Chapter 98: The First Appearance of the Young "Dragon"!

The darkness flooded into the mansion, advancing steadily toward the pool.

The newly born Giant Abyssal Serpent hid in the forefront of the darkness as it eagerly approached Pang Jian. It did not dare to leave the darkness.

It seemed afraid of the light within the mansion.

Splash! Splash! Splash!”

The souls in the pool water vanished, and all the pool water returned to the pool like iron drawn to a magnet.

The empty pool filled up with water once more.

“Pang Jian!” Li Jie shouted in a slightly fearful voice.

He sensed an anomaly in Eight Trigrams City that was beyond his control, which made him uneasy.

Li Jie's sight could not pierce through the darkness. He did not know who or what lurked within it and feared it was a plot against him.

His shout to Pang Jian was a call for information.

Pang Jian thought about it, then said uncertainly, “I don't think the presence in the darkness is your enemy.”

He did not reveal the presence of Li Yuqing nor the Giant Abyssal Serpent to Li Jie.

His intuition told him neither of them saw Li Jie as a target.

“I’ll take your word for it.” Li Jie sighed as he vigilantly eyed the approaching darkness. He no longer paid attention to Yuan Shishan.

Yuan Shishan was also visibly panicking at the premature arrival of the darkness. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be! This is different from before!”

He had been trapped here for years and experienced similar events several times already, but it had never unfolded like this. The darkness was not supposed to flood the mansion this early!

Whoosh!

The darkness approaching Pang Jian changed directions and headed toward Yuan Shishan.

It charged at Yuan Shishan like a dark dragon!

The excited Giant Abyssal Serpent in the darkness had set its sights on Yuan Shishan!

“What the hell is that?” Yuan Shishan screamed in horror.

Luo Hongyan sighed in relief when the darkness switched targets. She then shook her head bitterly. “Pang Jian, I can’t withstand the terrifying power of the darkness. I've experienced it before. The murky energy within the darkness severely corrodes my soul.”

After struggling to obtain the Crystal Snow Lotus, a core ingredient in reconstructing her physical form, she was unexpectedly faced with the tainted energy's corruption.

Luo Hongyan sighed regretfully. “In the end, I never got to seek revenge.”

Hearing this, Pang Jian knitted his brows. He remained quiet as he racked his brains for a solution.

The darkness continued to spread.

The Giant Abyssal Serpent only took part of the darkness with it. The remaining darkness from the tunnel flowed like water, fanning out in every direction.

Pang Jian was the first to be engulfed by it.

Submerged in the darkness, he noticed the tainted energy within had become unprecedentedly dense!

It was as though the murky energy throughout Eight Trigrams City had been gathered and injected into the City Lord’s Mansion!

Although he remained unharmed, everyone else, including the souls, would not be able to withstand the intense corruption of this dense murky energy!

The darkness engulfed Luo Hongyan.

She flashed a sorrowful and helpless smile. He felt her soul weakening as the darkness eroded it, leaving her blind and vulnerable.

The darkness then swallowed Li Jie.

Hiss! Hiss!

The Qilin Bell descended to cover Li Jie.

The lifelike Qilin on the bell’s surface hissed, as if in response to the corruption of the tainted energy.

When Yuan Shishan was engulfed, his white clothes turned black.

The dense murky energy frantically invaded his body, like he was an outlet for the unrelenting flow.

The Giant Abyssal Serpent slithered up the raised platform and headed straight for Yuan Shishan.

Pang Jian could vaguely sense its hunger for Yuan Shishan’s body.

The Giant Abyssal Serpent reached the raised platform and eagerly bit into Yuan Shishan’s body.

Yuan Shishan could not even fight back.

In the darkness, he could not even see what had attacked him.

The terror of being eaten by an unseen creature caused the City Lord to let out a despairing and shrill scream.

His scream made Luo Hongyan’s heart tremble.

“Pang Jian, what’s happening? I can’t see anything. My soul is being corroded, and I'm growing weaker,” Luo Hongyan asked in a panic as she turned blindly.

Reaching out to grasp her hand, Pang Jian noticed her whole body was trembling. The fear of the unknown and the helplessness of the blindness suffocated her.

Although she could not see, she could still hear Yuan Shishan’s screams.

The helplessness of not knowing when it would be her turn or what she would face terrified her beyond belief!

Meanwhile, Li Jie was hiding within the Qilin Bell as he used the spirit artifact to resist the contamination of the murky energy. He shouted in alarm, “Pang Jian! What’s happening to Yuan Shishan?!”

"Something's devouring him," Pang Jian replied honestly.

Luo Hongyan trembled even more violently at Pang Jian's words.

Tightly gripping Pang Jian's hand, she said, "I can't hold out for much longer. Pang Jian, I admit that I had ulterior motives when I first approached you, but I truly came to believe you were a decent person. Even that Zhou brat...is not bad.

