Chapter 527: Gui Mu

In the Sunken Crypt, thirty-six streams of dense, shadowy mist flowed like water, converging deep within an ancient hall.

The hall had no stone pillars to support it, only a massive central pit that once housed the Pool of Reincarnation.

The Profound Yin energy flowing through the thirty-six entrances of the Sunken Crypt would have once carried the souls of the dead from all across the Abyss, guiding them into the Pool of Reincarnation to cleanse their karmic burdens.

In the past, the cycle of reincarnation for all beings in the Abyss took place here.

Zi Mo, the high-ranking God of the Ghost Race, drifted through the Sunken Crypt with a fully materialized body and soul, moving with the ease of someone strolling through their own back garden.

As a powerful Outer God, she had long traversed other abysses[1], encountering and refining several Sunken Crypts.

Her rise to a high-ranking God stemmed from her ventures into hidden worlds, where she sought out Sunken Crypts and bound them to herself to increase her power.

Any Sunken Crypt she refined instantly granted her immense merit.

Presiding over the cycles of life, death, and reincarnation within a world allowed Zi Mo's divine power to grow exponentially, which in turn drew even more followers to worship and revere her.

The crumbling of the Dark Capital and the dormancy of the Sunken Crypt were no hindrance to her.

Having already forged a half-divine body in the Abyss, it was inevitable that she would refine the Sunken Crypt after finding it.

To ensure her success, the Sovereign in the Fifth World even offered up Sinister Soul Town, Dead Spirit Town, and Ghost Spirit Town as a gesture of support.

There was no way she could possibly fail.

However, as she set foot in the solemn hall of the Sunken Crypt, she saw an all-too-familiar figure.

A tall woman in loose azure robes stood beside the pit where the Pool of Reincarnation would have once rested, lost in quiet contemplation.

Thirty-six streams of dense mist flowed into her body as if she were the very origin and ultimate destination of the Profound Yin energy in the Abyss.

Any wandering soul swept along by the Profound Yin energy would feel as though it, too, was meant to merge seamlessly into her.

Her presence within the solemn hall felt undeniably right. It was as though she was the rightful inhabitant of the Sunken Crypt.

This woman, the hall, and the Sunken Crypt were in perfect harmony, for she had refined the Pool of Reincarnation, the very core of the Sunken Crypt.

"Xiao Mo." The woman turned to reveal a face that, while not conventionally beautiful, radiated an overwhelming sense of dignity and grace.

There was no need for her to release her oppressive aura. Her calm expression alone commanded respect.

"I've been waiting for this day ever since I saw you in the bizarre mist and brought you back to the Ghost Sacrifice.

"You've found the Sunken Crypt, just as you've always planned.

"I know I'm here a little earlier than you planned. If you had your way, I would've only appeared after you successfully refined this Sunken Crypt. Forgive me for disappointing you."

The woman sighed, her soft breath carrying a weightless grief.

"The only thing I did not foresee...was that the junior brother I mentored in place of my master and guided all the way to the True God Realm would betray me for you."

Even someone as mighty and unshakable as her could not conceal the faint trace of melancholy at the betrayal of her junior brother.

After a fleeting moment of shock, Zi Mo swiftly regained her composure.

"The human race in the Abyss is more tenacious than I thought. I underestimated you," Zi Mo said, her expression betraying neither joy nor sorrow. "I've traversed many hidden worlds shrouded in bizarre mist and have refined five Sunken Crypts.

"But this...this is the first time I've misstepped and fallen into a trap."

Zi Mo was an undying Outer God with her true body in the starry skies.

In her eyes, this minor setback was hardly worth mentioning compared to the endless march of time.

She had weathered many storms and knew that her defeat was inevitable the instant she set eyes on Gui Mu.

The outcome was already predetermined. Zi Mo's plans to seize the Sunken Crypt were always destined to end in failure.

The half-divine body she had forged from a fragment of her soul was destined to be obliterated within the Sunken Crypt. You Kui's puppet vessel would likewise meet its end here.

The Rank Ten Ghost Race warrior, Wu Bi; the ghost cultivator, Zhou Yi; as well as Sinister Soul Town, Ghost Spirit Town, and Dead Spirit Town would all fall into Gui Mu's hands.

Even Mu Wentao, the man she had swayed through exploiting his emotions, was unlikely to escape death.

Still, Zi Mo did not care in the slightest.

She carried herself with grace and detachment, easily dismissing the minor setback.

Bowing slightly to the dignified woman she had once called "Master" for many years before her awakening, she chuckled lightly and said, "Our battle has only just begun."

"But I still won the first round, didn't I?" Gui Mu replied with a faint smile.

"The Abyss is your domain. My true body cannot enter here, which makes this somewhat unfair," she said, glancing upward as if looking at the sky through the layers of earth. "I'm sure you'll feel this same unfairness once you step beyond the Abyss and face the real me."

With that, the high-ranking God of the Ghost Race disintegrated before Gui Mu, shattering into brilliant shards of light and scattering throughout the Sunken Crypt.

"I look forward to meeting you in the starry skies," Gui Mu murmured softly.

Then, vanishing from the Sunken Crypt, she swiftly reappeared before the puppet vessel of the Outer God You Kui,

She obliterated the Outer God Puppet with a casual swipe of her hand as if swatting away a mere fly.

