Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 235: Catching a Ride on a Cloud Sail

'"That Cloud Sail belongs to that rogue cultivator in the Spirit Condensation Realm," a disciple from the Demon Sect remarked as he watched Lei Kun's Cloud Sail sail away. "Luo Yuan could leave the lake before the rest of us because he cultivates the lightning cultivation method.

"He was with that rogue cultivator earlier, so they likely left together."

Discontent was written all over the disciple's face.

The disciples from the Demon Sect, the Black Valley Sect, and the Celestial Lagoon Sect had all worked together to chase down the white crane for so long, only for them to suffer heavy losses.

After all that effort, they had gained nothing, leaving them frustrated and dissatisfied.

Lu Xiangyi looked at the remaining few disciples and said solemnly, "We entered Cloud Lightning with dozens of people but didn't find any treasures or fated encounters. Now, almost all of us are dead."

The others sighed in agreement.

"If the white crane is dead, Luo Yuan must've been the one to kill it," Ye Fei from the Black Valley Sect suddenly said.

"Ye Fei..." An older outer disciple from the Demon Sect in the late stage of the Profound Abode Realm could not contain his curiosity and asked, "After you lost the Violet Crystal Pagoda, why did you suddenly withdraw and put away the Dragonfish Mirror so quickly? What did you discover?"

Lu Xiangyi also turned her gaze toward Ye Fei.

Ye Fei hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and sighed. "I can't say. I can only tell you that Luo Yuan is not your usual outer disciple of the Sword Pavilion."

"There's more..." He paused consideringly before continuing, "Recently, Pang Jian's notorious reputation has spread throughout the Third World. He killed several Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators in the Primordial Wilderness, shocking even those at the Sword Pavilion.

"Qi Qingsong recruited Pang Jian for the Sword Pavilion, but he has yet to be officially recorded in their registry.

"Let me say this frankly—Pang Jian can't compare to Luo Yuan. They're not even on the same level."

Ye Fei's words sent a wave of shock through the crowd.

Since descending from the Second World on the Mountain Stream Spirit Boat, they had frequently heard Pang Jian's name. Every cultivator they encountered from the Third World spoke of him.

He had effortlessly killed several cultivators in the Spirit Condensation Realm with his Profound Abode Realm cultivation.

The news had been shocking, and they had etched his name in their mind as a rising star destined to shine in the Sword Pavilion and throughout the Second World.

Unexpectedly, Ye Fei was now asserting that Pang Jian, formidable as he was, still did not measure up to the obscure Luo Yuan. He even claimed that they were on completely different levels.

"I'm genuinely curious about what you saw with the dragonfish in Luo Yuan's sea of consciousness," Lu Xiangyi from the Celestial Lagoon Sect said, eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Ye Fei shook his head with an air of mystery. "I can't say."

His odd behavior and cryptic remarks left the surviving disciples from the Second World with a lasting impression of yet another disciple from the Sword Pavilion, this time named Luo Yuan.

***

High above the vast sea of clouds, Pang Jian turned away from the view of Cloud Lightning and sighed regretfully. "In the end, the white crane still managed to escape."

"A crane that can speak in a human tongue must be a rare species. Its master must be someone formidable." Lei Kun smiled. "Perhaps not catching up to it was a blessing in disguise."

The two chatted casually.

Lei Kun told Pang Jian about his small, secret home in Cloudy Skies City on the Dark Abyss Continent, and mentioned that he was planning to return there for a visit.

Unbeknownst to the group of women in the rear cabin of the Cloud Sail, his most treasured possessions lived in that little hidden home—his son, and the woman who had given birth to him.

Lei Kun roamed the Dark Abyss Continent and the surrounding fragmented lands on his Cloud Sail, accompanied by women whose lives he cared little for.

However, most of his spoils were actually handed over to his son and that woman.

Lei Kun knew his talent and achievements had their limits, so he focused all his efforts on ensuring his son's success.

It's only natural for parents to wish for their children to succeed and accomplish something great, Pang Jian silently reflected.

Lei Kun then explained that he had obtained an authentic lightning cultivation manual from the original Profound Lightning Pavilion, which could attract profound lightning to temper his soul.

Fearing he would not survive the process, he had asked the Blood Moon Sect to forge a new body for him.

Lei Kun was unaware that Pang Jian had actually encountered that body in the Blood Moon Sect's Formless Sailboat in Divine Fortune City.

Tempering the soul with profound lightning, Pang Jian mused in slight astonishment.

As the sky darkened, the two men chatting on the deck eventually fell silent.

Lei Kun then arranged for Pang Jian to stay in a guest room on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Lei Kun retired to a cabin on the first floor to enjoy the company of the women he had brought along.

The spacious and tidy guest room was filled with the scent of sandalwood.

Pang Jian knew Lei Kun would not barge in without knocking, so after a moment of contemplation, he confidently took out the materials for the Ghost Altar and set it up.

Whoosh!

A piece of paper filled with profane curses appeared.

Pang Jian, you killed Elder Lou! And you still had the audacity to bring his belongings to me and exchange them for spirit jades?!

My Sinister Soul Temple will never forgive you, Pang Jian! I won't ever respond to you again!

How dare you take me for a fool! The next time we meet, it'll be a fight to the death!

