Chapter 791: Nature

The Abyssal Beast was a void lifeform that had lost all reason. Because of this, they resembled the beasts of the Existence faction, which earned them the name "beast."

However, compared to the beasts known to humanity, which posed no real threat to civilization, Abyssal Beasts were far more powerful. In fact, for cultivators, encountering an Abyssal Beast was like primitive humans in ancient times, still unskilled in tool use, struggling against savage beasts.

Abyssal Beasts posed a deadly threat to cultivators.

Any cultivator "seized" by an Abyssal Beast would have the essence of their existence stripped away.

Only Tyrants who had comprehended the evolution of the cosmos could injure such creatures.

As for the others, even those at the Cosmic Radiance Realm could only rely on the mysteries of the True Spirit to resist slightly better than those at the Solar Flare or Starshine Realm.

Without the ability to wield the universe's laws, it was impossible to even scratch an Abyssal Beast. This was why only Tyrants could guard the Abyssal Rifts.

The Abyssal Beasts attacked living beings purely to obtain the concept of "existence."

When encountering particularly weak Abyssal Beasts, even cultivators at the Cosmic Radiance Realm could forcefully fill the beast's emptiness with the essence of their own existence, overloading the Beasts until they exploded, resulting in mutual destruction.

***

Li Pin stared at the massive Abyssal Beast before him, over a kilometer in size. "How did it appear?"

In his mind, he kept replaying the way the Abyssal Beast showed up. To find the answer, he even invoked the Endless Reincarnation Secret Art, delving into the past to trace its origin.

But the result was... nothing. No signs whatsoever.

The space where the Abyssal Beast now floated had been empty just a moment ago. But in the next, it had simply appeared, wandering about in search of the scent of existence.

After repeating the search a dozen times without finding any clue, Li Pin had no choice but to accept what the outside world had long claimed.

He muttered under his breath, "It really makes no sense at all."

Abyssal Beasts appeared without warning or logic. They were impossible to defend against. Because of this, Starshines and Solar Flares were needed to patrol the Abyssal Rifts, constantly searching for these sudden anomalies.

Otherwise, if an Abyssal Beast crossed the Abyssal Rift into the Astral World. or worse, descended into the Material World, the devastation would be beyond measure.

Take the Abyssal Beast before him, for instance. Though it measured only a kilometer across now, once it entered the Material World, its size would expand to a thousand kilometers. By circling a planet just a few times, it could drag every form of existence on that world into nothingness.

Moreover, due to their inherent void nature, Abyssal Beasts could move freely through the Astral World, using it as an unrestricted highway for travel.

Given three to five years, this Abyssal Beast alone could annihilate the existence of an entire star system, leaving nothing behind. Even the life essence contained within a single blade of grass would not escape.

Li Pin quickly analyzed. "A kilometer in size... judging from the concentration of void power on it, it should be a Secondary Abyssal Beast."

Abyssal Beasts were divided into four categories: Secondary, Common, Apex, and Ancient.

Secondary Abyssal Beasts were equivalent to those beneath the Tyrant level. Common Abyssal Beasts could rival Tyrants. Apex Abyssal Beasts posed lethal threats even to Tyrants. They often required intervention from Supremes or Highlords themselves.

As for Ancient Abyssal Beasts, even a Supreme facing one alone risked death.

Their tier corresponded to the Supremes of the Void faction.

In the Material World, Supremes and Highlords could still kill Ancient Abyssal Beasts. But within the Abyssal Rift, multiple Supremes and Highlords would join forces to bring them down to ensure absolute safety.

While mulling over this, Li Pin did not slow down. He quickly closed in on the Abyssal Beast.

Yet even as he neared, he made no move to summon the power of the laws to shape the cosmos.

This scene made the usually inconspicuous Sasha jump in unexpectedly. "Do not try to test an Abyssal Beast's strength! Trust me! You absolutely do not want to be hit even once. Their attacks are beyond your understanding. They don't target the material body! Not even the mental or the inner spirit! They erase things at the very level of existence itself."

She urged anxiously, "What they erase could be part of your body, some of your cultivation, secret arts, or even fragments of your memories and experiences! Anything that once existed is a potential target! The more important something is to you, the higher the chance it gets struck!"

Li Pin was taken aback. "Memories? Experiences?"

"There was once a Tyrant who cultivated a Supreme Secret Art, hoping to use its power against an Abyssal Beast. But when the Abyssal Beast struck, he forgot he was ever a Tyrant at all. He didn't even get to unleash his technique before he was devoured," Sasha said grimly.

Seeing that the Abyssal Beast had noticed Li Pin and was moving toward him, Sasha quickly urged, "Destroy it. Do not take any chances! Destroy it as fast as you can!"

