Trials of the Abyss

Pang Jian frowned as he tried to figure out what was happening.

He had known something was off with Xu Jie because he had sensed an abnormal vitality within Xu Jie's body through the Leaves of Life.

The person occupying Xu Jie's body had an exceptionally strong life force. Although it had been suppressed and concealed, traces of it had leaked out when Dong Tianze used his secret art on the second living dead.

The others had not been able to perceive the brief flaring of this person's life force, but Pang Jian was acutely aware of it due to his Leaves of Life.

Thus, he had known something was amiss.

However, Pang Jian could never have imagined the culprit would take on Pang Jian's appearance from Cloud Lightning after shedding Xu Jie's skin.

Worse still, he claimed to be Luo Yuan.

Either he was also in Cloud Lightning and saw what I looked like as Luo Yuan, or he peered into Ye Fei's thoughts!

He probably has a technique similar to the Grand Providence Sacred Body! His mastery is also more advanced than mine, allowing him to change his entire body in the blink of an eye.

The guy claiming to be Luo Yuan was clearly cunning and would undoubtedly be a formidable opponent.

"Luo Yuan, so it was you all along!" Ye Fei shouted.

The man standing on the third-floor balcony of the Sword Boat nodded. "It was."

It was like the man had teleported in the split second that his protective shield shattered. No one saw how he moved from the deck to the third-floor balcony of the Sword Boat.

"I didn't expect anyone to guess it was me or know I was hiding among the living dead." The imposter shook his head with a wry smile, eyes flashing with a hint of surprise. Despite this, he did not seem at all nervous.

Although his identity had been exposed to the group of almost a dozen cultivators on the deck, he remained incredibly composed.

He wore black clothing, with blood dripping from his neck and exposed arms, and his face was unmistakably the same as Luo Yuan from Cloud Lightning.

Hiss!

Xu Jie's skin at his feet dissolved into faint smoke and merged with the bizarre mist.

"Luo Yuan, you're a disciple of our Sword Pavilion, yet you possessed our Senior Sister Xu's body and murdered your fellow disciples. Are you aware of the consequences?" Lu Lingchan coldly questioned. ＲΆΝôＢĘS

"Consequences?" The man mocked, a mix of amused and contemptuous. "What consequences? None of you are my match. I may be the culprit you're looking for, but what can you do about it?"

"He thinks he can act arrogantly just because he condensed one hundred and twenty-eight strands of divine sense?" Zhou Qingchen muttered.

Fang Boxuan's face twisted into a bitter expression. "He has every reason to be that arrogant if he truly thinks he can kill everyone here. After all, no one will ever know what he's done."

"Indeed, no one would ever know if he were to kill everyone, leave the bizarre mist, and return to the Abyss," Zhao Yuanqi agreed.

"This man..." Pang Jian hesitated.

Exposing "Luo Yuan's" identity as fake would not make much difference.

The culprit was likely doing it on a whim, and given what he had done, it frankly did not matter who he claimed to be.

"Pang Jian, how did you know it's me?" the man asked, peering down at Pang Jian from the third-floor balcony with interest. "The sword technique you unleash with your spear—I've never heard or seen anything like it. That sword technique is truly terrifying. I wouldn't have dared to face it head-on with Xu Jie's body."

The man's expression grew serious as he regarded Pang Jian with the highest level of caution.

"He's not one of our Sword Pavilion disciples!" Qi Qingsong snorted. "A Sword Pavilion disciple would never hide inside a Black Valley Sect disciple! Besides, we've never even heard of Luo Yuan before. He must've killed one of our disciples and taken their sword token to impersonate us!"

"I don't care who he is. All I know is he killed a disciple from the Black Valley Sect!" Lu Lingchan flew toward the third-floor balcony, the first to launch an attack.

She wanted to eliminate as soon as possible and remove any potential threat to everyone.

Whoosh!

She tossed out her bamboo flute, which released golden, black, dark green, and azure lights from its holes. Waves of soul-crushing sound reverberated outward to envelop the entire third-floor balcony.

Whoosh!

A magnificent light coalesced above the balcony.

Faint, ethereal mist surrounded the strange, luminous space, with graceful celestial maidens and demonesses playing zithers, flutes, or dancing and singing appearing within.

A surreal scene unfolded in the gray sky of the bizarre mist.

Celestial maidens played musical instruments and demonesses sang and danced in perfect harmony.

Lu Lingchan had crafted a splendid little world with her bamboo flute, intending to pull "Luo Yuan" into the enchanting scene.

Celestial melodies lingered gracefully in the air, while demonic shadows flickered. Auspicious beasts gradually came into existence and a multicolored celestial land was created.

"Luo Yuan" looked up to see Lu Lingchan, with her jade-like skin and ethereal grace, seated atop the multicolored celestial land like an empress.

