A World Beneath the Abyss

The sensation of falling lasted only a few breaths. Xiao Yan felt a chill sweep over him, as though he had plunged headfirst into an icy pool. Dark blue light rushed at him from every direction, swallowing his vision. A thunderous roar of water filled his ears, yet it also sounded like some ancient murmur, now distant, now close, too indistinct to make out. Then solid ground met his feet, and he landed steadily on a hard surface. At that moment, the dark blue light receded like the tide.

Xiao Yan looked up and paused in surprise. There was no sky above him. In its place stretched a boundless expanse of water.

The water hung several hundred zhang overhead, flat as a mirror, dark blue and translucent. Looking up from below, he could clearly see schools of fish swimming through it. The largest were several zhang long, while the smallest were no bigger than a finger joint. Their scales glimmered with flecks of silver in the reflected light. Now and then, a startled school scattered with a splash, sending ripples across the whole "sky."

That was the Luo River. They were standing beneath its bed.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Luo Lan's smug voice came from beside him. Though it was the boy's first time here too, he spoke as though the Luo River Abyss were his own backyard. "Granduncle said the Luo River Abyss grows upside down. The river's above, and the abyss is below. There are seven layers in all, each deeper and colder than the last."

Xiao Yan nodded, his gaze slowly sweeping over their surroundings. They had landed on an island of bluestone suspended in midair, several hundred zhang across. A kind of water grass, dark blue from stem to tip, grew on the island, swaying without wind. A clear dewdrop hung from the tip of each blade, with a faint spiritual light flowing within.

Beyond the island, many more stone islands of varying sizes hung at different heights throughout the dim space. "Bridges" formed of flowing water connected them. The streams hung downward, then bent in midair and flowed toward another island, as though an invisible hand were casually weaving something between heaven and earth.

Beneath all the stone islands lay a bottomless darkness. Xiao Yan glanced down at it and quietly sent a strand of Soul Power probing into the depths. It sank an unknown distance before an increasingly intense chill blocked its path, preventing it from going any farther.

Yet at the very instant his Soul Power was stopped, he caught it: an extremely faint yet unmistakable fluctuation, rising slowly from the deepest reaches of the darkness. It carried the distinctive flicker of flame, but there was no warmth in that flicker. Instead, it was chilling enough to make his heart tremble, cold enough to freeze even his soul.

The Mysterious Yin Ice Flame.

A flash of fervor quietly crossed Xiao Yan's eyes. Deep within his heart meridians, the slumbering wisp of pink flame gave another faint leap.

"Everyone, come here."

Luo Feng's voice rang out from the center of the island. The twenty-three young members of the Luo God Clan quickly gathered around him. Xiao Yan and Luo Lan went over as well, standing at the edge of the crowd.

Luo Feng stood atop a protruding bluestone and swept his gaze over the group. "The Luo River Abyss has seven layers," he said gravely. "The first is the Jade Abyss, the second the Mist Abyss, and the third the Cold Abyss. The fourth, fifth, and sixth layers below them are recorded in the clan's ancient texts, but fewer than five people have ever reached the fifth layer. As for the seventh..."

He paused, lowering his voice. "The seventh layer is the Mystic Yin Abyss. Since the founding of the Luo God Clan, no one who has gone down there has ever come back up."

A chorus of quiet gasps rose from the crowd.

"So this time, our objective is the first three layers," Luo Feng said. "The spiritual herbs, spirit beasts, and Spirit Arrays left by our ancestors in the Jade Abyss, Mist Abyss, and Cold Abyss-how much you can obtain depends on your own abilities. But there are three rules. First, you are not allowed to descend to the fourth layer. Second, you are not allowed to attack a fellow clansman. Third, if you encounter something you can't handle, crush your communication jade talisman. I'll come as quickly as I can."

When he finished, he took a stack of jade talismans from his robes and handed one to each person. When he reached Xiao Yan, he paused briefly but still handed him one. Xiao Yan accepted it and smiled without saying anything more.

"Split into groups of two to four and go your separate ways. Meet back on this island at sunset." Luo Feng put away the remaining talismans. "Tomorrow morning, we'll descend to the Mist Abyss together."

The crowd answered with a resounding assent, then gathered in twos and threes to form groups. Luo Lan naturally stuck close to Xiao Yan. Just as the two were about to leave, a voice tinged with mockery came from the side. "Luo Lan, you sure know how to pick your companions."

Xiao Yan turned to see a young man in silver armor leaning against a bluestone, a long spear held against his chest as he eyed them sidelong. He had a hooked nose and an undisguised arrogance in his expression. The Spiritual Energy fluctuations around him showed that he had unmistakably entered the Supreme Realm. He was a First Grade Sovereign; among the twenty-three, only he and Luo Feng had reached that level.

Luo Lan's face darkened at once. He stiffened his neck and said, "Luo Xiao, what's it to you?"

"Nothing to me, of course," the young man named Luo Xiao drawled. "I'm just curious. Since when did outsiders from a Lower Plane get to enter our Luo God Clan's secret realm, and have our young clansmen act as their lackeys?"

