Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 122: Misunderstandings

Zhu Yuanxi was a cultivator in the Innate Realm. He was drinking and having fun in Misty Swamp Village with Ouyang Quan when the blood talisman on his waist received a transmission.

Putting down his wine cup, Zhu Yuanxi pushed away the girl Ouyang Quan had arranged to serve him and grabbed the blood talisman. After listening to the message, his expression changed. "Something's happened!"

Ouyang Quan stood up. "What's going on?"

It was not only the Blood Moon Sect's beast-hunting sailboat that patrolled Misty Swamp but also the Cloud Sails of the seven major clans.

They had been hunting down the remnants of the Shadow Specter Sect and capturing rogue cultivators.

He could not imagine what could have gone wrong.

"It's Meng Qiulan, Zhao Ling, and a kid named Hong Jian from the Shadow Specter Sect!" Zhu Yuanxi yelled, rushing out of the stone building toward the Radiant Sun Sect's Fire Cloud Ship.

"Brother Zhu, what's the matter?" Xiao Pei, the person in charge of the Radiant Sun Sect, looked over in surprise.

Next to him were Dong Yao and Su Hongfei from the Dong and the Su Clans respectively. The trio had been studying the map of the nearby fragmented lands, discussing how to divide their forces and investigate the surrounding anomalies when they saw Zhu Yuanxi rush over.

"Our people have encountered the remnants of the Shadow Specter Sect in Misty Swamp, and they're proving to be tough adversaries," Zhu Yuanxi said anxiously. "Brother Xiao, please activate the Fire Cloud Ship and take me to Misty Swamp to eliminate this threat!"

"The Shadow Specter Sect still dares to cause trouble?" Dong Yao asked, stunned.

"I also wasn't expecting it." Zhu Yuanxi smiled bitterly.

He did not accompany Ni Chen in patrolling Misty Swamp because there were also Cloud Sails from the seven clans backing them up.

Since they had started their rounds, all he had heard were reports of the Shadow Specter Sect members being relentlessly hunted down and captured.

He believed the remaining members of the Shadow Specter Sect would not dare show themselves now that the Radiant Sun Sect, the Star River Alliance, the Blood Moon Sect, and the powerful members of the seven major clans had arrived at Divine Fortune.

Once the murky energy spread, those still in hiding would eventually die.

Believing the Shadow Specter Sect's members to be doomed, Zhu Yuanxi did not take the matter seriously and stayed behind in Misty Swamp Village with Xiao Pei and Huang Ying.

"Brother Zhu, they're just a bunch of clowns. Is it worth mobilizing our forces?" Xiao Pei shook his head with a laugh.

"I didn't take it seriously before, but I received news that one of the three Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivators who came with me was killed," Zhu Yuanxi said, brows knitted in concern. "I need to get to the battlefield as soon as possible, and only your Fire Cloud Ship or the Star River Alliance's Gilded Chariot can get me there fast enough."

Xiao Pei sighed. "Activating the Fire Cloud Ship will consume a lot of spirit jades."

"I'm willing to bear the cost!" Zhu Yuanxi said.

"Very well." Xiao Pei nodded.

The blood talisman in Zhu Yuanxi's hand abruptly lit up. "Old Zhu, Qi Yue is also dead! I-I fear I will—"

With that, the light of the blood talisman went out.

The expressions on Xiao Pei's, Dong Yao's, and Su Hongfei's faces changed after hearing the message.

They had dismissed the hidden remnants of the Shadow Specter Sect and had not planned on cooperating with the Blood Moon Sect to eliminate them.

After all, the ones the Shadow Specter Sect's members had raided and killed were the Blood Moon Sect. This matter did not concern them.

They were astonished that another Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivator from the Blood Moon Sect was in trouble.

"Something's not right," Dong Yao said. He used a secret method to communicate with the leader of his clan's Cloud Sail, urging them to hurry to the Blood Moon Sect's beast-hunting sailboat to see what was happening.

"Activate the Fire Cloud Ship!" Xiao Pei ordered. He then instructed Su Hongfei, "Go to the Gilded Chariot and tell Huang Ying of the Star River Alliance that there are formidable members of the Shadow Specter Sect causing trouble in Misty Swamp."

"Got it!"

***

In a corner of Misty Swamp, the Startling Slaughter Spear pierced Ni Chen's chest, causing him to fall backward into a pool of his own blood.

After killing Ni Chen with the Edge of Startling Slaughter technique, Pang Jian squatted down to stare at the sparkling red talisman in Ni Chen's hand.

Ni Chen had tightly gripped this talisman and shouted into it in his dying moments.

"It can even transmit sound," Pang Jian noted, then unceremoniously took both the talisman and Ni Chen's spatial pouch.

After slaughtering Zhao Muye and Ni Chen, Pang Jian was convinced that Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivators from the Third and Fourth Worlds were no match for him in a one-on-one fight.

Even if the ruthless Dong Tianze from the Sinister Soul Temple dared to come down to the lower world, Pang Jian was confident he could kill him.

Gazing up at the night sky, he saw the deep crimson full moon that had been suppressing them had broken.

While he pursued Ni Chen, he noticed Spirit Devils flying up and tearing apart the Blood Moon Sect's forbidden technique.

The screams of Blood Moon Sect's cultivators could still be heard from within the beast-hunting sailboat. The terrified Blood Moon Sect's members shouted about the Sinister Soul Temple attacking them as they jumped down from the sailboat.

