# Chapter 2763: Entering the Dark Abyss
"Boom!"
A mass of dark clouds, thousands of miles in diameter, erupted with energy that shook the starry sky, spreading rapidly outward, accompanied by the roar of tigers and dragons.
In the distance, the Saint Realm cultivators of the Yama Clan standing on Konglian Star felt their minds tremble as they knelt on one knee.
The two figures fighting within the dark clouds were far too powerful, their energy fluctuations rivaling those of gods.
After a long while, two streaks of light, bright as meteors, flew out from the dark clouds and descended onto Konglian Star, coalescing into the figures of Yan Wushen and Zhang Ruochen.
"Greetings, Young Master Wushen!"
"Greetings, Sword God Ruochen!"
...
Thunderous voices rang out across the planet.
Having fought for nearly three hours, Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen's bodies were clean and unblemished, with no visible injuries.
Clearly, the two had stopped at the point of contact.
Wen Chu and Xue Butcher both breathed a sigh of relief, truly afraid that Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen would once again fight to the point of heaven and earth turning upside down, insisting on life or death.
Xue Butcher laughed, "Looks like my senior brother won!"
"Not necessarily, right?" Yan Ting said.
Xue Butcher cast a sidelong glance at her, shook his head contemptuously, and said, "What do you know? Bore Goddess is Yan Wushen's fiancée, yet she shares mutual affection with my senior brother—what kind of hatred is that? If Yan Wushen could defeat my senior brother, would things be this harmonious now?"
Yan Ting glared at Xue Butcher, unwilling to accept the conclusion he presented.
Yet she had to admit that Xue Butcher's words held some truth.
"What are you looking at? Not convinced? Let's spar a couple of rounds—I'll give you one hand."
Xue Butcher rolled his eyes, showing no regard for Yan Ting, then quickly strode toward Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen, saying, "Senior brother, Brother Wushen, more and more forces from all sides have been gathering near the Dark Abyss recently, all wanting to compete for opportunities. We need to set out quickly, or they'll get ahead of us!"
Yan Wushen laughed, "Brother Xue Butcher seems so eager—could it be that your cultivation of the Dark Path has made further progress?"
"With my senior brother's sundial to assist, plus the Strange Beast Dark Source Liquid provided by the Yan Clan, my cultivation naturally advances by leaps and bounds." Xue Butcher was extremely confident.
After arriving at the Dark Abyss, Zhang Ruochen and the others did not immediately enter. Instead, they gathered together to comprehend and cultivate the Dark Path.
Because the Dark Abyss was known as the source of darkness, extremely bizarre and strange—only by cultivating the Dark Path could one better survive within it. It was like someone who didn't understand water having to learn to swim before entering deep waters.
To enter the Dark Abyss, one naturally had to make thorough preparations.
"In that case, we can set out now!"
Yan Wushen transmitted messages one after another.
Before long, figures with powerful auras flew in from the starry sky, converging on Konglian Star.
There were thirty-seven in total, all Supreme Realm Great Saints, most of them elderly, over ten thousand years old.
Zhang Ruochen thought to himself, *The Yama Clan truly deserves to be called the supreme clan. Even just this branch at the Dark Abyss possesses such formidable strength, able to summon so many Supreme Realm Great Saints.*
*The Blood Absolute Family is far from comparable.*
*Among the Heavenly Court Myriad Realms, there are very few major worlds with such deep foundations.*
"Greetings, Young Master!"
All the Supreme Realm Great Saints bowed simultaneously to Yan Wushen.
Xue Butcher coughed dryly twice, "Brother Wushen, what's going on? They're coming too?"
"That's right." Yan Wushen said.
Yan Ting stepped forward, "Not only them, but I'm also going."
Xue Butcher felt a twinge of displeasure in his heart, snorted lightly, said nothing more, and retreated to Zhang Ruochen's side, transmitting his voice: "For opportunities, the three of us going is enough. Why bring these useless ones along? The Yama Clan clearly wants to rely on numbers to seize more opportunities—we can't let them take advantage. Senior brother, negotiate with Yan Wushen to have him bring fewer people."
