Chapter 2161 – Abyss of Death
The grayish, spatial profound light of the Void Breaching Great Formation immediately congealed as all five candidates stepped into it. The formation continued to revolve slowly amidst blurry glimmers of gray light, and its profound patterns emitted the supreme divine aura of the Abyssal Monarch.
This was the Abyssal Monarch’s gift to the six Kingdoms of God, but the strongest Boundless Kingdom of God was missing. It was undoubtedly a lamentable outcome.
Hua Fuchen turned toward Meng Kongchan and sent him a sound transmission, “Brother Meng…”
Both men were carrying heavy hearts inside their chests. The moment their gazes touched, they understood each other’s intent and disappeared in the same direction.
Hua Caili was ultimately too innocent and inexperienced. She could not comprehend the ten-thousand-year-old friendship and bond her elders shared, nor fathom the profound sorrow and pain concealed beneath her Father’s calm exterior. Even Dian Rahu’s anger touched her only at the most superficial level.
Now that the juniors were gone, Hua Fuchen and Meng Kongchan could finally shed their carefree facade for the moment, confess their thoughts to each other, and discuss ways to make up with Dian Rahu.
Meng Canji knew very well that his Divine Regent was carrying many worries in his mind right now, so he did not follow him. Instead, he went over to Meng Jianxi’s side and said, “I have no idea what Divine Son Yuan was thinking. It hasn’t even been twenty hours since he endured two hundred breaths of punishment of devouring rage, and he’s forcing himself to enter a place as dangerous as the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods. Even better, the supreme one allowed him.”
Meng Jianxi said, “That’s because Father understands that Brother Yuan must have his own reasons. If he isn’t willing to divulge it, then Father won’t press. This is Father’s unique trust in him.”
Meng Cangji gave him a look with his old, wizened eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he simply said, “Let’s go.”
Meng Jianxi did not move, however. He looked in the direction of the Void Breaching Great Formation and said, “One can stay in the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods for one hundred forty four hours at most, meaning that our stay in the Pure Land is prolonged. You should use this opportunity to visit old friends and tour the Pure Land with Uncle and the others, grandfather. I will stay here in case Brother Yuan is injured and forced to escape prematurely. He would need someone to look after him at first notice.”
A slight frown appeared on Meng Cangji’s face. It wasn’t until much later that it faded a little. While looking at Meng Jianxi with complicated eyes, he asked, “Have you… given up completely, Jianxi?”
“Yeah.” Meng Jianxi’s reply came without any hesitation whatsoever.
Meng Jianxi turned around and met Meng Cangji’s eyes directly. He said very seriously, “At the beginning, I gave up not just because Brother Yuan proved to be my better, but also because I didn’t dare to continue. Father’s undisguised favoritism, Brother Yuan’s perfect divine essence, his astounding talent in the profound way, and his masterful methods… even Mother’s fate was held in his grasp. The overwhelming sense of powerlessness weighed so heavily on me that I could scarcely breathe. Reason compelled me to choose submission over resistance.”
“However, I would be lying if I said I was completely resigned to my fate. At least a small portion of me was hoping to rise again someday.”
“But now, he has won me over completely. Not a shred of defiance is left in my bones anymore.”
His words were disheartening, and yet his tone was calm and collected. He was even smiling a little as he said, “This is especially true after I witnessed Brother Yuan’s willpower and true feelings today. I’m starting to believe more and more that fate’s choice to return Brother Yuan to the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God is an enormous boon. In that case, why should I fight anymore?”
“To stand by Brother Yuan’s side and assist him in building the golden age of Dreamweaver—is that not also an honor worthy of being engraved in history forever?”
Looking at the odd light in Meng Jianxi’s pupils, Meng Cangji finally nodded slowly. “Alright. Since you have made up your mind, then I shan’t say anything more… If there is one thing I’m worried about, it’s that we might have offended him too much in the past. Do you think…”
“What are you saying, grandfather?”