"I'm not some kind of evil woman who kills indiscriminately. Most of the people I've killed deserved it! Pang Jian, I ended up like this because I was wronged! I used to be far more beautiful than Ning Yao, but you never got to see me like that..."

Luo Hongyan clung to Pang Jian's hand, resigned to the knowledge that her end was near.

This was the only way she could fearlessly face the terrifying beings in the darkness and stay calm while waiting for her soul to perish.

"You're not going to die!" Pang Jian shouted. He grasped her hand tightly and dragged her to the pool.

The crystalline Mirror Tunnel had reappeared after the water had flowed back into the pool!

Yuan Shishan was now powerless, and could no longer prevent anyone from leaving through the Mirror Tunnel.

"Where are you taking me?" Luo Hongyan asked softly.

"I'm going to help you survive," Pang Jian replied as they arrived at the Mirror Tunnel. Turning to the Qilin Bell with Li Jie hiding inside, then shouted, "If you still have any power left, as the Trial Master, send her to the Fourth World!"

"I'll try," Li Jie responded from inside the Qilin Bell, then quickly added, "I can do it!"

Pang Jian pushed Luo Hongyan toward the Mirror Tunnel, shouting after her, "I'll meet you over there in a bit!"

He then watched as she disappeared through the Mirror Tunnel like Zhou Qingchen, Han Duping, Jiang Li, and the others before her.

Crunch!

Crack!

Yuan Shishan stopped screaming. The only sound that remained was the crunching of the Giant Abyssal Serpent devouring his body.

The Giant Abyssal Serpent relished in its feast.

Pang Jian glanced at the Qilin Bell and asked, "Yuan Shishan just died. Does this mean your trial is over?"

"Maybe."

The Qilin Bell rose into the air with Li Jie in it and flew toward the Mirror Tunnel.

Dense murky energy had mostly corroded the lifelike Qilin on the bell's surface, and even now, continued to pour into it and erode it.

Li Jie knew he could not stay for much longer either. The light barrier he had painstakingly set up within the bell would soon collapse.

"Pang Jian, I can't see what's happening, but I have to leave," Li Jie said when the Qilin Bell hovered by the Mirror Tunnel.

"You should leave as soon as possible," Li Jie advised. "Even I, the Trial Master, don't know what's happening in Eight Trigrams City anymore. You'll appear in the Fourth World when you go through the Mirror Tunnel, just like she did. That's the best I can do for you now.

"Farewell!"

Remaining inside the Qilin Bell, Li Jie entered the Mirror Tunnel and vanished.

Only Pang Jian and the Giant Abyssal Serpent remained in the City Lord's Mansion.

The Giant Abyssal Serpent was still gnawing on Yuan Shishan's bones. Pang Jian stared at it and asked, "Are you leaving?"

The Giant Abyssal Serpent ignored him.

Pang Jian frowned. He wondered if it was better to leave it here as it seemed to belong in the Fifth World,

After a moment of hesitation, he pointed at the copper chest on the raised platform and said, "Give me that chest."

The Giant Abyssal Serpent stared blankly at him.

Feeling frustrated, Pang Jian leaped toward the raised platform.

Thinking Pang Jian was coming to capture it and take it away, the Giant Abyssal Serpent swallowed Yuan Shishan's remaining bones in a single gulp, then flew off the raised platform and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

With a loud bang, the Giant Abyssal Serpent knocked open the back entrance of the mansion, glancing wistfully back at Pang Jian before disappearing into the darkness.

Pang Jian watched until it was out of sight before reaching for the copper chest.

When his fingers touched the chest, an overwhelming wave of resentment and anger surged into his mind, driving him to the brink of insanity.

He suddenly felt like he had become Yuan Shishan, the City Lord of Eight Trigrams City, imprisoned for three thousand years.

The years of confinement filled Yuan Shishan with insurmountable negative emotions that now dissipated with his death.

If one touched the chest for too long when the intense negative emotions had yet to be fully dispelled, they would become the next Yuan Shishan!

Terrified, Pang Jian forcefully suppressed the negative emotions and hastily threw the copper chest into his spatial pouch, vowing not to touch it again until he was strong enough.

He then fled through the Mirror Tunnel and disappeared.

***

After a while, Li Yuqing entered through the main entrance of the City Lord's Mansion. The darkness had swallowed everything inside, leaving nothing behind.

"Is it over?" She frowned.

According to her information, the trial would end once the darkness had fully engulfed the pool.

The Trial Master, Li Jie, would have already left.

He must've made it through. Oh well, I'll ask him when I get back.

The girl glanced around. She had the strangest feeling that something was amiss, but she could not put a finger on it.

Pang Jian's probably also fine..

.

The girl gracefully approached the Mirror Tunnel. She was the last to disappear from Eight Trigrams City.

Eight Trigrams City had been plunged back into absolute darkness.

Only a newly born Giant Abyssal Serpent roamed freely through its empty streets, growing more and more green scales along the length of its body.