Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 182: The Storm Begins!

When the elders and geniuses stepped out of the trading hall to stand at the summit of the First Peak, a tall, otherworldly man with six pairs of white wings shot up from the surface of Emerald Lake to hover gracefully between the Sixth and Seventh Peaks. The man's handsome face was filled with excitement as he took in his surroundings.

“The Celestial Race!”

“The Celestial Race from the Fifth World!”

"My goodness!"

Cultivators cried out in shock and fear at the sight.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The man gently flapped his six pairs of white wings, causing sharp blades of light to fly out, slaughtering the weaker disciples of the Star River Alliance and the Sinister Soul Temple on the Sixth and Seventh Peaks.

“I am Yu Gu from the Celestial Race in the Fifth World, and I am here at the invitation of the master of the Primordial Wilderness, Cao Mang!” Yu Gu said as he gracefully descended to stand on the summit of the Sixth Peak. Gazing at the First Peak, he said in perfect human language, “Cao Mang has been trading privately with my race for many years, and has graciously invited us to his grand trading event.

“With our participation, this year's trade fair will surely capture everyone's attention!”

With that, Yu Gu bowed in the direction of the First Peak, seemingly in gratitude to Cao Mang.

"Cao Mang!"

"Old Monster Cao!"

“Are you crazy?”

The elders and geniuses at the summit of the First Peak were nearly bursting with rage.

“I...” The bewildered Cao Mang was rendered speechless and did not know how to explain himself when faced with the accusing glares of the crowd.

He had indeed conducted private trades with the exotic races of the Fifth World, but the Celestial Race was not one of them. Moreover, he had not invited any of those races to his event, not to mention the fact that he did not have the ability to construct a perfect Mirror Tunnel connecting the Primordial Wilderness to the Fifth World.

However, the Celestial Race member named Yu Gu declared that Cao Mang had invited them. Additionally, the Mirror Tunnel had indeed appeared in Emerald Lake, which was in the Primordial Wilderness.

Sects like the Sinister Soul Temple and the Radiant Sun Sect had also undeniably heard rumors of his dealings with the Fifth World. Thus, Cao Mang was left with no defense against Yu Gu's claims.

“It wasn’t us. It has nothing to do with us, don't believe their lies!” Lady Hua screamed in horror. If this were proven true, both she and Cao Mang would face dire consequences, and she was not ready to die yet.

As the crowd at the summit berated Cao Mang, savage Vicious Beasts, and warriors from various races in the Fifth World emerged from the surface of Emerald Lake and landed on the lake's shore.

"The Third World!"

"The Primordial Wilderness!"

"Humans!"

The members of the Ghost Race, the Wood Race, and the Demon Scale Race, as well as the one-eyed giants, pounded their chests and roared, releasing their millennia-long resentment and defiance from being imprisoned in the lower world.

"Kill!"

The foreign race warriors rode their Vicious Beasts out from Emerald Lake, launching their attack.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Warriors from the Celestial Race flew toward the summits of the various peaks and seized the flying vessels anchored there like the Scarlet Dawn Boat, the Formless Sailboat, the Divine Spirit Pagoda, the Fire Cloud Ship, and the Gilded Chariot.

“They're seizing our flying vessels!” Liang Ying, an elder of the Star River Alliance, stomped her foot and glared at Cao Mang. “Old Monster Cao, there'll be no place for you in the human realm for daring to collude with foreign races!”

“Lady Hua, the higher-ups will never let you off!” Lou Yunming, an elder of the Sinister Soul Temple, shouted.

These people no longer cared about the trade fair and instead hurriedly led their subordinates off the First Peak and toward the peaks where their flying vessels were anchored.

After all, if their flying vessels were destroyed, they would be trapped in the Primordial Wilderness. They did not know how long the Mirror Tunnel would last or how many foreign race warriors had come from the Fifth World.

All they knew was that they needed a flying vessel to escape the Primordial Wilderness and avoid this calamity if they wanted to get out of this alive.

“Scarlet Dawn Boat!” Zhao Yuanqi sat down and used her divine sense to summon her vessel.

The Scarlet Dawn Boat flew up from the Fifth Peak and Zhao Yuanqi's voice rang out from it, “All disciples, board the Scarlet Dawn Boat!”

The bewildered disciples of the Red Mountain Sect hurriedly climbed aboard, not knowing what was happening.

The Scarlet Dawn Boat then took off and flew straight toward Zhao Yuanqi.

“Divine Spirit Pagoda!" Lou Yunming of the Sinister Soul Temple also tried to establish a connection with the white pagoda using his divine sense. Groaning, blood flowed from his eyes as his face twisted in horror. “The Celestial Race warriors have seized our Divine Spirit Pagoda!”

The Divine Spirit Pagoda was located on the Seventh Peak, the peak closest to Emerald Lake. The warriors of the Celestial Race naturally seized the Sixth and Seventh Peaks first as they were the closest, and as a result, the Divine Spirit Pagoda of the Sinister Soul Temple and the Gilded Chariot of the Star River Alliance quickly fell into their hands.

