Chapter 178: Stealth in the Ghostly Abyss, First Trial of the Blade

Leaving the protection of Starfall Isle and heading deep into the southeast of the Hanhai, the surrounding environment changed rapidly.

For the first hundred miles, one could still see the wreckage of broken star islands, abandoned ancient array bases, and some low-level sea beasts accustomed to the thin stellar power and chaotic spiritual energy of the fringe zones. But the further southeast they went, the deeper the color of the seawater became, gradually turning from ink blue into a near-pure black, ghostly darkness that seemed to absorb all light. The light of the stars in the sky also became thin and twisted here, as if blocked by an invisible, malicious curtain.

The pressure was pervasive.

It was not just the physical pressure from the ten thousand jun of seawater, but a heavy burden originating from the energy and spiritual levels. The spiritual energy floating in the air (or rather, the seawater) became thin and filthy, filled with a nauseating, fishy-sweet and decaying smell—that was a mixture of highly concentrated "filthy star-shas" and "blood-resentment power." Even for Nascent Soul cultivators, being exposed to this environment for a long time would cause their magic power to stagnate, and their minds would easily be quietly eroded by negative emotions.

Lin Xuan opened a thin, gray Chaos shield, shrouding all twenty-two people. The Chaos airflow flowed slowly, like the most precise filter, blocking and annihilating the vast majority of filthy energy outside, while maintaining a relatively pure environment and stable pressure inside. This undoubtedly greatly reduced the burden on everyone, but it also kept Lin Xuan in a state of constant consumption.

"Follow closely, restrain your aura." Lin Xuan's voice sounded directly in everyone's sea of consciousness, calm and waveless.

The team was in an arrowhead formation, Lin Xuan in front, Zhao Yuan following closely, True Person Beichen, Elder Lingshuang, Old Ancestor Hunyou, and others on the left and right wings. Everyone suppressed their own aura to the lowest level, like a group of silent fish in the deep sea, relying on Lin Xuan's guidance and the faintly glowing "Faint Light Guiding Array" disk in True Person Beichen's hand, continuously diving and diving again toward a direction.

The surrounding light became darker and darker, until finally, it was impossible to see with the naked eye, and they could only rely on spiritual sense to probe. However, spiritual sense was also greatly suppressed and interfered with here. Extending it out, one could often only "see" a blurry, twisted darkness filled with viscous malice, and the huge, heart-palpitating shadow silhouettes that occasionally flashed by in the darkness—that might be sunken ancient star remains, or perhaps the nest of some polluted and alienated deep-sea giant beast.

The silver faint light emitted by the array disk in True Person Beichen's hand became the only reliable guide at this moment. The light was not strong, but it was exceptionally stable, piercing through layers of filth, outlining a tortuous but relatively "safe" energy trajectory ahead. This trajectory was not a straight line, but constantly avoiding the detected energy turbulence vortices, high-concentration pollution zones, and the territories of some "living things" that emitted terrifying auras.

"Turn left thirty degrees, seven hundred zhang below, there is a relatively stable 'cold spring rift' where we can temporarily avoid the large-scale filthy vortex ahead." True Person Beichen's voice was tense; he was concentrating fully on analyzing the massive amount of data fed back by the array disk.

The team turned immediately, like agile fish, sliding silently into an inconspicuous, narrow rift hidden on the side of a giant sea ridge. Inside the rift, the temperature plummeted, the water flow was almost stagnant, and the concentration of filthy energy was much lower, but it was filled with a more ancient, more eerie sense of silence. The rock walls were covered with thick, unknown deep-sea moss emitting faint light, providing a glimmer of illumination.

Everyone seized the time to adjust their breathing and replenish their consumption. Elder Lingshuang waved her hand to deploy a layer of thin ice, further isolating the inside and outside auras. Old Ancestor Hunyou released a wisp of almost imperceptible yin soul to drift to the entrance of the rift to keep watch.

Zhao Yuan sat cross-legged and looked inside himself. Although he was within Lin Xuan's shield, the filthy pressure from the outside and the malice originating from the deep-sea evil things that were everywhere still seeped in like ice water, constantly trying to erode his protective stellar power and mind. The newborn "Silent Star Chaos Qi" operated spontaneously, forming a layer of extremely faint gray-blue halo on his body surface, silently resolving and annihilating the vast majority of the erosion power, and even faintly showing a trend of "devouring" the stellar attribute parts within it in return. But the subtle irritability and chill transmitted from the soul level still needed to be forcibly driven away by his firm will.

