Trials of the Abyss

Pang Jian quietly observed from underground.

Earth Dive's consumption of blood essence was manageable as long as Pang Jian remained still while underground.

Although Pang Jian could remain motionless, the bald heretical cultivator above could not.

The bald heretical cultivator repeated the cycle of leaping into the air and landing, not daring to linger on the ground for too long.

The situation clearly worked in Pang Jian's favor.

Pang Jian did not rush to attack and instead took the time to inspect one of the withered leaves more closely.

He infused a wisp of spiritual power into it and squinted as he silently sensed the flow of spiritual power through the natural veins of the leaf.

The leaf abruptly emitted an aura that sapped vitality.

All living beings seemed destined to wither and wilt away under the leaf's sinister power.

Its decaying aura seemed not to affect him because his spiritual power was the withered leaf's source of power.

He then took the smooth piece of beast hide and infused it with spiritual power.

The smooth hide started to wrinkle and soon resembled the skin beneath a Vicious Beast's neck.

Dark green miasma seeped out and corroded his skin, but the silver sheen of Illusory Bone Realm body blocked most of the toxins.

The effects of this one are indiscriminate, he noted.

Pang Jian stopped the flow of spiritual power and purged the small amount of poison that had entered his body.

Soon, the remaining toxins affecting his blood and internal organs were completely neutralized.

The withered leaf has natural veins, while the beast hide contains patterns hidden beneath its wrinkles. They're both naturally formed rather than artificially refined or carved, which is why they can be used in Spirit Offering.

Pang Jian had identified the key aspect of Spirit Offering.

The black turtle scute on his chest was natural like the beast hide and withered leaves. That was why he could use Earth Dive and Mountain Phase, thus allowing him to kill the two heretical cultivators.

"Hmph, trying to flee now?" Pang Jian sneered coldly, noticing the now exhausted bald heretical cultivator trying to escape.

If the black turtle can grant me control over gravity once it grows, my future opponent won't even be able to get off the ground, Pang Jian thought as he moved silently underground.

"Hmm?"

Pang Jian suddenly noticed something unusual above him—threads of crimson blood were moving as if drawn by some unknown force.

The bald heretical cultivator did not seem to notice the abnormal movements of the blood.

The statue! Pang Jian realized.

After taking a closer look, Pang Jian confirmed the threads of blood were flowing toward the beautiful face of the arachnid statue.

The blood came from the two heretical cultivators he had killed with the Startling Slaughter Spear!

Sensing something was amiss, Pang Jian abandoned his standoff with the bald cultivator and decisively withdrew.

Pang Jian flew out of the ground in the opposite direction from the bald cultivator and headed to another region, deliberately allowing the bald heretical cultivator to notice him leaving.

"That crafty brat hid underground the whole time and only showed himself when he saw I was about to leave," the bald heretical cultivator sneered.

The arachnid statue now stood between him and Pang Jian.

Despite losing his companions, the heretical cultivator did not rush to leave and instead cautiously observed their corpses from afar.

"Even though the beast hide and withered leaves are gone, they still have spatial pouches," he muttered.

After a moment of hesitation, he cautiously turned back toward the corpses.

He remained on high alert, fearing Pang Jian was only pretending to leave so he could sneak back and ambush him.

Soon, he reached the first corpse, and as he grabbed the spatial pouch, his eyes widened in horror.

He could not help but cry out in shock.

His companion's body had been drained of every drop of blood, reducing it to a shriveled corpse within a short span of time.

"What kind of sinister technique is that brat practicing?"

A wave of unease surged in the bald heretical cultivator's heart.

Despite this being Pang Jian's apparent first time entering Spirit Offering, he was even more terrifying than their group.

The bald heretical cultivator could not help but feel that Pang Jian had likely sacrificed himself to some malevolent God and gained a technique that allowed him to drain human blood.

"This guy could become a real threat in Spirit Offering. I'll need to be careful in the future."

The bald heretical cultivator then moved to the second corpse to loot its spatial pouch and found another dried-out body.

He suspected that Pang Jian had not stayed hidden underground to ambush him but to drain his companions' blood.

"Could it be the technique of the Blood Moon Sect? No, the Blood Moon Sect doesn't absorb human blood, they draw power from the rich blood essence in the blood of Vicious Beasts."

As the bald heretical cultivator puzzled over it, he suddenly felt a presence watching him.

He turned and saw an eerily beautiful face smiling faintly at him.

The bald heretical cultivator's hair stood on end and a chill ran down his spine.

