At that moment, Lu Ye experienced a strange sensation—he didn’t feel all that angry.
It wasn’t like when Jiang Die attacked him, when his rage had exploded, uncontainable and furious.
When he heard Chu Ling speak, he simply chuckled.
Streaks of flowing light swept through the air, forming into a formation. Instead of entering the Dark Abyss, Lu Ye sealed this entrance—also its only exit.
He then sat down cross-legged. Countless spirit stones flew out, releasing pure spiritual energy as he began to cultivate.
Chu Ling froze.
“Why aren’t you coming in? Didn’t you come to kill me? Come in here and kill me then!” Chu Ling shouted, enraged.
“Lu Ye, you’re nothing but a coward. You reincarnated, and now you don’t even have the courage to kill your enemies? How did you kill the Parasitic Heavenly Demon back then? That thing could fly and escape through the heavens, it even entered forbidden zones, and you still chased it down for years. What now? You’re afraid to kill even me?”
“You really are pathetic!”
“There’s nothing about you I like anymore. You’ve completely disappointed me!”
“Lu Ye, come in and kill me!”
Lu Ye didn’t respond.
The Dark Abyss—since Chu Ling had entered it, there would be no leaving.
Even though the Dark Abyss had more than one entrance and exit, there was no way Chu Ling could escape from any of the others.
Because if she tried to leave through another, she’d run into someone.
That someone was the Great Sage of the Ninth Heaven.
So what was the rush?
While Lu Ye cultivated peacefully, his aura steadily increased.
Unity Realm, fifth layer.
Unity Realm, sixth layer.
Unity Realm, seventh layer.
Chu Ling hurled insult after insult, trying to shame Lu Ye. But as time passed, a trace of fear began to seep into her voice.
“My lord, I truly admit my mistakes now. Will you spare me?” she pleaded.
“No,” Lu Ye said coldly.
“Lu Ye, how can you be so heartless?”
He kept cultivating, unmoved.
Chu Ling raged at him again, letting loose a torrent of venom. Neither she nor even Anli could have imagined that, even in his fury, Lu Ye would force himself to hold back from storming into the Dark Abyss to kill her.
What was he doing now?
From ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) her understanding of him, Chu Ling could more or less guess the answer.
Lu Ye was preparing to cultivate to the peak of the Unity Realm, to the point where he could summon a heavenly tribulation at will—only then would he enter to kill her!
When that time came, he would shatter the darkness with thunder.
The Dark Abyss wouldn’t be able to restrain him once he underwent tribulation.
“My lord, spare me just this once. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t kill Yue Hongling and Bai Qiulan yourself? I’ll kill them for you. Take their lives in exchange for mine, alright?” Chu Ling’s voice trembled with desperation.
“No.”
She erupted again in fury.
But this time, she didn’t scream out insults.
She contacted Anli.
“What now? What the hell do we do? This was your plan?” Chu Ling’s voice seethed with fury.
“I told you to focus on cultivating first, break into the Fourth Heaven, and then spread the information. But you were the one who rushed to expose everything. And now you’re blaming me?” Anli snapped back, clearly displeased.
She had thought Chu Ling was a usable chess piece.
But she turned out to be a dead one.
“Can’t you use the power of the Source of Darkness to get me out of here?”
“Get you out? Are you kidding? The Heavenly Dao is waiting for me to intervene on your behalf. If I make a move, it’ll immediately destroy my efforts—and strike back at me!”
“Then what am I supposed to do?!”
Chu Ling’s voice rose to a shriek.
Anli paused.
“...Try begging him again?”
Chu Ling fell silent.
Then: “Lu Ye! Do you want to know something about Anli?” she shouted.
Lu Ye opened his eyes.
“Speak.”
“Swear you won’t kill me first!”
“Fine. I promise.”
“Wuwuwu...”
Chu Ling’s throat suddenly seized up—choked by the power of darkness. She could no longer utter a single word.
“Are you insane? Can’t stop stabbing me in the back, can you?!” Anli’s face darkened with fury.
Why was it that, no matter the situation, Chu Ling never failed to betray her?
“Hold tight. I’ll try to think of something. Maybe there’s still a way to get you out.”
Lu Ye raised a brow slightly.
Judging by this, Chu Ling might know something about Anli’s weakness?
No... Would Anli really let someone else know her weakness? That wasn’t like her at all.
Lu Ye resumed his cultivation.
“Are you monitoring her?” he asked.
“Ding. Yes, monitoring now.”
“If she dares to show herself, blast her. Blast her into the damn ground!”
“Ding. I’ll blast with everything I’ve got!”
The system really was keeping a close eye on Chu Ling. If the Source of Darkness dared to act, the system would immediately mobilize the Heavenly Dao to strike back.
If Chu Ling could be killed, that was ideal.
But if they could damage the Source of Darkness—damage Anli—that would still be worth it.
Lu Ye’s cultivation continued to rise.
Chu Ling was already furiously attacking the darkness that bound her.
Lu Ye’s strength reached Unity Realm, ninth layer.
Then with one last surge—
Unity Realm, tenth layer!
“You still won’t save me?!” Chu Ling screamed.
Suddenly, a surge of darkness swirled up, forming into a vortex, attempting to pull Chu Ling away.
“Boom!”
A thunderous crash split the air.
A dark purple lightning bolt tore through the void, blasting toward the endless distance.
At the same instant, Lu Ye charged into the Dark Abyss.
The surrounding darkness was incredibly dense, filled with horrifying suction that made movement nearly impossible.
But Lu Ye instantly struck out with the Heaven’s Might Fist, smashing it hard into the black vortex.
“Boom!”
The vortex shuddered violently.
Blood dyed it red.
Just as the vortex was about to vanish—
A pitch-black tribulation bolt slammed through the void.
The dark vortex trembled violently—then stopped spinning altogether. Chu Ling’s body dropped into the darkness.
She had failed to escape.
Anli flew into a rage, surging the Dark Abyss’s power to its limit.
She had lost everything—lost the wife and the army.
On one side, she had been attacked by the system and the Heavenly Dao. On the other, she had failed to rescue Chu Ling.
At that moment, all the power of darkness within the Dark Abyss boiled over. The entire space turned into a swamp, trying to trap Lu Ye within it.
Shrouded in dark energy, even the divine fragrance of his path was being suppressed.
Lu Ye didn’t care.
Soon enough, he would undergo tribulation—and the thunder would shatter all the darkness.
He walked up to Chu Ling.
Their eyes met.
“My lord...”
Chu Ling dropped to her knees before Lu Ye.
She couldn’t stop sobbing.
“I’m sorry... I was deceived by the Source of Darkness. I really know I was wrong. I always loved you the most.”
“I only wanted to grow as fast as possible, to catch up to you and walk beside you...”
“My lord, I was wrong...”
Lu Ye stared at Chu Ling. In a fleeting moment, a memory flickered in his eyes.
Chu Ling, in a flowing emerald-green dress, dancing amidst a field of flowers.
Calling out to him again and again in her crisp, sweet voice—“my lord.”
But all of that was long gone.
“What weakness does Anli have?” Lu Ye asked.
“She’s in the Fourth Heaven. When she tempted me with dark power, I could sense it—her true body is in the Fourth Heaven. Though she can use dark power to move across realms, if you kill her physical body there, it’s over for her!”
“Monitor anyone undergoing tribulation in the Fourth Heaven,” Lu Ye commanded.
“Ding. Confirmed... Ah! She’s beginning her tribulation!”
“Now then,” Lu Ye said, “aside from begging for your life, do you have anything else to say?”