At his words, several nearby Luo God Clan youths who were forming groups paused and cast glances their way, some deliberate, others seemingly casual. Luo Lan's face turned red with anger. He was about to speak when Xiao Yan placed a hand on his shoulder, looked at Luo Xiao with a smile, and asked, "Has Elder Luo Cheng been in good health lately?"

Luo Xiao's expression abruptly stiffened. Luo Cheng was his grandfather, the very man who had withheld the blood letter sent by the Blood God Clan. Afterward, Luo Tianshen had punished him by making him kneel in the ancestral shrine, causing him to lose all face in the clan. Luo Xiao had naturally laid the blame for that at the feet of this fellow from a Lower Plane.

"You..." The veins stood out slightly on Luo Xiao's hand as he gripped his spear.

"Luo Xiao." Luo Feng's indifferent voice came from not far away.

Luo Xiao gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at Xiao Yan. Then, with a cold snort, he took his spear and led two companions toward another stone island without looking back. Luo Lan made a face at his departing figure, then turned back to Xiao Yan with some unease. "Xiao Yan, don't take it to heart. That guy's always been like that, with his eyes on top of his head..."

"Hehe, I didn't take it to heart," Xiao Yan said with a smile. "Come on, let's see what good things the Jade Abyss has to offer."

The Jade Abyss held even more good things than Xiao Yan had imagined.

The dark blue water grass bearing dewdrops was called Abyss Dew Grass. Its dewdrops contained pure water-attribute spiritual Qi, making them an excellent supplementary ingredient for refining healing pills. Clusters of palm-sized white spiritual mushrooms grew on the shaded sides of the stone islands. Luo Lan said they were called Moon Shadow Mushrooms, and that even eaten raw, they could nourish Spiritual Energy. In the hanging water bridges, tiny, completely transparent fish swam past from time to time. They were called Abyss Fireflies. They glowed at night, and their gallbladders were an exceptionally rare spiritual medicine for improving eyesight.

As Xiao Yan walked and gathered, he silently compared what he found with what he had read in the Record of the Spiritual Properties of Herbs over the past few days. The medicinal properties of the Great Thousand World's spiritual herbs were ten times fiercer than those on the Dou Qi Continent. Yet precisely because they were so fierce, as long as he found the right combinations, the pills refined from them would also be several times more potent. To him, all of these things were treasures.

Luo Lan followed behind him, initially helping him gather with great enthusiasm. As time went on, however, he gradually lost some of his spirit. "Xiao Yan, are we just going to pick these herbs?" he muttered. "Everyone else has gone hunting spirit beasts. I just saw Luo Xiao and his group head east. There's a Jade-Scaled Python's presence over there, and it's at least in the Divine Soul Realm..."

"Hunt spirit beasts? Can you beat one?"

"I... I'm at the Spirit Wheel Realm Peak now!"

"Jade-Scaled Python. Divine Soul Realm," Xiao Yan said without looking back.

Luo Lan opened his mouth, then closed it again. After a long while, he muttered, "Then... if I follow you, I can at least watch you fight, right...?"

Xiao Yan couldn't help laughing. He turned to the unwilling-looking youth and shook his head. "We have seven days in the Luo River Abyss. For the first three, you'll follow me, and I'll teach you to recognize medicinal herbs. Once you've learned them, there'll be fighting for you afterward." Luo Lan's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really."

Luo Lan's spirits immediately revived. He rolled up his sleeves and bent down to pull up Abyss Dew Grass, reciting the medicinal properties he had just memorized as he worked. His earnest manner reminded Xiao Yan of another figure, carrying a bamboo basket and identifying herbs on a mountainside. He touched the small cloth pouch inside his robes, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

At sunset, the group returned one after another to the stone island where they were to meet. It was called sunset, but there was no sun in the Luo River Abyss. Rather, as the sky outside darkened, the river hanging overhead gradually turned from dark blue to inky black. The Abyss Fireflies swimming in the water lit up one after another, looking from afar like a night sky studded with stars.

Luo Xiao's group carried back a Jade-Scaled Python a full ten zhang long and dropped it in the center of the island, drawing exclamations of amazement. Holding his spear against his chest, Luo Xiao glanced over the two cloth bags full of herbs carried by Xiao Yan and Luo Lan. He curled his lip and said nothing, but his meaning could not have been clearer. Luo Lan ground his teeth in anger, while Xiao Yan paid it no mind. He found a flat bluestone, sat down, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

Night gradually deepened. On the stone island, some sat cross-legged in cultivation while others conversed in low voices. The youths keeping watch stood at the island's edge with weapons in hand. Xiao Yan kept his eyes closed, but he never withdrew his strand of Soul Power, which remained faintly spread around the stone island.

Then, at one moment, his brow furrowed slightly. Far above, near the entrance to the Luo River Abyss that had long since closed, his Soul Power caught an extremely faint fluctuation. It vanished in a flash, so quickly it seemed an illusion. But Xiao Yan knew it was no illusion. Mingled within the fluctuation was a faint trace of something all too familiar to him.

The smell of blood.

Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the river hanging overhead, dotted with Abyss Fireflies. His gaze gradually turned cold.

There were others in the Luo River Abyss besides them.