"You say that Bei Ming of the Demon Clan came here with the sole purpose of opening the gap in the two realms' barrier at the bottom of this abyss?"
Li Xun looked incredulous. Had they gone through so much trouble just to open a gap?
He had not yet realized the gravity of the situation.
Li Zhan and Qu Yao also looked at Zhang Ergou with confusion, awaiting his explanation.
Zhang Ergou recounted the time he followed Hua Xu, Mu Chen, Bai Youran, and others to the Western Regions' Jiang family to deal with Jiang Xu's affairs. By chance, they encountered an incident in the Jiang family's territory where the Jiang family patriarch was bewitched by a Demon Venerable.
He also mentioned that the Demon Venerable was captured alive.
"You actually captured a Demon Venerable alive, that's so cool!" Li Zhan exclaimed.
Li Xun and Qu Yao's eyes lit up, and they looked at him with admiration.
Zhang Ergou felt a mixture of amusement and helplessness. "I've told you all, it was Senior Hua Xu and the others who captured the Demon Venerable. It has nothing to do with me. Please don't look at me like that, even though I enjoy it."
"Get lost, you shameless person."
Li Zhan retorted with a smile.
After a few jokes, the atmosphere eased, and the previous heaviness lifted.
Their primary task now was to find the rift opened by Bei Ming. Fortunately, Zhang Ergou understood formations, so they wouldn't need to find someone else.
"You three stay up here and keep watch. I'll go down and take a look. The rift might be below."
"No, this abyss is bottomless. Don't be rash," Qu Yao quickly stopped Zhang Ergou, who was about to act alone again.
"Someone has to go down, and I understand formations. If I find the rift, I can seal it directly."
"We still think it's not a good idea. It's best if someone goes with you for backup."
In the end, Zhang Ergou couldn't persuade the other three and flew down the abyss with Li Xun.
Both of them had already broken through the Nascent Soul stage and could fly in the void.
They didn't fly directly to the bottom of the abyss but descended for a distance, both releasing their spiritual senses to probe.
The entire abyss was quiet. The deeper they went, the more uncomfortable they felt, and the concentration of demonic energy increased.
Zhang Ergou quickly circulated the spiritual fire within his body, refining the encroaching demonic energy, which made him feel better.
Li Xun was not so fortunate. He was a pure sword cultivator and could only rely on his cultivation to resist the erosion of demonic energy.
"How are you?" Zhang Ergou looked back at Li Xun, whose face was flushed red.
"I'm fine," Li Xun shook his head coolly and uttered two words.
"If you really can't stand it, you go up first. I can do it alone."
They had been down for nearly half an hour but had found nothing.
As a sword cultivator, Li Xun couldn't tolerate being looked down upon. He immediately ignored Zhang Ergou and flew past him, heading forward to search.
Zhang Ergou shook his head. His unintentional words had almost made the guy explode.
"Poor pride," Zhang Ergou muttered to himself.
He flew to catch up with Li Xun. As they went deeper, their vision was also affected.
Their speed slowed down. Firstly, they were not familiar with the area, and secondly, the demonic energy was not escaping rapidly. It was likely that the rift was not very large.
...
"Why haven't they come back yet, considering they've been down there for so long?"
Qu Yao and Li Zhan stood at the edge of the cliff, feeling somewhat bored.
"Let's wait a bit longer. This abyss is so long and bottomless; it will take a lot of effort to explore it thoroughly, not to mention they have to find the rift from which demonic energy is leaking."
Li Zhan looked into the bottomless abyss, unsure if he was comforting Qu Yao or himself.
"I'm just a little worried about them."
"Don't worry, that kid Zhang Ergou is very lucky."
"Let's hope so." Qu Yao's brow furrowed, and she didn't feel relieved by Li Zhan's comfort.
"If only we could help them."
Qu Yao knew that she and Li Zhan hadn't been brought down by Zhang Ergou because their cultivation was lower. Furthermore, one was an alchemist, and the other specialized in auxiliary skills, neither of which could be of much help.
For the first time, she felt a bit useless.
"What are you saying? We're a team, and everyone has their role. Otherwise, why would the alliance elders have formed a team of just the four of us?"
Compared to Qu Yao, Li Zhan was more open-minded and was not affected by such emotions.
...
"What was that?"
Li Xun felt a black shadow flash by and then disappear.
"There's something ahead," Li Xun quickly transmitted to Zhang Ergou.
"Be careful, watch your footing."
They had reached the bottom of the abyss. The bottom wasn't as they had imagined, filled with dense demonic energy and even some low-level demonic beasts.
Along the way, Zhang Ergou and Li Xun had each killed dozens of demonic beasts.
Perhaps because they were born at the bottom of the abyss, these demonic beasts grew without form, with no resemblance to heads or feet.
If they hadn't actively attacked the intruders who entered their territory,
Zhang Ergou and Li Xun would have overlooked them.
"What was that thing just now? It was so fast?"
With Li Xun's reminder, Zhang Ergou also noticed the fleeting figure.
The thing was not large, but its speed was incredibly fast.
"I don't know."
Li Xun shook his head, but he gripped his long sword tighter.
"It's not just one," Li Xun's expression turned grim, as two more figures flashed before his eyes.
"We seem to be surrounded."
"Not 'seem to be.' It's a fact."
The figures flashing around them kept circling, and the two finally realized they were surrounded by these objects whose forms they couldn't discern.
These things were so fast that even their spiritual senses couldn't capture them.
If they hadn't deliberately revealed themselves, the two would never have noticed them.
Zhang Ergou and Li Xun's expressions were grim. The demonic beasts they had encountered before were low-level, and they could kill them with a casual move.
This was the first real challenge they had faced.
They couldn't even track the movements of these creatures, let alone kill them.
It was important to note that both of them were at the Nascent Soul stage. Not only had their cultivation increased, but their spiritual senses had also improved significantly.
Yet, these things flashing before their eyes couldn't be detected or captured by their spiritual senses.
In the domain of Nascent Soul cultivators, everything moved according to the cultivator's will.
But these things could escape their domain's capture.
What made their expressions even worse was that the flashing figures were becoming more and more numerous, constantly increasing. Su Dan Novel Network
"Squeak... squeak..."
A sharp cry echoed in the silent space. Suddenly, the figures changed direction and pounced towards the two...