Chapter 340: Dark World

The further they walked forward, the thicker the grey mist in the air became.

This place was like a dark, gloomy painting forgotten by time.

Every scene was exactly the same as the second layer of the Dream Abyss, only this world was entirely grey-black.

Aside from the sound of Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan's footsteps, there was not a single sound.

Jiang Yuan walked behind Chen Yan, his expression becoming increasingly painful.

Malice constantly eroded his inner heart, causing his gait to stumble.

"You're a fucking lunatic," Jiang Yuan laughed out loud.

"I'm in so much pain I could die, yet you're acting like nothing's wrong."

Chen Yan did not speak, glancing at Jiang Yuan.

"You can leave."

However, Jiang Yuan did not reply; instead, he took over a dozen silver-black thin needles from his own origin space.

Then, he just like that pierced the thin needles one by one into his own brain.

Jiang Yuan let out a miserable howl, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

"These are called Withered Bone Needles; the pain of them piercing flesh is a thousand times that of an ordinary needle."

He used pain to keep himself clear-headed.

Jiang Yuan looked at Chen Yan and gave a hehe laugh.

Although his expression remained incomparably painful, his gaze was much sharper.

"By the way, how do we get out later?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"I don't know," Chen Yan said calmly.

Jiang Yuan only knew how to enter the third layer of the Dream Abyss, but not how to leave.

When they first entered, Chen Yan had also tried; after re-entering the blood pool, he was not brought out of the second layer.

But this was not a reason for him not to enter the third layer of the Dream Abyss.

Whoever helps him, he helps them.

To the best of his ability.

That was enough.

Jiang Yuan shrugged; he wasn't worried either.

If they really couldn't get out, they could just press the forfeit button.

Chen Yan stopped speaking and instead began to search for San Jin.

In this grey-black world, his sensory perception was severely restricted, and he could only perceive the fluctuations of airflow within a hundred meters nearby.

Moreover, the malice in the air was becoming increasingly thick, and even Chen Yan was being affected.

Time passed slowly.

Chen Yan frowned, because he had searched the entire second layer of the Dream Abyss and had not seen San Jin.

"Chen Yan, have you noticed? Time has sped up."

Jiang Yuan spoke up.

"I noticed," Chen Yan nodded.

He picked up a pebble from under his feet and threw it in the direction they had come from.

Boom—

Golden light enveloped the pebble, streaking across the high sky like a meteor, its speed extremely fast.

But visibly to the naked eye, the speed at which the pebble flew through the air became slower and slower.

Until the pebble had flown ten thousand meters away.

In the sight of both Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan, the speed of the pebble's flight had slowed by more than double.

"The further away from the blood pool, the faster the flow of time," Chen Yan said.

Chen Yan frowned.

He felt it was becoming tricky.

If San Jin had gone to a place very far from the blood pool.

Then in the few days that had passed in the outside world, how long had San Jin actually spent in the third layer of the Dream Abyss?

"What do we do now? You haven't found San Jin," Jiang Yuan smiled, his expression ugly but his demeanor still intact.

Chen Yan looked at Jiang Yuan.

"Why are you still following me?"

Jiang Yuan shrugged.

"I just want to see if there are any treasures to be had in the third layer of the Dream Abyss."

Chen Yan did not speak; Jiang Yuan pursed his lips and said.

"To tell you the truth, I'm here to find someone."

"Find who?" Chen Yan asked.

"Tang Chang, the number one genius of the Aristocratic Family Alliance ten years ago, and also my senior brother. He never came out after entering the third layer of the Dream Abyss ten years ago."

Jiang Yuan sighed softly and said.

"I have to find him."

Chen Yan looked at Jiang Yuan, and to his surprise, Jiang Yuan was not lying.

This was indeed Jiang Yuan's purpose.

But Jiang Yuan's emotions at this moment were very complex, making it difficult for Chen Yan to fathom.

Chen Yan ignored Jiang Yuan further and continued walking forward.

He walked all the way to the end of a street.

At this spot, a stone stele stood upright.

This was precisely the entrance to the second layer of the Dream Abyss.

Chen Yan believed that since San Jin was not within this ruined city, she must have already left this place.

Chen Yan stretched out both hands and forcibly tore open the stone stele.

The seemingly incomparably hard stone stele was torn open by Chen Yan as if it were flesh and blood.