Meng Jianxi smiled and said, “Brother Yuan’s will is strong enough to endure twice the punishment of devouring rage. How could he possibly be troubled by those trivialities of the past? In this case, your concern is truly unnecessary.”
“Good. Good!”
Meng Cangji finally cracked a smile. “You’re right. We’ve all witnessed your exceptional talent. For the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God to gain someone even more outstanding than you is not a calamity, but a great blessing. We were definitely too narrow-minded back then. In fact, I know your uncle and many others share my sentiment. It is just that they are held back by seven parts face and three parts hesitation. It is time I have a proper talk with them.”
“The Eternal Pure Land represents a new dawn for all the Kingdoms of God. Knowing that the two of you are the next generation of Dreamweavers truly brings me profound comfort and peace. With such a bright and promising future ahead of us, it is only right that we old-timers spare no effort to support you two, hahahaha!”
……
Abyssal dust brushed against his face as Yun Che slowly opened his eyes, and before him lay a world of murky gray. The light, the air, the atmosphere. They all resembled the Endless Fog.
That said, the concentration of abyssal dust in this place was way thicker than the Endless Fog. It approached the level of the inner areas of the Endless Fog. For someone to go from the Pure Land to the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods was like jumping from a clear spring to a swamp. Both their profound energy and their spiritual perception were severely suppressed, causing unbearable discomfort.
Yun Che was the opposite. Like a fish that returned to the deep sea, the mental pressure that had been weighing on him since entering the Pure Land had disappeared completely. Not only that, every wisp of abyssal dust in this place could become a medium for his spiritual perception.
“Phew—”
After letting out a long sigh of relief, Yun Che released his spiritual perception and spread it toward his surroundings.
Li Suo murmured, “It’s quiet here. Much quieter than the Endless Fog.”
Yun Che replied casually, “That’s because there are very few abyssal beasts in this place. Instead, it is crawling with abyssal ghosts.”
Abyssal ghosts moved with near total silence.
“There’s no need to scout out the surrounding area yet. You should focus on gathering your thoughts and resting.”
Li Suo murmured even more quietly, “Your soul strings were pulled too taut in the Pure Land, and the soul damage you received from the punishment of devouring rage hasn’t recovered yet. Since this place is of no threat to you, at least allow yourself a moment to catch your breath.”
“Hmm? Are you concerned about me?”
“Mm.”
A faint smile touched Yun Che’s lips. Surprisingly, he obediently withdrew his spiritual perception, lowered his guard, and sat cross-legged on the ground. “Very well. How could one refuse the benevolence of a Creation God?”
Li Suo fell silent and watched Yun Che without a word as he closed his eyes to rest. However, she could clearly sense that his mind never truly relaxed. At least a third of his awareness was keeping an eye on his surroundings. This was proven by the fact that an abyssal ghost lurching closer to Yun Che, but turned away and ran into the vast gray fog right before it would make contact with him.
Li Suo couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, “Your mind is still in turmoil. What are you thinking about?”
Eyes still closed, Yun Che answered in a low voice, “I still can’t let go of Mo Su being unmoved after I showed him the Divine Miracle of Life. After carefully reflecting on my conversation with him, I noticed that he mentioned the words ‘death wish’ or something like it more than once.”
“So, I’m thinking that, rather than the damage inflicted by the Ancestral Sword, perhaps the main reason Pan Xiaodie remained ‘asleep’ is because of the death wish born from overwhelming guilt and a sense of culpability. If that is true, then it makes sense that even the Divine Miracle of Life couldn’t…”
He paused for a second before exploding without warning, “SHOW YOURSELF!!!”
RUMBLE—the sudden sound wave mixed with explosive, profound energy stirred up the surrounding space violently. Dozens of cracks rapidly spread outward as Yun Che abruptly rose to his feet, provoking shrill screeches from countless abyssal ghosts in the distance.
Li Suo: “…?!”
