The thick, toxic fog of the Abyssal Valley felt like a heavy, suffocating blanket that swallowed light and sound alike. As Li-Wen descended deeper into the dark, jagged chasm, the ambient spiritual energy transformed from pure mountain air into a violent, chaotic mixture of ancient demonic residue and decaying corpse Qi. Ordinary cultivators who entered this place without protective pills would have their meridians corroded within hours, their minds driven to madness by the eerie, phantom whispers echoing off the black rock walls.
Yet, as Li-Wen drifted downward in his blue scholar gown, the toxic grey vapors parted around him automatically, repelled by the subtle, humming gravitational field surrounding his body.
His feet touched the damp, bone-littered floor of the valley with a silent, feather-light step.
The ground beneath him was soft, soaked in centuries of spilt blood and dark miasma. All around him, massive skeletal remains of ancient Fifth-Order and Sixth-Order Spirit Beasts lay half-buried in the mud, their fossilized bones glowing with a faint, ghostly green luminescence.
Inside his chest, the Ignis-Frost Astral Rune pulsed with a slow, deliberate rhythm, while the Abyssal Bone Rune along his spine hummed with an unmistakable gravitational resonance.
"It is deeper inside..." Li-Wen murmured, his dark pupils reflecting no fear as he looked into the vast, pitch-black subterranean cavern extending miles into the earth. "The Abyssal Celestial Fragment lies beneath the altar of the ancient blood lineage."
HUMMM—!
Suddenly, the silent air in the cavern rippled.
A heavy, metallic scent of fresh blood exploded into the surroundings. From the shadows of the massive beast ribcages and towering obsidian stalagmites, dozens of sinister figures began to materialize.
They did not hide their murderous presence. Their eyes glowed with ravenous, bloodthirsty light in the dark, their heavy broadswords, iron chains, and spiked maces gleaming with dark purple poison.
These were not mere street assassins. These were the notorious Seven Blood Fiends of the Northern Wilderness—a group of wanted, bloodthirsty rogue grandmasters who had terrorized the northern empires for decades, accompanied by over forty high-level demonic bandits!
The leader of the Seven Blood Fiends—a towering, eight-foot-tall brute clad in spiked crimson iron armor, holding a massive, blood-dripping executioner's axe—stepped forward. His cultivation was at the Peak Sixth-Stage Core Formation Realm, and his entire body radiated a thick, suffocating aura of slaughter!
"Hahaha! Look at what we have here!" The giant brute laughed, his thunderous voice echoing violently off the cavern walls. "A delicate scholar wandering into the heart of the Abyssal Valley! To think that Supreme Elder Ling-Tian issued a Supreme Sovereign Kill Order and a bounty of one hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones for a mere boy!"
Beside him, a gaunt, skeletal woman holding a pair of crimson viper daggers licked her pale lips with a black, tattooed tongue, her Sixth-Stage Ki flaring dangerously. "Boss, don't break his limbs too quickly! A boy with such fair skin and refined breath will make an exquisite blood pill for my cultivation!"
The forty demonic bandits surrounding them raised their weapons, their cruel, mocking laughter filling the dark subterranean cavern.
Li-Wen stood completely still in the center of the ring, his hands folded calmly behind his back. His expression remained as serene and undisturbed as a frozen mountain lake.
"Seven Sixth-Stage rogue grandmasters and forty bandits," Li-Wen spoke softly, his smooth, velvet voice cutting through their raucous laughter with terrifying clarity. "You gathered here hoping to claim a bounty, yet you do not realize you have merely walked into your own collective grave."
The giant brute's laughter stopped instantly, his eyes narrowing into two slitted beams of vicious rage. "Arrogant worm! Do you think because you defeated a few low-level elders in Azure Mist City, you can act presumptuous before the Seven Blood Fiends?! Formation! Blood-Crushing Execution!"
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
All forty demonic bandits surged forward simultaneously, their heavy weapons tearing through the air, creating a dense web of blood-red blade light that aimed to shred Li-Wen into thousands of pieces! Simultaneously, the Seven Blood Fiends leaped into the air, their combined Sixth-Stage Ki erupting like a volcanic eruption, locking down all spatial escape routes above!
Facing an assault capable of tearing a small fortress to ground level, Li-Wen didn't even blink.
He slowly drew his right hand out from behind his back and flicked his wrist upward.
"Gravitational Inversion."
BOOM—!