From within the wound of the stone stele, pitch-black tentacles spilled out one by one.

Chen Yan dove straight inside, and Jiang Yuan followed closely behind.

Very quickly, they passed through the stone stele.

Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan arrived in a quiet mountain valley.

This valley was exactly the same as the scene in the first layer of the Dream Abyss; even the corpse of the old man who had been praying in front of the stone stele, whom Chen Yan had killed, was still there.

The only difference was this.

The world remained a gray, hazy expanse, the air filled with streaks of gray mist, the intense malice almost making one's thoughts stutter.

Chen Yan frowned; his conjecture had actually been correct.

The third layer of the Dream Abyss covered the entire College Entrance Examination Secret Realm.

The moment he entered the blood pool, the other side of the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm appeared before Chen Yan.

If one were to say the original College Entrance Examination Secret Realm was the bright world.

Then the third layer of the Dream Abyss was the dark world.

Immediately following this, Chen Yan soared into the air and flew toward the side of the Dao-Severing Saint Bamboo.

No one was there.

He flew all the way out of the Dream Abyss.

A great river with no visible boundaries blocked the path of Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan; in an instant, an invisible pressure descended, and Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan were unable to fly over the river.

This was the great river Chen Yan had encountered when he first entered the Dream Abyss.

But unlike when he arrived, when Chen Yan first came, this great river appeared blood-colored.

But now, it was gray-black.

Within this gray-black great river, a terrifying chill emanated from the river.

Cold!

Boundless cold!

But this was not an elemental cold, but a cold of malice.

It was as if, within this vast, giant river, the bones and resentment of hundreds of millions of people were buried.

This was something Chen Yan had not felt when he first arrived here.

In the third layer of the Dream Abyss, this giant river revealed its true side.

And upon the lake, there was an old man wearing a straw raincoat sitting on a small boat fishing.

This old man was a figure from the real world; it was impossible for him to see Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan now.

Chen Yan was just about to leave.

The old man, however, suddenly spoke:

"We meet again, young man."

Chen Yan frowned and looked at the old man.

"Young man, do you want to cross the river?" The old man looked at Chen Yan with a gentle smile:

"It won't work, you know."

Jiang Yuan was speechless; if it won't work, what the hell are you saying it for.

Chen Yan said with calm eyes:

"Old man, last time I asked you where San Jin was, you told me San Jin had fallen into a dream.

I didn't find her."

As Chen Yan's voice fell, the old man's pair of aged eyes looked at Chen Yan gloomily, yet he did not speak.

To the side, Jiang Yuan was being severely eroded by malice, and he spoke in great pain:

"You have to pay money."

Chen Yan's gaze flickered slightly, and he took out a Time Seed and threw it to the old man.

The old man smilingly accepted the Time Seed, then pointed in a direction.

"Many thanks!"

Chen Yan spoke and flew toward that spot; Jiang Yuan chased closely behind, hurriedly saying:

"Slow down a bit."

Chen Yan glanced at Jiang Yuan; at this moment, Jiang Yuan was clearly not doing well.

He was a Master of Will, and even for him, holding on until now had been difficult, let alone for Jiang Yuan.

Chen Yan slowed his pace.

Jiang Yuan gritted his teeth and took out a Malice Crystal, swallowing it into his belly.

Chen Yan watched with extreme astonishment, but Jiang Yuan gave a miserable laugh:

"Some malice won't merge; instead, it will be hostile.

Fighting poison with poison—I'm teaching you this trick."

Chen Yan nodded:

"Many thanks."

Jiang Yuan was speechless; at this moment, he really wanted to beat Chen Yan up.

At this moment, he felt just like someone who had only just realized they were teaching a top-ranked student little tricks on how to cheat.

It was truly f*cking ridiculous!

The two of them flew continuously in the direction of the old man, covering about a hundred kilometers or so.

A small village appeared within the line of sight of Chen Yan and the other.

The world was gloomy, and malice permeated the air.

The dilapidated little village consisted of only a few dozen households in total.

The moment Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan appeared, figures walked out from the stone houses one after another.

Although these people all had human bodies, faint malice overflowed from them, and many of their physiques had changed.

Clearly, they had been soaked in malice for years, causing their bodies to mutate.

Moreover, many of them were wearing very tattered modern clothing.

