Exploring the Abyss, Wang Chan

In the courtyard, Chen Xuan furrowed his brows, staring at the Bronze Horse, which was gesturing excitedly with its hooves in the air, trying to decipher its meaning.

"Roar! Roar!"

"You're saying your home is gone? Where did you have a home?"

"Roar! Roar!!"

"Oh, oh, you mean the underground palace in Peach Town suddenly disappeared? Huh, what were you doing back in Peach Town?"

"Roar! Roar!"

The Bronze Horse quickly explained that it hadn't betrayed him, but had been away from home for a long time and was worried... As a result, when it secretly flew back to Peach Town yesterday to take a look, the underground palace was gone!

"You've only been gone for two or three days and you're already homesick?"

Chen Xuan eyed the Bronze Horse suspiciously for a few moments, then generously offered to help it inquire about the situation.

"You can communicate with it?" A Qi Refiner from next door, who had come out to see what the commotion was about, widened his eyes in surprise.

Early the next morning, Chen Xuan went out to visit several newly arrived Qi Refiners in Small River Village.

He quickly learned from them that when they passed through Peach Town, they hadn't seen any terrifying underground palace or ancient Mèi at all; it was just a dilapidated, abandoned small town.

The underground palace had really disappeared!

"Brother Horse, that's the situation. Please accept my condolences."

Chen Xuan walked out of Small River Village and found the Bronze Horse on the back of a small hill nearby. He spread his hands helplessly, then regretfully stated that he had important matters to attend to and couldn't return to Peach Town to investigate the truth, so he would have to wait until later.

"Roar! Roar!"

The Bronze Horse roared and spun around several times on the spot, then with a serious expression, told Chen Xuan a shocking secret.

It said that the person buried in that underground palace had a very extraordinary identity. It had seen figures walking into the underground palace in the dark of night to worship the Bronze Coffin, emitting sounds of sorrowful weeping.

"That's quite normal. Someone who can live in such a large house after death must have a few relatives and friends, right?"

Chen Xuan explained. He wasn't afraid of gossip because he had a clear conscience. Although he had entered the underground palace, he hadn't done anything out of line to the female corpse in the coffin. Even if someone came looking for him because of it in the future, he wouldn't be afraid.

He had high morals and acted with restraint. If it were other Qi Refiners, let alone the Terrestrial Treasure Tree in the coffin, they would probably have taken the corpse and the coffin together.

"Roar... Roar..."

Seeing Chen Xuan so calm, the Bronze Horse's heart immediately settled down a bit. It was just a forced guide; if the sky fell, the main person was there to bear it! Finally, it accepted reality and left.

"I thought it was something major..."

Chen Xuan watched the horse's shadow disappear into the sky and shook his head with a smile.

Then, he thought of the female corpse in the Bronze Coffin wearing a golden dress... Could she be of the Ancient Chu Kingdom's royal bloodline? Why was she buried in a remote, impoverished place like Peach Town?

"There must be some messy hidden reasons behind this."

Chen Xuan didn't think about it further and returned to his room to continue his secluded cultivation.

This was the most important matter at hand. The people from Green Deer Mountain couldn't stay in the Southern Wilderness Mountains forever; they would eventually come out to rest and reorganize.

Chen Xuan would wait for them in Small River Village.

He wasn't afraid of waiting, because every day that passed, his strength was steadily increasing.

Nine days later.

"Roar!"

A roar filled with a wild, untamed aura echoed from the quiet little house.

Chen Xuan opened his eyes, and a wisp of golden-white Immortal Qi swirled around his body, like a moving star, emitting a sharp, metallic aura like swords and blades.

White Qi!

Little White Ape Trick, initial mastery!

"My strength has increased to six thousand jin!"

Chen Xuan felt the surging aura within his body and realized that after mastering the Little White Ape Trick, his body had undergone an automatic transformation, increasing his strength by a full eighteen hundred jin.

This effect was no less than consuming a precious Terrestrial Treasure Tree!

"At this moment, I am in no way inferior to those geniuses from Red Crow City."

Chen Xuan's spirits were high, and he muttered to himself, he was also someone who could perform tricks now!

Learning tricks was the mark of a true Qi Refiner!

Afterward, Chen Xuan left the small courtyard and inquired about news from some of the Qi Refiners he had recently befriended.

"Are the people from Green Deer Mountain living in the mountains now?"

