Trials of the Abyss

"One hundred and twenty-three strands. Wu Yuan, he has one more strand than you!" Chen Lushi exclaimed in shock.

Wu Yuan continued to meditate.

Frowning, she muttered, "No wonder I couldn't beat him."

Losing to Pang Jian had left her feeling disheartened, and she had been searching for an excuse to comfort herself ever since.

So, when she heard that Pang Jian's number of divine sense exceeded Wu Yuan's, she immediately felt a bit better.

"They're not talking about Pang Jian. It's the bearded guy you wanted to teach a lesson earlier," Wu Yuan said with his eyes closed.

"How's that possible?!" Chen Lushi stood up from her cross-legged position, glared at the bewildered Zhou Qingchen from afar, and channeled her power to eavesdrop. Then, in a soft, conflicted tone, she mumbled, "It really is him. I can't believe a young man from the Red Mountain Sect of the lower world has more divine sense than you."

"Pang Jian is from the Fourth World. A place called the Solitary Mountain Range," Wu Yuan said emotionlessly.

"How could this be? How could those from the lower worlds have such explosive talent?" Chen Lushi shook her head in denial, unable to comprehend it.

"One hundred twenty-three strands!" Xiao Yu, Chang Li, and the others exclaimed in shock when they, too, realized it was Zhou Qingchen and not Pang Jian.

Zhou Qingchen scratched his head in confusion. "Don't look at me. Even I wasn't aware I had such talent."

"Damn it!" Fang Boxuan cursed.

Pang Jian thought for a moment. "Have you reached your limit?"

"Not yet," Zhou Qingchen answered honestly.

Everyone's eyes filled with growing astonishment. No one could have imagined that a person with an average spiritual sea could possess such an extraordinary sea of consciousness!

"Not yet? He hasn't even reached his limit?!" Chen Lushi's chest tightened and her face darkened with frustration.

"My goodness!" Xiao Yu gasped and covered her mouth.

The inconspicuous, bearded youth from the Red Mountain Sect suddenly became incredibly dazzling in her eyes.

Fang Boxuan sighed in discomfort. "You and Luo Yuan are real freaks."

"Pang Jian is Luo Yuan," Dong Tianze hashly revealed.

"What? Pang Jian is Luo Yuan?!" Fang Boxuan shouted in surprise.

Qi Qingsong, Zhuang Yuyan, and the others first glanced at Dong Tianze, and then at Pang Jian.

There was no trace of a lie.

Luo Yuan, whom Ye Fei of the Black Valley Sect had highly praised for his one hundred twenty-eight strands, had been Pang Jian all along.

"You sneaky devil! You kept us in the dark this whole time!" Qi Qingsong playfully scolded.

"I see." Zhuang Yuyan nodded in understanding. "No wonder the Pavilion Master wants you as his personal disciple. He must've seen that your talent has already surpassed Lu Lingchan."

"Luo Yuan? Pang Jian is Luo Yuan?" Lu Xiangyi of the Celestial Lagoon Sect was stunned. "The one we encountered at Cloud Lightning was him?"

Chen Lushi glared at Lu Xiangyi. "How is Pang Jian also Luo Yuan?"

"Ye Fei of the Black Valley Sect told me Luo Yuan had more divine sense than Lu Lingchan. He considered Luo Yuan the strongest cultivator in the Profound Abode Realm." Lu Xiangyi raised her eyebrows in deliberate provocation. "The Luo Yuan we encountered in Cloud Lightning was Pang Jian under an alias."

Chen Lushi was shaken to the core. "A talent stronger than Lu Lingchan?"

It was already astonishing that Zhou Qingchen's divine sense was only one strand shy of Lu Lingchan's.

The realization that Pang Jian's talent actually surpassed Lu Lingchan's was a dagger to her heart.

Even the meditating Wu Yuan opened his eyes to stare at Pang Jian in astonishment.

"Extraordinary talents emerge in times of great chaos, and are often not limited to the upper worlds," Chang Li of the Skyveil Cliff Sect said solemnly. "It's said that figures destined to shine in their era appear every time the Abyss opens.

"Zhou Qingchen, Pang Jian, and Fu Wangchen could be those people." Chang Li sighed admiringly.

"How could they possibly compare to Fu Wangchen?!" Chen Lushi shouted, emotions in disarray.

Fu Wangchen of the Forsaken Expanse Sect had become her ultimate goal, the man she saw as her ideal partner. She had racked her brain trying to figure out how to win him over.

Comparing Zhou Qingchen and Pang Jian, people she either disliked or could not stand, to Fu Wangchen infuriated her.

"You're right." Chang Li gave an awkward, insincere smile.

He dared not offend the thorny woman from the Demon Heart Sect and had no choice but to go along with her words, fearing she would hold a grudge against him.

"That's enough. Stop worrying about others and focus on restoring your strength," Wu Yuan said in displeasure.

The group fell silent as they once again settled into calm meditation.

Hours later, through the golden bees, Pang Jian noticed survivors emerging from mountain caves, underground burrows, and deep river valleys.

"The foreign races' warships have retreated!"

"The foreign races aren't hunting us anymore!"

"The Forsaken Expanse Sect, the Sword Pavilion, the Demon Sect, and the Celestial Lagoon Sect have all come to save us."

