Black Abyss

The black rock plain was more desolate than it looked from afar.

What he stepped on was neither sand nor soil, but a kind of fine black granules, like powder ground from burnt bones.

Every step he took made a slight "crunch" sound.

"Stop looking," Shi Yong said in a low voice. "It's just rocks."

Su Ying nodded, but her eyes couldn't help but look down.

Ying walked at the very front, much slower than before.

His short sword was already unsheathed, its blade coated with that dark ointment, which gave off a strange purplish-black luster under the moonlight.

He stopped every few steps to observe his surroundings, his ears twitching slightly, like an alert cat.

Li Xuan walked three steps behind him, the Blood Wolf Saber held horizontally in front of him, Red Sun Qi already circulating within his body to its limit.

Upon reaching the edge of the Black Abyss, the Yin Qi in the air was so dense it felt almost tangible. Every breath felt like icy air pouring into his lungs from his nasal cavity, like drinking ice water.

But the Red Sun Scripture automatically circulated, blocking the Yin Qi outside his body, while simultaneously absorbing a small portion into his meridians, converting it into Pure Yang Qi.

However, the Yin Qi here was too dense, so dense that even the Red Sun Scripture couldn't refine it all in time.

"How much further?" Shi Yong asked from behind.

Ying didn't answer, merely pointing forward with his finger.

In the darkness, the black bulge grew closer and closer.

As they approached, they realized it was a massive rift valley.

The earth had split open here, a chasm at least two hundred zhang wide, its length unseen, stretching into the darkness in both the north and south directions.

The edges of the rift valley were steep black rock walls, devoid of any vegetation, only deep ravines, as if scratched by giant claws.

Li Xuan walked to the edge of the rift valley and looked down.

Below was pure darkness.

He took out a fire starter and lit it, shining it down. The firelight only illuminated about ten zhang below before being swallowed by the darkness, rendering everything invisible.

"Black Abyss," Ying said, standing beside him, his voice very low. "That's how it got its name. Light dies here."

"The way down?" Li Xuan asked.

Ying walked east along the edge of the rift valley for dozens of steps, stopping before a section of the rock wall.

This part of the rock wall was not as steep as other places; instead, it sloped gently. Although still very steep, it was barely passable for people.

The slope had signs of artificial excavation, as if someone had built a road here long ago, but it was later destroyed, leaving only some broken stone steps.

"Go down from here," Ying said. "Qin Lie took this path back then."

Li Xuan looked at the path extending downwards, swallowed by darkness, and was silent for a moment.

"Shi Yong, Su Ying," he turned back. "You two stay up here."

Shi Yong was stunned. "Why?"

"It's too dangerous below," Li Xuan said. "You're in the Body Tempering Realm, you can't withstand the Yin Qi there. Going down would be suicide."

Shi Yong opened his mouth to retort, but after looking at the bottomless darkness, he closed it again.

"Ying will go down with me," Li Xuan said. "You two guard the top. If we don't come back before dawn, return to the Crimson Firmament Sect and report this matter to the Shadow Division."

Shi Yong was silent for a while, then nodded.

"Come back alive," he said.

Li Xuan didn't answer and turned towards the path leading down.

Ying followed behind him.

The stone steps were narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass.

The further down they went, the denser the cold Yin Qi became, so much so that Li Xuan's Red Sun Qi began to struggle.

He had to circulate his Qi several more times to maintain the Crimson Gold Flame on his body.

Ying's situation was worse. Ying was at the second level of the True Qi Realm, but he didn't cultivate a supreme Yang technique, nor did he have Blood Fiend Gang Qi to protect him.

In a place like this, he could only rely on his True Qi to resist. Every step he took consumed his internal energy.

"Can you hold on?" Li Xuan asked.

Ying nodded, but didn't speak.

However, Li Xuan saw that his face had turned pale, and sweat beaded on his forehead. The sweat quickly turned into ice shards under the erosion of the Yin Qi.

The two continued downwards.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the stone steps finally reached their end.

Li Xuan squatted down and poked the ground with his finger. His fingertip felt cold, soft, and elastic.

It wasn't soil.

It was something he had never seen before.

"Don't touch it," Ying's voice came from behind. "This is... this is 'flesh'."

Li Xuan looked up. "What?"

"Something Gurqin is raising," Ying said. "It was mentioned in the Shadow Division's files. He's raising something at the Bottom of Black Abyss... something like moss that can absorb Yin Qi and also devour living things. If someone steps on it and stays too long, it'll grow tentacles and wrap around your feet."