Sensing Sasha's unprecedented severity, Li Pin pondered for a moment but gave no immediate reply.

Instead, he began nurturing his Quantum Sword Intent.

The Secondary Abyssal Beast was not particularly fast. But its movements were extremely subtle.

Even Li Pin had to focus fully to accurately track its flight path.

As the Quantum Sword Intent fired out, matter and energy exploded into the embryonic form of a cosmos, stirring a faint resonance with the barely perceptible cosmic laws within the Abyssal Rift.

The Quantum Sword Intent had enough power to destroy planets. However, the cosmic laws here were so weak that its ripples only spread a few tens of thousands of meters.

Nevertheless, under the assault of this strike, the Abyssal Beast still scattered like a water surface struck by a heavy blow, splashing outward in all directions.

The Abyssal Beast was easily defeated, but its remaining fragments continued to writhe as if still alive, attempting to regroup.

A portion of it even surged rapidly toward Li Pin.

Maintaining a safe distance, Li Pin unleashed streams of Quantum Sword Intent, striking down each force that tried to merge.

Once those forces could no longer regroup, he swiftly stored them inside a gemstone crafted through material conversion.

These would become the refining materials for the Cosmic Radiance Divine Weapon.

"Secondary Abyssal Beast," Li Pin murmured.

The residual power of the Secondary Abyssal Beast was limited. It could not condense into tangible materials on its own and could only be carried using special substances.

However... the earlier exchange had made Li Pin realize just how troublesome these Abyssal Beasts truly were.

It was one thing when the beast remained whole, but once it shattered, it became like trying to slice flowing water with a sword. The scattered currents were even harder to deal with, elevating the difficulty several-fold.

Especially since these "currents" were extremely elusive. A moment's inattention, and they would vanish without a trace, only to regroup elsewhere.

If the Abyssal Beast managed to fully regroup and seize the opportunity, it could prove disastrous.

Li Pin's expression grew resolute. "I want to understand how the Abyssal Beast's power truly completes the plunder of existence'"

In the next instant, he lunged forward, charging directly toward a regrouping mass of the Abyssal Beast, now barely a hundred meters across.

Focusing his mind and will, he collided with it head-on.

Buzz, buzz!

There was no resistance. Or rather, the resistance was so faint it was nearly nonexistent.

Li Pin's figure passed straight through the beast's completely transparent body, as if walking through a gust of wind.

Yet at the moment they collided, Li Pin clearly sensed the Abyssal Beast's corrosive force seeping into him.

It was a corrosion entirely different from that of the Eternal Oblivion Force. Where the Eternal Oblivion Force passively devoured the scraps and uncontrolled remnants left by cultivators, the Abyssal Beast actively drilled into the cultivator's being, aggressively seeking to devour everything that constituted their existence.

Not just matter, energy, and spirit, but even the inner spirit, the mind, and... the very concept of self.

Li Pin felt as if he had plunged into a vast lake. Endless streams of water poured into his mouth and nostrils, squeezing the oxygen from his body. A bone-deep chill and overwhelming fear gnawed at his inner spirit. He drowned.

In that instant, Li Pin became acutely aware that he was in a drowning state.

Like the playback of some long-buried memory, the terror of sinking into water and facing imminent death overwhelmed him. He struggled desperately, but no matter how he thrashed, the oxygen in his lungs continued to dwindle. The searing pain in his chest, as if his lungs were being torn apart, and the fear of death, filled his inner spirit completely.

However... this terror of drowning was not the true source of his fear. The real horror arose from deep within his inner spirit.

An unfamiliar consciousness was awakening.

Li Pin knew clearly—this consciousness was not his.

It was invading him, taking over.

"His" memories began to overwrite his own.

"His" thoughts began to replace his own.

"His" personality gradually engulfed his own.

It was a coldness beyond words, a fear so deep it pierced the soul.

Li Pin could only watch helplessly as everything that defined him was slowly overwritten by another, while he himself was banished into endless nothingness, endless cold, endless darkness... until complete annihilation.

Li Pin suddenly realized.

It is 'Li Pin.'

It was Li Pin's consciousness.

Or rather, the memories of Li Pin right before his death.

When he transmigrated into Li Pin's body, the original consciousness had not yet fully perished. He had almost personally experienced this scene.

That overwhelming terror, that utter despair, that nameless vanishing.

In the next moment, Li Pin emerged from the Abyssal Beast's body, passing straight through it.

As the fragment of the Abyssal Beast shattered completely upon impact, Li Pin remained standing in place. And at that moment, true understanding dawned on him.

"It was existence that was stripped away."

Back then, he had stripped Li Pin of his existence. He had taken his place and stepped into this world.

Just as... the Abyssal Beast, born of nothingness, devours the existence of living beings, seizing the concept of existence to survive in the world.