Chapter 951: Endless Abyss
“Chi chi!”
The black figure stood in place, motionless.
However, around his body, a layer of cold and dark power silently devoured the two golden palm prints that Mei Lanzhu had struck.
In the cave dwelling, all fluctuations of power vanished without a trace.
Mei Lanzhu was slightly startled. The other party’s cultivation was far too strong, able to dissolve his palm force so effortlessly. He was at least an eighth-rank Half-Saint, or even more powerful.
“Whoosh!”
Gradually, the black figure revealed his true form, stepping out from the darkness and walking to the center of the cave dwelling.
“Zhao Wuliang!”
Mei Lanzhu felt quite surprised and asked, “Why is it you? What exactly are you trying to do by sneaking into this Divine Son’s cave dwelling?”
Zhao Wuliang revealed a faint smile and said, “This king has naturally come to cooperate with Your Highness, the Divine Son.”
“Cooperate how?” Mei Lanzhu let out a cold laugh.
Zhao Wuliang said, “The Divine Son wishes to eliminate Gu Linfeng, while this king wants to obtain the Yuling Blood Blade. We each get what we need.”
Mei Lanzhu stared deeply at Zhao Wuliang and laughed, “You’re quite greedy. Fine, as long as we can get rid of Gu Linfeng, we can certainly cooperate.”
“However, Gu Linfeng is, after all, a Banner Master of the Netherword Heavenly Palace and the grand-disciple of Haiming Dharma King. If we act too obviously and get found out, it will be very disadvantageous for us.”
Zhao Wuliang spoke with confidence, “The Endless Abyss is full of dangers. Every year, one or two Banner Masters sent by the Netherword Heavenly Palace to carry out missions fall there. It’s only natural for Gu Linfeng to die while on a mission.”
“Oh!”
Mei Lanzhu showed some interest and sat back down on his chair, asking, “So, when does Wuliang Banner King plan to send Gu Linfeng out on a mission?”
“Tomorrow,” Zhao Wuliang said.
Mei Lanzhu asked again, “Where?”
Zhao Wuliang said, “To the east of the Endless Abyss, at Luofeng Mountain. It’s said that blood beasts have been appearing there recently. This king will send Gu Linfeng to eliminate those blood beasts and let him practice his skills. But if he dies at Luofeng Mountain, it can only be blamed on his weak cultivation, not on anyone else. Right?”
Mei Lanzhu gave a cold smile, “Luofeng Mountain, not bad. It’s a good place to bury Gu Linfeng.”
“This king can only help the Divine Son this much. I hope the Divine Son can succeed in one go and eliminate Gu Linfeng, so he won’t keep trying to curry favor in front of Her Highness the Saintess,” Zhao Wuliang said with a smile.
“Just a mere Gu Linfeng. If this Divine Son can’t handle him, am I even fit to be the Divine Son of the Blood God Sect?”
Mei Lanzhu shot a cold, sharp glance at Zhao Wuliang and added, “But Gu Linfeng is definitely carrying a Sacred Edict. If he manages to escape, it will be a big problem.”
Mei Lanzhu pondered for a moment and ultimately decided to bring more people.
Thus, after Zhao Wuliang left, Mei Lanzhu immediately sent messages to four Banner Masters of the Netherword Heavenly Palace, summoning them to his cave dwelling to begin plotting the specifics of eliminating Gu Linfeng.
Among the four Banner Masters summoned by Mei Lanzhu was, naturally, Zhao Shiqi.
…
…
Zhang Ruochen was wearing the Meteor Invisibility Cloak and carrying the Green Wood Buddhist Beads gifted by Master Indra. Thus, without alarming anyone, he quietly walked out of Cangtian Valley and flew toward the direction of the Endless Abyss.
Arriving at the top of a hill several hundred meters high, Zhang Ruochen stopped and muttered to himself, “It should be around here.”
Zhang Ruochen activated his Heavenly Eye, searched the ground, and finally locked onto a spot.
“Bang!”
He struck out with a palm, sending a palm print onto the thick surface of the snow.
In an instant, snowflakes flew everywhere.
A large pit several meters deep appeared on the ground.
From the bottom of the pit came a strange cry. A black, fat cat jumped out, bristling like a hedgehog, and roared, “Who? Who dares to disturb this emperor’s sleep?”
Zhang Ruochen reached out a hand, grabbed Xiao Hei by the tail, lifted him upside down, and knocked him on the head, saying, “I told you to go to the Endless Abyss to investigate news about Shengshu Cainü. How did you end up sleeping here?”
“Oh, it’s you!”
Xiao Hei’s two round eyes rolled around, and he complained, “Why are you so late? This emperor has been waiting here for you for a full five days. I waited left, you didn’t come; I waited right, you didn’t come. Waiting and waiting, in the end… I fell asleep! Zhang Ruochen, put this emperor down first. This emperor has already gathered some very important intelligence.”
Zhang Ruochen loosened his grip.
Xiao Hei fell straight down. With a thud, half his head plunged into the snow. He struggled with all four paws for a moment before climbing back out.
Xiao Hei sat down on the ground, looking mysterious, and said, “This emperor has already been to the edge of the Endless Abyss and discovered a major secret.”
“What secret?” Zhang Ruochen asked.