A sinister light settled in Yun Che’s eyes as his gaze swept his surroundings like a hawk. However, he sensed only the pure abyssal ghosts and turbulent air currents.
One breath… two breaths… Li Suo finally spoke up. “What happened?”
His search yielded nothing, but Yun Che’s soul strings remained taut, and his brows were furrowed to the extreme. “Someone was spying on me.”
Li Suo kept quiet for a brief moment before asking, “Have you located the source?”
“… No.”
Li Suo said, “I did not detect anything. This place is rich in abyssal dust. Another person’s spiritual perception would be restricted, but yours is greatly enhanced. You can clearly sense even Hua Qingying’s gaze through the Endless Fog, not to mention that everyone who entered this place with you is only in the Divine Extinction Realm.”
Yun Che’s expression changed mildly… He hadn’t let out that yell without thought. The instant he yelled, his spiritual perception had also washed out in every direction. The sudden outburst of sound and profound energy could have caused anyone’s soul aura to quake uncontrollably. However, despite pushing his spiritual perception to its limit, he found nothing.
In his opinion, if he were spying on another person, and that person had suddenly let out a profound energy-empowered yell without any warning whatsoever, then his soul aura would have suffered at least a minor twitch, if not a major one. No matter what, it shouldn’t be possible for the person to leave not even the slightest ripple or trace behind, not to mention that this was a place full of abyssal dust, not to mention that the gaze… felt indescribably weak for some reason.
Another while passed, and Yun Che finally relaxed his brows and withdrew his spiritual perception. He exhaled slightly and said, “Maybe I was too stressed after all, so much so that I’m hallucinating a little.”
Maybe… but the Devil Queen had warned him time and again that the one thing he should never ignore in this world was a sudden flash of intuition.
In any case, Yun Che could no longer rest after the sudden contact. So, he walked forward and soundlessly spread his spiritual perception to the surroundings.
Before he knew it, a whole hour had passed. When he made contact with Xian Yue’s aura, he immediately changed direction and walked toward the area with thicker abyssal dust. The direction he was heading boasted abnormally growing concentrations of abyssal dust and density of abyssal ghosts. He kept passing by one abyssal ghost after another.
Finally, Yun Che came to a stop. In front of him was a black, bottomless abyss swirling with impossibly thick, grayish dark abyssal dust. It looked like the gaping maw of a devil, capable of devouring anything and everything in the world without a sound.
Staring at the dark abyss in front of him, Yun Che said in a low voice, “So this… is the Abyss of death.”
Everyone knew that an unbelievably huge Primal Abyss of Death existed at the center of the Endless Fog. Contained within the Primal Abyss of Death was the thickest, most primal, and terrible abyssal dust in the entire Abyss.
The Primal Abyss of Death was singular, but the Abyss of Death was not. Although far smaller than the Primal Abyss of Death, lesser Abysses of Death were scattered throughout the depths of the Endless Fog.
However, Divine Limit Realm abyssal beasts and abyssal ghosts existed deep within the Endless Fog, and he could not control them with his current capabilities. He had only entered the place once before he was forced to escape with his tail tucked between his legs. Since then, he had given up on entering the place without proper preparation, which was why this was the first time he had seen a true Abyss of Death.
This Abyss of Death was less than three hundred meters wide, but the terrible aura it was emitting was possibly indescribable. When Yun Che stared at it for too long, his eyes suddenly blurred, and the inexplicable impulse to just dive down the Abyss of Death and permanently return to nothingness sprouted in his heart without warning.
Yun Che abruptly tore his gaze away from the Abyss of Death and thrust his right hand forward, causing a violent ball of Golden Crow Flame to fly toward it. The moment the golden flame fell into the Abyss of Death, both its light and its aura disappeared instantly. There was no struggle for energy or explosion. There wasn’t even any sound at all. It had turned into nothing just like that.
An odd light flickered in Yun Che’s eyes as he squinted a little.