The small piece of paper was covered in frantic scrawl, clearly written by a furious Dong Tianze.

Pang Jian could just imagine Dong Tianze's face twisted with rage as he wrote the message.

"Divine Guards are eternally loyal to the heir of the Celestial Phoenix's legacy, so you must be one of Pang Lin's protectors," Pang Jian muttered.

His perspective on Dong Tianze shifted.

The bloodthirsty, deranged man no longer seemed so incomprehensible. In fact, Pang Jian now found him somewhat endearing.

If this fanatical, unstable character becomes the most powerful Divine Guard, forever standing by Pang Lin's side...

Pang Jian pulled out a piece of paper, wrote four characters, and then tossed it onto the Ghost Altar.

Although he did not know when Dong Tianze would respond, he was in no hurry to dismantle the altar.

He sat quietly next to the altar and reflected on his recent experiences.

In his time in Cloud Lightning, he had formed a lightning vortex in his spiritual sea, allowing him to break through the bottleneck holding him back.

If Pang Jian ever encountered another seemingly insurmountable barrier in his cultivation, he now knew he could search for a new energy to help him break through.

Whoosh!

Pang Jian pulled a barrel of blood from a Rank Five Lightning Serpent previously belonging to Jiu Yuan from his spatial bracelet and gulped it down.

Soon, potent blood essence and thin strands of lightning were flowing through his internal organs.

He carefully guided the blood essence into his Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint.

The slender strands of lightning were absorbed using the Qi Nurturing Divine Cauldron Art and drawn into his spiritual sea to merge with his lightning vortex.

Pang Jian's face took on a contemplative expression.

I can only start gathering lightning like this after forming the lightning vortex in my spiritual sea.

Lightning-infused ores and the blood of Vicious Beasts like the Lightning Serpent aren't enough to create a lightning vortex.

I'll need to rely on rare and mysterious phenomena found in nature if I want to gain new types of energy in the future, he noted to himself.

He then established a connection with the World Eater Vine in Misty Swamp and the black turtle in the Resolute Expanse.

Both of them had expended a significant amount of energy during Pang Jian's prolonged battle with the white crane and had become somewhat weakened as a result.

The black turtle had entered a brief period of hibernation, causing the Resolute Expanse to float unmoving within the thick cloud cover.

The World Eater Vine had also paused its flow of life energy to the Wood Race and halted its own growth.

You two have worked hard.

Pang Jian then checked in on the Giant Abyssal Serpent in the Fifth World.

Fleets of flying vessels crafted from the skeletons of giant beasts departed the Fifth World from where the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar stood and headed straight for the clouds.

The skeletal behemoths had entirely different designs from the flying vessels of the upper worlds, with eerie demonic flames burning in the areas where the beasts' skulls and hearts would have been.

Warriors from the Celestial Race, the Demon Scale Race, the Ghost Race, and the towering one-eyed giants stood atop the skeletal behemoths, gazing anxiously at the sky.

A thick sea of clouds covered the sky of the Fifth World, not unlike that of the Fourth World. The only difference was that the Fifth World's sky was pitch black instead of gray.

As the fleets of skeletal behemoths entered the clouds bordering the Fifth World and the Fourth World, the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar, with Eight Trigrams City at its peak, radiated with azure light.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Beams of divine light burst forth from the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar.

These beams seemed imbued with a will that could annihilate everything in its path.

The sky trembled as waves of dazzling divine light rippled outward, and several skeletal behemoths were destroyed with a resounding crash.

The skeletal behemoths that the divine light struck disintegrated in an instant, with only about a third managing to withstand the impact.

The surviving foreign race warriors on the remaining skeletal behemoths erupted into cheers of triumph.

The warriors of the Celestial Race, the Demon Scale Race, the Wood Race, the Ghost Race, and the one-eyed giants watching from the ground all roared in unison, voices a surging flood in the desolate wasteland.

"We did it!"

"A batch has successfully ascended to the upper world!"

"How many years has it been? We finally managed to send some of our people to the upper worlds despite the deadly assault of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar!"

The warriors of the five great races knelt on the ground, praying to unknown deities as they watched the skeletal behemoths disappear into the clouds.

They had crafted eighteen skeletal behemoths in total. Twelve of those had been designed to absorb the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar's attack, each constructed with special spirit materials from the Third World.

These spirit materials triggered the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar to release its devastating divine light, regardless of whether there were any living beings on board.

The remaining six skeletal behemoths, which carried the warriors of various races, were forged from incredibly sturdy spirit materials like Gold Obsidian, Solar Essence Stones, and other rarer, sturdier materials forged from refined iron.

These six skeletal behemoths were also equipped with arrays designed to weaken the power of the divine light, allowing them to withstand its deadly assault.

"The power of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar has been weakened!" cried the elder of the Wood Race, Mu Yuan.

She no longer appeared old and frail but had transformed into a woman in a green robe.

With a surprised expression, she said, "In the past, there would be additional waves of divine light specifically targeting powerful beings, locking onto each strong life form to annihilate them. But this time, those divine inscriptions failed to activate."

"It's because of the rare spirit materials from the upper worlds!" Yu Xin exclaimed excitedly. "They aided the powerful magical and demonic artifacts of each race in disrupting the divine inscriptions within the pillar!"