Trials of the Abyss

Li Yuanchen's father, Li Wei, was known as the Armor-Breaking Marquis and was in the mid-stage of the Immortal Realm.

The Li Clan was one of the powerful factions of the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom and had risen to prominence after an ancestor reached the True God Realm.

Li Wei was the head of the Li Clan and wielded significant authority as the commander of a divine army. He was renowned in the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom and across the Eastern Land.

Li Yuanchen and his group's destination was not Absolute Heaven, but the contaminated Fourth World.

The Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom had been monitoring the abnormal changes in the Fourth World and had instructed Li Wei, the Armor-Breaking Marquis, to send people to investigate.

Along the way, Li Yuanchen had heard about the Outer God Puppets in Absolute Heaven and changed his plans.

He commanded the Armor-Breaking Warship—named after his father—to head straight for Absolute Heaven.

Those escorting Li Yuanchen with cultivation above the Profound Abode Realm left separately on a smaller warship to explore the Fourth World.

The highly skilled soldiers of the Armor-Breaking Army would wait outside the bizarre mist after returning from the Fourth World at their predetermined rendezvous point.

As the situation spiraled out of control, Li Yuanchen used the pretext of searching for a way out to take valuable treasures with him to wander the bizarre mist alone.

His desperate searches had been futile, and every time he returned to the Armor-Breaking Warship, he was confronted with even more dead bodies.

Battles, slaughter, and the collapse of humanity ultimately led to the destruction of the Armor-Breaking Warship.

As the last survivor, Li Yuanchen continued to delve deeper into the bizarre mist alone, desperately seeking a sliver of hope, when he accidentally came upon the Sword Boat.

Everyone roughly knew what happened from there.

He infiltrated the Sword Boat, used a secret technique to enter Xu Jie's body, peered into Ye Fei's thoughts, and finally transformed into Luo Yuan.

"And that's basically it," Dong Tianze concluded.

At that moment, Li Yuanchen's heart stopped beating.

"Did he just die?" Qi Qingsong stroked his chin and carefully inspected Li Yuanchen. "Dong Tianze, he could spy on people's thoughts, so he's probably proficient in some sinister arts. Are you sure he's not fooling us?"

Dong Tianze snorted. "He's dead."

Then, glancing at Pang Jian, he said tentatively, "All the spirit sen—divine sense in Li Yuanchen's sea of consciousness was destroyed during my soul search. Only some silver divine sense remains as my soul-searching technique did not affect it." ℞ÂℕộΒΕṢ

Zhou Qingchen was shocked. "Silver divine sense?"

Pang Jian's brow twitched as he secretly communicated with the Bee Sovereign. Two golden bees immediately darted toward Li Yuanchen's eyes.

The golden bees' souls detached from their bodies and entered Li Yuanchen's sea of consciousness to fight over the remaining silver divine sense.

The two bees did not take long to devour Lu Yuanchen's silver divine sense, and their bloated bee souls soon returned to their bodies before disappearing into the bizarre mist.

"Li Wei, the Armor-Breaking Marquis of the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom." Zhuang Yuyan knitted her brows and said with a hint of worry, "I've heard of him. He's quite a troublesome person to deal with."

The three Divine Kingdoms of the Eastern Land were at odds with the sects of the First World and had their own territories and laws. Each of the three Divine Kingdoms had deep foundations, with powerful True Gods emerging in every era.

Zhuang Yuyan feared Li Yuanchen's death would provoke retaliation from the Armor-Breaking Marquis and cause trouble for the Sword Pavilion.

"Li Yuanchen attacked us first! Also, how many have died after entering the bizarre mist because they got lost? Everyone on the Armor-Breaking Warship is dead. It's only natural Li Yuanchen would die too," Qi Qingsong said indifferently. Then, glancing at Zhao Yuanqi and Fang Boxuan, he added, "No one will know Li Yuanchen's death is related to us if we don't say anything."

"Why are you looking at me? I'm not going to say anything!" Fang Boxuan huffed.

Zhao Yuanqi just snorted in response.

"Pang Jian, I'd like to speak to you privately about Li Yuanchen's silver divine sense," Dong Tianze said abruptly.

Everyone looked at him suspiciously, suspecting he had uncovered some secret information.

"Why all the secrecy? Why can't you say it in front of us?" Fang Boxuan sneered.

"You, the most useless person here, dares question me?" Dong Tianze's face darkened. "Pang Jian captured Li Yuanchen alive, and I extracted the information. It's up to us whether or not to tell you. Besides, you haven't contributed much."

Dong Tianze did not mince his words.

Neither Zhao Yuanqi nor Fang Boxuan had left a good impression on him, and their early escapes left him feeling rather discontent with them.

The only ones Dong Tianze was fine with at the moment were Qi Qingsong and Zhuang Yuyan, as they had stayed behind to fight, and Zhou Qingchen, as he did not leave voluntarily.

"I..." Fang Boxuan opened his mouth to argue, but could not find a reason to refute him and ended up just stewing in silence.

"It's okay, you can go ahead," Pang Jian said.

"Are you sure?"

"Go ahead."

"Alright." Dong Tianze nodded. "I came across something strange in Li Yuanchen's memories. According to his memories, what we know as divine sense is actually spirit sense.

"Only spirit sense manifested after absorbing and refining the divine consciousness of Outer Gods is called divine sense.

"So, those silver strands that had lingered in Li Yuanchen's were true divine sense, and the ones I erased were spirit sense," Dong Tianze explained in a slightly baffled tone.

The others listening to him were also puzzled.