They were clearly not natives of the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm, but Great Xia examinees who had been unable to leave after entering the third layer of the Dream Abyss.

The person in the lead wore a tattered General Star uniform; his complexion was dark, he looked very weathered, and two squinting eyes had grown on the sides of his cheeks; he appeared to be about eighty or ninety years old.

"Third-rank Yongle General Star, Cheng Le," the man spoke.

Chen Yan landed and returned the salute:

"Third-rank Fushan General Star, Chen Yan."

The man named Cheng Le looked at Chen Yan, a trace of astonishment appearing in his eyes.

Chen Yan was too young.

To obtain a third-rank General Star at such a young age was too unreasonable.

In an instant, Cheng Le thought of those so-called General Stars that were merely titles given by the Xia Clan to appease the nobility.

Furthermore, this person was surnamed Chen.

"Are you from the Five Clans Chen Clan?" Cheng Le asked.

"A collateral branch," Chen Yan replied.

Cheng Le nodded, and many others also suddenly realized.

"You shouldn't have come to the third layer," Cheng Le sighed:

"I entered the third layer of the Dream Abyss fifty years ago and have never been able to leave; according to the changes in the flow of time,

perhaps only... has passed in the outside world."

As Cheng Le spoke, beside Chen Yan, Jiang Yuan spoke with difficulty:

"Three years have passed, Cheng Le, do you still... remember me?"

Cheng Le looked at Jiang Yuan, his turbid eyes becoming incomparably horrified in an instant, and he shouted:

"Jiang Yuan!"

His feelings were incredibly complex; he himself had already grown old, yet Jiang Yuan was clearly still a young man.

Jiang Yuan's aura was weak, and he spoke in great pain at this moment:

"Have you seen Tang Chang?"

As his voice fell, the expressions of the others in the village all changed.

Cheng Le did not speak for a long while.

Chen Yan asked:

"Has San Jin come to your side?"

Cheng Le nodded:

"She came, she arrived a few days ago, but she just left yesterday."

Chen Yan frowned slightly:

"Where did she go?"

Cheng Le glanced at Jiang Yuan and said:

"She went with the others to capture Tang Chang."

Soon, Cheng Le told Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan about the matters concerning the third layer of the Dream Abyss.

To leave the third layer of the Dream Abyss, one required a type of Heaven and Earth Lightning Spirit called the Xun Thunder.

The Xun Thunder was extremely powerful and could directly split open the Blood Pool within the third layer of the Dream Abyss.

The examinees here had searched for decades and had finally managed to find the Xun Thunder.

But Tang Chang had been eroded by malice, turned into an Ancient God Beast, and snatched the Xun Thunder away.

Therefore, Cheng Le and these people had been searching for Tang Chang all this time.

After San Jin arrived, she also teamed up with others to go and search for Tang Chang.

Chen Yan and Jiang Yuan entered the stone house where Cheng Le resided.

Jiang Yuan plopped down onto a crude wooden chair, his face deathly pale, gasping for air in large gulps.

His breathing was rapid; he was clearly severely eroded by the malice.

Cheng Le looked at Chen Yan:

"As expected of a member of the Chen Clan, you must hold a high status within the Chen Clan to be able to resist such malice erosion; the Chen Clan bloodline is truly powerful."

Chen Yan did not speak.

Cheng Le, however, stopped talking and took out a stalk of dried grass, stuffing it into Jiang Yuan's mouth:

"This is Withered Bone Grass; it can alleviate the corrosion of malice on the human body. I have been able to live until now and raise children all thanks to Withered Bone Grass."

Jiang Yuan gasped for air, looked at Chen Yan, and spoke:

"Chen Yan... I... I can't go on."

Chen Yan glanced at Jiang Yuan and ignored him.

Soon, a girl with a cute appearance and golden feathers growing on her cheeks walked into the stone house, carrying two cups of water.

"This is my daughter, Cheng Zizhen," Cheng Le introduced.

The girl named Cheng Zizhen glanced at Chen Yan cautiously, her face turned red instantly, and she hurriedly ran out of the stone house.

Cheng Le, however, said dismissively:

"Chen Yan, now that you have arrived at the third level of the Dream Abyss, just settle in for now."

Chen Yan, however, stood up and said:

"Please tell me the location of San Jin; I will go find her."

Cheng Le frowned:

"They went to capture Tang Chang."