Glancing at the despair-stricken Zhou Yi, she frowned. "You're not of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect. Li Wang will decide your fate."

The Sunken Crypt behind her trembled.

Thirty-six eerie white light beams erupted from its depths, shooting toward the surface and enclosing the Rank Ten Ghost Race warrior, Wu Bi.

Wu Bi's face twisted in shock and he attempted to retreat into the hidden Mirror Tunnel.

Before he could flee, the world around him seemed to flip upside down.

His body turned weightless and, under the encirclement of the thirty-six eerie white light beams, he plummeted straight into the depths of the Sunken Crypt.

***

In Imperial Dominion City, Mu Wentao faltered under the weight of a few words from the Wanderer Tian Du. When he sought verification in secret, he became aware of an anomaly beneath the barren wasteland in the south.

Mu Wentao quickly realized that Wanderer Tian Du's warnings were no mere exaggeration.

Wanderer Tian Du chuckled lowly and gave the white lantern in his hand a shake.

Flames burst forth from the city, surging en masse toward Mu Wentao.

Intricate, deeply engraved arrays appeared on the stone streets, walls, and crumbling buildings of Imperial Dominion City. The entire city had transformed into a chilling realm.

Wanderer Tian Du's hunched figure slowly straightened.

"Pang Jian, kill Jiang Cen while he attempts to ascend to the True God Realm," Wanderer Tian Du instructed. "Mu Wentao is acting as his protector, but with me here in Imperial Dominion City, he'll be too occupied to interfere with you.

"Just follow the falling radiance, and you'll find him in the city. Use the Abyssal Demon Sword to pierce his heart or divine soul.

"On second thought, I'll send you over directly."

Wanderer Tian Du lightly pushed the recuperating Pang Jian and delivered him straight to Jiang Cen.

Jiang Cen sat atop a large stone millstone. The mysterious pool from earlier had disappeared, but he remained motionless with his eyes closed.

A brilliant crystalline radiance descended from the sky like a blade, piercing the crown of his head. Within the radiant light were countless minuscule glowing points, and closer inspection revealed them to be eerie flames shrouding the souls of the dead.

The mysterious pool appeared to have merged into Jiang Cen. Meanwhile, the soul-shrouding eerie flames were shaping a divine seat solely for him.

Jiang Cen's eyes remained closed and his lips unmoving, but a voice emerged eerily from his abdomen.

"Even without a True God protecting me, you, Pang Jian, are not worthy of even attempting to disrupt the formation of my divine seat."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three Shadow Specters materialized behind Jiang Cen and grew to several times their original size.

The Shadow Specter Art was a secret technique Jiang Cen had mastered. It required capturing powerful Ghost Race warriors, extracting their souls, and painstakingly refining them.

Years ago, he instructed Han Zhiyuan to establish the Shadow Specter Sect so he could trade with the foreign races in the Fifth World to acquire higher-grade Ghost Race souls.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

More Shadow Specters emerged one after another, floating eerily around Jiang Cen.

These faint green Shadow Specters were the souls of powerful warriors from the Ghost Race.

Their enlarged forms surrounded Pang Jian.

"Spectral entities..." Pang Jian let out a cold laugh.

After all, he was no stranger to dealing with spectral entities.

It did not matter how powerful these Shadow Specters were in their former lives. The power of lightning could effortlessly vanquish beings without physical bodies.

Crackle!

Pang Jian swung his sword, and arcs of thunderous sword light wove through the air, easily obliterating the approaching Shadow Specters.

"Xie Tong!" Jiang Cen roared.

The corpulent woman from the Blood Prison Sect appeared in the blink of an eye, scattering a cascade of crimson blood beads across the ground with a wave of her hand.

The Shadow Specters sank silently into the blood beads. When they reemerged, they were cloaked in rudimentary corporeal forms, sturdy enough to endure several strikes of Pang Jian's lightning.

"There's a disturbance in this fragmented land. Lu Qinghe and Mu Weifeng are rushing to assist the other ascendant in the east," Xie Tong said urgently. "Jiang Cen, Mu Wentao is in Imperial Dominion City. Even Wanderer Tian Du won't be able to intervene with him there.

"Once I deal with Pang Jian, nothing will stand in the way of your ascension to the True God Realm. I'll give it my all, so make sure you ascend as quickly as possible!"

All Xie Tong of the Blood Prison Sect could do now was hold out hope for either Jiang Cen or the one in the east to successfully ascend to the True God Realm.

The disappearance of the high-ranking God of the Ghost Race, the annihilation of You Kui, Wu Bi being dragged into the depths, and the sudden appearance of Wanderer Tian Du struck like chilling buckets of water.

It was a stark reminder that the ruling True Gods were far from easily deceived.

"They knew exactly what we were planning, but pretended to be clueless!" Xie Tong roared, glaring at Pang Jian. "There were over seven thousand rogue cultivators in the Imperial Dominion, and all of them were seasoned cultivators!

"Who are the truly heretical ones here? Who are the ones walking the path of heresy?

"The True Gods treated those seven thousand rogue cultivators as nothing more than bait.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"The True Gods sacrificed so many innocent lives just to deceive us! Even Jiang Ran, the Great Elder of your Sword Pavilion, was not spared!

"Pang Jian, can you truly tell me who is righteous and who is evil between us?"

1. From now one, worlds bearing the character "Abyss" in their names would be referred to as abysses. ☜