Her elegance was unparalleled with an otherworldly aura like that of an immortal. Each of her movements appeared to command the celestial maidens, demonesses, and auspicious beasts.

"Lu Lingchan..." Fang Boxuan looked on with a face full of longing.

The grace of his nominal fiancée moved his heart deeply. Her aura stirred such awe within him that he felt a sense of unworthiness.

"I really am unworthy of her. I lack her status and position, and I certainly don't have her astonishing talent. She's destined to transcend the Second World and shine brilliantly throughout the Abyss."

Fang Boxuan was filled with melancholy.

"Junior Brother, as fellow personal disciples, what do you think of Lu Lingchan?" Zhuang Yuyan asked Pang Jian with a smile. "You're both around the same age. She's about to advance to the Spirit Condensation Realm. There's going to be an inter-sect competition in the future. Do you think you can beat her?"

Pang Jian was taken aback. "An inter-sect competition?"

"It'll be inner disciples versus inner disciples. And you, as a personal disciple of the Pavilion Master, will naturally go against her, a personal disciple of the Black Valley Sect's Valley Master," Zhuang Yuyan explained with a smile.

"That's thinking too far ahead. Let's focus on surviving and getting out of this bizarre mist first," Pang Jian said solemnly.

Zhuang Yuyan fell silent, brows shadowed with gloom once more.

Indeed, the outcome between Lu Lingchan and "Luo Yuan" would not change their predicament.

They would all die here if they could not escape the bizarre mist. Any talk of inter-sect competitions or trials before that was meaningless.

"The Ascension Flute and the Celestial Ascension Domain. Haha." The imposter threw his head back and laughed.

He seemed to recognize Lu Lingchan's bamboo flute and its associated technique.

Lu Lingchan lifted her hand.

"Rise!"

A mighty force surged around "Luo Yuan," as if a celestial being had seized him and was attempting to pull him into the otherworldly domain.

"Luo Yuan" was lifted from the third-floor balcony as he was drawn into another world.

"This is the power of a sacred artifact!"

"The Ascension Flute!"

Guo Hongyuan and Lu Lianchen shouted in awe.

No matter how sinister and evil "Luo Yuan" was, they could not help but be confident in his defeat after Lu Lingchan unleashed the Ascension Flute's Celestial Ascension Domain.

She was a personal disciple of the Black Valley Sect's Valley Master and was wielding a sacred artifact, the Ascension Flute. They were certain "Luo Yuan" could not counter it.

"The Ascension Flute? Did this spectacle occur when a True God ascended?" Zhou Qingchen wondered aloud.

"Legend has it that once, when a certain True God tried to break through the Abyss, they witnessed celestial maidens and demonesses welcoming them in harmony," Zhuang Yuyan explained seriously, smile vanishing. "That True God ultimately failed. Shortly after witnessing that scene, they were struck by lightning.

"They fell from the sky and, after hastily leaving behind some insights as to their experiences, their divine soul was annihilated."

"So, the Ascension Flute's Celestial Ascension Domain is actually an ill omen," Pang Jian said, souring Zhuang Yuyan's mood once again.

"Lu Lingchan, remember to leave him alive. We'll let Dong Tianze probe his thoughts. I'm certain he's not a disciple of our Sword Pavilion!" Qi Qingsong called.

Qi Qingsong's anxiety and fear had stemmed from not knowing who the enemy was or where they were hiding

Now that they had identified and dragged their enemy out from the shadows, he was no longer worried.

Besides, he believed in Lu Lingchan's strength!

"The Celestial Ascension Domain? Heh, did no one tell you what happens to those who witness this scene?" The imposter chuckled, unconcerned.

The man remained his composure even as he was being pulled into the misty, otherworldly domain.

As he spoke, he pulled an ordinary spirit sword from his spatial bracelet and shook it in his hand.

Boom!

Bolts of lightning emerged from the spirit sword in his left hand.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sky was filled with thunder and lightning, shattering the magnificent little world Lu Lingchan had created with her Ascension Flute.

As his left hand wielded the spirit sword, the man clenched his right hand like a hammer and struck at Lu Lingchan with the force of a god splitting the heavens.

Lu Lingchan's protective shield shattered.

The man's fist, wrapped in boundless blood energy and interspersed with lightning, crashed down like a meteor from the sky, smashing into Lu Lingchan's hastily resummoned protective shield.

Boom!

Her protective shield was destroyed yet again.

Lu Lingchan let out a muffled groan as the man's punch sent her hurtling through the air, smashing through the roof of the Sword Boat, and crashing into the room below.

"This is a cursed object. You call this a sacred artifact?" The man sneered disdainfully, returning to the deck with Lu Lingchan's Ascension Flute in hand.

With a clench of his fist, he crushed the Ascension Flute, breaking it into pieces.

The sacred artifact had been destroyed.

He shook his head. "That Ye kid told her my divine sense count is higher than her, but she didn't believe him."

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