"I know," Chen Yan said; he did not want to waste any more time.

The malice in this place had already begun to threaten his strength, and he did not want to stay here any longer.

"Even if you find San Jin, you still need to have a chance to leave the third level of the Dream Abyss," Cheng Le said, frowning.

"As long as I find San Jin, I will find a way to leave the third level of the Dream Abyss."

Chen Yan said calmly.

Cheng Le looked at Chen Yan indifferently, and the two squinted eyes on his cheeks opened at this moment.

Although he said nothing, mockery surfaced in his heart.

Just a defective product who relied on his family to obtain the rank of Third-Tier General Star.

He says he can leave the third level of the Dream Abyss, so he can leave?

But he also understood that basically every examinee who came to the third level of the Dream Abyss thought this way.

But for so many years, their initial confidence had all been proven to be a joke.

Cheng Le did not directly speak to shatter Chen Yan's arrogance; instead, knowing that Chen Yan would not give up, he did not try to persuade him otherwise.

He simply stood up, stood before the door, and said:

"Gather up."

Soon, over a hundred villagers appeared.

Some were examinees, and some were offspring born to examinees on the third level of the Dream Abyss.

"I intend to form a small team to help Chen Yan find San Jin; those willing, please step forward."

Chen Yan frowned, but Cheng Le said:

"You just arrived and are unfamiliar with the environment; having people help is actually more effective."

Chen Yan nodded.

But the over a hundred villagers each frowned, and many were unwilling.

Cheng Le continued to say:

"This person is a Third-Tier General Star and is not even twenty; if he joins forces with San Jin, the possibility of defeating Tang Chang is very high."

Cheng Le's voice rang out, but still, no one stepped forward.

The crowd looked at Chen Yan; although they knew Chen Yan was a Third-Tier General Star, most of them were convinced that Chen Yan's General Star title relied on the reputation of the Chen Clan.

Because he was too young.

It was too abnormal.

Moreover, not many people actually felt that they could leave the Dream Abyss in their lifetime.

However, it was not the case that everyone in the village was unwilling to go.

Within the crowd, there were still a few people whispering; an old woman looked at Chen Yan, a trace of longing appearing in her eyes.

A girl with golden feathers on her cheeks stood out, full of shyness:

"Dad, I want to go."

Cheng Zizhen's little face was flushed red, and she didn't dare to look at Chen Yan at all.

Cheng Le sighed inwardly and nodded.

Before long, seven more people walked out.

These seven people were very sullen and did not say a word when they stepped out.

Among the seven was that old woman, who was currently smiling foolishly at Chen Yan.

There was also one person who, when looking at Chen Yan, had a gaze of extreme pity.

"Then let's set off after eating?" Cheng Le looked at Chen Yan and smiled.

Chen Yan nodded; since others were willing to help him, it was not good for him to make other demands.

However, Chen Yan did not participate in this meal; instead, he sat in the stone house specifically prepared for him by Cheng Le to rest.

Chen Yan sat cross-legged and checked his own data.

【Saint-Breaking Tree (Level 7): 271/500】

The three Morning Star-grade Grade A tempering treasures, 【Great Sun Golden Crow Melting Crystal】, had previously brought Chen Yan a massive increase in strength.

It had produced fifteen 【Strength】 Saint-Breaking Fruits and forty-five 【Body】 Saint-Breaking Fruits all at once.

Chen Yan's Unified Martial Dao Dharma Image Map had now completely outlined the entirety of Yunmeng City.

Except for the Great City of Yunmeng, which was still very blurry, the rest was nearly perfect.

In other words, the moment the Cloud Dream Grand City becomes completely clear, Chen Yan will step into the Origin Realm.

And the number of Extreme Satin Patterns: two hundred and five.

In a single cultivation session, Chen Yan broke his cultivation limit twenty-two times.

The moment Jiang Yuan found Chen Yan, Chen Yan's own willpower was almost entirely exhausted.

Straining his last shred of willpower, Chen Yan erupted with an aura that even shocked Jiang Yuan.

If Jiang Yuan had wanted to kill Chen Yan at that time, it would have actually been effortless.

This limit-breaking, which exhausted everything, also brought Chen Yan's number of Extreme Satin Patterns incredibly close to two hundred and sixteen.

Two hundred and sixteen is three times seventy-two.

