Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 221: Renowned Throughout the Third World

A hazy moon and a scattering of stars hung in the enchanting late-night sky.

The Resolute Expanse floated quietly above the clouds, absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.

The black turtle grew stronger by the day, its size continuously increasing deep underground.

Focusing his mind, Pang Jian saw three distinct ridges on the black turtle's blackish-yellow carapace that exuded a sharp aura.

The black turtle's plastron was a brownish-yellow hue and emitted a strange radiance.

Its limbs, as thick as giant pillars, were pure black and seemed capable of supporting the heavens.

Fine scales sharp enough to tear through flesh lined the back of its olive-colored neck.

Many extraordinary physical features of the black turtle were emerging, and each time Pang Jian gazed at it, he could not help but feel its future potential was boundless.

Also deep underground was the spirit vein. The crystal-clear, winding spirit vein had partially recovered from the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array's excessive drainage after being nourished by over a hundred thousand spirit jades.

Everything was moving in a positive direction.

Pang Jian looked up at the captivating night sky.

It won't be long before Luo Hongyan learns that I've killed Jiu Yuan, Lou Yunming, and Cao Mang.

His lips curled into a slight smile and he declared determinedly into the desolate Resolute Expanse, "One day, my name will reach the worlds above. Pang Lin will eventually hear my name and know I've been living well.

"No matter where she is, I hope I'll have the strength to protect her in the not-too-distant future."

Pang Jian had protected Pang Lin since they were young. He did not even consider relying on her status or achievements to ascend to the upper worlds.

All he ever wanted was to protect his sister and gain the ability to stand up for her if she was ever bullied.

The world above was vast and boundless. Pang Jian did not know how to find Pang Lin or where she was.

Rather than searching for a needle in a haystack, he preferred to spread his name, Pang Jian, across every world.

Once that happened, Pang Lin would hear his name through the cultivators around her no matter where she was.

She would know that a young man named Pang Jian had risen from the Solitary Mountain Range of the Fourth World, dazzling the heavens and earth like a comet shooting through the sky.

Pang Lin would then know that her brother had successfully ascended to the upper worlds and now possessed the power to protect her.

This was also the significance of Pang Jian's dazzling display in the Primordial Wilderness.

Pang Jian took out the copper chest and placed it in the wooden cabin. In the days that followed, he lay inside it, bathing in the radiance of the sun, moon, and stars.

Since he had yet to find a way to break through to the middle stage of the Profound Abode Realm and control his divine sense at will, he instead decided to focus on refining his spiritual sea.

The day gave way to night and back again with the passage of time. The scattered stars, bright moon, and blazing sun in his dantian grew stronger as Pang Jian absorbed the radiance of the sun, moon, and stars from within the copper chest.

One day, recalling the body-strengthening benefits of the Grand Providence Sacred Body, he took out the incomplete body-tempering manual to carefully study its profound secrets.

After opening the Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint, the Grand Providence Sacred Body is divided into three realms; the Jade Body Realm, the Illusory Bone Realm, and the Vital Blood Realm.

The Jade Body Realm focuses on the refinement of the skin, making it so resilient it becomes impervious to water and fire. The skin also gains a glossy, jade-like sheen.

The Illusory Bone Realm involves re-tempering all the bones in one's body. Once completed, one can adjust the length of their bones and change their appearance at will. In the Illusory Bone Realm, the bones in one's body become as sharp as a blade, making it easy to pierce through metal with a simple hand chop or fingertip thrust.

The Vital Blood Realm allows one to refine one's blood, endowing every drop with infinite profoundness.

Pang Jian carefully analyzed the contents of the manual.

He could not freely manipulate his strands of divine sense, and there were no earth-shattering changes to his dantian and spiritual sea. Thus, he decided to shift his focus to tempering his body.

