In the northeast corner of the villa, the bamboo shadows were stretched long and thin by the morning light.
Zhao Chengkong pushed open the door. He hadn't slept all night, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he was unusually excited.
His right hand was loosely clenched, and on his palm, a wisp of pale, almost invisible, eerie green energy swirled and flowed like a living thing, carrying a hint of ancient, majestic, and icy coldness.
Although he couldn't control it like an arm or fingers, let alone drive the Azure Flood Dragon demon servant in the slightest, his divine sense, tempered by the " Clear Nether Spirit Refinement Art," finally managed to pry open a trace of the scroll's inheritance.
This is a breakthrough from scratch.
"How are you feeling?" Su Yu walked out of the guest room, his aura deep and unfathomable, different from yesterday.
"It's like... through a thick layer of ice, you can feel the power beneath, but you can't break through yet." Zhao Chengkong dispersed the airflow in his palm and smiled. "However, the direction is right. Brother Su, what are you going to do?"
"Let's go deep into the back mountains," Su Yu said succinctly, "To earn some travel expenses."
Zhao Chengkong was taken aback, then remembered that Su Yu had asked about the forbidden area of the mountain range before, and nodded, saying, "Deep in the mountains is the ' Bone-Eroding Abyss,' where demons and monsters dwell, mostly evil spirits in the mid-to-late stages of the Mystic Realm. Shall I go with you?"
"No need. You need to hurry." Su Yu patted him on the shoulder. "In three days, you need to have a trump card you can play."
Zhao Chengkong nodded emphatically and said nothing more.
He understood Su Yu's unspoken message: accumulating points was Su Yu's business, but controlling the Azure Flood Dragon was a hurdle that Zhao Chengkong had to overcome alone.
Su Yu turned and left the hospital, his figure disappearing behind the layered eaves of the villa in a few leaps.
Zhao Chengkong composed himself, turned around and went back into the house, where he sat cross-legged in front of the landscape painting.
This time, his gaze was calm, and his hands formed the starting posture of the " Clear Nether Spirit Refinement Art ". A wisp of dark blue divine consciousness, more refined and clear than last night, slowly pierced the pair of dark green vertical pupils of the Azure Flood Dragon in the painting, like a needle.
The Bone-Eroding Abyss.
The name is straightforward, but also quite unlucky.
A chasm, tens of feet wide, plunges diagonally into the ground. The valley is filled with a grayish-green miasma, a mixture of rotting leaves and the stench of unknown creatures, making one want to vomit.
The valley walls were rugged, and rustling sounds could be heard from the depths from time to time.
Su Yu stood at the valley entrance and took a deep breath—but didn't.
He held his breath, Purple-Gold Prison-Suppressing Platform trembled slightly in his sea of consciousness. A layer of pale golden divine sense, as thin as a cicada's wing, covered his body, isolating him from the erosion of the miasma.
"Begin," he muttered to himself, stepping inside.
Less than thirty feet down the valley path, a foul stench assaulted our senses.
Three gray shadows darted out from the side wall, resembling giant bats with wingspans of nearly ten feet, emitting sharp hisses, their claws and teeth covered in rotting flesh.
Su Yu raised his hand, his five fingers spread wide.
As the Azure Nether Purple-Gold Spirit Refinement Record was activated, the Prison-Suppressing Platform, a blend of dark gold and cyan gray, emitted a faint light within the sea of consciousness.
An invisible yet heavy spiritual force field spread out from him, covering a distance of ten feet in front of him.
The three Evil Bat seemed to have crashed into an invisible iron wall, their forward momentum suddenly halted, and their flight path became skewed.
The fierce glint in their eyes was replaced by a sliver of instinctive fear.
The next moment, Su Yu brought his right index and middle fingers together and pointed them in mid-air.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Three condensed, almost tangible, dark gold lines shot out from the fingertips.
The thin line was extremely short, no more than a foot long, yet it was faster than the visual senses could perceive, arriving before the enemy and precisely piercing the foreheads of the three Evil Bat.
There was no explosion, no screams.
The three Evil Bat stiffened, and the ferocity in their eyes quickly dissipated, turning into an empty, deathly gray.
They fell to the ground with a thud, twitched twice, and then lay still, with a little black blood seeping from their seven orifices.
