Forbidden Zone: The Silent Abyss

Wearing a miserable expression, the little fatty reached into the deepest corner of his storage space and, with extreme reluctance, carefully brought out an ancient, small bronze seal.

As soon as this small seal appeared, it immediately exuded a kingly aura that suppressed the surroundings. Although deliberately suppressed, that faint coercion far exceeded all his previous treasures!

"Here... the Zhenyue King Seal... a true King Weapon..." Fatty Wang's voice trembled with a heartache so intense he could barely breathe. "This time... this is really it! He wasn't a Holy Son yet, after all, so this is his only bottom-of-the-box treasure... I swear!"

He looked eagerly at Xiao Ruobai, as if waiting for the final judgment.

Xiao Ruobai looked at the small seal exuding a kingly aura, then looked at Fatty Wang's bankrupt appearance, and a very faint smile finally appeared on the corners of his mouth.

This little fatty indeed hid good things. However, forcing him to take out this King Weapon was about enough.

Xiao Ruobai's calm gaze swept across the dazzling array of treasures on the ground, finally landing on Fatty Wang's face, but he didn't immediately take the King Seal.

He pondered for a moment before suddenly saying, "Although a King Weapon is good, its aura is too conspicuous and easily attracts trouble."

Fatty Wang was stunned upon hearing this, a glimmer of hope instantly flashing in his eyes. Could it be... he didn't want the King Weapon?

However, Xiao Ruobai changed the subject, his gaze falling on Fatty Wang's chest. "I think that Lesser Void Transfer Talisman you used before is quite nice."

Fatty Wang's face instantly changed color, looking even more pained than when he took out the King Weapon, and he almost blurted out.

"No! Absolutely not! That is my bottom-of-the-box life-saving talisman! Drawing one consumes most of my mental energy and materials! It's even more precious than a King Weapon!"

He shook his head like a rattle. "Brother! Big bro! Take the King Weapon! Take it as you please! But these talismans are really a no-go! Without them, I don't even have the confidence to run away!"

Xiao Ruobai wasn't in a hurry. He just looked at him with a half-smile and said slowly, "Oh? Is that so? Or do you think your life isn't worth as much as these few talismans?"

Fatty Wang choked and couldn't speak, his face wrinkling up as an intense internal struggle raged within him. On one side were the incredibly precious life-saving talismans made from hard-to-find materials; on the other side were the thick thighs of these two unfathomable brothers standing before him.

He struggled for a long time before finally gritting his teeth and stomping his foot. With the tragic resolve of a hero cutting off his own wrist, he tremblingly pulled out a stack of shining silver talismans. There were exactly ten of them, no more, no less.

"Ten! Ten at most!"

Fatty Wang's voice sounded as if it were dripping blood. "Big brother! My own brother! This is really my limit! If you want even one more, you might as well just take me with it!"

Looking at his agonized appearance, Xiao Ruobai found it amusing, knowing that this was probably truly his psychological bottom line.

He didn't press him any further and reached out to take the ten Lesser Void Transfer Talismans that were brimming with spiritual energy. As soon as they entered his hand, he could feel the exquisite spatial power contained within them; they were indeed excellent life-saving items.

Then, under Fatty Wang's nervous gaze, Xiao Ruobai's hand finally reached toward the Zhenyue King Seal. The seal felt slightly heavy in his hand, and a majestic kingly coercion faintly emanated from it. It was indeed a heavy treasure.

Next, he casually picked up a jade pendant from the pile of treasures. It looked the most ancient and contained pure soul power, appearing to be an excellent item for nourishing spiritual sense.

Having done this, Xiao Ruobai withdrew his hand, pointed at all the remaining items on the ground, and said to Fatty Wang, "You can put away the rest yourself."

Fatty Wang froze for a moment, and then went into ecstasy!

He had thought that after taking the King Seal and the talismans, Xiao Ruobai would pick out many more good things. He never expected him to only take one extra jade pendant!

