Chapter 535: with translation of chapter title

Yuan Yao and her party swiftly made their way to the inner region of the Abyss.

During this process, they will encounter many abyssal beasts; they either try to avoid them as much as possible, or fight them head-on!

As Yuan Yao proceeded, she occasionally scanned the surrounding terrain, sometimes stopping to weave hand signs, using spiritual power as a guide to lay concealment or defensive formations at key points, leaving a safeguard for their rear or possible encounters.

As they went deeper, the strong fishy stench permeating the air grew increasingly pungent.

At the same time, the surrounding temperature kept dropping; a bone-chilling, icy aura like a maggot in the bone constantly eroded everyone's skin, and even with spiritual protection, they could feel the cold seeping into their marrow.

"Look, isn't that a sigh flower?!" Di Qingye suddenly exclaimed.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Yao and the others immediately turned toward the sound.

They saw, beneath a towering ancient tree with lush foliage that blotted out the sky, a plant standing still.

It had not yet bloomed, bearing only a pure white jade-like bud; around the bud faintly radiated a soft, gentle white halo, making it especially conspicuous in the gloom, like a speck of starlight in darkness.

After Ying Wuji observed it carefully for a moment, he nodded firmly and confirmed: "That's right, this is indeed a sigh flower."

The group's spirits lifted, and they quickened their pace toward the sigh flower.

Just as Dong Jiao reached out to pluck it, Yuan Yao raised her hand to stop her.

"We need to uproot this sigh flower entirely to be useful."

Upon hearing this, Dong Jiao withdrew her hand.

Meanwhile, Cang Li had already produced a small trowel; he crouched and gently loosened the soil around the sigh flower, moving with extreme care, fearing to damage even the slightest root filament.

Soon after, he had dug up the sigh flower together with its intact root system, completely extracting it from the soil.

Yuan Yao said: "Let's put this sigh flower in my space for now."

"Sure."

They had no objections.

Yuan Yao did not immediately place the sigh flower into the Yaoguang Space; instead, she formed seals with both hands, laying a sealing sigil upon the flower to freeze its state.

After doing all that, she then, with a thought, carefully sent the sealed sigh flower into the dedicated spirit-plant cultivation area within the Yaoguang Space.

Ling Huya couldn't help but say: "This sigh flower actually has no guardian beast."

Ying Wuji explained: "Abyssal beasts can detect a scent from us that we cannot smell from the sigh flower; they dislike that scent, so they generally do not actively approach the flower."

Ling Huya crossed her arms and nodded in realization: "I see."

Di Qingye said: "Our master once told us that the previous batch of a hundred heavenly pride from the Abyss obtained a total of three hundred seventy sigh flowers; these barely suffice to maintain the city defenses of the cultivation world."

Xiao Zhufeng analyzed: "If so, then a hundred years ago, the number of sigh flowers obtained by the demon and monster clans should be roughly equal to what we humans obtained."

Beneath his mask, Cang Li's brow twitched slightly as he asked: "Do you think the number of sigh flowers we gather might exceed that obtained by the hundred heavenly pride of Tian Jiaocheng?"

"It's not impossible," Qian Yunzhou chuckled lightly.

Dong Jiao said: "They outnumber us, and their strength is not weaker than ours; we may not be able to surpass them."

Xiao Lingwei gave Cang Li a faint glance: "It's too early to say such things now."

Cang Li immediately fell silent.

Yuan Yao spoke: "Let's keep moving forward."

Having said that, they continued pressing deeper ahead.

For three consecutive days, they encountered no heavenly pride squads of the three clans; instead, they ran into various bizarre and powerful abyssal beasts.

The eleven of them grew ever more coordinated in their cooperation.

During these three days, they collected a total of twenty sigh flowers.

After they jointly slew a sixth-stage peak abyssal beast, they found a spot to rest briefly.

Yuan Yao's leg was pierced by an abyssal beast.

Cang Li applied medicine and bandaged her wound.

The others also bore various injuries, more or less.

Beneath her mask, Yuan Yao's lips were slightly pallid; after taking a Healing Spirit Pill, she quickly adjusted her internal breath.

While they rested a moment, a crisp clash of weapons rang out from afar, intermittently mixed with a few shrill screams, faint yet enough to pierce the stillness.

Yuan Yao snapped her eyes open; her sharp gaze met those of a few nearby companions, and each pair of eyes flickered with a hint of solemnity.

"You wait here; I'll go scout." Ying Wuji decided decisively.

Soon, Ying Wuji's figure vanished from the spot.

Yuan Yao's brows furrowed slightly.

Seeing Yuan Yao about to rise, Qian Yunzhou whispered: "Your leg injury hasn't healed yet; you'd better rest."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Yao glanced at Qian Yunzhou and said: "My leg is already much better."

At that very moment, as she conversed with Qian Yunzhou, the phoenix egg within the Yaoguang Space trembled slightly, as if sensing something.

When Yuan Feng, Tian Xue, Little Fox, and Yuan Batian entered the hut due to the aura disturbance, they found the hut already returned to calm.

The few youngsters exchanged glances, all bewildered by the situation.

Yuan Feng crossed his arms and clicked his tongue: "I thought it was about to hatch."

Immediately, he added: "Come on, what's there to see in an egg? My dragon egg is far more interesting."

After the few youngsters left the hut, the giant phoenix egg trembled once more.

Yuan Yao was unaware of this.

At the same time, Ying Wuji had already followed the sound to the scene.

He flickered his form, silently hiding behind a giant tree, and focused his gaze.

He saw two groups locked in a fierce struggle, blades flashing with cold light, qi and blood surging.

One side were human heavenly pride; the other, the elite of the demon clan!

Among the human team were Ying Wuhuan, Lu Xiangxiang, Yu Jing, Sikong Banxue, Bian Chen, Hua Chengyan, Feng Xuanji, and others.

At a rough glance, the gathered human prodigies ahead numbered about nearly a hundred. In other words, all hundred prodigies inside Tian Jiaocheng are here!

Looking at the yao tribe's troop numbers, there are about over a hundred.

Looks like, they are evenly matched.

The two sides fought over the xi flower; of course, we cannot rule out long-standing grudges between the two tribes, and naturally they take a dislike to each other.

Suddenly, Ying Wuji sensed something, his eyes flickered, and he immediately darted away from this spot.

Not long after, a demon tribe troop of only about thirty or forty arrived here; the leading young woman was gorgeous, with a pair of deep purple eyes that were enchantingly alluring, dressed in a Bind-waist purple dress, the corners of her lips bearing a hint of playful teasing.

She watched with interest the clash between the two sides not far ahead.

"Your Highness, should we make a move?" the companion asked cautiously.

The purple-clad woman is the Grand Highness of the demon realm, Quan Li.

Quan Li let out a light laugh, "Isn't it fun to watch the show?"