According to Lu Xunyang's conjecture, as long as the Extreme Satin Patterns reach a multiple of seventy-two, one can obtain an Immortal Body.

With an immortal body, as long as the brain is unharmed, one can regenerate the body.

This is almost equivalent to possessing a Morning Star-grade healing treasure that can be used infinitely.

Moreover, the medicinal effect is far superior to that of a treasure.

Immediately after, Chen Yan looked at the progress of the Saint-Breaking Fruit on the data panel.

【Break: 76/100】

The progress of the 【Break】 character for the Saint-Breaking Fruit has reached seventy-six.

Very good!

A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of Chen Yan's mouth.

For Jiang Yuan, the malice felt when entering the Dream Abyss represents being eroded.

But for Chen Yan, it actually does not matter; instead, it allows Chen Yan to rest.

That is, until now.

The malice here is even more intense.

Only now did Chen Yan truly feel his cultivation being damaged.

This is also the reason he wants to find San Jin as soon as possible.

Before long.

The team set off.

"Our operation locations are all fixed, and they are marked, so it won't be very difficult to find San Jin."

A woman named Cheng Zizhen spoke to Chen Yan, and the group kept moving through the gray, dense forest at a high speed.

Including Cheng Zizhen, these few people are all martial artists of the Origin Realm.

However, the other seven are all older in age and were all examinees in the past.

Among the group, only Cheng Zizhen was born in the Dream Abyss.

"Chen Yan, what is San Jin to you?" Cheng Zizhen asked again.

"I've only met her a few times," Chen Yan said, walking through the air, his aura not intense.

Cheng Zizhen and the others were extremely surprised.

Cheng Zizhen, however, smiled and said:

"I thought she was your girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend," Chen Yan said.

The girl named Cheng Zizhen was stunned for a moment, then her face turned red.

But Chen Yan's next sentence made her face reality.

"I also don't have time to find a girlfriend."

Cheng Zizhen was speechless, then smiled:

"You could try it."

Chen Yan remained silent.

The other seven listened to the conversation between the two without speaking, but their gazes toward Chen Yan always carried indifference.

Time passed slowly.

The already gray sky became overcast.

"Rest."

A bald middle-aged man said in a low voice; the other six ignored Chen Yan entirely and landed directly in the dense forest.

Someone took out a simply made tent, which was already set up.

Someone lit a campfire and began to prepare food using ancient beast meat.

Chen Yan stopped speaking and sat in front of the campfire.

"Chen Yan, what is the outside world like?" Cheng Zizhen started chattering again.

"Not very good," Chen Yan said:

"But it is much better than here."

Cheng Zizhen listened earnestly.

Soon, the other seven also sat in front of the campfire, and a bald man looked at Chen Yan and said:

"How much did this Third-Rank General Star cost you?"

Cheng Zizhen hurriedly said:

"Uncle Li, Chen Yan and my dad are both Third-Rank General Stars, how could it cost money?"

As she spoke, the bald man and the other seven all smiled faintly, their eyes flashing with indifference.

Chen Yan said: "Four Bright Moon-grade treasures."

As his voice fell, Cheng Zizhen parted her red lips, filled with disbelief, as if seeing a perfect work of art suddenly shatter, a flash of disappointment crossing her eyes.

Yet she still tilted her head, looking at Chen Yan's cheek.

Her eyes were hazy.

Even if his Third-Rank General Star was bought, he was still very handsome.

As for the bald man and the others, they all chuckled; Chen Yan's answer clearly aligned more with their own thoughts.

"Only four Bright Moon-grade medicinal treasures; a Third-Rank General Star is truly cheap."

"Great Xia is just like that; it's something destined to be finished sooner or later."

"Haha, trash Great Xia, even if we don't go out, it is destined to die on the battlefield."

They spoke, as if by infinitely belittling Great Xia, they could alleviate their own suffering in this place.

Cheng Zizhen watched the crowd without saying a word.

She suddenly reached out and tugged at Chen Yan's sleeve:

"Chen Yan, can you take me to see what Great Xia looks like?"

Chen Yan looked at the young girl; under the leaping firelight, the golden feathers on her cheeks were very bright and beautiful.

Her eyes were full of longing.

Little did she know, she herself had long been polluted by malice.

No matter how beautiful the golden feathers on her face were, once she entered Great Xia, she would be treated like a monster.