Chapter 453: Traversing Underground

On the Dark Abyss Continent, in the territories of the Sinister Soul Temple, a city hovering between reality and illusion floated in mid-air, devouring the souls of the deceased.

The souls of the perished human race, foreign races, and Vicious Beasts did not dissipate into heaven and earth as per natural law, instead streaming into this mysterious city in wisps.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The city was an imitation of the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis that Zi Mo, the worshiped God of the Ghost Race, had created.

Zi Mo, still in the form of Ling Yimo, stood within the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis. Her corporeal soul form radiated an eerie purplish-black glow as she gazed indifferently at the fighting below.

Behind her loomed the spectral figure of the Outer God You Kui and the soul of Zhou Yi from the Nine Tribes Sect.

"Chen Weihuang of the Sword Pavilion," she remarked, dark brows knitted. "Even Yu Qing of the Celestial Race is no match for this young man.

"The human race and the Sword Pavilion—truly admirable."

Surprisingly, her tone was genuinely respectful rather than sarcastic.

"Chen Weihuang just entered the Nirvana Realm, but he's stronger than Zhou Wenhao," Zhou Yi noted. "As expected, Li Zhaotian's disciples are far more powerful than Jiang Ran's."

Meanwhile, on the battlefield below, Chen Weihuang stood with his back to an evacuation point, seven flaming spirit swords dancing around him as he battled a Celestial Race warrior.

He too had descended alone to carve out a path with his sword.

Along the way, Chen Weihuang rescued rogue cultivators like Lei Kun and Han Ting, as well as some survivors of the Sinister Soul Temple.

Throughout the battles, he had slain a Rank Eight Ghost Race warrior, a Rank Eight one-eyed giant, and a Rank Eight Flame Race warrior.

Yu Qing of the Celestial Race was the first opponent he encountered that he could not defeat easily.

Aboard a skeletal warship shaped like a bird stood Yu Xin, the once-master of the Giant Abyssal Serpent.

"The Sword Pavilion..." she murmured, face filled with worry as she watched her older brother battle Chen Weihuang. "Are all members of the Sword Pavilion this terrifying?"

"Not all of them," replied a Rank Nine Celestial Race woman in a luxurious gown.

"Chen Weihuang was Li Zhaotian's first disciple. Based on our information, if not for a young man named Pang Jian rising to prominence, Chen Weihuang would've been the most likely candidate to inherit the position of Pavilion Master."

"Is this Pang Jian even more remarkable than Chen Weihuang?" Yu Xin asked in shock.

The Celestial Race woman nodded. "It's said that his potential is greater."

While they conversed, Chen Weihuang's flaming spirit swords were intertwining in the air to form a massive flaming array.

A ferocious giant ape burst forth from the black iron staff in Yu Qing's hands with a roar, only to be trapped within the flaming array.

No matter how the giant ape struggled, the flaming array formed from Chen Weihuang's sword light remained unbroken as it relentlessly tore apart the creature.

The giant ape exploded with a muffled bang, disintegrating into strands of blood-colored light that flowed back into the black iron staff.

The eight-winged Celestial Race warrior reluctantly descended from the sky.

With the fierce giant ape defeated, he could only watch helplessly as Chen Weihuang calmly ascended to the sky on his sword after ensuring the safe departure of the other survivors.

At another evacuation point, Qi Linhe of the Forsaken Expanse Sect stood tall with his long hair draped over his shoulders.

He was born with innate divine strength and wielded an octagonal iron hammer, smashing through the Rank Eight warriors from the Demon Bull Race, Blackhorn Race, and Flame Race one after another.

Standing a full head taller than most, his large, knotted joints and immense vitality marked him as one of the rare human cultivators dedicated to tempering their physical bodies.

The massive octagonal iron hammer repeatedly struck down like meteors raining from the sky, instantly killing a Blackhorn Race warrior and a Rank Eight Demon Armor Beast in one fell swoop.

Like Pang Jian, he had descended from the upper worlds and was tasked with escorting evacuees from the Celestial Lagoon Sect and the Black Valley Sect.

"Qi Linhe of the Forsaken Expanse Sect and Chen Weihuang of the Sword Pavilion—these two Nirvana Realm juniors are indeed exceptional," remarked Li Wei, the Armor-Breaking Marquis of the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom. "I heard the Fifth World also has extraordinary Rank Eight warriors among the foreign races. Why haven't they shown up?"

Li Wei commanded a brand-new Armor-Breaking Warship and had taken in the last wave of survivors on the Dark Abyss Continent.

"Xuan Ying of the Demon Scale Race and Lie Yi of the Radiant Race are reportedly in the Cosmic Skies Continent," replied Yuan Xi, an Immortal Realm elder from the Celestial Lagoon Sect, voice heavy with concern. "Both are more exceptional than Yu Qing of the Celestial Race.

"The Cosmic Skies Continent doesn't have Chen Weihuang or Qi Linhe. I wonder if they can hold off those two."

"Isn't Zhou Wenhao there?" Li Wei asked curiously.

Yuan Xi shook his head with a bitter smile. "He's not enough."

***

As Pang Jian focused on healing his injuries deep underground on the Cosmic Skies Continent, he keenly sensed threads of divine sense and demonic wills descending from the surface.

