Trials of the Abyss

The Ghost Sacrifice Sect in the Southern Gorge of the First World had two True Gods seated within its ranks and boasted greater foundations than the Nine Tribes Sect, holding a total of nineteen Immortal Realm cultivators.

Xing Heng had been one of them.

Immortal Realm cultivators were the pillars of strength of all sects, with each carefully nurtured through the investment of vast resources.

Thus, their lives were invaluable.

Shang Ye, the Sect Master of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect, stood within a dim stone hall where the Soul Tablets were kept.

He removed the Soul Tablet belonging to Xing Heng and infused it with his divine sense.

Everything Xing Heng experienced in the last quarter-hour before his divine soul perished was imprinted within the Soul Tablet.

Shang Ye watched as Xing Heng communicated with someone through his black jade waist token, leaped down from the Phantom Cloud Ship, and confronted Pang Jian.

He also witnessed Xing Heng's death at Pang Jian's hand.

Shang Ye immediately understood the situation.

At first, he was deeply shaken.

The terrifying lightning that burst forth from the Azure Netherworld Ghostfire, laced with profound truths of the Dao of Lightning, unsettled even Shang Ye.

Calming his mind, he contemplated the matter further.

Why was Xing Heng so determined to capture Dong Tianze alive? Why did he refuse to stop even after Pang Jian appeared? Who was truly standing behind Xing Heng…?

After pondering for a while and reaching no clear conclusion, Shang Ye decided to report the matter directly to Gui Mu.

***

Deep within the Ghost Sacrifice Sect, a barren mountain lay shackled in rusted chains, with a small temple perched atop its peak.

The chains, worn by the passage of time, occasionally echoed with ghostly wails that sent shivers down one's spine. They seemed tethered to a ghostly realm as if stretching across the boundaries of time and space.

The temple atop the peak resembled a towering bastion that suppressed all spectral entities as it radiated an aura of supreme authority.

Shang Ye stood before the temple and carefully relayed the details of Xing Heng's death to Gui Mu through a stone door.

He then waited in silence.

After a long while, Gui Mu's ethereal voice drifted from within the temple. "I cannot even begin to fathom what Wentao is thinking."

Both Xing Heng and Jiang Cen, the Second Elder, belonged to Mu Wentao's faction.

Though Jiang Cen was also in the Immortal Realm, commanding Xing Heng was no simple task. From what Shang Ye had seen through the Soul Tablet, the person Xing Heng communicated with was certainly not Jiang Cen.

Xing Heng would not have been so cautious and reverent if it had been Jiang Cen.

Aside from Gui Mu, there was only one other person in the Ghost Sacrifice Sect capable of commanding such unwavering obedience from Xing Heng.

Even Shang Ye knew he lacked the authority and status to command such deference despite being the Sect Master.

Thus, the person behind Xing Heng could only have been Mu Wentao, the other True God of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect and Gui Mu's junior brother.

Lowering his head, Shang Ye asked, "What should I do about the Sword Pavilion?"

"The human race needs a sword prodigy stronger than Li Zhaotian, one capable of becoming a formidable Sword God," Gui Mu replied indifferently. "In these chaotic times, no True God will interfere with the rise of a supreme Sword God. I won't stand in the way, and neither will Wentao."

Shang Ye turned his head, gazing toward a burial mound a hundred li away. "That…"

"Do nothing in your capacity as Sect Master of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect. Wentao is not currently in the sect, and I do not know where he has gone. I will wait for him to seek me out himself," Gui Mu added.

Shang Ye nodded respectfully. "Understood."

***

As a rogue cultivator, Shang Xiuchun's ability to establish himself in Imperial Dominion City and ascend to the Immortal Realm spoke to his exceptional instincts.

His greatest strength lay in his ability to retreat when danger arose.

He had spent years meticulously building up Imperial Dominion City, establishing trade districts, teahouses, taverns, and pleasure halls for other rogue cultivators to indulge and unwind.

Through these ventures, he amassed tens of millions of spirit stones and spirit jades.

In Shang Xiuchun's eyes, the Imperial Dominion City was a gold mine, an invaluable cornerstone of his wealth and influence.

However, he decisively chose to cut his losses and leave once he realized that the Imperial Dominion had become a battleground for formidable forces, especially one the Sword Pavilion and the Ghost Sacrifice Sect were entangled in.

Shang Xiuchun shot out of the Imperial Dominion like a bolt of dark lightning.

"Staying alive is my priority in these chaotic times," he muttered. Even so, he could not help but look back with deep reluctance. "Why did you have to clash in the place I built up with such effort?"

Although he did not know what forces lurked in the shadows, he knew they were beyond his ability to handle.

With a final glance, he gathered his strength, contemplating where to hide and start anew.

"The most dangerous place is often the safest. The Demon Abyss Continent," he decided.

At that moment, a colossal bone gate suddenly materialized before him.

The towering bone gate, a thousand zhang high, stood wide open.

Beyond it loomed an ancient city constructed entirely of bone, filled with skeletons that roamed its streets.

These skeletons were not limited to humans. They also included the Fey Race, foreign races, and many strange entities long erased by the flow of time.

A gaunt figure, draped in loose gray-white robes, emerged from the bone gate, his face adorned with a broad, amiable smile.

