Chapter 332: Entering the Absolute Wasteland

The central wasteland of the Northern Bei Ju Lu Lu Continent.

Two streaks of light skimmed across the land, the scenery below shifting rapidly.

The poisonous swamps, ferocious forests, and miasma marshes gradually vanished, replaced by a barren, crimson wasteland where not a blade of grass grew.

The earth cracked open, dark red glimmers seeping from the fissures, like the blood of the land laid bare.

The farther they flew inward, the more unnatural the sky became.

Layers of gray-black clouds peeled away, revealing a terrifying dark red canopy above.

This was not dawnlight—it was a primal, destructive dark red seeping from the depths of the heavens.

Su Chen slowed his speed and landed on a high ridge.

The rocks beneath his feet were charred black, their surfaces covered in fine, intricate cracks.

He crouched down, pressed his palm against the ground, and closed his eyes to sense for a moment.

The earth veins here were dead, as if some immense force had been utterly shattered, and even after all these years, they had not recovered.

The spiritual veins, earth qi, and five-element cycles within a ten-thousand-li radius were all severed.

This wasteland was like an open wound on the surface of the Northern Bei Ju Lu Lu Continent, still unhealed.

"Monkey Brother, look ahead."

Su Chen stood up and gazed toward the edge of the wasteland.

Sun Sun Wukong landed beside him, following his gaze.

The land ahead came to an end.

More precisely, the land had been cut off there.

A chasm tens of thousands of li wide stretched across the edge of the wasteland, splitting the earth in two.

The chasm was bottomless; its cliff walls glowed with an eerie dark red, as if scorched countless times by extreme heat.

Within the chasm, a blinding torrent of malevolent energy churned.

This malevolent energy differed from any Su Chen had encountered before.

It was dark red, forming countless vortexes that stretched from earth to sky.

Each vortex was dozens of li thick, surging upward from the chasm's depths, churning the dark red canopy above.

Between the vortexes, space visibly collapsed, repaired, then collapsed again.

Countless tiny spatial fissures filled the area; gray-white chaotic energy oozed from the cracks, entwining with the dark red malevolence to form the most terrifying calamity in this realm.

Sun Sun Wukong activated the primordial power of the Monkey King, and golden light shot from his pupils, piercing deep into the chasm.

After a moment, he retracted his gaze, his expression turning grim.

"Little Brother, those malevolent vortexes are packed with spatial fissures—dense as spiderwebs. If you accidentally touch one, even I'll lose a layer of skin."

Su Chen nodded. He tried extending his spiritual sense into the chasm, but it was scattered after extending less than a thousand li.

At the peak of the Emperor Taiyi Jin Jin Xian realm, his spiritual sense was as useless as a blind, deaf man's.

"No wonder the Gibbon King said that Luo Jinxian vanished inside for three hundred years." Su Chen retracted his spiritual sense, his tone calm. "This place—charging in is suicide."

Sun Sun Wukong scratched his cheek. "Then what do we do? You're not thinking of turning back, are you?"

Su Chen naturally had no intention of retreating. He shook his head slightly.

He pulled out the Gui Xu Divine Axe, gripped the haft in one hand, and activated the Heaven's Gang Thirty-Six Axes within his body.

His spine became the celestial pillar, his limbs the four poles, his acupoints the stars.

Su Chen's blood began to boil; his spine trembled with a roar like a dragon's.

The next moment, the violent dark red malevolent energy within the chasm changed.

The nearest vortex, which had been raging without pattern, slowly shifted direction, tilting toward the ridge where Su Chen stood.

But the malevolent energy was not attacking—it flowed toward Su Chen like swallows returning to their nest.

The dark red malevolence gathered like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, slowly converging toward Su Chen.

Sun Sun Wukong, watching from the side, narrowed his eyes.

He had expected the malevolent energy to harm Su Chen, but soon realized it behaved as if encountering a long-lost kin—calmly swirling around Su Chen, seeping into his pores, drawn by the Heaven's Gang Thirty-Six Axes circulating within him.

A faint dark golden sheen shimmered across Su Chen's skin.

"As expected."

Su Chen drew a deep breath, feeling the absorbed malevolent energy within him.

It was guided by the Heaven's Gang Thirty-Six Axes, refining his body—though the effect was minuscule.

"Bai Ze was right," Su Chen turned to Sun Sun Wukong. "This is the ruins of Nanjian Buzhou Mountain. These malevolent energies truly originate from Like Pangu's spine—the foundation of Nanjian Buzhou Mountain."

Sun Sun Wukong stared at the dark red malevolence swirling around Su Chen, clicking his tongue. "I feel sick just being near that stuff. You? You're like soaking in a hot spring."

Su Chen smiled, saying he simply happened to cultivate a technique capable of harnessing such energy.

Using the Like Pangu malevolent energy within him as a guide, he sensed the flow patterns of the chasm's malevolence.

To ordinary eyes, the vortexes were chaotic. But to Su Chen's perception, their paths were not entirely random.

They rotated around a central point.

That point lay deep within the chasm, impossibly far and deep, where the malevolent energy was thickest.

"I've found the direction." Su Chen opened his eyes, gripping the Gui Xu Divine Axe in his right hand, blade pointing downward.

Dark golden energy from the blade spontaneously coiled around it, merging with the axe's original malevolence.

The Gui Xu Divine Axe emitted a low hum, as if responding to this realm.

Su Chen gazed into the chasm's depths. "I can sense the flow of malevolent energy and avoid most spatial fissures. But the chaotic energy is beyond my perception—that part's up to you, Monkey Brother."

Sun Sun Wukong pulled the Ruyi Jingu Bang from behind his ear and slapped it into his palm; the staff instantly grew.

"My primordial monkey power can still see those chaotic flows," he grinned. "You handle the malevolence, I'll handle the chaos—we work together."

Su Chen nodded, stepped off the edge of the land, and leapt into the chasm.

Dark red malevolence instantly swallowed him.

At the same time, Su Chen swung the Gui Xu Divine Axe, guiding the malevolent energy to roar past his sides without touching him.

The malevolence even parted to form a clear path.

Sun Sun Wukong followed close beside him, the Ruyi Jingu Bang spinning into a seamless golden shield, deflecting every chaotic stream that struck their path.

Two figures—one golden, one blue—raced forward through the absolute wasteland of intertwined dark red and gray-white.

The sound of tearing space filled their ears; before them, shattered space collapsed and reformed endlessly.

Dozens of spatial fissures flashed past them every instant; the closest one grazed just beside Su Chen and Sun Sun Wukong.

"This damn place really tests my patience," Sun Sun Wukong cursed, swinging the Ruyi Jingu Bang to shatter a sudden chaotic stream.

Su Chen said nothing, focusing all his attention on sensing the flow of malevolent energy.

He guided the malevolence, leading them through the gaps between the vortexes.

The deeper they went, the denser the malevolence became.

They descended continuously; after falling tens of thousands of zhang, Su Chen suddenly halted.