Chapter 929: Angel Among Demons

Lei En said he sent someone to scout the Abyss, but it was actually himself; a few days earlier, Reslin had already entered the Abyss.

Traveling from the Prime Material Plane to the Abyss is not easy: first, the distance is vast; second, the Abyss is enormous, composed of countless planes forming a massive world, making it extremely hard to locate.

When people refer to which layer of the Abyss, it can generally be understood as a measure of distance.

The higher the layer number, the farther it is from the Prime Material Plane. The Abyss's first layer, the Wan Abyss Plain, is closest to the Prime Material Plane. Adjacent layers are also close in distance, but a connecting passage may not exist, much like the isolation between planes; most Abyssal layers are sealed, difficult to enter, requiring powerful teleportation ability or a unique method to gain access.

For beings other than Demons, the Abyss is the most dangerous place in the world.

Nevertheless, many people still enter the Abyss for various purposes and return safely, bringing back information about the Abyss, including some spatiotemporal coordinates and planar passages to Abyssal layers.

The Weizelan Grand Library preserves hundreds of spatiotemporal coordinates, scattered across different Abyssal layers.

In addition, there are several natural planar passages that can be used relatively safely.

However, none of these coordinates or passages lead to Layer 404, the Sighing Wasteland, and information about that layer is scarce.

Thus, Reslin chose a neighboring plane as a springboard.

The Sighing Wasteland is Layer 404; the three nearest well-known planes are Layer 399, the Worm Kingdom; Layer 422, Yenogu's Domain; and Layer 435, the Mist Mountain Range.

The first two layers each have an Abyssal Lord, and they are not ordinary Abyssal Lords—they are evil gods!

Especially on Layer 422, the god of the hyena‑werewolf, Yenogu, is a well‑known evil god; although his divine power is only average among evil gods, he is the lord worshipped by all hyena‑werewolves worldwide, and he controls a massive horde of ghoul slaves and Demon armies, ruling all territories of this plane.

Layer 399, the Worm Kingdom, is also not to be trifled with; the "Crawler" E'erde Lian is the god of all crawling creatures.

His followers also include dwarves, goblins, ratfolk, serpents, and so on; his divine power is modest, but he has fashioned this Abyssal layer into his own divine kingdom, and outsiders who enter fall into his traps, extremely dangerous.

Lei En has not yet swollen to the point of confronting deities head‑on.

Therefore, he chose Layer 435, the Mist Mountain Range.

This layer's area is larger than the Worm Kingdom and Yenogu's Domain, many times larger, almost equivalent to the Empire's area.

But it has no Abyssal Lord.

The power structure of the Mist Mountain Range is extremely complex; for tens of thousands of years, more than fifty Demon Lords have led their legions to try to conquer the entire plane and thus ascend to Abyssal Lord, yet none succeeded. The reason is that the Mist Mountain Range is too vast, the number of Demons is in the billions, almost every Demon type can be found on this layer, and the planar environment is intricate; without absolute strength one cannot conquer the whole plane.

A few years ago in Nuosiruier, the Demon Lord Sha Helaisi, who almost emerged from the Abyssal Gate, was one of the Mist Mountain Range's lords.

In fact, Layer 435, the Mist Mountain Range, is the preferred destination for many fallen beings from the Prime Material Plane.

There are also many transcendants adventuring on this layer.

Thus, the geography, Demon legions, and power distribution of the Mist Mountain Range are far more detailed than other planes, preventing newcomers from being completely clueless after entering.

The Weizelan Grand Library's collection includes five spatiotemporal coordinates that point to the Mist Mountain Range.

Although it is a bit farther from the Sighing Wasteland, Reslin still chose to enter it, arranging a rune array in an Evil Energy Wasteland on the New Continent, and successfully teleported to the Mist Mountain Range.

Through Reslin's eyes, Lei En saw the state of this Abyssal layer.

Black is the dominant hue of this world; the vast majority of the plane consists of endless massive mountain ranges, boundless, with towering peaks piercing the sky, shrouded in an immeasurably wide gray mist that only occasionally clears to reveal the sun.

Between the gray mist and the black mountains countless Demons are constantly fighting each other.

Reslin did not explore further.

