Abyss of the Dead

The chilling wind in the abyss bit to the bone.

Li Xiaoyu felt his body falling incessantly.

Everything around him was pitch black; he could not even see his own hand before his face.

His consciousness began to blur due to his severe injuries and the exhaustion of his spiritual energy.

Just as he was on the verge of losing consciousness entirely, a pair of cold, soft hands suddenly reached out from the darkness and gripped his hand tightly.

He struggled to open his eyes, seeing a face streaked with tears yet resolute.

It was Lu Xueqi.

She had actually jumped down after him.

"You... fool."

Lu Xueqi did not speak, only gripping his hand tighter.

It was as if she were binding their two lives together.

She pressed her face against his chest, feeling his faint heartbeat.

In this moment, there was no fear or despair in her heart.

There was only a sense of peace and contentment.

To be able to fall into this abyss with him and face the afterlife together was perhaps a form of happiness.

The two held each other tightly, letting their bodies plummet into the depths of the unknown darkness.

Darkness.

Endless darkness.

Cold.

Bone-chilling cold.

Li Xiaoyu did not know how long he had been falling.

Perhaps it had been an instant, or perhaps ten thousand years.

His consciousness swayed between blurriness and clarity.

Every time he was about to sink away, the softness and warmth from her palm would pull him back.

He knew that Lu Xueqi was still there.

She was still with him.

This thought was like a solitary lamp in the dark night, supporting his final shred of will.

Finally, the momentum of their fall slowly ceased.

"Thud."

With a soft sound, their bodies landed on the solid, icy ground.

Li Xiaoyu endured the agonizing pain that made his entire body feel as if it were falling apart and opened his eyes.

This was the bottom of the Abyss of the Dead.

A world without light, without sound, and without life.

The air was thick with dense yin energy and resentment.

These auras carried a corrosive quality, constantly eroding their protective spiritual barriers.

Li Xiaoyu could feel the meager amount of spiritual energy left in his body draining away rapidly.

"Xueqi, how are you?"

He struggled to sit up and looked at Lu Xueqi in his arms.

Lu Xueqi's face was equally pale, but her condition was slightly better than Li Xiaoyu's.

She shook her head, her voice weak: "I am fine. What about you?"

Her gaze fell upon the blood-stained lapel of Li Xiaoyu's chest, her eyes filled with heartache.

"Not dead yet."

Li Xiaoyu gave a self-deprecating smile and struggled to stand, but the movement tugged at his wounds, causing him to wince in pain.

"Don't move!"

Lu Xueqi hurriedly supported him, letting him lean against her.

Her body was cold, yet it carried the softness and fragrance of a young woman, causing Li Xiaoyu's heart to flutter.

"What do we do now?"

Lu Xueqi looked around; this endless darkness made her feel helpless.

Li Xiaoyu forced himself to calm down.

The more critical the situation, the less one could afford to panic.

"We must leave this place as soon as possible."

He said with a grave expression, "The yin energy and resentment here are too heavy. If we stay for too long, our spiritual energy will be exhausted, and we will become lambs waiting for the slaughter."

Li Xiaoyu channeled his spiritual energy, condensing a faint cyan glow at his fingertips to illuminate the area for several feet around them.

They saw that the ground beneath their feet was black, as if it had been soaked in blood.

Scattered around them were the massive, unidentified bones of beasts, covered in the marks of time.

And in the darkness further away, it seemed as though countless eyes were watching them.

"Wooo—"

A roar like the wailing of ghosts came from all directions.

In the darkness, translucent, twisted figures began to slowly approach them.

They were specters!

In the Abyss of the Dead, these were souls that refused to pass on, bound for ten thousand years by resentment!

These specters had no physical form, and ordinary blades could not harm them at all.

They fed on the yang energy and souls of the living; once entangled, one's spirit would be annihilated, never to be reincarnated.

"Watch out!"

Li Xiaoyu let out a low shout, shielding Lu Xueqi behind him.

He knew clearly that to deal with these yin entities, he had to use the most yang and rigid Daoist arts.

Enduring his pain, he sat cross-legged, formed hand seals, and began to chant the meditation mantra of the Taiji Profound Clarity Path.

"Heaven and earth are natural, filth and miasma disperse. Within the cave lies the profound void, illuminating the Great Origin..."

As he chanted, ripples of soft cyan light spread outward from his body.

The moment the approaching specters touched the cyan light, they shrieked as if they had encountered their nemesis. Their bodies emitted wisps of green smoke, and they retreated in succession, not daring to come closer.

However, Li Xiaoyu's face turned even paler.

Channeling a Daoist art of this scale was a massive burden on his severely injured body.

He could feel his spiritual energy being consumed at an alarming rate.

"This won't work; I can't hold on for long."

He said through gritted teeth.

Lu Xueqi felt a pang of pain in her heart as she watched him teetering on the edge of collapse.

She stood up and moved in front of Li Xiaoyu to protect him.

"Focus on healing your wounds; I will deal with them!"

Her cold, clear voice carried a note of determination.

The Tianya divine sword in her hand flared with brilliant blue light.

Tianya was forged from exotic iron from the nine heavens and possessed the righteous energy of heaven and earth, which also had a powerful restraining effect on these evil, yin entities.

With a light flick of her wrist, streaks of biting blue sword qi, like blooming lotuses, slashed toward the surrounding specters.

"Sss-sss-sss!"

Those specters struck by the sword qi were instantly purified, dissolving into specks of light that vanished into the air.

Lu Xueqi's swordsmanship was cold and sharp, each strike carrying the majesty of absolute judgment.

Alone with her sword, she carved out a safe domain amidst the endless encirclement of specters.

Li Xiaoyu watched her white figure dancing in the darkness, his heart surging with emotion.

This woman, usually so cold and aloof, was more reliable and courageous than anyone else in a moment of crisis.

He no longer hesitated, immediately closing his eyes to circulate his cultivation technique with all his might to recover from his injuries.

Li Xiaoyu pulled the healing pills gifted by his master from his robes and shoved them all into his mouth at once.

The pills melted upon contact, turning into streams of warmth that surged into his parched meridians.

At the same time, the Immortal-Slaying Gourd at his waist began to grow slightly warm.

Li Xiaoyu's heart stirred, and he attempted to channel the gourd.

He discovered that the Immortal-Slaying Gourd had begun to actively absorb the dense yin energy and resentment in the surroundings.

These energies, which were highly toxic to cultivators, were rapidly broken down and purified upon entering the gourd.

The violent and evil portions were suppressed, while the most fundamental soul power was converted into streams of cool energy, feeding back into Li Xiaoyu and nourishing his damaged primordial spirit.

It actually has this kind of effect!

Li Xiaoyu was overjoyed.

This was truly an unexpected windfall!

With the help of the Immortal-Slaying Gourd, his recovery speed increased several times over in an instant.

Time slipped away slowly amidst this cycle of killing and defending.

Beads of fragrant sweat began to seep from Lu Xueqi's forehead.

The number of specters was truly overwhelming, seemingly infinite and impossible to eradicate.

Her spiritual energy was also depleting at a rapid pace.

Lu Xueqi's movements began to slow, and the light of her sword was no longer as sharp as it had been before.

Several times, specters slipped through her web of sword light, nearly pouncing upon her and Li Xiaoyu.

"Puh!"

Caught off guard, she allowed a powerful specter to pierce through her protective sword aura; her soul shuddered, a sweet taste rose in her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.