Barrels of blood and chunks of meat from Rank Five and Rank Six Vicious Beasts were laid out around him, taken from his spatial bracelet. When thirsty, he drank the blood brimming with immense blood essence, and when hungry, he roasted and ate the meat of the high-ranked Vicious Beasts.

In this way, the blood and meat of the Vicious Beasts were rapidly consumed.

Pang Jian gathered the rich blood essence and dispersed it across his skin, repeatedly tempering it according to the Grand Providence Sacred Body manual.

The ample supply of Vicious Beasts' blood and meat, combined with his inherently resilient and extraordinary body, meant his progress in the Jade Body Realm was faster than expected.

Within half a month, Pang Jian's body emitted a silver radiant glow after another period of intense cultivation.

Stepping out of the wooden house to stand deep within the Cloud Wilderness, he gazed at the fragmented land enveloped by the thick leaden clouds bordering the Third and Fourth Worlds.

"Rise!"

Pang Jian gathered his blood essence to activate the Jade Body Realm. The pores on his skin closed and his entire body emitted a silver radiance.

It was like his skin was covered in a layer of silver armor.

After a moment of contemplation, he summoned his Startling Slaughter Spear and lightly jabbed the tip toward the back of his hand, making sure not to infuse it without spiritual power or special energies.

Clang!

A streak of silver sparks flew when the tip of the spear met Pang Jian's skin.

The toughness of Pang Jian's skin while in the Jade Body Realm was like being coated with a layer of hard but flexible metal. It would be impossible to penetrate his skin unless one had particularly sharp weapons or special attacks like flames or lightning.

"Let's try again."

Pang Jian then infused the spear with his spiritual power and stabbed it into the back of his hand.

The spear sliced through the silver skin on the back of his hand, leaving behind a bloody cut.

His powerful self-healing abilities then activated on their own, instantly healing the cut with life energy.

Not even a scar remained. His skin was smooth as if nothing had happened.

"Again!"

This time, Pang Jian not only infused the spear with his spiritual power but also stellar energy, lunar energy, and cold energy.

The spear tip glowed brightly.

He then stabbed it into the back of his hand once more.

The glowing spear tip pierced through Pang Jian's silver skin, stopping as it had struck a bone.

If I first summon a protective shield, then use the Jade Body Realm within it, and add the protection of the Star Crushing Umbrella on top of that...

Pang Jian's eyes gleamed as brightly as the tip of the Startling Slaughter Spear.

As long as his peers did not have high-grade spirit artifacts like the Nine Suns Cauldron, Pang Jian felt that they would not be able to harm his body now that he had these three layers of defense.

Once he got close to them, his opponents would struggle to withstand his fierce attacks and would swiftly be crushed.

If I cultivate using this Jade Body Realm...

After withdrawing the blood essence covering his skin, Pang Jian opened his pores from their closed state, took a deep breath, and absorbed the spiritual qi of heaven and earth into his body.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The omnipresent spiritual qi in the Cloud Wilderness drifted toward Pang Jian, transforming into delicate threads that entered his body through his pores. The spiritual qi dispersed to his limbs and bones and, under Pang Jian's guidance, either converged into his spiritual sea or permeated the rest of his body.

Reaching the Jade Body Realm of the Grand Providence Sacred Body also enhanced Pang Jian's efficiency in gathering spiritual qi, allowing him to recover his strength at a faster rate than before.

"Next is the Illusory Bone Realm!"

Pang Jian once again threw himself into seclusion. The Resolute Expanse remained hidden in the depths of the thick cloud cover during the day, only occasionally surfacing at night.

As he had a large supply of high-ranked Vicious Beasts' blood and meat in hand, he could devote himself to tirelessly cultivating the Grand Providence Sacred Body.

Time passed quickly with Pang Jian in seclusion.

During this time, many Cloud Sails flew over the Resolute Expanse.

The black turtle would always steer the fragmented land deeper into the leaden clouds, disappearing from the range of a cultivator's perception whenever it sensed an approaching Cloud Sail.