Li Xuan stood up and looked down at his feet. The layer of black "flesh" covered the entire bottom of the Rift Valley, extending in all directions as far as the eye could see. In the distance, there were some raised shapes, like tree roots, or perhaps like blood vessels, slowly writhing beneath the surface.

"Where do we go?" he asked.

Ying pointed ahead.

There, in the darkness, a deeper black cave entrance was faintly visible.

The cave entrance was large, at least thirty feet high, and irregularly shaped, as if something had dug it out from the inside.

"That's Gurqin's lair," Ying said. "Qin Lie went in there back then."

Li Xuan gripped his saber hilt and stepped forward.

The "flesh" beneath his feet twitched slightly the moment he stepped on it, as if testing him.

But the Red Sun Qi covering his body, the Crimson Gold Flame roasting the layer of "flesh," made it emit a faint "sizzling" sound.

It didn't move again, slowly returning to its original state after he passed.

Ying followed behind him, stepping on the exact spots Li Xuan had stepped, not daring to tread anywhere else.

The two reached the cave entrance.

It was darker inside than outside, so dark it looked like a wall.

Li Xuan raised his Blood Wolf Saber, the Crimson Gold Flame on the blade illuminating a small area around them.

The cave walls weren't rock, but some kind of black, smooth substance, like solidified asphalt.

There were patterns on the cave walls, circling around and around, like the growth rings of a tree, or perhaps some kind of rune.

A sound came from inside the cave.

Footsteps.

Not one person's footsteps, but many.

Li Xuan stopped, and Ying stopped too.

The footsteps grew closer.

Then, out of the darkness walked... people.

No, it's a corpse.

More than a dozen corpses, wearing different clothes.

There were barbarian leather robes, Crimson Firmament Sect disciples' Moon White Robes, the Northern Territory guards' worn armor, and ordinary people's Coarse Cloth Linen Clothes. Their skin was grayish-white, as if they had been soaked in water for a long time. Their eyes were empty, with only two faint green lights in their sockets.

Walking Corpses.

Puppets transformed after being corrupted by Gurqin's Yin Fiend Qi.

The foremost corpse wore a Crimson Firmament Sect disciple's Moon White Robe, with Cloud Patterns embroidered on the cuffs—the mark of an Inner Disciple. Its face was mostly rotted away, revealing the white bone beneath, but Li Xuan still recognized the face.

Zhou Wen.

Li Xuan's pupils contracted sharply.

How could his corpse be here?

Shadow also recognized Zhou Wen, his grip on his sword tightening.

"It's not Zhou Wen," Shadow said in a low voice. "It's Zhou Wen's corpse. Stolen by Gurqin's people."

Zhou Wen, or rather, Zhou Wen's corpse, opened its mouth. Its jaw had rotted, and a "kaka" sound of bone friction came out as it opened.

"Li... Xuan..."

The voice was hoarse, as if coming from the deepest depths of the earth.

"You... have come..."

Li Xuan remained silent.

He tightened his grip on the Blood Wolf Saber, channeling Red Sun Qi into the blade. The Crimson Gold Flame surged violently.

"No matter who you are," he said, "get out of his body."

Zhou Wen's corpse tilted its head, as if smiling. Then it raised its hand and pointed at Li Xuan.

The dozen Walking Corpses behind it moved simultaneously.

They didn't pounce quickly, but they moved in unison, like a well-trained army. The foremost two wore barbarian leather robes and wielded rusty scimitars, their blades stained with black mucus.

Li Xuan didn't retreat.

He took a step forward, sweeping the Blood Wolf Saber horizontally.

A Crimson Gold blade light shot out from the saber, striking the chests of the two Walking Corpses. Where the blade light passed, the corpses' bodies were cut in half. Crimson Gold flames ignited at the cross-sections, quickly spreading throughout their bodies. They let out sharp shrieks, struggled a few times in the flames, and then turned to ash.

[Killed Walking Corpse (Yin Fiend Puppet), Potential Points +1]

[Killed Walking Corpse (Yin Fiend Puppet), Potential Points +1]

The Walking Corpses behind them had already pounced.

Li Xuan dodged to the side, evading a Walking Corpse's lunge, and with a backhand strike, severed its neck.

Its head fell to the ground, but its body continued to charge forward. After a few steps, it finally collapsed.

Another Walking Corpse lunged from the side, its claws raking towards Li Xuan's throat.

He thrust out his left fist, and Crimson Gold Flame erupted on his knuckles, blasting the Walking Corpse away. It slammed into the cave wall, igniting into a fireball.