The statue's beautiful face had grown flesh, radiating a soft, luminous glow.

Its sinister yet captivating face held an allure that could drag one's soul into oblivion, with eyes resembling the mysterious depths of a rippling lake.

The face smiled and its eyes narrowed.

"Ah!" the bald heretical cultivator shrieked in horror.

Pang Jian stopped in his tracks when he heard the shrill scream.

Although he was unsure of exactly what had transpired, he could make an educated guess: the statue had likely turned its attention to the bald heretical cultivator after draining the two corpses.

Resisting the urge to look back out of curiosity, Pang Jian waited until the cries ceased before speeding away.

Afterward, he moved cautiously, avoiding all destroyed statues, carvings, and incomplete altars while maintaining a respectful demeanor toward them.

Pang Jian did not touch or explore anything, completely suppressing his curiosity.

He ventured deeper into the desolate wilderness.

Without the ability to manipulate his spear, he was left to traverse the seemingly endless wilderness on foot.

It was not until he encountered something truly astonishing that he came to a stop.

A massive beehive filled with chambers laid before him like a toppled mountain.

The collapsed beehive was far larger than the one he had seen in Insect Valley of the Solitary Mountain Range.

Upon closer inspection, Pang Jian realized the beehive had not been carved into a single massive boulder but an entire mountain!

Pang Jian's shock deepened.

A beehive...is this another Outer God?

The crumbling statue with the face of a human and the body of a spider was already bizarre enough. It had likely devoured the flesh and blood of the three heretical cultivators and seemed to resemble some malevolent God.

Whether this was also true for the beehive in front of him was yet to be determined.

Pang Jian took out the bronze pendant, held it in his palm, and warily approached the beehive.

The terrifying statue from before still lingered in his mind. He feared this beehive would also exhibit unexpected dangers, leading him to suffer the same fate as those heretical cultivators.

Whoosh!

A deep crimson protective barrier appeared around him, infused with a variety of energies.

He then activated the Illusory Bone Realm, the black turtle scute in his chest, and the five leaves covering his heart.

He also maintained a constant connection with the black turtle and the little tree.

If a deadly threat appeared, he planned to abandon his curiosity and flee from the beehive carved into the mountain.

Thirty steps, twenty steps, ten steps away!

Despite all his precautions, Pang Jian sensed no abnormalities in his surroundings.

The only anomaly was the bronze pendant in his hand, which grew warm to the touch.

There's something here!

Pang Jian felt a surge of excitement.

Seven steps, five steps, three steps, one step away!

Pang Jian stopped in front of a broken fragment of the beehive and, after some thought, touched it with the bronze pendant instead of his hand.

Clang!

A crisp metallic sound rang out when the pendant touched the beehive.

The seemingly solid piece of the beehive silently crumbled into dust.

Pang Jian froze for a moment before moving to another piece of the collapsed beehive, tapping it with the pendant again.

It, too, crumbled to dust.

The sight reminded Pang Jian of Central Lake Island in Black Orchid Lake, where he had watched as the bizarre mist turned towering mountains into dust.

What if I touch it with the Startling Slaughter Spear instead of the bronze pendant?

Pang Jian then moved to another broken chunk of the beehive and struck it with the spear tip.

Clang!

Sparks flew when the spear tip hit the beehive.

Unlike before, the beehive remained intact, and a trace of soul-corrupting sinister energy flowed toward Pang Jian's hand holding the spear.

The bronze pendant absorbed the sinister energy as soon as Pang Jian sensed it.

His eyes widened in surprise. The beehive was no ordinary object and only disintegrated into dust when the Gate of the Abyss came into contact with it.

Sinister energy would invade the soul of anyone who used anything else to touch the chunks of the collapsed beehive.

Pang Jian methodically used the bronze pendant to touch the beehive, eventually reducing the whole thing to dust.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The larger and smaller chunks all crumbled away, turning the area into a sea of dust.

When no fragments of the beehive remained, Pang Jian noticed the bronze gate on the pendant had cracked open to be slightly ajar.

He narrowed his eyes as he peeked through the gap.

Deep within the dense bizarre mist inside the Gate of the Abyss was a small beehive with a tiny...pupa inside.

The pupa was golden and shone with dazzling brilliance!

Bang!

The Gate of the Abyss slammed shut.

Pang Jian was still puzzled when he abruptly felt the bronze pendant drawing two types of energy from within him.

It was absorbing his blood essence and mental energy!

In an instant, Pang Jian's divine sense shrank and the thick blood mist in the Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint within his chest thinned.

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