Soul-Devouring Abyss

Chen Fan frowned slightly as he watched this scene.

"Why are you kneeling? Get up, all of you!"

"Can kneeling really bring someone to life? Or do you think I look like a clay idol in a temple that doesn't accept donations?"

These words caused Lin Jue and the others, who were already prepared to pay a price, to stiffen slightly.

"Cough..."

Shen Xuan stepped forward, gently waving his folding fan. A soft azure current of energy appeared out of thin air, steadily lifting Lin Jue, who was at the head of the group, up.

"Brother Lin, please don't be offended. My husband... has never liked these formalities." He glanced helplessly in Chen Fan's direction and lowered his voice, "Saving lives is the priority."

Lin Jue and the others were not offended at all; on the contrary, they were overjoyed by the implicit agreement in Chen Fan's words.

Ignoring his injuries, he staggered to his feet, excitedly pointing to the flashing map on the Annihilation Stele, and stammered, "Brother Chen! This way! We'll lead the way for you right away!"

"Lead the way?"

Chen Fan's gaze swept over the deep, bone-revealing wounds on their bodies, and he curled his lip in disapproval.

"Given your current state, do you want to save people, or do you want to go to the underworld together to make the Yellow Springs Road more lively?"

One sentence made Lin Jue and the others freeze again, their faces turning bright red.

Chen Fan didn't bother looking at them anymore and turned his gaze to what was behind him.

He extended his finger, decisively assigning tasks.

"Shen Xuan, Qing Yue, come with me."

"Tuo Bashan," he paused, pointing to the crumbling core of the formation, "You stay here and guard this stronghold."

"I don't!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Tuo Bashan's booming voice rang out.

He stepped forward, his two-meter-tall frame exuding an intense aura of power, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. "I want to fight too!"

Chen Fan slowly turned his head, his amber eyes calmly gazing at him.

He didn't exude any aura, nor did he make any unnecessary movements; it was just a glance.

Tuo Bashan's high fighting spirit was instantly extinguished, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.

"Holding this place is a battle in itself," Chen Fan said clearly. "I don't want to come back to find ruins and a pile of corpses that I'll have to bury myself."

Upon hearing this, Tuo Bashan's burly body trembled violently.

He sensed an undeniable weight in those calm words.

He opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed back all his protests, nodding gruffly, "Understood."

A minor incident was easily dismissed and suppressed.

Just as Chen Fan was about to leave, Lin Jue seemed to remember something and rushed forward, urgently adding:

"Brother Chen! That Soul-Devouring Abyss is no ordinary dangerous place; it... it's a renowned place of opportunity within the Core Zone!"

He was breathing heavily, his eyes filled with a complex light that mingled with fear and longing.

"It's filled with a vast amount of the Myriad Laws Origin! It's an excellent treasure trove for all Organ Refining Realm Prodigies to create Bone Tempering Method, and even to pave the way for their future breakthrough to the Golden Body Realm!"

"The vast Myriad Laws Origin?"

Chen Fan's steps finally came to a halt.

"That's right!"

Seeing that he had successfully piqued Chen Fan's interest, Lin Jue quickly explained.

"In the Core Zone, all the Prodigies who have reached the Perfection of the Organ Refining Realm have the ultimate goal of creating the most suitable Bone Tempering method for themselves before breaking through to the Golden Body Realm, Bone Refinement their bones to the extreme, and laying the strongest foundation for bearing the Golden Body!"

"For this reason, the world's World Will even manifested a Bone Tempering Rankings!"

He raised his head, his eyes filled with fervor and awe. "As long as we can create the Bone Tempering Method and successfully leave our mark on the rankings, after every seven cycles of Annihilation and rebirth, we can receive an Origin Source reward bestowed by the World Will based on our ranking! This... this is the foundation for our survival and growth here!"

"Senior Xiao's trip is to find a special material called Myriad Laws Source Crystal to perfect his Bone Tempering Method and break into the rankings!"

"Oh?"

Chen Fan's eyes lit up instantly.

"Such a good thing actually happened?"

Chen Fan has now completely perfected the Organ Refining chapter of the Myriad Dao Furnace Scripture, but he still has no clue about the Bone Tempering Chapter.

What's missing is the Myriad Laws Origin Power.

Although the Core Zone contains far more Myriad Laws Origin Power than the previous Organ Refining Region, it still requires a significant amount of Myriad Laws Origin Power to deduce the Bone Tempering Chapter of the Myriad Dao Furnace Scripture.

Therefore, Chen Fan was also tempted after hearing Lin Jue's words.

He turned his head to look at Shen Xuan and Su Qingyue beside him, his smile so bright it was almost dazzling.

"I never expected such a good thing!"

Chen Fan didn't give them time to think. He changed the subject and said with a smile, "Let's go see what the composition of this so-called Myriad Laws Source Crystal is like!"

Before he finished speaking, his figure had already transformed into a golden Stream of Light that tore through the air, and without saying a word, he swept up Shen Xuan and Su Qingyue and shot off toward the Soul-Devouring Abyss indicated on the stone tablet!

It moved so fast that it even left a series of faint golden afterimages in its place.

High in the sky, a golden Stream of Light, like a sharp sword, cleaved through the dark firmament.

Thirty times the gravity was nothing to Chen Fan.

Shen Xuan and Su Qingyue, who were being carried along by him, did not feel any pressure at all. They only saw the scenery along the way rushing past, turning into blurry blocks of color.

In just a few minutes, Chen Fan, carrying Shen Xuan and Su Qingyue, traversed dozens of miles and hovered precisely at the destination indicated by the Annihilation Stele.

Below was a massive, indescribable black rift.

It resembles a wound left on the earth by an ancient god or demon, gaping menacingly wide and bottomless.

All light and sound that approached were silently swallowed up upon reaching its edge, as if it were an absolute void.

A chilling stillness and eeriness washed over us.

"What a bizarre power."

As soon as the three approached the edge of the rift valley, Shen Xuan's expression changed slightly.

He only felt an invisible yet chilling and eerie power, like an all-pervasive cold air, silently seeping through his protective Qi and Blood, towards his Sea of Consciousness and Origin Source.

The circulation of Qi and Blood instantly became sluggish and stagnant.

Su Qingyue, standing to the side, also frowned. A layer of icy blue aura quietly appeared on her body, and her powerful Mental Power circulated rapidly, acting as a shield to resist the erosion.

But that icy blue aura is being consumed and worn away at a visible rate.

"Um?"

Chen Fan frowned slightly.

He only felt a slight coolness, like drinking a sip of ice-cold soda on a summer day, even a little... refreshing?