Zhang Ruochen transmitted back: "Supreme Realm Great Saints each possess vast divine powers—they can't be called useless."
"The key point is the opportunities. How can the two of us compete with their dozens?" Xue Butcher said worriedly, then added, "What if they rely on their numerical advantage to make a move against us inside the Dark Abyss? The consequences would be unthinkable."
"Don't forget, you just snatched his fiancée. He's definitely holding that hatred inside—who knows when it might explode?"
Zhang Ruochen said, "Yan Wushen and I have already made things very clear. I believe that with his breadth of mind, he will no longer hold this matter against us."
"Words can be poisonous. The cultivators outside have been fabricating and exaggerating this matter, fanning the flames, splashing dirty water on you and Bore Goddess. Nonsense like the goddess having had an abortion has even spread. Hearing this so many times, how could Yan Wushen not harbor any resentment?"
Xue Butcher naturally wouldn't admit that he had misspoken while drunk, so he pushed it all onto those cultivators who wanted to drive a wedge between Zhang Ruochen and Yan Wushen.
Zhang Ruochen understood Yan Wushen well enough and had truthfully informed him of Bore's identity, so he was very certain that Yan Wushen would not take this matter to heart.
Even if Yan Wushen were to make a move against him in the future, or if the two were to fight to the death, it would never be because of this matter.
At the very least, Zhang Ruochen believed that in this expedition into the Dark Abyss, their alliance was without ulterior motives.
In the past, they had been both enemy and friend.
On this journey, they could only be comrades fighting side by side.
Whether they would be enemies or friends in the future could be decided later.
"Wasn't it you who spread the rumor about the goddess having an abortion?" Zhang Ruochen said.
Xue Butcher's heart trembled, his internal organs feeling as if they were splitting, but his face showed not a single ripple, his eyes not even blinking, as he said, "Senior brother, who told you that? Damn it, these people not only want to drive a wedge between senior brother and Yan Wushen, but also between senior brother and me."
Zhang Ruochen smiled and said no more.
...
The Dark Abyss was naturally not a place one could easily enter. The higher one's cultivation, the more dangerous it was inside. Even Heavenly Venerable-level figures who entered rarely returned alive.
Conversely, cultivators with slightly lower cultivation had a greater chance of returning alive.
The Yama Clan had been entrenched at the Dark Abyss for a hundred thousand years and had naturally conducted in-depth research. They discovered that the greatest danger on the periphery of the Dark Abyss was the strange beasts.
Cultivators below the Saint Realm, carrying protective secret treasures when entering the Dark Abyss, were often difficult for the strange beasts to detect.
But cultivators below the Saint Realm had too low a cultivation level—they didn't even need to encounter strange beasts; the extremely harsh environment of the Dark Abyss alone could kill them.
As a result, cultivators below the Saint Realm who entered the Dark Abyss had the highest mortality rate, almost one in ten thousand surviving.
After multiple explorations, the gods of the Yama Clan summarized an answer.
The strange beasts would detect intruding cultivators based on the "Heaven and Earth Force" contaminating the cultivators' bodies. This "Heaven and Earth Force" was incompatible with the Dark Abyss, like a torch in the darkness.
Seeing the torch, the strange beasts would naturally attack continuously.
The stronger the "Heaven and Earth Force," the brighter the torch, and the stronger the strange beasts attracted.
Zhang Ruochen had once asked Wen Chu what "Heaven and Earth Force" was.
Wen Chu said, "When cultivators undergo tribulations, it is the Heaven and Earth Force that kills people. Upon successfully passing a tribulation, the Heaven and Earth Force essentially tempers the cultivator, with some Heaven and Earth Force integrating into the cultivator's body."
"Saints undergo the Saint Tribulation."
"Great Saints undergo the Great Saint Tribulation."
"Gods undergo the God Tribulation."
"Gods who live for 129,600 years undergo the Eon Calamity."