[Defeat the Evil Bat ( Spirit Realm Seventh Level ), gain 2100 Slaughter Points ]
Su Yu continued his journey deeper into the area without stopping.
The density of demons in the Bone-Eroding Abyss is quite high, and most of them are evil creatures born from miasma, with generally weak spiritual defenses.
This was exactly what Su Yu wanted.
[Defeat the Rotting Bone Lizard ( Spirit Realm Eighth Level ) to gain 400 Slaughter Points.]
[Defeat the Miasma Shadow ( Spirit Realm Ninth Level, Spiritual Form), gain 600 Slaughter Points.]
Su Yu's fighting style is simple, efficient, and almost ruthless.
We don't aim for flashy displays; we only aim for the fastest elimination with the least amount of resources.
Mental power is like the most sophisticated radar and scalpel, detecting, locating, and then striking deadly.
Occasionally, when encountering something tough and resilient, the Prison-Suppressing True Intent is activated, using the heavy pressure derived from the " Myriad Manifestations Prison-Suppressing Intent " combined with physical attacks to crush it.
Deep within his consciousness, the number of Slaughter Points was steadily increasing.
The deeper you go, the stronger and larger the demons become, and the harsher the environment becomes.
However, Su Yu's aura became increasingly deep and concentrated, and in actual combat, the newly integrated " Azure Nether Purple-Gold Spirit Refinement Record " operated more and more smoothly and effortlessly.
Azure Nether's insight allows him to easily see through the weaknesses and attack trajectories of demons, while Purple Gold's sturdy suppression imbues his mental attacks with extremely strong armor-piercing and annihilation properties.
He was "purchasing goods".
Meanwhile, in the core area of the villa, there was a heavily guarded forbidden room.
The room had no windows, only a few lamps burning dimly.
Grand Elder Zhao Y ehan sat cross-legged on a futon. In the air in front of him, a distorted, dark red phantom flickered slightly, like a communication rune with a poor signal.
" The Blood Baleful Intent Hall's people have reached the outer edge of the mountain range," a hoarse, barely audible voice came from the illusory figure. "They're ready to cooperate at any time. The Duke only requests that that brat... be completely eliminated."
Zhao Y ehan lowered his eyelids, his aged fingers stroking the armrest.
"The elders' meeting in three days is crucial. Before then, we should avoid any unforeseen complications."
"Elder, you are overthinking it."
The illusory figure chuckled, but its voice was utterly devoid of warmth. "That kid went into the Bone-Eroding Abyss, perfect timing."
Who can blame the demons for their actions? Eliminating this destabilizing factor will reduce the uncertainty of your power grab. Don't you understand the Duke's sincerity?"
Zhao Y ehan slowly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in his cloudy eyes.
"I want to see his body with my own eyes, and this is a one-time thing. I will clean up the villa myself."
"Nature."
The dark red phantom flickered and then vanished silently.
The room fell silent once more.
Zhao Y ehan sat in the shadows, as if he had turned into a stone statue, only his eyes, under the ever-burning lamp, gleamed with a cold light that was a mixture of ambition and decisiveness.
In the deepest part of the Bone-Eroding Abyss, there was no longer miasma, but a dense, impenetrable gray-black fog, with visibility less than three feet.
Even spiritual detection was severely interfered with, becoming blurry and sluggish.
Su Yu stopped in his tracks.
He has been cleaning here for nearly two hours.
[Current Slaughter Points: 286700.]
That's enough.
This is enough for him to advance from the beginner level of the " Azure Nether Purple-Gold Spirit Refinement Record " to the minor mastery level, and also to push his Body Refinement level up, in preparation for breaking through to the Earth Realm physical body barrier.
There's even a surplus.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his brow suddenly furrowed.
From the depths of the thick fog ahead, extremely faint energy fluctuations emanated, not belonging to demons, but more like... human cultivators, carrying a chilling, bloodthirsty, and eerie aura.
The tremors weren't isolated; at least three people were moving rapidly, heading... directly from his location.
Su Yu's eyes turned slightly cold.
Although the Bone-Eroding Abyss is a forbidden area, the disciples of the manor have fixed routes and times for clearing out demons.
The appearance of unidentified cultivators at this time and place clearly indicates that they are here for him.
"They even offer home delivery!"