Xiao Hei said, “Actually, this emperor overheard a conversation between two Banner Masters of the Netherword Heavenly Palace and learned the secret. It’s said that the Endless Abyss is divided into three gradients.”
Zhang Ruochen’s eyes narrowed, “What do you mean?”
Xiao Hei raised two paws and began to gesture, “Our current position is the ground. Jumping down from the ground into the Endless Abyss doesn’t mean falling straight to the bottom. Instead, you land on the first gradient of the Endless Abyss.”
At that moment, Xiao Hei used his claws to dig a pit in the ground, pointed at the bottom, and said, “It’s said that cultivators who fall into the first gradient can still use some methods to return to the ground. However, the environment of the first gradient is quite terrifying. There’s a kind of creature called blood beasts living there. Even Banner Master-level figures might fall there.”
A look of joy appeared on Zhang Ruochen’s face, “That means Shengshu Cainü might have only fallen into the first gradient.”
Xiao Hei lightly stroked the whiskers on his face and snorted, “With her frail body and serious injuries, even if she fell to the first gradient, she’d either be eaten by blood beasts or have already died from the fall.”
Zhang Ruochen asked, “Are you sure the Endless Abyss really has three gradients?”
“Not sure.”
Xiao Hei shook his head and added, “This emperor personally went to the edge of the Endless Abyss to investigate once. Below the abyss, it’s completely void, bottomless. There’s no first gradient at all. Once you jump down, it’s very likely a dead end.”
Zhang Ruochen’s expression was very serious, “Take me there. I want to personally investigate the Endless Abyss.”
“Alright.”
Xiao Hei stood upright, put both paws behind his back, turned into a gust of black wind, and rushed out first.
Zhang Ruochen also activated his movement technique and chased after him at top speed.
About half an hour later, the one person and one cat finally reached the edge of the Endless Abyss.
The Endless Abyss was vast and boundless, with no opposite shore in sight. Standing at the edge of the abyss was like standing at the end of the earth.
The sky was covered in black clouds, dense as ink. The cloud layer pressed down low, only a few dozen meters above the ground, creating a very oppressive feeling.
“What a strange place. The sky seems ready to collapse at any moment, crushing all living beings in the world.”
Zhang Ruochen looked up and felt his Sacred Soul suppressed by an invisible force, unable to leave his body.
Moreover, the circulation of Sacred Qi within his body was less than one-tenth of its peak state.
Then, Zhang Ruochen tried his Spiritual Power and found it also suppressed, able to exert only one-tenth of its strength.
Xiao Hei chuckled, “Now you know how strange this place is? Once you jump down, even if there is a so-called first gradient below, it’s not something ordinary people can climb back up from.”
Zhang Ruochen nodded, “This place is somewhat similar to the Ghost Spirit Valley in the Underworld, except the gravity pressure there comes from the Divine Qi of divine corpses. Here, it seems like… the rules of heaven and earth have changed.”
“Exactly. Based on this emperor’s analysis, it’s that the rules of heaven and earth are different from other places.”
Xiao Hei added, “The Sacred Qi and Spiritual Power you cultivated in the Kunlun Realm can only exert at most one-tenth of their power here.”
“Moreover, once you jump down the Endless Abyss and reach the so-called first gradient, the rules of heaven and earth there will likely undergo a drastic change. Forget one-tenth of your cultivation; being able to exert one percent would already be impressive.”
“No.”
Zhang Ruochen shook his head, “Although a cultivator’s Sacred Soul, Sacred Qi, and Spiritual Power are suppressed, the power from the physical body can still be unleashed.”
With that, Zhang Ruochen’s palm emitted a five-colored light, and he struck the ground.
With a rumble, the earth trembled violently.
The blood-red rocks cracked into fine lines, and then the ten-meter layer of earth around them collapsed, crashing down into the Endless Abyss with a loud clatter.
Before that, Zhang Ruochen and Xiao Hei kicked off with their feet, using the recoil force to leap to the ground several dozen zhang away, avoiding falling with the rocks.
Xiao Hei’s eyes widened in astonishment. After a long pause, he let out a long breath and said, “You, this guy… tsk tsk. With your Five Elements Chaos Body and having refined so much divine blood, your physical body is probably tougher than some Saints’ bodies.”
Zhang Ruochen walked back to the edge of the Endless Abyss and looked down, sighing, “Unfortunately, Shengshu Cainü is a Spiritual Power cultivator. Her physical body is no different from an ordinary person’s. If she fell down… it’s likely a dire situation.”
Zhang Ruochen’s gaze was very firm. Even knowing that Shengshu Cainü might already be dead, he still decided to go down and investigate.
However, before that, he had to return to the Netherword Heavenly Palace camp to confirm whether the first gradient really existed.
Xiao Hei said in a low voice, “Someone is coming this way.”
Zhang Ruochen looked back and indeed saw several blood-red figures rushing rapidly toward the Endless Abyss.
Those figures emitted a very dense blood aura. Even from dozens of miles away, a faint smell of blood could be detected.
“Why is it the Undying Blood Clan?” Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly.
Immediately, Zhang Ruochen activated the power of the Meteor Invisibility Cloak, wrapping himself and Xiao Hei inside, and disappeared at the edge of the abyss.