Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 220: Cultivation and Covert Surveillance

??Cult Leader Yin Yiqing's long, narrow eyes gleamed coldly as he stood in Dong Tianze's dark cave dwelling in the Sinister Soul Temple,

Spirit materials belonging to the deceased Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators surrounded the large Ghost Altar.

Yin Yiqing stared at a familiar Ethereal Ghost Token and sighed. "Elder Lou..."

Lou Yunming's death deeply pained him. Spirit Condensation Realm elders were the pillars of their sects.

"Cult Leader, how should we handle these spirit materials and spirit artifacts we obtained from Pang Jian?" Han Zhiyuan asked bitterly.

"You should personally handle them. Make sure no one knows we had contact with Pang Jian." Yin Yiqing frowned. "The total value of these spirit materials is actually a bit higher than what we estimated for Pang Jian, but dealing with them is quite troublesome."

It would undoubtedly attract criticism if it became known that the Sinister Soul Temple was selling the personal effects of Jiu Yuan, Liang Ying, and others.

"Don't worry, I have experience in this," Han Zhiyuan said solemnly.

Yin Yiqing nodded before turning toward where Dong Tianze had descended from the Ghost Altar. "You don't need to focus solely on your cultivation anymore. You can leave the sect to seek your opportunities. Dismantle this Ghost Altar and take it with you."

Still feeling depressed at Pang Jian's earnings, Dong Tianze stared blankly at the Ghost Altar and slowly nodded.

"What excuse should we use?" Han Zhiyuan asked curiously.

"When the foreign races invaded the Primordial Wilderness, we sent our people there, leaving our sect's forces thin. He took the opportunity to escape," Yin Yiqing said casually. "The Fourth World is in chaos and the foreign races invaded the Third World. No one will care about these trivial matters during such a tumultuous time."

Han Zhiyuan nodded. "Got it."

Yin Yiqing extended a finger and pointed at the ground. Some miscellaneous items, like the Sinister Soul Staff, flew into the spatial bracelet that had once belonged to Lou Yunming.

The bracelet then floated toward Dong Tianze and slipped onto his arm.

"We've lost an elder. I hope you'll diligently cultivate and reach the Spirit Condensation Realm as soon as possible," said Yin Yiqing.

The Radiant Sun Sect had Yang Rui while the Blood Moon Sect had Fang Boxuan. The Sinister Soul Temple, on the other hand, did not have any outstanding talents.

Despite being born in the Fourth World, Yin Yiqing and Han Zhiyuan believed that Dong Tianze was a rising star who could rival those geniuses.

However, to be regarded as such, there was one crucial condition—they had to advance to the Spirit Condensation Realm before the age of twenty. Only then could they be considered true geniuses.

"Thank you, Cult Leader." Dong Tianze bowed and dismantled the Ghost Alter under the gazes of the two leaders.

He made up his mind. As soon as he left the Sinister Soul Temple, he would use the Celestial Phoenix Imprint on his forehead to search the Third World for those possessing the essence of the Celestial Phoenix. He would then kill them to strengthen himself.

"I will handle the follow-up arrangements." With that, Yin Yiqing floated out of the cave.

Ten days later, after Dong Tianze left the Sinister Soul Temple, a shriek echoed through the grand and eerie halls. Yin Yiqing's shriek was like the wailing of ten thousand ghosts from hell and left numerous deep scratches on the iron walls of the hall.

Beside a black stone pillar covered in ghostly runes, the emaciated body of Han Zhiyuan trembled violently as he cried, "Pang Jian!"

The shrill cries of the pair could tear eardrums apart.

They had just learned that Pang Jian had been the one to kill Lou Yunming in the Primordial Wilderness!

Pang Jian had used the Shadow Specter Sect's Ghost Altar and traded Lou Yunming's belongings with them for a large amount of spirit jades!

The two sect leaders felt maliciously deceived!

Killing Lou Yunming was one thing. The greater insult was that Pang Jian had despicably exploited the information disparity to conduct transactions using the Ghost Altar!

Han Zhiyuan trembled with rage, body practically shaking apart. "That brat treated us like fools!"

"If he dares to show his face again, I'll make sure he never reaches the Sword Pavilion alive!" Yin Yiqing roared.

***

The sun blazed high in the sky.

The Resolute Expanse, now hidden deep within thick clouds, had long since left the Primordial Wilderness. Rather than part ways with the black turtle, Pang Jian opted to go into seclusion in the depths of the Cloud Wilderness.

"Strange, I still can't control my divine sense and have yet to advance to the middle stage of the Profound Abode Realm."

Pang Jian pushed open the door of a wooden cabin to stand in the misty forest of the Cloud Wilderness.

As long as he was in the Resolute Expanse, Pang Jian would always be harmonized with the land even without needing to focus his mind. With a single thought, the entirety of the fragmented land became visible to him.

Pang Jian let out a deep sigh.

He had been trying to control his divine sense for the past ten days and achieve a breakthrough in his cultivation.