He burrowed deeper using the blackish-yellow fragmented-land-turned-mountain from the Rank Ten black turtle, only stopping at a depth of eight hundred zhang when he could no longer sense the probing forces from above.

Gripping the Abyssal Demon Sword, he asked irritably,

Abyssal Demon, what's the deal with that Sun God? Do all the Outer Gods in the starry skies have a particular taste for devouring the souls of humans?

The Sun God? Ah, the one residing on the blazing sun. I sensed his presence earlier,

replied the Abyssal Demon.

When the Abyss opens, the Outer Gods in the starry skies can use altars and secret techniques to communicate with their believers.

The Sun God chose Lie Yi, while the Great Demon Gods chose Xuan Ying. From what I can see, those Great Demon Gods already consider Xuan Ying one of their own.

I—

The Abyssal Demon's words stalled, its fragmented memory preventing it from continuing.

Unique threads within its demonic wills suddenly started to unravel and disintegrate.

It howled furiously within the sword's inner world, its voice filled with rage and frustration.

Back then, you all drove me out, casting me away from the demonic domain that I ruled!

He Motian, Tian Wei, you lot despised me and obstructed my path to becoming a Great Demon God. Very well, I'll destroy all your plans!

It doesn't matter if you annihilate my demonic wills and erase my memories, I will reclaim my identity!

I was meant to be one of the greatest Demon Gods. You all feared I would seize your positions, so you—

Its tirade once again came to a halt.

Pang Jian's heart sank. A force from the starry skies was remotely influencing the Abyssal Demon and suppressing parts of its memories.

The six mysterious realms within the sword's inner world went through a cycle of collapse and reform.

Before long, the Abyssal Demon was left severely weakened, reduced to scattered fragments of demonic light and clouds that could no longer gather together.

It appeared to have suffered a heavy blow.

Pang Jian's expression turned icy.

He suspected that Xuan Ying, wielding the serrated blade and using the Demonic Void Fist during their battle, had inadvertently drawn the attention of the Demon Gods.

It seemed those Demon Gods had driven the Abyssal Demon out and used some secret art to punish it.

The Abyssal Demon's injury plunged it into a temporary dormant state, significantly weakening the sword's power.

I have to restore my strength as soon as possible.

Pang Jian let go of the Abyssal Demon Sword and focused on recovering his strength.

***

On the surface, Lie Yi extended his divine sense downward into the ground but failed to detect Pang Jian.

His limit for sensing through the earth was only a hundred zhang, indicating that Pang Jian was deeper underground than expected, far beyond the reach of his perception.

"How could someone burrow this deep?" he wondered aloud. "Back on the Fey Spirit Continent, he probably survived using a similar technique.

"His mastery of this technique is so refined that he dared to stay behind even while gravely injured."

A Rank Nine Radiant Race warrior flew over from the direction of the Radiant Sun Sect and similarly deployed his divine sense to search.

However, even his efforts yielded no trace of Pang Jian.

The recovered Xuan Ying arrived swiftly, serrated blade slicing through the air as she appeared before Lie Yi.

"Lie Yi, you still dared to attack him despite my explicit permission for him to leave with his comrades?" Her gaze was icy. "Are you looking for a fight with me?"

"Xuan Ying, do you truly think you can defeat me?" Lie Yi snorted. "I've been in Rank Eight for thirty years. You've only just broken through recently!

"Even if that brat from the Sword Pavilion can't ascend to the True God Realm because of his Primordial Chaos Spiritual Sea, it's still possible for him to possess combat prowess that rivals our Rank Ten warriors at the peak of the Immortal Realm!

"He could become stronger than Li Zhaotian ever was!

"If he escapes the Cosmic Skies Continent because of your arrogance, he'll surely kill many of our Fifth World's strongest warriors in the future."

Furious, the Divine Son of the Radiant Race flew toward the Radiant Sun Sect.

"Get members of the Geospirit Race here! Dig him out for me!" he barked, hovering in the air. "I'll inform my father. Pang Jian needs to be eliminated!"

***

Over the next few hours, Pang Jian quietly moved underground toward the Radiant Sun Sect.

There, he saw many mineral veins capable of producing Gold Obsidian encircling the primary underground spirit vein.

Clusters of spirit stones had formed around the spirit vein, brimming with spiritual power.

There's no faster way to recover than by drawing energy directly from an underground spirit vein,

the black turtle advised.

Since you've found a spirit vein, you can attempt to absorb its energy into your dantian using the method I taught you.

The Cosmic Skies Continent will eventually fall to the foreign races, so there's no harm in extracting energy from the spirit vein now.

Just be careful not to damage the spirit vein. It's the foundation that continuously absorbs the spiritual qi of heaven and earth for this continent. Once destroyed, it's nearly impossible to restore.

The black turtle then asked,

You can just teleport to the Resolute Expanse, so why are you refusing to leave?

I want to see if there's a chance to kill the Divine Son of the Radiant Race,

Pang Jian replied as he slowly approached the spirit vein.

The mineral veins surrounding the spirit vein resembled glowing blood vessels underground.

Pang Jian could sense the Dao of Metal and the presence of solar energy from these dazzling networks.

The miniature sun within his dantian absorbed the solar energy emanating from the Gold Obsidian veins.