Heirs of noble families and rogue cultivators that had arrived earlier celebrated as they came out of hiding.

There were over a hundred survivors, and Pang Jian could not help but wonder if Dong Tianze's hidden Celestial Phoenix Divine Guard was among them.

"Senior Brother Jiang!"

"You've finally come!"

The disciples of the Celestial Lagoon Sect cried out in surprise and rushed toward the approaching Jiang Chao.

“Very good, all of you are so smart." The drenched and weary Jiang Chao nodded at his fellow disciples. "When I was trapped and surrounded, you chose to follow Wu Yuan into the forest instead of coming to my aid."

Shame filled the disciples of the Celestial Lagoon Sect disciples.

"Senior Brother, the Demon Sect said too many enemies separated us and you. It would've been too dangerous to go back," one disciple said, staring pointedly at Chen Lushi.

Only Wu Yuan, Chen Lushi, and three other disciples remained from the Demon Sect. The three disciples were unqualified to give orders, and Wu Yuan seemed indifferent about taking the lead.

Thus, it was rather apparent that Chen Lushi had made decisions on behalf of the disciples from the Celestial Lagoon Sect.

"That's right, I told the Celestial Lagoon Sect disciples not to go looking for you," Chen Lushi said coldly, no longer having to keep up a pretense with the Mountain Stream Spirit Boat destroyed. "I was simply trying to preserve as many lives as possible for the Celestial Lagoon Sect.

"Jiang Chao, your reckless assumptions caused me to be attacked by the possessed living dead and my injuries still haven't fully healed.

"We all need to be responsible for our actions, and that includes you," she snapped.

Jiang Chao stared at Chen Lushi as if seeing her for the first time, finding it hard to reconcile the woman before him with the mask she had shown him before.

"Fine, I understand. From now on, let's all be responsible for our own choices." Jiang Chao nodded before leading his fellow disciples away.

The disciples of the Celestial Lagoon Sect sat under the ancient trees, with Lu Xingyi recounting what Jiang Chao had missed.

Jiang Chao's eyes flickered toward the Sword Pavilion's group.

"Pang Jian's talent surpasses that of even Lu Lingchan," he remarked, expression darkening. Then, raising his voice, he shouted, "Qi Qingsong, have you encountered anyone from the Black Valley Sect?"

"They're all dead," Qi Qingsong revealed honestly. "The son of Li Wei, the Armor-Breaking Marquis of the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom, infiltrated the Sword Boat and attacked us, killing Lu Lingchan, Ye Fei, and many others.

"The rest either died from internal strife or became living dead. In the end, none of the Black Valley Sect disciples who entered the bizarre mist survived."

The crowd was horrified.

Lu Lingchan, the most talented cultivator in the Second World, had perished!

The entire Black Valley Sect group had been wiped out!

"Ye Fei is dead, and the Black Valley Sect disciples have all died. Who knows what fate awaits us," Lu Xiangyi said, heart heavy with sorrow and hopelessness.

Even the usually outspoken Chen Lushi from the Demon Sect said nothing.

Lu Lingchan surpassed both her and Wu Yuan in cultivation and spirit artifacts.

There was no guarantee she and Wu Yuan would survive if even Lu Lingchan had met her demise.

I can only hope Fu Wangchen can turn the tides and lead everyone through this calamity, she thought, gazing at the Heavenly Roc Warship hovering in the sky.

She wondered how she could win the favor of the unparalleled genius from the Forsaken Expanse Sect, hoping Fu Wangchen would protect her when disaster struck.

It did not matter to Chen Lushi whether the surviving disciples of the Demon Sect and their affiliates from the Skyveil Cliff Sect and the Xiao Clan lived or died.

Meanwhile, survivors throughout Absolute Heaven desperately sought help from the Heavenly Roc Warship, hoping the Forsaken Expanse Sect could take them out of this place.

However, Lu Jie of the Forsaken Expanse Sect turned them away and instructed them to head to the forest where Pang Jian and the others were gathered.

The survivors had no choice but to reluctantly enter the forest.

More and more survivors appeared in the forest.

Dong Tianze quietly approached the meditating Pang Jian and whispered, "I sensed him again. His killing intent flared briefly but vanished before I could lock onto him."

Pang Jian nodded. "I'll try to flush him out."

“Greetings, Young Master Wu, Miss Chen," scions of the noble families respectfully greeted Wu Yuan and Chen Lushi.

Cultivators aligned with the Celestial Lagoon Sect headed to Jiang Chao's group to pay their respects.

Most of the rogue cultivators arriving in the forest were terrified, with their eyes fixed on the shriveled corpses hanging in mid-air. They nervously took in their surroundings while glancing between Wu Yuan, Jiang Chao, Qi Qingsong, and Zhuang Yuyan.

In the end, the majority of the rogue cultivators gravitated toward where the Demon Sect, the Skyveil Cliff Sect, and the Xiao Clan were gathered as they believed the Demon Sect was stronger and more intimidating.

"Junior Brother Qi, Little Junior Brother, you both need to strive to reach the peak of the Immortal Realm," Zhuang Yuyan said with a snort. "Those people believe the Demon Sect is stronger than our Sword Pavilion, which is why they're so eager to grovel at Chen Lushi's feet."

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