Chen Xuan integrated the information he had gathered from various sources and was finally astonished to find that since entering the Southern Wilderness, the people from Green Deer Mountain hadn't left the mountains at all. It was as if they held countless treasure maps, searching for rare treasures in the mountains every day.

Yellow Millet Dream!

He was improving every day, but his enemies were not far behind!

"The Red Qi and White Qi clash. If I force myself to cultivate, the difficulty will double, requiring at least twenty days..."

Chen Xuan muttered to himself, then looked towards the vast mountain range to the south.

Should he continue to wait?

He had already waited too many days.

No more waiting!

Chen Xuan decided to enter the mountains immediately. He had already learned from other Qi Refiners that people from Green Deer Mountain had shown traces in certain areas of the Southern Wilderness Mountains.

If he still couldn't find them by then, he would continue cultivating his tricks in the mountains!

The mountain wind parted the mist, revealing a hundred thousand miles of mountains and rivers, with peaks stacked upon peaks, like a painting unfolding.

The Ten Thousand Mountains of the Southern Wilderness.

"What a magnificent sight."

Chen Xuan rode his horse south for over twenty miles, and the terrain suddenly changed drastically.

Hundreds and thousands of meters tall mountains lay across the land, rising from the wilderness, dividing the north and south. At the end of his vision, countless towering peaks over ten thousand feet high merged with the sky, a breathtaking sight.

"Woo woo."

The Bronze Horse let out a low whinny, indicating that it was approaching the Southern Wilderness and could not continue flying. Beneath the ancient trees that stretched like a verdant ocean, many wild auras were permeating.

Flying rashly might lead to accidentally entering the territory of some ancient mountain beasts and being casually caught and eaten.

"Wait for me outside, find something to do."

Chen Xuan comforted the Bronze Horse, then landed and stepped into the Southern Wilderness mountains alone.

The Bronze Horse was not suitable for moving in the mountains. The tree canopy blocked out the sun, making flight impossible. That day, she had been careless for a moment and was captured by Chen Xuan.

The mountains were deep and secluded, with few human traces for twenty years.

"Recently, Qi Refiners have gathered, carving out many small mountain paths."

Chen Xuan followed a small path into the Southern Wilderness. After half an hour, he unexpectedly arrived at a slightly wider mountain road, an old road.

The Southern Wilderness Mountains have been the habitat of the Twenty-Four Ghosts and Monsters since ancient times. This old road was a trace left by their activities.

At this moment.

Chen Xuan was completely away from the Ancient Chu Kingdom, entering a world where demons and monsters ran rampant.

"Go twenty miles southwest, there's a Small Stone Lake where ghosts and monsters often appear..."

"Qi Refiners have seen people from Green Deer Mountain lingering here, trying to catch the treasure fish in the big lake..."

Chen Xuan muttered to himself, then headed towards Small Stone Lake.

The mountain wind howled, blowing down the melted snow from the tree canopy. Some low beast roars came from the forests on both sides of the mountain road, startling birds and beasts into flight.

Chen Xuan was very cautious. The further he went into the mountains, the more danger there was. Soon after, he found a pair of green, eerie eyes staring at him from the grass by the roadside.

"..."

Chen Xuan stopped. It was a four or five-meter-tall striped tiger with eyes like torches, firmly locked onto him.

"Roar!"

Behind Chen Xuan, a phantom of a giant white-haired, red-faced ape the size of a small mountain appeared. Its face-basin-sized fists propped on the ground. The white ape's face was ferocious, and its scarlet eyes glared fiercely at the striped tiger.

Little White Ape Trick!

An incredibly wild aura permeated, like a floodgate opening and drowning the striped tiger.

"Ow!"

The striped tiger immediately let out a fearful cry, tucked its tail between its legs, and fled in a panic.

There was countless food in the mountains, and many hunting opportunities. It didn't need to risk its life provoking such a dangerous existence.

"The wild beasts in the Southern Wilderness mountains are actually so huge."

Chen Xuan stared at the fleeing figure of the tiger and breathed a sigh of relief. This striped tiger was extremely exaggerated in size, with fangs as long as daggers, countless times more powerful than the tigers in the Ancient Chu Kingdom.

If he hadn't scared it away with the white ape's aura, he might have had to stage a tiger-fighting scene today.

Chen Xuan continued forward. As the sun set in the west, he met a group of wet Qi Refiners who were about to leave the mountains.