"This is just the beginning; the environment of the true 'absolute blind zone' and where the 'Star-Remnant Giant Egg' is located is likely a hundred or a thousand times harsher than here." Lin Xuan's voice sounded in his consciousness, carrying a warning. "Although the essence of your 'Silent Star Chaos Qi' is high, the total amount is limited, so consumption must be cautious. Unless necessary, do not easily use it to resist environmental erosion; rely more on will and protective magic treasures."

"Yes, Senior." Zhao Yuan was secretly alert. He checked the "Silent Shadow" at his waist again; the deep blue patterns on the scabbard were slightly hot, as if excited, and as if vigilant. The "Mystic Ice Soul-Protecting Crystal" given by Elder Lingshuang was worn close to his body, sending bursts of coolness, helping to stabilize his soul.

They rested for less than a cup of tea's time.

"Hmm?" Old Ancestor Hunyou, who was responsible for vigilance, suddenly let out a muffled groan, and the yin soul he had released instantly lost contact with him!

"Something is approaching!" he shouted in a low voice, his withered fingers pinching seals rapidly. A palm-sized, dark-colored small banner with countless phantoms of painful faces appearing on its surface flew out from his sleeve and hovered above his head, emitting invisible soul power fluctuations, sweeping toward the outside of the rift.

Almost at the same time, the light in Lin Xuan's Chaos Tribulation Pupils flashed slightly, looking at the darkness above the rift entrance.

Gurgle... gurgle...

An extremely slight sound, as if viscous liquid was flowing, came from above the rock wall. Immediately following, a blurry, semi-transparent "thing" with dark red star-specks flickering inside, like melted gelatin, "flowed" down the rock wall silently! It had no fixed form, its edges constantly wriggling, probing out long, thin tentacles. Wherever it passed, the glowing deep-sea moss withered and lost color rapidly, being devoured by it.

"Filthy star-sha aggregate!" True Person Beichen whispered, "And it's the kind that is highly activated and has preliminary predatory instincts! Be careful, it might just be a 'scout'!"

That "gelatinous" mass seemed to sense the fresh life aura and relatively pure energy within the rift. Its flow speed accelerated suddenly, its front end expanding and opening, turning into a "mouthpart" covered in dense, saw-toothed energy structures, lunging toward Old Ancestor Hunyou, who was closest to the entrance! A fishy wind mixed with the resentment of stellar extinction and blood-sha rushed toward them!

"Hmph! Ghosts and monsters, dare to get close?" Old Ancestor Hunyou sneered, shaking the small banner above his head. Several gray-black soul shadows emitting shrill screams shot out, colliding with the gelatinous monster!

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!

The soul shadows collided into the gelatinous body, but did not tear or pierce through as expected. Instead, they seemed to fall into a viscous swamp, their speed greatly reduced. The soul power light on their surface was rapidly polluted and eroded by the dark red star-specks within the gelatin, emitting a "sizzle" sound of dissolution! The gelatinous monster just paused slightly, then continued to lunge, its volume even expanding a little, as if it had devoured part of the soul power!

"This ghost thing can pollute soul power!" Old Ancestor Hunyou's face changed slightly. The yin souls refined by his "Myriad Soul Banner" were inherently strange, but they were actually restrained by this filthy star-sha!

Just as the gelatinous monster was about to lunge in front of Old Ancestor Hunyou—

An ice-blue sword light arrived first!

Elder Lingshuang pointed her fingers like a sword, and a "Mystic Ice Sword Qi" condensed to the limit swept past silently, accurately slashing at the core of the gelatinous monster! The extremely cold sword intent erupted, instantly freezing that large mass of gelatin, along with the dark red star-specks inside, into a huge, deep blue ice lump emitting chilling white steam!

However, the ice lump only lasted for one breath before countless fine cracks exploded on its surface, and the dark red light inside flickered frantically, looking like it was about to break out of the ice!

"Stellar filth, resentment aggregate, physical and ordinary spell effects are limited." Lin Xuan's calm voice sounded, but he did not make a move, instead looking at Zhao Yuan. "Zhao Yuan, try your 'Silent Star Chaos Qi'."

Zhao Yuan understood, knowing that this was Lin Xuan testing the actual combat effect of his new power, and also accumulating experience for potentially stronger similar existences encountered later.

He stepped out, not drawing his sword, just raising his right index finger, a wisp of gray-blue airflow quietly overflowing from his fingertip. That airflow was as thin as a hair, yet gave one a sense of sharpness that could sever everything.

There was no grand momentum; Zhao Yuan just lightly slashed into the air toward the gelatinous monster that was about to break free from the ice seal.

The gray-blue thin line flashed and disappeared.

Crack.

