Chapter 311: Call from the Abyss
’The entity was not hostile until I mentioned the soul milk. Will it stop attacking if I give up?’ Yang Xu wondered.
However, he was reluctant to give up the soul milk and soul stones.
Before it came to that, he wanted to do his best to find a way to survive.
’Endure first.’ He thought and circulated his soul-refining technique.
Although it was dangerous, this was also an opportunity.
If everything worked out, he would break through to the sixth level of soul refining.
When that happened, he would have a chance against the unknown entity.
With such thoughts in mind, Yang Xu focused on soul refining.
He used his soul shield to dissipate some of the creature’s soul pressure and guided the rest to break his soul-refining barrier.
After an unknown time, his soul barrier broke and thunder-like sounds echoed from within his body.
These sounds were not particularly loud but they surprised the creature, causing it to look at Yang Xu in question.
However, Yang Xu was not in the mood to answer its questions.
This was because he discovered that he had severely underestimated the creature.
Although his soul had broken through to the sixth level, he was still under a lot of pressure from the creature.
From his estimate, the creature’s soul power was at least one realm above his.
’How is this possible?’ He wondered and a cold sweat broke out all over his body.
’With such soul strength, why didn’t it crush my soul?’
Yang Xu was confused and didn’t know what to do.
When the enemy was only slightly stronger, it made sense to fight to the death.
However, when the gap was too big, fighting was an exercise in futility.
At this time, Yang Xu gave up all thoughts about fighting and began to think of other ways to survive.
’Since it didn’t kill me directly, there must be a way to survive. All I need to do is find it.’ He thought and suppressed his anxiety.
"I have offended the senior." He suddenly said and the pressure on him eased.
[Senior..., is that my name?] The creature asked and Yang Xu got a headache.
He was trying his best to find a way to survive and didn’t know how to deal with the creature’s identity issues.
"’Senior’ is how we respectfully refer to cultivators who are more powerful than us."
When he heard that, the creature fell into thought and Yang Xu didn’t dare to wait for more questions.
"Did the senior encounter an incident? Where did the senior come from?"
[I have always been here.] The creature answered and Yang Xu shuddered.
After the initial shock of seeing the creature, he suspected that it was a soul beast that had taken human form.
However, there was something different about it.
Yang Xu couldn’t pinpoint the difference between it and soul beasts but he knew there was a difference.
"Do you know why you are here?"
At this question, the creature fell into thought again and the pressure on Yang Xu lessened.
’It seems that I need to keep it talking and interested.’ Yang Xu thought and heaved a sigh of relief.
Unfortunately, he relaxed too soon.
Just when he thought he had found a temporary solution, he felt a terrible pressure on his soul.
Soon after, he felt something tugging at his soul and his body was uncontrollably dragged towards the creature.
.....
At the same time, Yu Nianzhen arrived at the edge of an abyss.
The abyss had a diameter of one hundred metres and a tree floated at its centre.
’I have found the soul raising tree but how do I get to it?’ Yu Nianzhen wondered and looked at the abyss.
A moment later, he closed his eyes and took a few steps back.
"Is this the literal meaning of the abyss staring back at you?" He muttered and wiped sweat from his brow.
When he looked at the abyss, he felt like something was calling him from below.
The call was seductive and for a moment, he had an insane urge to jump into the abyss.
Fortunately, his soul was strong and his willpower was even more impressive.
Before the call took over his mind, he managed to extricate himself and retreat from the edge of the abyss.
After taking a moment to calm down, Yu Nianzhen sat cross-legged and began to observe the surroundings.
Other than the abyss, there were only soul trees around him.
However, once in a while, soul beasts would emerge from the soul raising tree and canter across the abyss to the land.
’Is the soul raising tree the source of soul beasts in the forest?’ He wondered and continued to observe.
From what he knew, the soul raising tree could nurture incomplete souls and prevent them from dissipating.
If used in weapons, it increased the potency of soul arts which was especially useful for illusion weapons.
However, he had never heard anything about its ability to birth soul beasts.
"It’s too bad it can’t be planted in my jade box for the time being." He said and sighed in regret.
Although his jade box was special and could grow most plants, some herbs required unique conditions.
If he wanted to grow the soul raising tree, he had to adjust an area of the jade box to suit the growth conditions of the plant.
At the moment, this was too difficult and he had no way to create a suitable environment for the growth of the soul raising tree.
’Forget it for now.’ He thought and focused on the soul beasts.
"How can they cross the abyss?" He wondered and observed them closely.
A moment later, he picked a stone from the ground and used all his strength to throw it.
Under ordinary circumstances, the stone should have flown across the abyss and landed on the other side.
However, it only flew one foot before falling into the abyss.
"I will try coating a stone with qi." He decided and did the same.
Soon after, he threw the stone but the outcome was the same.
As soon as it entered the range of the abyss, it lost momentum and plunged into darkness.
"Qi doesn’t work. What about soul power?"
With the spirit of investigating all possibilities, Yu Nianzhen coated a stone with soul power and threw it.
This time, the stone flew ten metres before falling into the abyss.
’Seems like soul power is the answer.’ He thought and fell into thought.
After a cup of tea, he picked another stone and coated it with a thicker layer of soul power.
As expected, the stone flew further but still fell before reaching the soul raising tree.
In this way, Yu Nianzhen continued to experiment and eventually figured out the amount of soul power needed to cross the abyss.
However, he didn’t start right away.
This was because he was unsure about the amount of soul power needed to cut a branch of the soul raising tree.
After thinking about the problem for a long time, he sighed and stood up.
"There is no way to know unless I try it." He muttered with a guilty look on his face.
Before Jiang Yue went into seclusion, Yu Nianzhen promised he wouldn’t be reckless.
However, he didn’t want to give up the soul raising tree.
In that case, he could only do his best to make sure he remained safe even in a dangerous situation.
"I have enough soul replenishing pills and soul beast cores. Nothing will go wrong." He reassured himself.
At the same time, he looked at the soul beasts who came out of the soul raising tree.
For some reason, the soul beasts didn’t seem to care about him.
As soon as they reached land, they immediately walked away without bothering him
’I hope it will be the same when I enter the abyss.’ He thought and became a little vigilant.
He was confident of making it to the soul raising tree.
However, this was under the premise that the soul beasts would not attack him.
If he was attacked and had to fight, Yu Nianzhen wasn’t sure his soul power would last until he reached the soul raising tree.
’Just in case, I should leave the ancient palace on land.’ He thought and began to look for a hiding place.
This move was not only for Jiang Yue’s protection but to also give himself a way out.
If something went wrong, he could teleport to Jiang Yue’s side and avoid falling into the abyss.
After searching for a while, Yu Nianzhen dug a shallow hole under a soul tree and hid the ancient palace.
When that was done, he took a deep breath and walked to the edge of the abyss.
Like before, he felt the call from the abyss but he was prepared this time around.
He ignored the call and coated his body with a thin layer of soul power.
A moment later, he took a step forward and hoped all his assumptions were right.