Shadow also made a move. stabbed his Short Sword into the back of a Walking Corpse's head. The ointment on the blade took effect, and the Walking Corpse's body instantly stiffened before shattering like sand.'s fighting style was clean; every thrust hit a vital point, wasting no effort.

The dozen or so Walking Corpses were all annihilated in less than half an incense stick's time.

Silence returned to the cave.

Only piles of ashes and shattered bones remained on the ground.

Zhou Wen's Corpse was still standing.

It hadn't moved.

From beginning to end, it hadn't participated in the attack. It just stood there, head tilted, gazing at Li Xuan with its hollow eye sockets.

"You... are stronger... than before..." it said.

Li Xuan stared at it. "Who are you?"

"You... know..."

Li Xuan's heart sank.

Gurqin.

"You're not a clone," Li Xuan said. "You're the main body."

Zhou Wen's Corpse laughed. A grotesque smile contorted its rotten face, its jaw nearly dislocating.

"The clone... was a part... of me... You... destroyed him... I... knew... your... location..."

It raised its hand and pointed at Li Xuan's chest.

"Inside you... is my... mark... Although... you refined it... I can smell... your... scent..."

Li Xuan gripped his sword hilt, Red Sun Qi surging madly within his body.

"You thought... refining it... meant it was gone?" Zhou Wen's Corpse let out a creaking laugh. "That mark... in front of my... main body... will... grow back..."

Li Xuan's pupils contracted.

"You... in the Northern Territory... killed... so many of my subordinates... Today... I will... make you... stay..."

Zhou Wen's corpse suddenly stiffened, then as if squeezed by an invisible hand, its entire body collapsed inward, the sound of bones shattering as dense as popping beans. It transformed into a mass of black mist, within which two huge green lights ignited—

Gurqin's Eyes.

A part of Gurqin's Main Body had descended, using Zhou Wen's Corpse.

The black mist condensed into a wolf form.

A colossal wolf, enveloped in black mist, with ghostly green flames burning in its eye sockets.

It stood two zhang tall and four zhang long, crouching in the cave, almost filling the entire space.

Gurqin's Main Body.

Not a clone, but the main body.

Although only a part, it was already three times larger than the Wolf Soul from that night at Iron Wall City, and five times stronger than the clone in the mine.

The Red Sun Qi within Li Xuan surged violently.

The Wolf Soul lowered its head, its ghostly green eyes fixed on Li Xuan.

"You... brought... a... friend..." It looked at Ying, "A little rat... from the Shadow Division..."

Ying remained silent, his short sword held horizontally before him, his face pale but his eyes resolute.

"You... will... all... die..."

The Wolf Soul opened its mouth, and a stream of black energy spewed out, like a black torrent, rushing straight at Li Xuan and Ying!

Li Xuan stepped forward, holding his Blood Wolf Saber vertically before him, channeling Red Sun Qi into the blade, where crimson gold flames condensed into a shield shape.

The black torrent collided with the flame shield, emitting a "sizzling" sound, like water poured onto a red-hot iron plate. The black mist burned, dissipating into white smoke, but the flame shield was also being eroded, thinning layer by layer.

Li Xuan gritted his teeth, activating all the Red Sun Qi in his dantian. The flame shield suddenly expanded, pushing the black torrent back!

Surprise flashed in the Wolf Soul's eyes.

"You... are... stronger... than I thought..."

It retracted the black mist, stood up, and looked down at Li Xuan from its towering height.

"But... not enough..."

It raised its right claw and swiped down.

Before the claw arrived, the gale had already made Li Xuan's legs go soft. The Mountain Suppressing Art automatically activated, and the "Immovable as a Mountain" trait triggered. His legs became rooted to the ground, forcefully resisting the pressure. However, the ground beneath his feet was pressed into a deep pit, and his calves sank into it.

Shadow rushed out from the side, his short sword stabbing towards the Blood Wolf Saber's right leg.

The sword blade pierced into the black mist. The ointment took effect, and the Blood Wolf Saber's right leg stiffened abruptly. But it merely lowered its head to glance at Shadow, then swung its left claw, swatting Shadow away. Shadow crashed against the cave wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and slid to the ground. He struggled a few times but couldn't get up.

"Shadow!" Li Xuan roared.

The Blood Wolf Saber's right claw was already descending.

Li Xuan had no time to check Shadow's injuries.

He took a deep breath, simultaneously pushing all his Red Sun Qi and Blood Fiend Gang Qi to their limits.

The Crimson Gold Flame and the blood-colored gang qi intertwined, collided, and merged within his body.

In his left hand, Blood Fiend Gang Qi condensed into a blood-colored fist-sword. In his right hand, Red Sun Qi condensed into a crimson gold saber aura.