The cultivation methods passed down in the human race since ancient times provided detailed descriptions of each major realm and clearly stated that the strands formed in the Profound Abode Realm were called divine sense.

Nobody could understand why Li Yuanchen referred to them as spirit sense instead of divine sense.

If true, that meant the divine sense in all their seas of consciousness was actually spirit sense.

"Go on," Pang Jian urged.

"Li Yuanchen changed his mind at the last moment because of the opening of the Abyss, which allowed many Outer Gods to once again gaze upon it," Dong Tianze continued. "He heard that Outer God Puppets were entering Absolute Heaven in large numbers, so he stepped into the bizarre mist to hunt them down.

"He only recently learned true divine sense was formed by refining the divine consciousness of an Outer God. This true divine sense isn't restricted to the Profound Abode Realm and possesses many mysteries."

Dong Tianze looked over at Pang Jian once he finished speaking.

"Pang Jian, earlier, you mentioned seeing those ants. Is the golden divine sense that flew out of your eyes…?" Qi Qingsong asked.

Pang Jian nodded.

"Back in Spirit Offering, I collected some fragmented divine consciousness of Outer Gods from the damaged stone statues and wooden carvings," Pang Jian lied, not wanting to admit he had hunted Outer God Puppets. "He's right, cultivation realms are not a limiter for this type of divine sense, and it possesses many wonders."

The crowd broke out into discussion.

"If the divine consciousness of Outer Gods is needed, then doesn't that mean cultivators only have the opportunity to refine this true divine sense when the Abyss opens? Is that why the higher-ups keep it a secret and don't reveal the truth about divine sense?"

"If divine sense without divine consciousness is called spirit sense, then all we have in our seas of consciousness are just spirit sense!"

"Li Yuanchen's and Pang Jian's divine sense are clearly different from ours!"

"It seems the emergence of Outer Gods is both a crisis and an opportunity!"

"If we can refine true divine sense from them, our cultivation potential will also be greatly enhanced!"

Their talk continued in this heated manner and only stopped with a cold remark from Fang Boxuan.

"We can't leave the bizarre mist, so what's the use of thinking about all this?" he snapped.

It was like cold water had been poured over everyone, silencing them.

Neither Fu Wangchen of the Forsaken Expanse Sect nor Li Yuanchen from the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom from the First World had found a way out of the bizarre mist.

They had all experienced the difficulties of the bizarre mist and were aware that people's hearts would inevitably change in such a hopeless situation.

Their discussion would only hold meaning if they escaped the bizarre mist alive.

Otherwise, it was pointless.

Pang Jian remained silent.

Six golden bee souls suddenly appeared in his sea of consciousness.

The golden bees spat a mouthful of honey into the acupoints at the bottom of his sea of consciousness and disappeared.

Six new bee pupae then appeared in the beehive.

The pupae sought blood essence as soon as they formed, and the blood essence in Pang Jian's Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint flowed directly into the bronze pendant.

Pang Jian silently took out some flesh and blood of Vicious Beasts to replenish himself.

"Don't worry, I have a clear direction. I can lead you all to Absolute Heaven." Pang Jian sat down and said to the gentle Zhuang Yuyan, "Senior Sister, could you go to the ship's hold and fill the arrays with spirit jades to restart the Sword Boat?"

"I can! I certainly can!" Zhuang Yuyan's eyes lit up with joy. "Junior Brother, you're not joking, are you? Did you truly find a way out?!"

"Pang Jian!" the others exclaimed, hope blazing in their eyes.

None of them knew how long they had been trapped in the bizarre mist.

So many had broken down, unable to bear the mental pressure.

Pang Jian had not only managed to capture Li Yuanchen but had also found a way out.

The thought made their very souls tremble with excitement.

"There shouldn't be a problem. Senior Sister, please start the Sword Boat. We're leaving now," Pang Jian affirmed.

"Junior Brother, you truly are our lucky star." A radiant smile bloomed across Zhuang Yuyan's face.

She rushed into the ship's hold with her stash of one hundred and ten thousand spirit jades, eager to fill the arrays inside.

Pang Jian's closest companions, Qi Qingsong and Zhou Qingchen, crowded around him.

"Come on, Pang Jian, tell us how you found the way out!"

"You rascal, just how many secrets are you hiding?"

The two ribbed and teased Pang Jian.

Dong Tianze had initially also wanted to ask a few questions, but when he saw Qi Qingsong and Zhou Qingchen surrounding Pang Jian, he could only sit on the Black Iron Mountain with a cold expression.

"This guy..." Zhao Yuanqi muttered, strapping her large gourd onto her back.

She sat, leaning against the ship's railing, gaze turning distance as she seemed to lose herself in thought.

Zhao Yuanqi had not been there to witness Pang Jian's brilliance during the incident in the Primordial Wilderness.

This experience in the boundless bizarre mist was her first time seeing Pang Jian's extraordinary abilities firsthand.

Pang Jian had left a profound impression on her.

Li Yuanchen, the son of the Armor-Breaking Marquis of the Boundless Sky Divine Kingdom, had left Zhao Yuanqi feeling desperate and powerless, only for Pang Jian to bring him back looking like a dying dog.

And now, Pang Jian had found a way out.

"A golden carp does not remain in a shallow pond; it transforms into a dragon when it encounters wind and clouds,[1]" Zhao Yuanqi muttered.

1. This is a Chinese saying that describes how a person of great talent or potential is not meant to remain in obscurity or mediocrity. When the right opportunity or circumstances arise, their true potential is revealed and they achieve greatness. ☜

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