Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao
Chapter 283 - 158: Despair Abyss

Chapter 283: Chapter 158: Despair Abyss

The Void was constantly twisting, as if a collapsing Tao manifested in a three-dimensional form before the eyes.

Even within the Purple Flame Void, Zhou Yan could feel the magnitude of such momentum.

This momentum was like an abyss, pressing down like a sweeping force from above, and even though Zhou Yan’s physical body in the outside world was on the brink of death, he still experienced that kind of pressure.

The changes of the Heavenly Dao, the transitions of the void, all sensations presented themselves in a strikingly real manner, leaving one breathless and immensely repressed.

Yet, this sensation, in an instant, felt as though it existed eternally.

Afterwards, Heaven and Earth underwent mysterious changes, and Zhou Yan felt the pressure on his physical body from the outside world suddenly vanish, replaced by a sensation as refreshing as a gentle breeze and a soft rain.

Silently infiltrating the night like the wind, moistening everything without a sound.

This was the best portrayal of Zhou Yan’s telepathy at that time.

"Could it be that this place truly shields the Heavenly Dao from the outside world? But if so, wouldn’t it be possible to condense a Sword Soul here without any fetters? Yet if that’s the case, the Sword Soul condensed here would naturally not belong to the Sword Dao of the Sword Burial Ancestor Star... What exactly is going on?"

Zhou Yan grew hesitant in his mind, he couldn’t help but treat it seriously, because with a Split Body, at the very least, he could attempt to condense a Sword Soul outside the City of No Tears, whether difficult or dangerous in the world of Sword Dao, once successful, it would be exceedingly worth it.

If it failed, it would only result in the loss of a Void Body.

Zhou Yan pondered deeply, temporarily setting aside his understanding of the Taiyin Talisman Scripture, instead focusing all his sensing power into the body of the Split Body that was on the verge of death.

...

The Void encountered changes, and all Cultivators felt a death threat, immensely powerful.

This danger felt like being trapped with no escape, as if one’s Soul had been cast into an endless Abyss, ready to be slaughtered at will.

This was the feeling of death; no other sensation could be more profound than this.

Amongst a large group of Cultivators, there were those who couldn’t withstand the pressure, their Souls suddenly exploded. The bodies of these Cultivators remained intact, but as their Souls burst, the flesh and blood within withered at a visible speed.

In just a moment, the Cultivator turned into pieces of White Bones, and with a ’clatter,’ they fell to the ground.

Then, another chain of such sounds of bones hitting the ground occurred.

This sound made every surviving Cultivator solemn, yet, at that moment, no one spoke a word because the feeling and pressure of death were visible and palpable.

Perhaps, having gone through so many dangers before, everyone had made it through and, although difficult, there was hope.

But here, there were no thoughts of hope, because the feeling and pressure of death were always present, as if one were already dead, a most terrifying sensation that left everyone silent.

Every Cultivator had cold sweat beading on their forehead, hair standing on end involuntarily, chills running down their spine, and their scalp tingling.

But all of these were of no help.

For this place was the Despair Abyss.

The Despair Abyss had always been at the core of the City of No Tears; previously, no one had entered, or rather, those who entered never came out alive.

Now, many people had entered this place. These were not only Zhou Taiting, Qian Xi, and others but also Cultivators from some unknown Spaces.

There were members of the Heavenly Vein Clan with white wings, as well as beastman demons with tiger heads and snake tails. These Cultivators were seemingly close to each other in this place, but the actual distance was not close because the Despair Abyss of the City of No Tears was like an existence that surpassed dimensions, very peculiar indeed.

Even Zhou Yan, who was in the Purple Flame Void, was carefully sensing the condition of such a space, and he too discovered the uniqueness of this space.

The situation was odd, like a complete egg, which, in the outside world, could not be accessed without breaking the shell, but here, it was possible. It seemed as if this place surpassed the dimensionality of three-dimensional space.

Zhou Yan vaguely realized that perhaps the Despair Abyss was not about horror and despair but was instead a higher level space!

If that was the case, everything could be well explained.

In the world of ants, the ants do not know of three-dimensional space. Their world is flat, so when an object in front of them is suddenly removed from space, it seems to the ant that the object has mysteriously disappeared.

Similarly, in a three-dimensional Universe, an egg yolk cannot be extracted from an egg without breaking it, just as an Emperor Qi Sword Body cannot break free from the confines of the body to condense a Sword Soul. But in a four-dimensional Space, it’s possible!

Zhou Yan, observing the changes of the Despair Abyss from a bystander’s perspective, suddenly grasped many important things.

Originally, with his abilities, he should not have come to such a realization, even if he experienced it firsthand, he wouldn’t understand. But with his Master’s memories, these were easily understood because in his Master’s world, aside from a very few who practiced Martial Arts, the majority of people were actually ordinary, yet their advanced technology was extremely developed, even creating computers with astonishing Intelligence, capable of calculations that could outperform the brains of countless prodigious geniuses.