He unleashed both fists simultaneously.

His left fist smashed towards the Blood Wolf Saber's right claw, and his right fist slashed towards the Blood Wolf Saber's head.

BOOM--!!!

The deafening roar made the cave walls tremble.

A hole was blasted through the Blood Wolf Saber's right claw by the Blood Fiend fist-sword, and black mist gushed out from the opening. At the same time, the crimson gold saber aura struck the Blood Wolf Saber's head, slashing from its forehead all the way to its jaw, leaving a deep, scorching mark.

The Blood Wolf Saber let out a piercing howl, its entire body trembling violently.

It retreated two steps.

Li Xuan also retreated a few steps, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. The flesh on his fists had already peeled back, revealing the white bone beneath. But the white bone glowed with a faint golden luster and was slowly healing.

Blood Fiend Diamond Body.

The Blood Wolf Saber stared at him, and its eerie green eyes finally revealed... apprehension.

"You... are not... ordinary..."

Li Xuan said nothing. He wiped the blood from his lips and gripped the Blood Wolf Saber tightly.

"Again."

The Blood Wolf Saber was silent for a breath.

Then, it smiled.

"Today... we won't fight..."

Its body began to dissipate, black mist spreading outwards.

"You... will... come... find me... again... I'll wait... for you..."

"You have... my... thing... inside you... you... can't escape..."

The black mist dispersed.

Darkness and silence returned to the cave.

Only Li Xuan's panting and Ying's faint cough could be heard.

Li Xuan walked to Ying's side, squatted down, and checked his injuries. A section of Ying's chest had caved in, at least three ribs were broken, and blood was still flowing from the corner of his mouth. But his eyes were open, and his consciousness was clear.

"Not dead," Ying said, his voice very weak. "Can't die."

Li Xuan took out the bottle of Golden Wound Powder Zhou Ning had given him from his embrace, sprinkled it on the wound on Ying's chest, then tore off the hem of his own clothes and bandaged him up.

"Can you walk?"

Ying tried, leaning on the cave wall to stand up. He swayed, then steadied himself.

"Yes."

Li Xuan supported him and walked towards the cave entrance.

When they reached the cave entrance, he looked back at the darkness within.

Wolf Soul's words were still echoing in his mind.

"You have my thing inside you."

He had refined the Wolf Soul Mark. But Gurqin had said that the mark would regrow in front of the main body.

Was it a bluff, or was it true?

Li Xuan turned around, supporting Ying, and walked step by step towards the top of the Rift Valley.

Behind them, the darkness of the Black Abyss slowly closed, like a closing eye.

At the edge of the Rift Valley, Shi Yong and Su Ying were waiting.

Seeing Li Xuan and Ying ascend, Shi Yong breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression darkened when he saw Ying's chest injury.

"What happened?"

"We ran into Gurqin," Li Xuan said. "A clone, stronger than the one in the mine."

Shi Yong opened his mouth, wanting to say something, then closed it again.

Su Ying ran over and helped support Ying. pulled a handkerchief from pocket and carefully wiped the bloodstains from Ying's face, eyes red.

"Don't cry," Ying said. "I'm not dead."

Su Ying bit her lip, not crying out loud, but tears still fell.

Li Xuan walked to a rock and sat down.

(He) looked down at his hands. The flesh had already healed for the most part, revealing pale golden bones. The Blood Fiend Diamond Body's recovery speed was much faster than ordinary martial artists, but the battle just now had consumed too much. It would take at least one night to recover.

(He) looked at his internal panel.

[Potential Points: 25 → 31]

31 Potential Points was enough for him to use for a while.

"We rest here tonight," said. "Tomorrow morning, we head back."

Shi Yong was stunned. "Head back? We're not fighting anymore?"

"We can't win," Li Xuan said. "Gurqin's true form is too strong. The four of us aren't enough. We'll go back, find the sect, find the Shadow Division, find people."

(He) looked into the darkness to the north.

"Next time we come, we'll bring more people."

Shi Yong was silent for a moment, then nodded.

Su Ying, supporting Ying, found a wind-sheltered crevice in the rocks, spread out her cotton clothes, and let him lie down.

Shi Yong went to find some dry firewood. There were no trees here, but there were some dead shrub roots, which were barely enough to start a fire.

The firelight lit up, dispelling a small patch of darkness.

Li Xuan sat by the fire, watching the flames dance.

Inside his body, the Red Sun Qi and Blood Fiend Gang Qi flowed slowly, repairing the damaged meridians.

(He) remembered the words from Qin Lie's letter:

"When you need to find people to help, find people to help."

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