After entering the Mist Mountain Range, he continuously activated his rainbow‑light cloak to stay invisible; with Grand Mage power, even when encountering a Demon Lord he is hard to detect, and if he cannot defeat them he can easily escape.

Fortunately, Reslin did not encounter any Demon Lord; after several days of teleportation, he found a planar passage in the Mist Mountain Range leading to Layer 421, the White Kingdom.

This layer borders Yenogu's Domain on Layer 422 and also has an Abyssal Lord, the King of Ghouls "Duo Laisen". He was once an elf mage, later transformed into a Lich and entered the Abyss, becoming this layer's ruler, but was defeated by Yenogu many years ago and swore allegiance to the hyena‑werewolf god.

In the White Kingdom, Reslin avoided the King of Ghouls, and after ten days found a planar passage to Layer 403, the Rainless Wasteland.

This Abyssal plane is extremely barren, its area very small, and no Demon Lord shows interest in it.

Few Demons can be found in the Rainless Wasteland.

Reslin traversed this layer in half a day; there is no natural planar passage between the Rainless Wasteland and the Sighing Wasteland, but the two planes are adjacent. He chose a relatively weak node, took the memory crystal obtained from Heistav, activated the spatiotemporal coordinate, and cast the Nine-ring Technique to open an interdimensional gateway.

Soon, a wide passage opened on the wasteland.

After confirming it was safe, Reslin stepped inside.

Emerging from the interdimensional gateway, he faced an endless wasteland dotted with sparse weeds and shrubs; the sky was shrouded in thick gray‑dark lead clouds, with only a little sunlight piercing through, casting a dim, perpetual gloom over the world.

The dry air was filled with endless evil energy, corroding souls constantly.

Even legendary transcendants, without sufficient mental protection, will eventually fall to corruption if they linger too long in the Abyss.

However, Reslin, who possesses the Will of Truth, has become accustomed to it.

"Alas..."

A deep sigh sounded from somewhere, echoing through every corner of the plane.

Reslin's spirit jolted instantly.

That sound...

In the Abyssal wasteland of the New Continent, one can hear wind‑borne mutterings that irritate the mind; those with weak Willpower go mad within three days. Some say the mutterings come from the ancient Abyssal Four Gods, others claim they are the bottomless Abyss's own consciousness.

Any place of Abyssal expansion or evil‑energy contamination can be heard with this maddening muttering.

In the Abyss, it is naturally everywhere.

However, this sigh is clearly different from the Abyssal mutterings; it is clearer, like someone whispering in the ear—though only a single syllable, its emotion is discernible, as if from distant ages billions of years ago, filled with faint resignation, melancholy, and sorrow.

Reslin paused to listen, patiently waiting for over ten minutes.

"Alas..."

Another sigh sounded at his ear.

This time, Reslin clearly captured the emotion in the sound; the Voice of All Things reached its limit, finally pinpointing the source.

Underground!

The sound originated from deep underground, then propagated into the air. Remarkably, its speed was extremely fast, far exceeding normal sound—at least a hundred times faster. If the Voice of All Things had not been amplified during Lei En's Holy Soul Ascension as a Wizard, it would be terrifyingly hard to locate the source.

Reslin looked down at the barren, dry ground, his mind wavering.

"Is this the origin of the Sighing Wasteland's name?"

He paused in place for a moment, using his phone to time precisely; roughly every 13 minutes a sigh could be heard, very punctual, with an error of no more than half a second.

Who exactly is sighing?

Reslin couldn't help but be curious; these sighs carried no hostility, nor did they corrupt the mind like Abyssal babble, seeming instead like the final lament of a dying person.

If the mystery of the sighs could be uncovered, there might be a considerable gain.

However, now is not the time for research.

Heistafu's information only mentioned that there is an open‑air source crystal mine in the Sighing Wilderness, but it recorded only an approximate location, requiring personal verification. The Sighing Wilderness spans an area equivalent to three to four provinces of the Empire; in the Abyss this is a relatively small plane, yet locating a mine within it is no easy task.

Reslin entered stealth mode and rose into the sky.

From high above, the endless wilderness stretched before his eyes, the horizon looking the same from every direction.

He could only pierce the thick clouds to glimpse the vague outline of the sun, using it as a reference to determine direction.

Whoosh!

Reslin teleported away.