Stepping forward, he persuaded gently, "Shang Xiuchun, Imperial Dominion City cannot do without you. I'll have to trouble you to return."

Shang Xiuchun's face paled in shock.

"The White Bone Saint, Lu Qinghe of the White Bone Sect! You're still alive?"

Much like the Blood Spirit Sect, the White Bone Sect was a sect in the Second World that the factions of the First World had branded as heretical.

The Sect Master of the White Bone Sect was also known as the White Bone Saint.

This heretical sect specialized in the art of crafting bone puppets, using not only the foreign races and the Fey Race but even humans to fuel their sinister techniques.

However, the White Bone Sect had been destroyed for nearly a thousand years, with surviving disciples hunted down and killed on sight.

The White Bone Sect had gradually faded into obscurity, and no trace of its disciples had resurfaced in the past few centuries.

The last known White Bone Saint was Lu Qinghe, the very man standing before him. Jiang Ran, the Great Elder of the Sword Pavilion, was said to have killed him.

Despite this, Lu Qinghe had returned after all these years, and judging by his aura, he appeared to have reached the peak of the Immortal Realm!

"Were you the one who lured Pang Jian into the Imperial Dominion and destroyed the teleportation array?" Shang Xiuchun asked lowly.

Lu Qinghe shook his head with a smile, looking as insignificant as a fly compared to the thousand-zhang-tall bone gate.

"It wasn't me. I am merely tasked with overseeing this region. This route happens to be under my watch," Lu Qinghe patiently explained to Shang Xiuchun. "The other routes are sealed off by sects such as the Blood Prison Sect and the Blackwood Sect.

"Nobody is allowed to leave the Imperial Dominion right now. Please forgive me, Brother Shang."

Lu Qinghe gave a courteous bow of apology.

The colossal bone gate behind him abruptly ignited with ghostly white flames.

As the bone-chilling fire blazed, massive skeletal giants began striding out from the bone city beyond the gate.

"Please return."

As Lu Qinghe straightened from his bow, a surge of malevolent divine power erupted from within the gate.

Shang Xiuchun's body was swept up in the wave of malevolent divine power like a tiny insect caught in crashing waves, completely losing control over his body under the overwhelming force.

He was effortlessly forced back into the Imperial Dominion.

"City Lord!"

Some rogue cultivators had followed Shang Xiuchun in his decisive retreat, similarly aware that trouble was brewing. Thus, they fled the Imperial Dominion City alongside him, only to freeze in shock when they witnessed his involuntary return.

***

Dong Tianze broke through the surface of the lake and stood by Pang Jian on the lakeshore. At that moment, the terrified cries of rogue cultivators echoed from the skies over the northern region of the Imperial Dominion.

"Something's not right." Pang Jian frowned, soaring into the air.

He gathered his divine sense and gazed toward the northern horizon.

A massive gate forged of white bone loomed over the northern region of the Imperial Dominion. Skeletal puppets marched out of the bone gate like a relentless tide.

"The White Bone Sect!"

"A true heretical sect, the White Bone Sect!"

"Lu Qinghe, the White Bone Saint! Didn't Jiang Ran of the Sword Pavilion kill him? How is he still alive and causing chaos again?"

The rogue cultivators cried out in terror.

Some attempted to circumvent the White Bone Gate and escape through the opposite end of the fragmented land, only for a foul sea of blood to appear on the western end of the Imperial Dominion.

Several cultivators draped in crimson robes surfaced from the putrid sea, their laughter echoing ominously.

"The Blood Prison stands before you. Who dares to pass?"

A plump middle-aged woman grinned widely, face coated in thick makeup. Her lips, painted blood-red, stretched into a disturbing smile as she laughed at those who approached.

The contrast between the heavy white powder and the crimson at the corners of her mouth gave her an eerie appearance.

"The Blood Prison Sect!" cried a rogue cultivator in the Soul Wandering Realm, freezing in terror as he neared the foul sea of blood.

He turned to flee, but the woman raised her hand and casually pulled him back.

Dark crimson light surged from her palm, generating an overwhelming suction that drew the helpless rogue cultivator toward her.

His organs ruptured, and his bones and flesh violently exploded before he could even reach her.

The remnant mass of blood and viscera merged seamlessly into the putrid sea below.

"It's the Blackwood Sect!"

"Disciples of the Blackwood Sect!"

Terrified and despairing cries rang out from the rogue cultivators in the eastern region of the Imperial Dominion.

Pang Jian turned to see a forest of black trees materializing out of thin air in the eastern sky.

An aura of decay and deathly stillness emanated from the gloomy forest.

A memory surfaced in Pang Jian's mind of a wooden Outer God Puppet that once sought to corrupt and consume the World Tree in Misty Swamp.

The withering aura emanating from the forest was unmistakable.

The Blackwood Sect was undoubtedly tied to that Outer God.

Dong Tianze summoned his Sinister Soul Blood Halberd, scanning the surroundings warily.

"Are they here for you or the Sword Pavilion? You should call for reinforcements from the Sword Pavilion immediately.

"I will inform her as well."

With that, Dong Tianze activated the Celestial Phoenix Imprint on his forehead and reached out to Pang Lin.