Chapter 326: Descending (2)
The person ahead of him was an old man with slight wrinkles on his face. He exuded the aura of an Early-stage Principle Manipulation Realm cultivator.
This was the first Principle Manipulation Realm cultivator Tang Yin had encountered since entering the Hectic Chasm Holy Land.
’The Depth Layer is only a kilometre away from here. For some reason, this old man shouldn’t have been able to descend any further.’ Tang Yin deduced. The Surface Layer was 100 kilometres deep and the Subterranean Layer was only 300 kilometres deep.
With Tang Yin’s powerful body, he could easily enter the Depth Layer. Perhaps he could even roam around the deepest parts of the Depth Layer with his powerful body and with a few other protection methods at his disposal.
Tang Yin did not know why the old man was not able to enter the Depth Layer, nor did he care. Without another glance, Tang Yin descended down for another kilometre, into the Depth Layer.
BANG
Instantly, Tang Yin felt a humongous pressure land on his shoulders. He felt as if he were a mortal forced to carry the weight of an entire mountain on his shoulders. He not only felt uncomfortable and strained, but he also felt a splitting pain.
However, Tang Yin’s will had been forged through numerous hardships, life and death battles and he had suffered indescribable pain an unimaginable number of times. His will was even more powerful and refined compared to the average Late-stage Principle Manipulation Realm cultivator.
The splitting pain and intense pressure on his body were not enough to deter or break him. With narrowed eyebrows, Tang Yin continued his descent.
The Space Principles in the Depth Layer were twice as dense compared to the Subterranean Layer. The density and pressure of the Space Principles continued to increase slightly as Tang Yin continued his descent.
His divine sense had also been restricted and compressed to a radius of 600 kilometres. Now his divine sense only had 40% of its original size and perception.
Tang Yin did not immediately activate the Heaven Devouring Abyss and Devour as many Space Principles as he could. He wanted to first find a location with the densest Space Principles that he could handle. Only then would he start devouring Space Principles.
After almost half an hour, Tang Yin had descended for another 100 kilometres. Along the way, he only encountered Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators of the Early and Mid stages.
No trace of any Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators could be found anywhere in the Depth Layer.
The quantity of Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators in the Depth Layer was extremely few compared to the Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators in the Subterranean Layer.
This was only natural though. There were already not many Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators in the Bright Yang Continent. How many could possibly devote all of their time inside a Holy Land?
Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators had many responsibilities to take care of. They had to support their organizations, find resources for their cultivation, teach their disciples, train in their Martial Skills, contend with competitive organizations, etc.
Even if they did enter a Holy Land, it usually wouldn’t be for long. After all, how many Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators weren’t affected by their worldly responsibilities like Tang Yin? Probably very few.
This didn’t only apply to Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators but to all Principle Step cultivators. The only difference was the large quantity of Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators in the world compared to the low quantity of Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators.
But Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators who were able to enter a Holy Land were mostly from powerful organizations. As such, they wouldn’t have many responsibilities to begin with. They would be told to hone and improve their cultivation if they wanted to help their organizations.
On the other hand, Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators were extremely powerful. It did not matter whether they belonged to a powerful organization or not, just with their power alone, they could enter a Holy Land by pulling a few strings and paying a large price.
Since Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators were extremely powerful, they would have lots of responsibilities no matter their background. They would either need to deal with or push aside these responsibilities before entering a Holy Land.
As Tang Yin continued to descend, he reached the 200 kilometres mark in the Depth Layer. The Depth Layer was 1,000 kilometres deep according to what he had learned from the jade token given to him by Qian Zhong.
Tang Yin noticed that the Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators in the Depth Layer were different from the Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators in the Subterranean Layer.
The Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators in the Subterranean Layer were completely unconcerned about their surroundings and were completely devoted to their cultivation. However, most of the Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators in the Depth Layer were different. Although they mostly focused on their cultivation, they still paid at least some sort of attention to their surroundings.
Tang Yin had already deducted the reason for this.
Most of the Principle Comprehension Realm cultivators in the Subterranean Layer were gardened flowers that had been brought up inside a safe environment inside of their organizations. As such, they completely relied on the unanimous rule of Holy Lands where one wasn’t allowed to attack another.
Different to this, the Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators in the Depth Layer faced many hardships and dangers during their journey to power. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to become Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators.
Although some of them were raised and nurtured as gardened flowers in powerful organizations, as beings in the Principle Manipulation Realm, they had enough perception to not trust in everything. After all, rules could be bent.
Tang Yin still scoffed at these cultivators though. Although these Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators kept track of their immediate surroundings, he could tell that most of them would be unprepared for a surprise attack.
Nevertheless, he did not care. He continued his descent whilst avoiding all cultivators.
After another half an hour, Tang Yin reached the 400-kilometre mark of the Depth Layer.
By now, the pressure and density of the Space Principles in the Depth Layer had reached 2.5x of the Space Principles in the Subterranean Layer.
Tang Yin’s body hadn’t reached its limit yet, but it was not far off. Tang Yin estimated that his body would reach its limit once he descended to the 700-kilometre mark. That would also be the point where the Space Principles reached a density of 3x of the Subterranean Layer.
By now, most of the Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators in the surrounding area were in the Mid-stage with some of them even being in the Late-stage. There were no traces of Early-stage Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators at the 400-kilometre mark of the Depth Layer.
Tang Yin continued to descend. As the pressure and density of the Space Principles increased, Tang Yin reached the 600-kilometre mark of the Depth Layer.
By now, the pressure had almost reached a point where it could tear Tang Yin’s body apart. He also felt as if the weight of a thousand mountains was weighing down on his body. He felt as if he were trudging through a swamp.
Tang Yin found it difficult to move his body, but it was still manageable.
There were only a few cultivators this deep in the Hectic Chasm Holy Land, however, they were all Late-stage Principle Manipulation Realm cultivators.
They also weren’t like the others. Despite focusing on their cultivation, they still vigilantly kept an eye on their surroundings, they were much more cautious.
Some of them had even spotted Tang Yin with their divine senses or with other methods, but they simply ignored him as he did not venture too close to them.
Tang Yin spent 2 hours just to descend another 100 kilometres to reach the 700 kilometres mark of the Depth Layer.
By now, Tang Yin’s body was almost on the brink of being ripped apart by the dense Space Principles in the surroundings.
His divine sense had also been restricted even further. His divine sense’s range and perception had been reduced to a radius of 400 kilometres. That was 30% of its full range!
With a sigh, Tang Yin released the refined Killing Intent in his body. Upon being released from his body, the refined Killing Intent churned and created a thin layer of coating around his body.
Unfortunately, the pressure of the Space Principles was too huge. The refined Killing Intent was only able to last 10 seconds before being forced to return to Tang Yin’s body.
Luckily, Tang Yin had a colossal amount of refined Killing Intent in his body. He simply released some more to coat his body.
He did this three times. After that, the first batch of refined Killing Intent had recovered. He simply released it to coat his body again. Like the first time, it broke down and returned to his body.
A repetitive cycle of release and return continued with the refined Killing Intent. Whilst one portion of refined Killing Intent was protecting his body, the other portions were inside of his body, recovering. And when the first portion broke down, one of the other portions would replace it and allow the broken-down portion to recover inside his body.
