The old servant behaved like a puppet, but Chen Lin could not treat him as one.
Besides, there was no one else he could ask.
Chen Lin looked at the old servant.
He asked respectfully, "What method would that be? Please enlighten me, Elder Qi."
A spark appeared in the old man's eyes.
He set down his hoe.
"You can go to the Abyss," he said solemnly.
Then he elaborated.
"As long as you obtain abyss crystals, you can exchange them for points and use those points to enter and leave this place. But if you want a seat among the Oddities, you still have to challenge an existing Oddity."
"What sort of place is the Abyss?"
Chen Lin immediately pressed him.
The old servant had mentioned the Abyss too, which proved that the previous master of the Pill Pavilion had not written nonsense in his notes.
And judging by the old servant's behavior, the Abyss seemed very important to Oddity Island.
"The Abyss is a peculiar place."
The old servant answered readily.
"It is very dangerous. Terrifying abyssal creatures live there. If you kill them, you can obtain abyss crystals. These crystals are very important to Oddity Island-indispensable, in fact."
As he spoke, he extended a hand.
A crystal the size of a pigeon's egg appeared in his palm, shimmering with myriad colors. Something seemed to be writhing inside it.
"This is an abyss crystal. There aren't many left now. Once they're exhausted, Oddity Island will fall dormant and lose its ability to communicate with you."
Chen Lin carefully probed it with his senses.
But he detected nothing special about it. He only found it extraordinarily mysterious.
So he stopped examining it.
"Something this important must have many uses," he said gravely. "What can it be exchanged for?"
"It