His master’s memories contained related knowledge; albeit scant, it was enough to let Zhou Yan understand the bizarre reasons behind his current environment.

"Surpassed this dimension... yet the Despair Abyss still exists... This seems to be one direction in which the Sword Soul can condense. As long as one breaks through this dimension and ascends to another height to condense the Sword Soul..."

"And moreover, everyone says that Sword Burial Ancestor Star cannot condense a Sword Soul... That is unreasonable. Deep love and intense hate might just be the extreme opposition by Heavenly Dao, embodying the ultimate manifestation of love because the universe, and even the entire universe, operates on the principle that things reverse upon reaching their extremes.

From this point of view, it appears that the ’Ancestor’ who derived the Sword Burial Ancestor Star was clearly immensely disappointed with the Sword Dao ’Tao.’ Perhaps, successive generations of Emperor Qi Sword Bodies never met ’his’ expectations, so to this generation, he had already ’given up’ on the Emperor Qi Sword Body, feeling he would never love again..."

"Then what could be the reason that would cause such deep-seated obsession and cold-hearted abandonment of the ’Emperor Qi Sword Body’ in a ’Transformation’ power? It must have been extreme disappointment, pain, anger, and helplessness..."

Zhou Yan had experienced many tragic events in the world and harbored his master’s memories of countless tragedies; his heart was already full of wounds. Therefore, he was able to empathize even more with these matters.

Some say that a person who has been hurt many times becomes more sensitive and emotionally delicate even if they originally were careless; there is truth in this statement.

Even though Zhou Yan followed the Heartless Sword Dao, his grasp of all this could now be said to be unparalleled.

As an observer detached from physical constraints, Zhou Yan’s thoughts began to grow profoundly deep.

Also, through these deep contemplations about Sword Soul, the more Zhou Yan pondered, the more he felt his understanding deepen, no longer confounded as before.

This profoundness even led him to conceive numerous strategies.

In times of despair, condensing the Sword Soul seemed utterly impossible, for every path led to certain death. But after envisioning the first method, Zhou Yan felt hope once more, as the methods he subsequently realized far exceeded just one.

Now, this method of transcending dimensions might be more difficult, but it is also the most effective!

Self-slashing twelve times, this strategy was theoretical. Provided there was enough Origin Energy to supply, it was indeed viable, but this Origin Energy would require a considerable amount of ancient texts and items to feed the Purple Flame Burning.

This situation was not without its challenges.

Zhou Yan meticulously recorded each strategy, storing them in the Purple Flame Void to analyze when he had ample time.

At present, he did not delve too much into contemplation because the changes in the Despair Abyss were too complex. He had to focus his full attention on monitoring the shifts here, adjusting the changes in the ’trap’ he had set.

...

City of No Tears, Despair Abyss.

At the moment, in the deathly still environment, decaying white bones kept falling to the ground, and this pitch-black land was already piled high with mountains of white bones.

This was the true land of the City of No Tears, no longer confined to the Ancient Array, nor were there many hidden dangers suddenly emerging.

But the terror here was even worse than that within the Ancient Array.

"I think everyone already knows where we are, so I won’t say much more."

Looking at the piles of white bones, even the Ancient Ghost heaved a weighty sigh before speaking.

After his words, the scene remained silent; no one spoke.

Each person could hear the heavy breathing of others and themselves.

Many cultivators had already reached the peak of regret in their hearts, regretting coming to such a place. If they had not come, at least they could still be alive, even if living like a dog, they would still be alive.

But arriving here likely meant a fate of more death than life, and without life, even great fortune would be useless.

Many cultivators’ spirits were already sinking, and upon hearing the words of the Ancient Evil Spirit, their mood became even more suppressed.

A pervasive sense of danger made them constantly tense, and they were forever in a heightened state of alertness. Such a state would be bearable for a brief time, but enduring it continuously would be impossible for anyone.

That’s because the anxiety that accompanies danger sensing is an innate warning; it results from the potential energy being squeezed out of one’s body as it burns through its Origin, but no cultivator could withstand such continuous depletion of their potential.

This was not just difficult for the Ancient Evil Spirit; all cultivators found this unbearable and felt no hope of surviving.

"Danger sensing is innate, predictive of danger, do not ignore it. Although it may destroy some of the Origin abilities, it could also bring about opportunities. Since we’ve come here, we can’t possibly leave, so let’s put up a good fight!

After all, thinking that we’re going to die anyway, there’s nothing to hold back. And those who chose to come here must have been prepared for the possibility of falling, so there’s no point in regretting anything now!"

"And remember, you are all geniuses! What does genius mean? A genius is someone who isn’t trash; don’t lose your fighting spirit here, that would mean giving up on yourselves! If you even gave up on yourselves, how could you expect Heavenly Dao to choose you?!"

At this moment, the Ancient Evil Spirit spoke these words with utter seriousness!

These words struck like thunder, awakening many cultivators from their stupor, including Zhou Ying, who was among the first to be roused.