“It’s a perfect disposal method, all right.”
“Perfect disposal… method? What are you talking about?” Li Suo sounded confused.
“You’ll find out very soon.”
His voice was still lingering in the air when, suddenly, Yun Che whipped his head to the right. His eyes blazed with surprising intensity, and even his fingers were curling involuntarily from the surge of excitement and anticipation.
“Found her.”
Li Suo traced Yun Che’s senses and whispered, “Shen… Wu… Yi?”
“The reason you insisted on coming here… was her?”
“That’s right!!”
Yun Che concealed his aura and passed through layer upon layer of abyssal dust, heading toward the source of that presence.
“……”
Li Suo seemed stunned by his answer. A long moment later, she finally asked in a voice filled with puzzlement, “Why? Is it purely because you wish to approach her, or are you trying to awaken her lost memories?”
“I… do want to approach her. I want it so bad that I feel the impulse to throw all caution to the wind. Damn the cost, damn the consequences, damn everything.”
The one short sentence revealed just how heavy and complicated the feelings Yun Che was harboring right now. However, the Yun Che in the Abyss was ultimately not wholly Yun Che.
“However, my personal feelings and attachments… must never take precedence over the safety and security of my homeworld.”
Li Suo: “…”
“The reason I’m seeking an opportunity to be alone with her isn’t because ‘Yun Che’ wishes to approach her, but because ‘Emperor Yun’… needs an ally who can shoulder his burden with him.”
A ripple appeared in Li Suo’s soul as she said in a voice as ephemeral as smoke, “But she is not the old Xia Qingyue. She is Shenwu Yi, a woman who is missing her past. She does not remember your or her homeworld. The only identity she carries right now is the Divine Daughter of the Eternal Night Kingdom of God. Why would she ever choose to ally with you?”
“Besides… Mo Su specifically warned you that Shenwu Yanye desired to kill you. Shenwu Yi could very well be her executioner, and this is undoubtedly the perfect place to carry out her order.”
“Yeah, I know,” Yun Che replied without a flicker of emotion.
Yun Che’s spiritual perception had long made contact with the area Shenwu Yi was in, but her state astonished Yun Che.
The Abyssal Monarch’s favor was rare, and she had used it to exchange for the chance to enter the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods. Common sense dictated that the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods must contain an object she desperately desired to get her hands on. Common sense also stated that she would immediately seek out this object with all her might without wasting even a second. After all, one could only stay in the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods for one hundred and forty four hours at most.
In reality, Shenwu Yi was concealing her presence to the best of her abilities and hiding under a massive gray boulder. She hadn’t moved a muscle since he detected her, and it didn’t look like she was searching for anything. She wasn’t making contact with the abyssal ghosts either.
What… is she doing?
When he sensed Xian Yue’s presence earlier, the man was moving swiftly and killing enemies. His presence felt excited and active… This was a place where gods had died. Anyone who entered it for the first time would be excited and full of anticipation. However, the person who expressed such a strong desire to enter the Forbidden Zone of Slumbering Gods at the beginning… was keeping silent?
At that moment, Shenwu Yi glanced aside, and Yun Che felt a sharp gaze, like a cold moon, touch his divine perception.
She noticed me??!
Yun Che swiftly withdrew his spiritual perception, and abyssal dust swirled in his palm. The next moment, an abyssal ghost hidden within the dust let out a screech, leaped into the air, and stabbed its sharp claws into Yun Che’s solar plexus.
Pssh!
Yun Che didn’t dodge or get out of the way. He withdrew his profound energy completely and simply allowed the abyssal ghost to put several bloody, gaping holes in his body.
Li Suo cried out in shock, “Yun Che, you…”
“Relax,” Yun Che’s face was filled with pain, and turning pale by the second, but the corners of his blood-drenched lips were curled up slightly. “Have you forgotten? I told you before. Injury is the easiest way to get someone to lower their guard… the worse the injuries, the better… Sss!”