"Big brother! You really are my own big brother! You're too generous!" Fatty Wang was instantly moved to tears. As he frantically and quickly gathered all the remaining treasures on the ground, he choked out, "Don't worry, brother! In the future, if I, Fatty Wang, find any good things, I will definitely offer them to you first! I would go through fire and water without hesitation!"

His shedding tears of gratitude appearance made it seem as if he wasn't the one who had just been robbed of ten talismans and a King Seal.

Xiao Ruobai looked at his miserly appearance, shook his head, and put away the jade pendant. As for the King Seal and five of the talismans, he distributed them to Fang Hanyu.

...

Qingxuan Sect, Purple Bamboo Peak summit.

Gu Changge, dressed in a plain white robe, stood with his hands behind his back. His gaze was distant, piercing through the layers of clouds to look beyond Xuan Province, toward that even vaster and boundless world.

Xiao Ruobai and Fang Hanyu had already gone down the mountain to gain experience. Ling Xi was still tirelessly challenging the Prodigy Tower over and over again every day. As a result, Purple Bamboo Peak seemed exceptionally quiet.

He recalled the loss of world origin he had sensed previously. Since he was idle and bored, it wouldn't hurt to go and investigate it!

Subsequently, Gu Changge quietly left the Qingxuan Sect.

He didn't alert anyone, nor did he cause the slightest ripple in the sect's grand protective array. It was as natural as the drifting of clouds.

He didn't ride a flying light, nor did he tear through space. He just acted like an ordinary wandering scholar; with a single step, his figure was already a thousand miles away.

Mountains and rivers rapidly retreated beneath his feet, while towns and villages passed by in a flash like pieces on a chessboard.

Gu Changge traveled east all the way, following his faint sense of the trajectory of the world origin's loss, when he suddenly felt a special place ahead.

"It's still less troublesome to find someone to ask!" Gu Changge's gaze pierced through to a forbidden zone a hundred thousand miles away, the Ancient Abyss of Annihilation!

This place was the ruins of an earth-shattering battle from ancient times. Space was shattered, laws were chaotic, and it was filled with destructive winds of annihilation and spacetime fragments. Ordinary Saint Realm experts who stepped into it would also face the danger of falling.

For countless years, an unknown number of explorers and treasure hunters had lost their lives here, giving it a notorious reputation.

However, as Gu Changge walked through it, it was as if he were walking on flat ground. Those chaotic spacetime fragments could not disturb the seemingly unremarkable force field around him in the slightest, which in reality contained supreme Dao rhythm.

It was as if he weren't walking in a death zone, but strolling in his own backyard. His gaze was leisurely as he sized up this broken and ancient world.

Unknowingly, he passed through an extremely secretive, invisible barrier capable of isolating the spiritual sense probes of Holy Lord-level existences.

Behind the barrier was not the unimaginably perilous land one would expect, but rather a strangely tranquil space.

There were no astral winds here, no fragments, only an endless sea of black sand. In the center of the sand sea stood a solitary palace made entirely of an unknown black crystal.

The palace was ancient and magnificent, exuding a heart-palpitating coercion, like a giant beast that had slumbered for eternity.

This place was exactly the true core of the Ancient Abyss of Annihilation, and also the slumbering ground of the Lord of Annihilation, whose very name made the outside world tremble in fear.

Gu Changge seemed to feel no coercion whatsoever as he strolled leisurely over the black sand sea. The gravel beneath his feet was silent, and his gaze landed on the distant black palace with a trace of inquiry.

"The formations here are quite interesting. Gathering the power of annihilation to reverse life and death, attempting to prove eternity through annihilation... The idea is good, but unfortunately, it went astray."

He shook his head and pressed onward. Like a tourist who had wandered in by mistake, he took in the "scenery" around him, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the deepest depths of a black palace.

There, he gazed upon a massive black crystal coffin standing silently in the center of the hall, radiating a heart-palpitating, oppressive aura.