"The stronger the calamity, the stronger the Heaven and Earth Force integrated into the cultivator's body, and the easier it is for strange beasts to detect them. In ancient times, Heavenly Venerable-level figures did not sneak into the Dark Abyss—they fought their way in."
"Top-tier Great Saints who have not undergone the God Tribulation have the highest probability of surviving through the periphery of the Dark Abyss, followed by gods who have not undergone the Eon Calamity."
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What dangers lie beyond the periphery of the Dark Abyss?"
This question was something even Wen Chu could not explain.
The Yama Clan had explored for a hundred thousand years, paying a tremendous price, yet they knew very little about the depths of the Dark Abyss.
Thirty-seven elderly Supreme Realm Great Saints, plus Yan Ting, Yan Wushen, Zhang Ruochen, and Xue Butcher—forty-one people in total—finally arrived at the entrance of the Dark Abyss.
The Dark Abyss was a massive spatial hole, its edges beyond Zhang Ruochen's sight even with his eyesight.
Ten thousand stars would probably not be enough to cover the entrance of the Dark Abyss.
The scene before them was like a black cloth with a black hole torn in it. Standing at the edge of the hole, one could not see the size of the cloth, nor the size of the hole.
Zhang Ruochen, visiting this place for the first time, once again felt the vastness of the universe and his own insignificance.
No wonder, since ancient times, this place had swallowed one Heavenly Venerable-level figure after another.
"So cold! When will Bore Goddess and the others arrive?" Xue Butcher asked.
The abyss was not only spewing dark Qi but also surging with cold air.
The cold air was so intense that it could freeze Half-Saints to death.
Yan Wushen said, "This is the path we are taking. The gods have to take another path to be somewhat safer."
"What? We're not setting out together?"
Xue Butcher felt something was wrong, and his heart began to waver.
Yan Wushen said, "If we travel with the gods, it will be more dangerous."
"How dangerous?" Xue Butcher asked in a low voice.
Yan Wushen said, "Not to say one in ten thousand survives, but one in ten survives is about right."
Xue Butcher's eyes widened, "What if we don't travel with the gods?"
Yan Wushen smiled, "With me, Brother Ruochen, and Brother Xue Butcher holding the line, the probability of survival will certainly increase greatly—five in ten can still be achieved."
"With our cultivation, we only have a half chance of survival?"
Xue Butcher licked his lips, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes as he looked at Zhang Ruochen, "Senior brother, how about..."
"Great rewards come with great risks. Since we're here, how can we retreat because of danger? Xue Butcher, you take the lead!"
Zhang Ruochen placed his palm on Xue Butcher's back and gave a gentle push. Without any psychological preparation, Xue Butcher flew forward into the spatial hole, letting out an uncontrollable shout.
His cry sounded somewhat miserable.
Zhang Ruochen and Yan Ting leaped down one after another, followed by the thirty-seven elderly Supreme Realm Great Saints.
Yan Wushen flew at the very back.
In the past half month, more and more cultivators had been hiding in the starry sky near the Dark Abyss, many of them targeting Zhang Ruochen.
Kong Zhi had been staring in the direction of the Dark Abyss. With golden light receding from his eyes, he quickly approached Wujiang and reported, "Yan Wushen and Zhang Ruochen have entered the Dark Abyss."
Wujiang asked, "What about Bore, Gu Shejing, and the gods of the Dark Abyss Yan Clan?"
"I haven't seen their figures," Kong Zhi said.
"What about Zangjin Baihu and the Swastika Azure Dragon?"
"They probably haven't entered the Dark Abyss either."
Wujiang, hailing from the Darkness Temple, naturally had a deep understanding of the Dark Abyss. He smiled and said, "Kong Zhi, take the three false gods and pursue them. Whether it's Zhang Ruochen or the Yama Clan's Great Saints, kill them all without exception. Be careful—carry the Dark Source Beads with you."
Wujiang took out four Dark Source Beads and handed them to Kong Zhi.