An absolute, catastrophic wave of violet cosmic gravity exploded outward from Li-Wen's palm in a three-hundred-sixty-degree dome!
The laws of physics inside the subterranean cavern instantly shattered! The crushing gravitational pull did not push outward—it violently pulled everything inward toward a single, microscopic point directly above Li-Wen's palm!
"WHAT?!"
"MY BODY! I CAN'T CONTROL MY KI!"
The forty demonic bandits charging forward were instantly yanked off their feet! Their heavy steel armor crumpled like dry leaves under the sheer gravitational acceleration as they were dragged flying through the air toward the central point!
CRACKLE... SNAP... BANG—!
Before they could even reach within ten feet of Li-Wen, the overwhelming gravitational force compressed their bodies together violently! Steel armor, heavy weapons, bones, and flesh were crushed into a single, dense, swirling orb of blood and iron that hovered helplessly in mid-air!
Forty high-level bandits... wiped out in less than two seconds!
"MONSTER! BREAK THE FORMATION!" The giant brute screamed in absolute, spirit-shattering terror!
He and the remaining six Blood Fiends tried to retract their strikes and flee, but it was already too late!
Li-Wen's dark eyes flashed with a cold, golden-purple glint. He closed his open palm into a tight, unpretentious fist.
"Collapse."
BOOM—!
The swirling orb of compressed blood and iron exploded into a blinding shockwave of dual cosmic energy! The searing heat of the Ignis-Frost Astral Rune combined with the absolute crushing weight of the Abyssal Bone Rune, turning the subterranean cavern into a roaring furnace of white-hot plasma and arctic frost!
"AAAAAAAH!"
The six Blood Fiends caught in the perimeter of the shockwave didn't even have the chance to release their natal artifacts. The terrifying dual-element shockwave slammed into their bodies, instantly vaporizing their fleshy shells into ash while freezing their souls into dark blue ice that shattered into microscopic dust!
Only the giant brute—saved by his Peak Sixth-Stage cultivation and spiked crimson heavy armor—was blasted backward, crashing through three towering obsidian stalagmites before slamming into the cavern wall!
THUD!
The giant brute fell to his knees, his heavy executioner's axe snapped in half, his spiked armor completely melted on one side and covered in thick frost on the other. He spewed a massive fountain of dark blood, his chest crushed, his meridians thoroughly obliterated!
He looked up through his blood-soaked vision at the blue-robed youth walking slowly toward him.
Li-Wen's scholar gown was completely pristine—not a single speck of dust or a drop of blood had touched his sleeves. His footsteps were light, silent, and steady, like a deity strolling through an empty garden.
"P-Please..." the giant brute whimpered, his voice trembling violently as tears of sheer terror mixed with the blood on his face. "Spare me... I was blind... I will give you all our stolen treasures... the Blood-Fiend Pavilion... we will never target you again..."
Li-Wen stopped three steps in front of the giant brute, looking down at him with an icy, absolute indifference.
"When you drew your weapons against me, your fate was already sealed," Li-Wen spoke in a quiet tone. "Where is the core altar of the Abyssal Fragment?"
The giant brute's body shook hysterically as he pointed a trembling, bloodied finger toward the dark, glowing tunnel behind the obsidian wall. "D-Deep inside... behind the Blood-Seal Gate... the ancient Abyssal Heart is guarded by the blood guardian... spare my life!"
Li-Wen gave a subtle nod.
ZIP!
A microscopic beam of compressed gravitational Ki shot from his index finger, piercing straight through the giant brute's forehead, ending his breath instantly.
The giant brute's body went limp, collapsing face-down into the dark mud.
Li-Wen did not glance at the corpses surrounding him. He casually swept his sleeve, collecting the spatial rings of the Seven Blood Fiends before turning his gaze toward the dark, glowing tunnel leading deep into the subterranean depths.
From deep within the tunnel, a powerful, pulsating heartbeat echoed through the stone floor—a rhythmic, ancient vibration that made the Abyssal Bone Rune along his spine hum with intense, hungry excitement.
"The Abyssal Heart..." Li-Wen whispered softly, stepping into the dark tunnel, his blue scholar gown fluttering gently in the cavern breeze. "It seems my Imperial Astral Core shall complete its second evolution today."
With a single, smooth step, his figure dissolved into a ghost-like shadow, vanishing into the glowing depths of the ancient subterranean domain.
See you in next chapter...