“This is bad...” Qi Qingsong's expression changed drastically as he watched the Cloud Sails frantically take off amidst the terrified screams and wails of the rogue cultivators.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

When the Cloud Sails flew a few dozen zhangs above the Primordial Wilderness, the foreign race warriors would target them. Some were violently destroyed by foreign race warriors riding Vicious Beasts while others were smashed to pieces by the massive arms of towering one-eyed giants.

The air was filled with cries of despair and horror. All the cultivators throughout the vast expanse of the Primordial Wilderness, from the nine towering peaks to the lakes and forests in between were now cursing one person—Cao Mang!

“I—we...” Gao Yuan’s voice trembled uncontrollably. Terror filled both him and Han Ting as his Cloud Sail took off from the Primordial Wilderness.

Gao Yuan watched as the other Cloud Sails were either smashed to pieces by the one-eyed giants or blown apart by Demon Scale Race warriors riding black wyverns. He felt like his Cloud Sail would inevitably be next, and he and Han Ting would also meet their demise.

A towering one-eyed giant, with arms like iron walls, was about to strike their Cloud Sail when it unexpectedly hesitated. Their massive arm then swung past the side of Gao Yuan’s Cloud Sail as if accidentally missing due to a sudden bout of fatigue.

Gao Yuan nervously steered his Cloud Sail away from the one-eyed giant only to see a Demon Scale Race warrior riding a black wyvern approaching them head-on.

The Demon Scale Race warrior was covered in pitch-black scales and had a slender build with barbs on their knees and elbows. The warrior's cold, icy eyes glared at Gao Yuan and Han Ting. Then, taking a deep breath, the warrior flared their nostrils and rode away on his black wyvern.

“Han Ting, do you think his eyesight is bad?” Gao Yuan’s voice trembled as he stared blankly at the departing Demon Scale Race warrior.

He rubbed his eyes and took another look, only to confirm that the Demon Scale Race warrior was indeed flying away from them. Gao Yuan sensed something was amiss.

“Aren't we too lucky?” he wondered aloud

None of the other Cloud Sails that took flight had escaped unharmed. They had all been destroyed mid-flight, and the cultivators onboard were hunted as they fell from the sky. Many of them were killed before they even hit the ground.

“I don’t know.”

Han Ting was also bewildered. Gazing toward Emerald Lake in the distance, she gritted her teeth and said, “Gao Yuan, Pang Jian is over by Emerald Lake!”

Gao Yuan shuddered again, his heart pounding with fear. "It's not that I don't want to go, but the foreign races from the Fifth World came from Emerald Lake! Han Ting, let's fly higher and assess the situation from above!"

With that said, he piloted the Cloud Sail high into the air and became the first flying vessel to escape the Primordial Wilderness.

Luo Hongyan opened her eyes to find only a few white-clad women remained inside the trading hall on the First Peak. All the elders and sect geniuses had disappeared.

A Mirror Tunnel appeared at Emerald Lake in the Primordial Wilderness? Luo Hongyan wondered in confusion.

She had heard about the Mirror Tunnel through Lady Hua and the elders' jade talismans and was largely unaware of the situation outside as she was still confined within the crystal.

Boom!

A wooden door was violently smashed open. Jiu Yuan of the Blood Moon Sect entered and stared at her with frightening eyes. "Damn it, you're a living being, so I can't put you in a spatial bracelet!

"You cost me a million spirit stones to obtain from that traitor Cao Mang. I can't just abandon you! There's no other choice; I'll have to carry you out myself!"

Gritting his teeth, Jiu Yuan hoisted the massive prismatic crystal onto his back, planning to find a Cloud Sail to escape the Primordial Wilderness.

The Blood Moon Sect’s Formless Sailboat could not be summoned with divine sense like the Scarlet Dawn Boat or the Divine Spirit Pagoda.

His and Fang Boxuan's Formless Sailboats on the Fourth Peak were doomed. His only hope was to board a Cloud Sail.

The blood talisman in his hand suddenly lit up.

“Jiu Yuan, I’ve killed your men. You won’t escape either,” Pang Jian's voice rang out from the blood talisman.

"Pang Jian!" Jiu Yuan's face darkened.

Luo Hongyan's eyes shone with a subtle light.

After Jiu Yuan had drawn the winning bamboo stick from Lady Hua, Luo Hongyan had resigned herself to her fate and had lost all hope for any kind of future.

She had been relieved when she heard Qi Qingsong's words to Pang Jian when he left the trading hall. Under her careful guidance, Pang Jian had finally learned to remain calm and restrained, knowing when to withdraw decisively when things were beyond his control.

As long as Pang Jian escaped safely from the Primordial Wilderness, she knew that someday—whether it was a few years, a few dozen years, or even decades later—Pang Jian would eventually come back to look for Cao Mang, Lady Hua, Jiu Yuan, Lou Yunming, and Yang Rui!

Pang Jian would surely avenge her. As long as he lived, her vengeance would be fulfilled!

Unexpectedly though, Pang Jian had not yet left the Primordial Wilderness and even dared to provoke Jiu Yuan through the blood talisman after killing his subordinates.

What earth-shattering events are happening outside? Luo Hongyan could not help but feel puzzled as she listened to the commotion outside and observed Jiu Yuan's odd behavior.