The ice-sealed gelatinous monster, along with the thick Mystic Ice outside, split from the middle into a cut as smooth as a mirror! At the cut, there was no energy explosion, no flying ice fragments, only a sense of thorough nothingness, as if a part had been "erased" from the level of "existence"! The gelatinous part that was cut, the dark red star-specks inside instantly extinguished, the wriggling stopped, and it rapidly turned into the most primitive, inactive filthy energy dust, drifting away slowly. And the Mystic Ice that was cut, the ice crystal structure at the fracture also presented a strange "dead silence" state, losing all cold-attribute spiritual light.

One strike, silent and soundless, yet thoroughly "killed" this filthy aggregate that even Old Ancestor Hunyou at the peak of Nascent Soul found tricky!

The rift was silent.

Old Ancestor Hunyou's eye corners twitched, and he looked deeply at the gray-blue airflow at Zhao Yuan's fingertip that had not yet completely dissipated. Elder Lingshuang's cold eyes also flashed with a trace of surprise. True Person Beichen stroked his beard and nodded, his eyes revealing expectation.

Lin Xuan nodded slightly: "The effect is acceptable. 'Silent Star Chaos Qi' indeed has an essential restraint against this kind of filthy existence with twisted stellar power as its core. But how is the consumption?"

Zhao Yuan looked inside himself and estimated: "The strike just now consumed about one percent."

One percent, it seems not much, but one must know that what he faced just now was only a "scout"-level pollution body. What if he encountered stronger ones, or needed long-term, high-intensity output? Zhao Yuan was secretly alert, and his degree of "cherishing" his own power increased by another layer.

"Remember this feeling." Lin Xuan said, "Your power needs to be used at the most critical moment. Ordinary obstacles, leave them to others."

"Yes."

"This place is not suitable for staying long; the movement just now might attract more things." Lin Xuan waved his hand, and the Chaos shield shrouded the crowd again. "Continue forward."

The team left the cold spring rift silently again, following the trajectory pointed by the "Faint Light Guiding Array" disk, continuing to dive into the deeper, more ghostly dark sea abyss.

As they went deeper, the surrounding environment became more and more bizarre. There were more and more huge star remains like mountain ranges, and many remains still had twisted, ancient runes emitting ominous auras. Sometimes they would encounter a "dead water zone" that was completely still, where even spiritual sense seemed to be frozen; sometimes they had to cross a "turbulence zone" filled with broken stellar power and spatial rifts. Various strange-shaped, deeply polluted deep-sea creatures also began to appear. Most of them had lost their original forms, becoming twisted and aggressive, and some had even partially fused with filthy star-shas and blood-resentment power, becoming half-energy, half-biological monsters.

The team avoided conflict as much as possible. If they truly could not avoid it, Elder Lingshuang, Elder Hunyou, True Person Beichen, and the others would coordinate to eliminate the threats with the greatest speed and the least amount of noise. Zhao Yuan followed Lin Xuan's instructions to conserve his strength as much as possible. He would only strike when encountering monsters that were particularly thorny, difficult to resolve quickly through conventional means, and clearly bearing the distinct characteristics of the "Filthy Contract" or "Twisted Stars," using his "Silent Star Chaos Qi" to kill them in a single blow.

Every time he struck, that gray-blue power of silent annihilation left a deep impression on his companions and gave Zhao Yuan a more precise grasp of the characteristics and consumption of his own power.

The stealth continued for an unknown amount of time. The perception of time became blurry here. Only on the "Faint Light Guiding Array" disk, the scale representing the target distance was shrinking slowly and firmly.

Finally, after avoiding a "blood-resentment tide" of astonishing scale again, the light of the array disk in True Person Beichen's hand suddenly became urgent and dim, as if it had been subjected to some kind of powerful interference. His face changed: "Ahead... the energy field is extremely chaotic and twisted, the array disk's detection and analysis ability has dropped significantly! We... might have already approached the edge of the 'absolute blind zone'!"

Everyone's spirits lifted, and then their hearts tightened even more.

Lin Xuan stopped his figure, gray light flowing in his Chaos Tribulation Pupils, looking at the void ahead where even the darkness seemed more "heavy" and "viscous." Even with his eyesight and perception, he could only "see" a huge shadow silhouette that was constantly wriggling and changing, as if it had life, and in the shadow, the dark red pulsating light that appeared and disappeared, making the soul tremble.

"This is it." Lin Xuan's voice carried a trace of gravity. "Prepare, what comes next... is the true test."

Everyone held their breath, gripped their magic treasures tightly, and adjusted their states.

Zhao Yuan operated the "Silent Star Chaos Qi" silently, the gray-blue airflow flowing silently in his meridians, and the Silent Shadow sword emitted a low hum in its scabbard.

The darkness ahead was like the mouth of a giant beast opened, waiting for them to enter. ===== CHAPTER 179 =====