The Nether Death Sea

A bizarre stalemate temporarily descended over the plaza.

Chu Ming did everything he could to maintain the realm enveloping the Dao Seed. His face was pale, his breath uneven, yet his gaze remained calm.

Qingwei supported the injured Thunder Splendor, watching Old Ancestor Nether Bone and Yin Matron with vigilance.

The people of the Time Sword Sect, still shaken by their narrow escape, gathered around Venerable Lingfeng. Every one of them was wounded, their auras listless.

Elder Flame Splendor and the others from Heaven-Burning Valley also withdrew to one side, their expressions shifting uncertainly. They had clearly been shocked by the eruption of the Abyss Seed and Yin Matron's transformation. Elder Yinbone's face was livid as he stared fixedly at Yin Matron, then cast a wary glance at the Dao Seed and Old Ancestor Nether Bone, both temporarily "restrained" by Chu Ming. Everyone realized that the situation had become even more complicated and dangerous.

The Dao Seed was right before their eyes, yet it was like a scalding hot potato.

The Abyss's tentacles seemed to have silently reached this place.

And the "Abyss Trial" invitation left behind by that icy whisper was even more like an unknown, death-filled... trap.

Chu Ming slowly drew a breath, suppressing the roiling blood and discomfort in his soul. His gaze swept across the crowd, before finally settling on the Dao Seed wrapped within his realm, still flickering with interwoven gray-gold and pitch-black light.

The stalemate on the plaza lasted less than three breaths.

The Dao Seed, forcibly enveloped by Chu Ming's Chaos Order Realm and cut off from most of the Abyss's aura, suddenly shuddered at the core where the "Abyss Seed" lay! It was neither an attack nor a struggle.

Rather, a strange pitch-black ripple, like ripples spreading across water, silently expanded outward