After several jumps, he arrived at the northern Sighing Wilderness, where an endless Black Forest stretched; the towering twisted trees bore few branches, tangled with countless thorns, matching the dim sky like a nightmare.

Yet this was the most fertile region in the Sighing Wilderness.

Reslin found abundant signs of life in the Black Forest—a lone bat darted through the shadows; they were vampires!

He tracked a group of vampires into the Black Forest and soon saw a dark, ancient castle.

The All-Seeing Eye pierced inside; the castle housed countless vampires who had built blood pools, cultivating prime demons from the deepest Abyss as food, eating their flesh and drinking their blood, battling each other endlessly for blood food and status, using the cruelest methods against other vampires.

The castle's master was a vampire Count, equivalent to a Mid-stage transcendent of legend.

Vampires are demons transformed from humans; they are accidental creations of the Lord of Chaos, far less potent than the carefully forged powerful demons, only a few thousand years old, holding low status in the Abyss and able to survive only on remote planes like the Sighing Wilderness.

Yet they have a strict hierarchy: only by ascending to Great Demon, i. e., the legendary realm, can one obtain the baron title, claim a territory, and build one's own castle.

Above baron is count, and above that is Title: Duke.

Higher than Title: Duke are Vampire Princes, who are Demon Lords, but extremely rare; it is said only thirteen Vampire Princes have ever been born worldwide.

Reslin slipped into the vampire castle.

Vampires retained human habits; the gloomy castle contained a great hall, towers, a study, and so on, kept very clean. If not for the air thick with vile corruption, it would appear almost indistinguishable from a human castle at first glance.

Reslin easily evaded the vampires' detection, silently passing through the alert array laid out with blood runes, and entered the castle's study.

The vampire Count was not here.

He opened the MutatedPhone and directly copied the few hundred volumes in the study into the phone's library. These books were almost all written in Abyssal Language, which did not trouble him; he quickly found what he wanted—a map of the Sighing Wilderness.

Although the map was drawn roughly, it was sufficient.

Cross-referencing Heistafu's data, Reslin quickly narrowed the location of the source crystal mine to just outside the Black Forest—called "Black Thorn Forest" by the vampires—about six hundred li westward, near the western Sighing Wilderness.

Having obtained the map, Reslin immediately left the castle and hurried toward the source crystal mine.

After two more jumps, he closed in on the target area.

Heistafu described the source crystal mine as being within this wilderness; although the area had been narrowed considerably, it still spanned tens of thousands of square li, and locating a mine within it would take time.

"Go find it."

Reslin began searching from high above.

The search lasted two days, having ruled out about a third of the area; while stealth‑flying in the sky, Reslin suddenly sensed some movement.

"Hm?"

He looked ahead and saw a flock of transformed bats—vampires—in rapid flight, many of which were vampire nobles, a large number heading in the same direction.

After a moment's thought, Reslin followed.

Soon, he saw even more vampires and also a vampire Title: Duke, leading a large contingent of vampires patrolling the area, seemingly searching for a target.

"What's going on?"

Reslin furrowed his brow; the vampires' search area lay within the source crystal mine's range. Could these demons have sensed something? For countless years, demons knew nothing of the source crystal mine and had never mined it; could their sudden interest be mere coincidence?

With that thought, Reslin quietly approached a group of vampires.

Then he heard some fragmented words.

"Succubus..."

These vampires were searching for a succubus, apparently one who had fled the succubus queen's court many years ago; she had recently broken into the Sighing Wilderness, was wounded after clashing with a vampire Title: Duke, and luckily escaped, hiding nearby.

Reslin shook his head; as long as it had nothing to do with the source crystal mine, it was fine.

He had no interest in the succubus.

Thus he avoided the vampires, but half a day later, while using the All-Seeing Eye to peer through the ground for the mine, Reslin saw a succubus sleeping hidden in a cavern.

Just one glance, and he was dazzled.

She was unbelievably beautiful!

At the same time, the Soul Eye discerned more information, causing Lei En, far away in the Empire, to pause in astonishment and whisper, "Demon? Angel? And yet a holy swordsman!"

I couldn't finish it last night, so I got up this morning and completed it; this chapter counts as yesterday's, and today I'll keep pushing to write two more chapters.

(End of Chapter)