Despite his efforts, he could not consciously move any of the one hundred and twenty-eight strands of divine sense floating in his sea of consciousness.

His cultivation had rapidly advanced in the Primordial Wilderness, but now he seemed to have stagnated.

Maybe my previous breakthroughs happened too quickly and I just need some time to let my cultivation realm stabilize, Pang Jian comforted himself.

Pang Jian felt dejected as he stood outside the wooden cabin built by rogue cultivators. After a moment, he composed himself and instead decided to check on the situation in Divine Fortune in the Fourth World.

He wondered whether the little tree had made contact with the Wood Race yet.

His perspective shifted.

The leader of the Wood Race, who he had secretly aided in escaping, and dozens of Wood Race members busied themselves in various parts of Divine Fortune.

Their faces were filled with excitement and joy as they scattered seeds across the fragmented land.

Some planted seeds and saplings in Divine Fortune City, some at the edges of the fragmented land, and others in the towns between Divine Fortune City and Misty Swamp.

Once he established a connection with the little tree, Pang Jian found that he could perceive the locations, emotions, and thoughts of all the members of the Wood Race.

I can hear the thoughts of the Wood Race! What a wonderful feeling, Pang Jian thought before investigating this newfound perception further.

His perception when connected with the little tree was not as profound or detailed as in the Resolute Expanse.

He could not sense the movements of all living beings, delve into the ground, or view places without plants. He also could not manipulate the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, feel the blood energy within Vicious Beasts, or extend his perception beyond Divine Fortune.

In other words, he could not harmonize with the land in Divine Fortune.

But he could still hear the innermost thoughts of the Wood Race.

His perception was entirely from the viewpoint of the World Eater Vine.

This confirmed that the little tree, which the Wood Race regarded as a pillar of faith, was indeed a god-like presence among them.

Upon closer inspection, Pang Jian also discovered that each member of the Wood Race was connected to himself—or rather, to the little tree.

All the members of the Wood Race in Divine Fortune were linked to the little tree through these connections, and the little tree was drawing a faint trace of their mental energy.

The little tree appeared to be using this to enhance its intelligence.

This discovery shocked Pang Jian.

Its power slowly increased with the arrival of the Wood Race and the planting of saplings and seeds throughout Divine Fortune.

It also drew soul essence from the bodies of the Wood Race whenever it nourished them with life energy.

The World Eater Vine and the Wood Race were perfect complements, and their relationship was mutualistic.

Pang Jian then used the vegetation throughout Divine Fortune to observe further and found that most of the bloodthirsty Vicious Beasts that followed the black roc had disappeared from Divine Fortune.

The Vicious Beasts loyal to the Wood Race now ruled over the native Vicious Beasts of the Fourth World residing in Divine Fortune. These loyal Vicious Beasts had descended to Divine Fortune from the Third World with the Wood Race.

Divine Fortune was now firmly under the control of the Wood Race. They evidently regarded it as their stronghold and planned to make it their new home.

Not bad, the development here is impressive. Guiding the Wood Race to Divine Fortune was worth it.

Pang Jian cut the connection after a brief exchange with the little tree. He then shifted his perception to the Giant Abyssal Serpent in the Fifth World.

Yu Xin of the Celestial Race was leading many foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts to gather beside a towering Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar.

Among them, Pang Jian spotted a Celestial Race powerhouse with eight pairs of wings, the one-eyed giant Ah Man, a Demon Scale Race powerhouse riding a winding silver-white Skeletal Dragon, and a Ghost Race powerhouse perched on the shoulder of a giant Ghost Ape.

Powerful figures from the foreign races were gathered around the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar.

Sinister artifacts and strange spirit materials were laid out in the field of broken bones surrounding the pillar.

The one-eyed giant named Ah Man roared.

His roar reverberated through the air, causing the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar to emit a bright green light, illuminating the dark land for miles.

Pang Jian's connection with the Giant Abyssal Serpent was abruptly cut off.

Before the connection was severed, he sensed that the Giant Abyssal Serpent had...fainted.

Useless. Pang Jian snorted lightly.

After establishing connections with both the little tree in the Fourth World and the Giant Abyssal Serpent in the Fifth World, Pang Jian examined his sea of consciousness and noticed that some of his divine sense had thinned.

After swallowing a Mind Soothing Pill, his divine senses soon returned to their original size.

In the following days, Pang Jian stayed on the Resolute Expanse, seeking a breakthrough to the middle stage of the Profoud Abode Realm.

He used many methods to try and control his mysterious divine sense, but none yielded any results.

During this time, through harmonizing with the land, Pang Jian noticed many Cloud Sails heading toward the Primordial Wilderness.

It seemed the news of Old Monster Cao's death and the eradication of the foreign races had spread in the Third World.

The convergence of Cloud Sails from other parts of the Third World allowed the trapped cultivators to finally leave the Primordial Wilderness.

Pang Jian's name would only spread further across the Third World with every Cloud Sail leaving the Primordial Wilderness.