Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 211: Climbing the First Peak Again

At the foot of the Fourth Peak, Fang Boxuan sighed, eyes filled with dread and fear as he watched Pang Jian's departing figure.

Shen Lei of the Star River Alliance was stunned. "Fang Boxuan, you—why are you so afraid of him?"

Fang Boxuan coldly snorted. "Pang Jian killed Jiu Yuan and your Elder Liang. He killed two Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators and he's only just advanced to the Profound Abode Realm.

"Our Blood Moon Sect shouldn't make an enemy of someone like him just because of Jiu Yuan.

"Pang Jian dares to eliminate his enemy during a foreign race invasion. When he advances to the Spirit Condensation Realm, who in our Blood Moon Sect or your Star River Alliance can confidently say they can defeat him?

Fang Boxuan took a sharp breath, anxiety clear in his voice. "If he were to go rogue and start hunting down our Blood Moon Sect, any who dares to leave the sect out of fear will forever live in his shadow!"

Shen Lei's face paled. He could no longer utter a word of reproach toward Fang Boxuan.

Xie Xiwen's eyes were fixed on Pang Jian's figure, and she exclaimed, "He-he's climbing the First Peak again!

"Someone is about to meet a grim fate, whether it's Yang Rui of the Radiant Sun Sect or Cao Mang and Lady Hua," Fang Boxuan remarked. Although he initially felt some schadenfreude, after a moment of contemplation, he could not help but sigh. "Revenge is one thing, but can't he wait until the invading foreign races are dealt with first?"

"It's one thing to go after Cao Mang since he kidnapped his sister." Xie Xiwen frowned. "But he could've killed the foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts before dealing with Jiu Yuan. He's too reckless."

Fang Boxuan responded with a solemn expression, "This kind of reckless, rule-breaking person is the most terrifying and unpredictable!"

Xie Xiwen fell into deep thought.

Shen Lei and the others could only smile bitterly.

***

A silver streak shot through the star-lit night sky and headed straight toward the First Peak of the Primordial Wilderness.

Whoosh!

The cultivators scattered near the First Peak stared at the figure with the long spear climbing the First Peak once again.

"Pang Jian!"

"He's climbing the First Peak again!"

"Who is this guy anyway? Even the inner disciples of the Sword Pavilion don't possess this kind of power, do they?"

As the long spear passed over the cultivators' heads, they saw that Pang Jian's Sword Pavilion robe was now stained with dried blood.

Clearly, Pang Jian had just experienced a bloody battle.

Earlier, he relentlessly pursued Jiu Yuan of the Blood Moon Sect from the summit of the First Peak until they landed at the foot of the Fourth Peak.

Now, Jiu Yuan was nowhere to be seen, but Pang Jian had reappeared with his spear.

An insane thought sprung up in everyone's minds.

Could he have killed Jiu Yuan?

An intense horror filled them.

"Jiu Yuan is dead!" a cultivator cried out from the Fourth Peak.

This voice reverberated through the valley, causing all to peer up at Pang Jian as though looking at a monster.

"Pang Jian killed Jiu Yuan!"

"Elder Jiu Yuan of the Blood Moon Sect has been killed. His head was cut off!"

"Pang Jian also killed Elder Lou Yunming of the Sinister Soul Temple on the summit of the First Peak!"

Talk of Pang Jian's fierceness reached across the Primordial Wilderness before he even reached the summit of the First Peak.

His cultivation realm and actions on the First Peak summit spread like wildfire. Cultivators from all corners of the Third World took note of his name as one associated with bloodshed and madness.

***

Pang Jian's cold gaze swept over the cultivators below as he stood on his long spear.

He expressionlessly observed the situation on the summit of the First Peak from a god-like perspective.

Multiple tree branches had severed Lady Hua's arm, which was white as a lotus root.

A tree caught her arm as it flew through the air and delivered it to the Wood Race leader wearing a thorny crown.

The Wood Race leader excitedly took off the jade-white bracelet on the severed arm.

The leader's withered body resembled a tree on the brink of death, with gray-brown eyes that had seemingly lost their spark of life.

Even so, she clutched the jade white bracelet as if holding a priceless treasure and cheered ecstatically, "Obtaining this bracelet makes all the deaths worthwhile!"

Pang Jian’s eyes gleamed with a peculiar light.

Earlier, Pang Jian had eavesdropped on Yu Gu and others discussing their plan on the summit of the Second Peak through harmonizing with the land and knew that their primary target was Lady Hua's spatial bracelet.

Cao Mang was afraid of his wife, so most of the rare spirit materials and treasures he had collected over the years were in Lady Hua's possession. She kept these treasures in the jade-white spatial bracelet.

The jade-white bracelet was hard-won after so many assaults on the summit of the First Peak and the sacrifices of countless kinsmen.