Spirit Devils invaded them in mid-air, and without spiritual power to protect them, they fell to their deaths.

"You came rather quickly," Pang Jian muttered.

The Spirit Devils were under Luo Hongyan's control. Earlier, he saw a familiar silhouette heading toward the beast-hunting sailboat.

At that moment, he knew a one-sided massacre was about to occur.

"Spirit Devils!"

"I saw Spirit Devils!"

"People from the Sinister Soul Temple are here!"

Meanwhile, Zhao Ling, Meng Qiulan, and Wu Yi had just killed Qi Yue and were joyfully looking at the beast-hunting sailboat in the sky when they saw Spirit Devils invading the Blood Moon Sect cultivators' bodies.

Only members of the Sinister Soul Temple could refine Spirit Devils, and the higher their cultivation realm, the stronger the Spirit Devils they could refine.

In the eyes of the remaining Shadow Specter Sect members, the appearance of the Spirit Devils, the shattering of the deep crimson full moon in the sky, and the horrific deaths of the Blood Moon Sect cultivators could only mean one thing; Their Sect Leader had not abandoned them!

They knew from Yang Yuansen that their Sect Leader was a Sinister Soul Temple cultivator, and a burst of excitement filled them.

Roar!

The Blood Moon Sect's beast-hunting sailboat sprang back to life.

It then crashed into an approaching Cloud Sail, causing those on the Cloud Sail to curse.

The impact knocked the Cloud Sail to the ground, killing an unknown number of people.

The beast-hunting sailboat then targeted another Cloud Sail.

Rumble!

Boom! Boom!

The sailboat collided into three successive Cloud Sails, causing the members of the seven major clans to curse the Blood Moon Sect for their madness.

Finally, the beast-hunting ship reached its limit and exploded into pieces.

"This..." Wu Yi stared blankly at the destroyed beast-hunting sailboat. "The person who saved us is incredibly strong! They controlled the Spirit Devils and slaughtered the Blood Moon Sect's cultivators, then piloted the beast-hunting sailboat and destroyed the incoming Cloud Sails one after another!"

"To act at this moment, they must be extraordinary!" Zhao Ling marveled.

She then stomped heavily on the face of the deceased Qi Yue, causing his already deformed face to shatter.

"Someone like you dared to have indecent thoughts about me?" she sneered. Satisfied at Qi Yue's now unrecognizable face, she said, "Even if we end up dying in Misty Swamp, I have no regrets. At least the Sect Leader made an effort!"

"We've misunderstood Sect Leader," Meng Qiulan said with a guilty sigh.

They all believed the appearance of the Spirit Devils was Han Zhiyuan's doing, thinking he had used the resources of the Sinister Soul Temple to come to Misty Swamp and save them.

"It's a pity the beast-hunting sailboat was destroyed. They should've used it to pick us up and take us out of Divine Fortune," Wu Yi said regretfully.

"That would be difficult. It would be hard for the beast-hunting sailboat to break through with the Radiant Sun Sect's Fire Cloud Ship and the Star River Alliance's Gilded Chariot around." Meng Qiulan shook her head.

Pang Jian emerged from the tall grass in the middle of their conversation

"The last cultivator is dead," Pang Jian said calmly as he approached Zhao Muye's corpse and looted his spatial pouch.

"I knew he wouldn't be able to escape," Zhao Ling said. A relieved smile spread across her face. "Hong Jian, I have good news for you. The Sect Leader hasn't abandoned us. We saw Spirit Devils!"

"Yang Yuansen said that the Sect Leader is from the Sinister Soul Temple," Meng Qiulan explained.

"The Sinister Soul Temple..." Pang Jian was speechless.

Luo Hongyan hated the Sinister Soul Temple to her core. But Zhao Ling and the others mistakenly believed the Sect Leader of the Shadow Specter Sect had sent her as reinforcement.

The red talisman in Pang Jian's hand lit up and Zhu Yuanxi's voice could be heard.

"Ni Chen, hold on! We're on our way!

"We have Xiao Pei from the Radiant Sun Sect, Huang Ying from the Star River Alliance, and cultivators from the Dong Clan, the Su Clan, and the Ouyang Clan. We're coming on the Fire Cloud Ship and the Gilded Chariot!

"Even if the Sect Leader of the Shadow Specter Sect himself shows up, they're doomed!"

The previously joyful Shadow Specter Sect members stared at the red talisman in Pang Jian's hand. Their smiles faded.

The shadow of death loomed over them once more, suffocating them with its weight. Survival seemed impossible.

"Xiao Pei, Huang Ying, and Zhu Yuanxi are all Innate Realm cultivators from the Radiant Sun Sect, the Star River Alliance, and the Blood Moon Sect respectively. They frequently come to the Fourth World, so we have detailed information on them," Meng Qiulan sighed, glancing over at the crash site of the beast-hunting sailboat. "Even the Sect Leader's reinforcements can't hold them off!"

Pang Jian's expression darkened. He had never had contact with Innate Realm experts before and was unsure of their strength.

While Luo Hongyan's combat power had increased with the forging of her physical body, Pang Jian was unsure how she would fare against Innate Realm experts from the upper world.

Pang Jian suddenly saw the Spirit Devil of Fei Zheng appear in the night sky.

The Spirit Devil was pointing in a direction.

"This place isn't safe anymore. Follow me," Pang Jian instructed.