentally connected to the ancestral talisman, came from a distant direction. That feeling was ethereal and uncertain, like a flickering candle in the wind, yet it was undeniably real.
“This is...” Ye Chen’s gaze narrowed as he looked in the direction the guidance was coming from, which was deeper into this desolate mountain range. “A fragment of the chaos ancestral talisman? Or... some other lost treasure related to Chaos?”
His heart pounded. He had benefited immensely from just a preliminary activation of the chaos ancestral talisman's power; if he could find other parts or related items, the boost to his strength would be immeasurable!
But Opportunity often came with immense risk. Anything that could trigger a resonance from the chaos ancestral talisman was certainly no ordinary object, and the place where it resided would surely be fraught with danger. Given his current state... after weighing his options for a moment, a flash of determination crossed Ye Chen's eyes. Fortune is found in danger! In this strange and dangerous environment, the most fundamental thing was to increase his strength as quickly as possible. He needed this Opportunity!
He pulled out the guixu sword and took it into his body to nourish it. Then, concealing his aura, he followed the faint guidance and stealthily headed toward the depths of the mountains.
As he traveled, the scenery became increasingly desolate. Black rocks, withered strange trees, and the occasional pale white skeleton of some unknown creature—mostly incomplete, as if gnawed on by some terrifying existence. The Devilish Qi in the air also seemed to thicken slightly, carrying a restless and chaotic rhythm that constantly tried to erode his Protective Aura, but under the conversion of the chaos ancestral talisman, it was all turned into pure energy.
Along the way, he encountered several waves of local "residents." Some pitch-black demonic beasts, shaped like leopards but with single horns on their heads, had strengths ranging from the Condensing Truth Realm to the first or second layer of the Earth Fiend Realm. They had keen senses and were bloodthirsty and crazed, pouncing madly upon discovering Ye Chen.
Ye Chen took the Opportunity to hone his newly recovered strength and familiarize himself with fighting in this environment. Although the guixu sword hadn't fully recovered, it remained peerlessly sharp under the drive of his pure Chaos Protective Aura. Wherever his Sword Intent reached, these low-level demonic beasts were killed one after another. Their demon cores contained pure Devilish Qi, which was highly toxic to ordinary Cultivators, but for Ye Chen, who possessed the chaos ancestral talisman, they were decent supplements, and he collected them all.
As he continued deeper, the terrain became treacherous, with bottomless ravines and steep cliffs appearing. The resonance from the chaos ancestral talisman also became a bit clearer.
Finally, after passing through a narrow rift valley filled with a pale purple poisonous miasma, the scene before him suddenly changed.
Ahead was a relatively open basin. In the center of the basin stood several broken stone pillars, a hundred feet tall and pitch black, looking as if they had been hacked by a giant axe. The pillars surrounded a low, black earthen mound that looked like a burial mound. On the mound, a cave entrance half-hidden by rubble was vaguely visible, its depths bottomless.
The clear throb and guidance from the chaos ancestral talisman originated from deep within that cave!
However, Ye Chen's footsteps suddenly stopped, his sharp eyes scanning the shadows at the edge of the basin.
There, three pairs of crimson eyes, filled with cruelty and greed, were staring fixedly at him! They were three demonic beasts the size of giant elephants, resembling lizards but with bone spikes on their backs and heavy black scales covering their bodies! Their auras had remarkably reached the Seventh Layer of the Disha Realm! Furthermore, they seemed to have been guarding this place for a long time, as if waiting for something.
Ye Chen's heart sank. These three demonic beasts were clearly attracted here by the object in the cave, or were they the guardians themselves?
Just as he was in a standoff with the three demonic beasts and the atmosphere was on the verge of exploding—
“Swoosh!”
A sharp sound of breaking air suddenly rang out from the side! An arrow condensed from pitch-black Demonic Astral Power, like a venomous snake, shot silently toward the back of Ye Chen's heart! It was extremely fast and angled craftily, containing the full-power strike of someone at the Earth Fiend Realm Sixth Level!
There were others!
Ye Chen’s body suddenly jerked to the side, the guixu sword appearing in his hand instantly. With a backhand strike, he precisely shattered the arrow of Demonic Astral Power. His cold gaze swept toward the direction the arrow had come from.
In the shadow of a stone pillar not far away, five figures slowly emerged. They were not demonic beasts, but human Cultivators! However, their clothing and appearance were vastly different from those of the Tianyan Continent. Their bodies were thick with Devilish Qi and their eyes were fierce. They were clearly local Cultivators who had lived in this demonic environment for a long time, or rather... Demon Cultivators!
The leader was a One-Eyed Strongman holding a giant axe the size of a door, and his cultivation was at the Eighth Layer Earth Fiend Realm! He licked his lips, his single eye flashing with bloodthirsty and greedy light as he stared at Ye Chen as if looking at a fat sheep that had wandered into a wolf pack.
“Kid, you’ve got some decent moves.” The One-Eyed Strongman grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. “Hand over all the demon cores you collected outside and that sword in your hand, then sever your own Meridians. This grandpa might consider giving you a quick death!”
The four Demon Cultivators behind him also drew their weapons, their auras locking onto Ye Chen with playful expressions, like cats playing with a mouse. The three Seventh Layer Disha Realm demonic beasts seemed somewhat wary of these Demon Cultivators, growling as they slowly retreated a few steps, not stepping forward immediately.
Before him was a mysterious cave and guardian demonic beasts; behind him, he was blocked by cruel Demon Cultivators.
Ye Chen gripped the guixu sword tightly, his Chaos Protective Aura flowing slowly within his body, his eyes calm and rippleless.
Having just escaped the spatial turbulence, a new crisis had already descended.