The contents of the spatial bracelet would greatly facilitate their kin's ascension to the upper world if they could escape from the Primordial Wilderness with it.

Whoosh!

A Gilded Chariot descended from the clouds above the Primordial Wilderness and headed toward the First Peak.

This was the same Gilded Chariot that had carried Ghost Race warriors to ambush Liang Ying and the rogue cultivators and was the last seized flying vessel still in the Primordial Wilderness.

From its movements, it intended to pick up the Wood Race leader and transport the jade-white spatial bracelet to the Fourth World.

They were prepared. Pang Jian silently nodded.

Boom!

The Celestial Race leader, Yu Gu, was crushed beneath Cao Mang's Black Iron Mountain with a deafening boom. His flesh and bones were reduced to a mangled paste under the immense weight.

Even in his final moments, the Celestial Race leader hurled vicious insults at Cao Mang, accusing him of luring them to the Primordial Wilderness and using their forces to ambush the human cultivators at the trade fair.

Yu Gu claimed Cao Mang had orchestrated the conflict to benefit from both sides.

Bang!

The Fire Dragon Ruler caught a Rank Six black wyvern carrying a dying Demon Scale Race warrior.

The ruler resembled a blazing divine spear as it engulfed the black wyvern with searing flames before striking down the dying Demon Scale Race warrior.

"It's time to end this." Yang Rui stood at the edge of the Nine Suns Cauldron, which spun with the intensity of a blazing sun as it smashed a ruthless Demon Armor Beast to death.

Noble family elders and powerful rogue cultivators in the Spirit Condensation Realm rushed to the summit of the First Peak, arriving to deliver the fatal blow before the foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts were wiped out in hopes of claiming a share of the spoils.

Huang Qi had also arrived at the summit of the First Peak while Pang Jian and Jiu Yuan had been fighting.

"Lady Hua." Huang Qi slowly walked over to where the disheveled Lady Hua was lying in a pool of blood. With a squinting smile, he said, "Who would've thought a wicked couple like you and Cao Mang would see a day like this?"

Lady Hua paid no attention to the approaching Huang Qi. With the last bit of her strength, she glared at the Wood Race leader holding her jade-white spatial bracelet. "Kill her, kill that Wood Race leader. She stole my spatial bracelet!"

Her severed arm could be regenerated, but the treasures within the jade-white spatial bracelet could not be replaced. It could not fall into the hands of the foreign races!

“Cao Mang! Stop that Wood Race leader!” Lady Hua dropped her usual formality and referred to him by his name.

Cao Mang swallowed a few healing and restorative pills to recover his strength after killing Yu Gu with the Black Iron Mountain.

Although intending to catch his breath, when he heard the foreign race warriors had taken the jade-white spatial bracelet, he forced himself to gather his strength and channel his spiritual power to control the Black Iron Mountain once more.

"The rules of the Primordial Wilderness are no longer in effect. Lady Hua, you killed my brother and now you'll pay the price." Huang Qi squatted down, grabbed Lady Hua by her neck, and sneered, "I originally planned to leave the Primordial Wilderness after the trade fair concluded and wait for you to seek me out.

"I never expected you would invite the foreign races here and turn the Primordial Wilderness into a living hell. You and your husband should be held accountable for this."

Crack!

Huang Qi snapped Lady Hua's neck. A surge of violent blood essence from his palm pulverized her head.

"Huang Qi!"

Cao Mang had just stood up on the Black Iron Mountain and was about to attack the Wood Race leader when he saw Huang Qi kill Lady Hua. He immediately went berserk.

"I'm here." Huang Qi slowly stood up and smiled fearlessly at Cao Mang. "I wanted to fight you outside the Primordial Wilderness but the foreign races disrupted my plan. Now that they're nearly wiped out, it's time to settle the score between you and me."

Huang Qi's previous sly demeanor was now replaced with an overwhelming aura that could shake mountains and rivers. Powerful spiritual power and blood essence surged within him. His slender frame seemed to grow taller and more imposing by the moment.

"Spirit Condensation Realm!"

"And middle stage at that!"

Yang Rui and Wei Wenhan of the Radiant Sun Sect cried as they carefully scrutinized the rogue cultivator before them for the first time.

"No wonder he dared to compete with me for the Scarlet-Eyed Demon Wolf's eye." Yang Rui frowned. "He's a rogue cultivator with the same cultivation realm as Cao Mang, but he's unknown in the Third World. Even Cao Mang and Lady Hua couldn't figure out his background.

“Perhaps he's not active in the Third World. A rogue cultivator at the middle stage of the Spirit Condensation Realm could be as renowned as Old Monster Cao in the Third World or just an inconspicuous figure in the Second World.”

Wei Wenhan said solemnly, "Sometimes it's better to be a small part of something great than to lead something insignificant. Everyone has their own choices."