For this reason, the Resolute Expanse managed to remain hidden in the Third World.

Meanwhile, Pang Jian's name was spreading across the Third World.

It did not matter whether it was the Dark Abyss Continent, the Cosmic Skies Continent, or the fragmented lands floating above the clouds. Tales of Pang Jian's exploits in the Primordial Wilderness could be heard throughout the Third World.

Pang Jian, a disciple of the Sword Pavilion, became a hero after slaying the malevolent Cao Mang and saving countless cultivators from peril.

His reckless pursuit of revenge against Jiu Yuan and Lou Yunming before the battle against the foreign races had ended was deliberately overlooked because he brought Cao Mang to justice.

***

On the Dark Abyss Continent was a mountain called Saddle Ridge Mountain, which was shaped like two camel humps.

Luo Hongyan and Han Ting stood at a corner of Saddle Ridge Mountain with altered appearances, watching as a crowd gathered at the foot of the mountain.

Qi Qingsong of the Sword Pavilion had parted ways with them to inquire about news from the Blood Moon Sect and the Star River Alliance after they arrived at Saddle Ridge Mountain.

According to Qi Qingsong, he needed to rely on his status as an inner disciple of the Sword Pavilion to make these inquiries, making it inconvenient to bring others along. However, he told them he would inform Pang Jian of their location if Pang Jian ever contacted him with the sword token.

"I hope Pang Jian's safe," whispered Han Ting.

"He'll be fine," Luo Hongyan gazed with captivating eyes at the Cloud Sails landing below Saddle Ridge Mountain.

Having long since regained her strength, she was now waiting for Gao Yuan's return so she could venture deeper into the Dark Abyss Continent on his Cloud Sail.

She was confident she could defeat early-stage Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators like Jiu Yuan and Lou Yunming if she encountered them again.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Cloud Sails drifted in from the distant sea of clouds, stopping on the barren plain around Saddle Ridge Mountain.

Lately, the arriving Cloud Sails no longer brought in rogue cultivators, but rather members of four of the seven major clans from the Fourth World.

The Ning Clan and the He Clan were affiliated with the Star River Alliance, while the Ouyang Clan and the Shangguan Clan were vassals of the Blood Moon Sect.

Their clan members were first transported to the Third World by Gilded Chariots and Formless Sailboats. They were then brought to Saddle Ridge Mountain using Cloud Sails.

The Star River Alliance and the Blood Moon Sect had not found enough fragmented lands for these four clans, and it was impossible for them to suddenly accommodate so many people from the Fourth World.

Thus, Saddle Ridge Mountain turned into a temporary settlement for the newcomers.

Whoosh!

Gao Yuan's Cloud Sail flew in from the distant sky, the deck visibly crowded with people.

He was transporting cultivators to earn spirit stones, charging per head.

With so many members of these four clans coming, he could make two to three thousand spirit stones each trip. Thus, he worked tirelessly to earn as much as possible during this time.

"Gao Yuan, have you heard any news about Pang Jian?" Han Ting called out the moment Gao Yuan came within hearing range.

Luo Hongyan's bright eyes sparkled.

"I actually do have news about Little Brother Pang this time!" Gao Yuan's face was red with excitement as he shouted back to the two expectant women, "Little Brother Pang's name has spread from the Primordial Wilderness and will soon be known by everyone in the Third World!"

"What?!" Luo Hongyan and Han Ting exclaimed in unison.

"Is he—is he okay?" Luo Hongyan asked, biting her lip.

"He's fine." Gao Yuan took a deep breath, then said with an expression of disbelief, "You might not believe it, but Little Brother Pang killed Liang Ying of the Star River Alliance, Jiu Yuan of the Blood Moon Sect, and Lou Yunming of the Sinister Soul Temple.

"He also killed the master of the Primordial Wilderness, Cao Mang!"

Luo Hongyan and Han Ting were stunned. Their faces were frozen in shock and they could not even exclaim in surprise.