People from the Li Family of Red Crow City.

"Grandpa Han Song, another day has passed, and we're still empty-handed. We didn't catch a single treasure fish," a Li Family youth around twenty years old said dejectedly.

The Li Family head, named Li Han Song, walked in front and lectured, "Don't look so down. Doing things is like the path of Qi Refinement, it's not about temporary gains or losses. We'll come back tomorrow."

Chen Xuan recognized the identities of these people.

The Li Family members also saw Chen Xuan at the same time, and their hearts were all startled. It was the peerless fierce person who had gone on a killing spree over ten days ago!

This fierce person had been staying in Small River Village all these days, but today he suddenly entered the mountains to compete for heavenly materials and earthly treasures! And they had met him on a narrow road!

"Don't look at him, don't look at him..."

The Li Family members immediately stopped talking, burying their faces like ostriches, and cautiously walked forward.

As Li Han Song passed in front of Chen Xuan, he nodded in a friendly and proactive manner, revealing a kind old man's smile, and chuckled, "Fellow Daoist Wang has also arrived..."

"Mm."

Chen Xuan politely returned the greeting, then they passed each other.

The Li Family members walked a long distance away. When they turned back and saw that Chen Xuan had disappeared, they all breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a large stone pressing on their chests had finally been removed.

"Grandpa, it's so late, and Senior Wang still dares to go into the mountains alone. He's really brave, so impressive, truly admirable."

The young Li Family member couldn't help but exclaim.

"What senior? A child about the same age as you!"

Li Han Song scoffed, and earnestly lectured, "This person relies on his worldly martial arts as if he fears nothing, sooner or later he'll lose his life... What use is high-level martial skill? Qi Refiners rely on tricks. You must never learn from him. You must be down-to-earth in everything you do..."

"Huh? Grandpa, the direction he's going, could it also be Small Stone Lake?"

"Heh, people from Green Deer Mountain frequent Small Stone Lake at night. Does he dare to go? Those are the true strong people of this world. He wouldn't dare..."

"..."

As they spoke, the Li Family group headed towards Small River Village outside the Southern Wilderness.

Not long after.

Chen Xuan left the narrow mountain path and turned towards his destination, Small Stone Lake.

This was a vast body of water, its length from front to back and side to side reaching a thousand meters, a magnificent sight.

There was accumulated snow on the shore, the lake water was a deep green, unfathomable. Occasionally, some arm-length Treasure Fish quickly swam across the surface. Their scales shimmered with a silvery-white metallic luster, possessing great spirituality.

"The Li Family members just now left from here. They went into the water, but gained nothing."

Chen Xuan stared at the Over Mountain Treasure Fish that occasionally surfaced in the lake. Then, with a light tap of his toe, a cobblestone shot out, striking a Treasure Fish near the shore.

"Plop!"

The stone hit the water, and the foot-long silvery-white Treasure Fish immediately shot out like an arrow released from a bowstring, disappearing rapidly in the water. In the blink of an eye, it had appeared dozens of meters away.

If he hadn't trained his martial arts to develop excellent eyesight, he wouldn't even have been able to see where the Treasure Fish had escaped to.

"Too fast, the lake water is too deep. It's impossible to catch the Treasure Fish with bare hands."

Chen Xuan decisively gave up the idea of going into the water to fish. Such an action was too foolish, with no possibility of success.

Moreover, he discovered that these Treasure Fish actually had sharp teeth. They gnawed on cobblestones in the water, and the stones shattered with a single bite, which was astonishing.

"I didn't come here entirely for the Treasure Fish."

Chen Xuan muttered to himself, no longer paying attention to these Treasure Fish. He walked around the entire lake, observing the surrounding terrain. Then he walked to a place where he could observe the entire lake and sat down to hide.

A pair of bright black eyes were hidden in the darkness. While cultivating the Little Firebird Trick, he waited in silence.

Would the people from Green Deer Mountain come today?

It was still uncertain.

The Southern Wilderness Mountains were boundless. Searching for a few insignificant humans was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Chen Xuan could only wait by the stump for the rabbit.

This wait didn't last too long.

At dusk, several people riding nearly two-meter-tall green elk walked towards the small lake, chatting and laughing along the way.

...Wang Chan.

Chen Xuan, hidden in the dark, heard this name appear in the conversation of those people.

He slowly rose, like a shark swimming in the deep sea, silently gliding towards the chosen prey.