Palpitations

Nie Changkong gave a slight nod.

He glanced at Su Yu, a trace of pride flashing in his eyes.

“His name is Su Yuan.”

“His talent is exceptional.”

“I brought him along this time mainly so he could see some blood and broaden his horizons.”

Hearing this, the four Martial Kings immediately understood.

Anyone personally mentored by the vice principal was sure to become a core combatant of Jingwu in the future.

“Brother Su, once we reach the site, just stay behind me.”

Another Martial King, a scar running across his face, patted his chest and spoke in a bold, confident tone.

“The strongest one at the base is no more than a Martial Spirit at the peak.”

“With the vice principal, a Martial Emperor, personally overseeing the operation, along with the four of us Martial Kings…”

“We’ll be more than capable of suppressing any unexpected situation!”

“Just treat this as a field trip!”

Su Yu looked at the enthusiastic Martial Kings and gave them a slight nod.

His narrow eyes, disguised by the Myriad Forms Concealment Art, remained as still as an ancient well.

The strongest is only a peak Martial Spirit?

His true combat strength was now comparable to that of a Martial Saint.

Looks like I won’t have much of a chance to fight.

Nie Changkong noticed Su Yu’s calm expression and slightly furrowed his brows.

He felt that the boy was underestimating the Abyss.

“Su Yuan.”

Nie Changkong’s voice became exceptionally stern as it rang through the cabin.

“Don’t let your guard down!”

“Although you possess extraordinary talent, this is your first time truly facing the Abyssal Cult—and the aura of the Abyss!”

“Do you know what the most terrifying thing about the Abyss is?”

Su Yu raised his head and looked at Nie Changkong.

“Pollution?”

“That’s right! Pollution!”

A deep sense of dread and hatred flashed through Nie Changkong’s eyes.

“The combat strength of Abyssal monsters themselves may not be much greater than that of mutated beasts at the same level.”

“But the Abyssal aura they carry is the nightmare of every living creature!”

Nie Changkong extended a finger and tapped heavily against the armrest of his seat.

“That pollution doesn’t merely corrode your flesh!”

“It also contaminates your blood and qi, and can even erode your spiritual power!”

“Once you come into contact with pure Abyssal aura, it will spread wildly along your meridians like a festering wound that clings to the bone!”

“Ordinary astral energy can’t defend against it!”

The four Martial Kings in the cabin turned grim upon hearing this.

They had all suffered from it while stationed on the Abyssal front lines.

“So…”

Nie Changkong fixed Su Yu with an unyielding stare. His tone was stern and left no room for argument.

“The moment combat begins…”

“Do not allow even a trace of Abyssal aura to touch you!”

“No matter what strange technique the enemy uses, and no matter how faint that aura may appear…”

“You must shatter it with overwhelming force from a distance of ten meters!”

“Do you understand?!”

Su Yu looked at Nie Changkong, who was acting as though he were facing a formidable enemy.

His heart tightened.

He had never imagined that the Abyss’s pollution could be so dangerous.

Even an expert at the Martial Emperor level treated it with such fear.

“But…”

Su Yu pondered for a moment before asking the most practical question.

“What if I accidentally become contaminated during the battle?”

At those words, the air inside the cabin seemed to drop by more than ten degrees in an instant.

The scar-faced Martial King let out a bitter laugh.

He abruptly rolled up the sleeve covering his left arm.

Su Yu’s gaze sharpened.

A massive, hideous depression marred the Martial King’s left arm.

The flesh there looked as though a large chunk had been forcibly gouged out with a sharp weapon. Even the pale bones of his arm could be faintly seen.

“If you become contaminated…”

Nie Changkong’s voice was filled with bone-chilling coldness.

“Draw your blade immediately!”

“Cut away every part of the flesh touched by the Abyssal aura—skin, muscle, and even bone.”

“Do it without the slightest hesitation!”

“Even if it means losing a hand or a leg, you must not hesitate for even a moment!”

“Otherwise, the pollution will spread without limit until it turns you completely into an Abyssal monster that has lost all reason and knows nothing but slaughter!”

Cut away the flesh!

Break the bones!

This was the most brutal—and most effective—method human martial artists had to save themselves when facing the Abyss.

A solemn glint flashed through Su Yu’s deep eyes.

He no longer held the slightest trace of contempt and nodded gravely.

“I understand, Vice Principal.”

Seeing that Su Yu had taken his words to heart, Nie Changkong’s hard expression eased slightly. However, the gloom in his eyes did not fade.

“Su Yuan, I’m emphasizing this because I’ve seen too many geniuses who thought too highly of themselves die horribly beneath the Abyss’s pollution.”

Nie Changkong spoke in a low voice, and the atmosphere in the cabin grew unbearably oppressive.

“The Abyss is terrifying not only because it can turn people into monsters, but also because of the absolute suppression it creates in actual combat!”

“When facing ordinary mutated beasts or human martial artists, your talent may allow you to dominate those at your level—or even kill enemies above your realm.”

“But against the Abyss, you absolutely must not think that way!”

Nie Changkong raised one finger, his tone exceptionally grave.

“Because the Abyssal aura possesses an extremely powerful corrosive effect on human blood and qi, as well as astral energy…”

“In actual combat, when our attacks strike them, the power is easily neutralized for the most part by the force of the pollution. But when their attacks come at us, we have to divert a large portion of our attention toward preventing the pollution from entering our bodies!”

“As one side weakens and the other strengthens…”

Nie Changkong enunciated each word.

“Human martial artists at the same level are practically no match for Abyssal monsters!”

“To suppress the Abyss, we can usually only rely on a higher realm to crush them by force—or overwhelm them with an absolute numerical advantage!”

“That is why, despite dealing with a base whose strongest member is no more than a peak Martial Spirit, I have to lead the operation personally and mobilize four Martial Kings to accompany me.”

Hearing Nie Changkong’s explanation, Su Yu’s heart tightened.

His already formidable vigilance was heightened to its absolute limit.

Even geniuses who were invincible among their peers would be suppressed when facing the Abyss?

Although he possessed the perfected Void Tyrant Physique, and his blood and qi had been refined into Dark-Gold Divine Blood through three rounds of tenfold compression…

Those were ultimately only theoretical advantages. He had never truly tested them in combat against the Abyss.

“Once the operation begins, I must maintain absolute focus.”

Su Yu silently warned himself.

“I cannot give them the slightest chance to approach and contaminate me. If I can kill them with one strike, I absolutely must not delay for even half a second!”

The aircraft sped through the clouds.

Carrying an atmosphere of slaughter, it drew ever closer to the abandoned industrial district on the outskirts of the capital.

…

Meanwhile.

Deep underground on the outskirts of the capital, inside a hidden base.

Blood-red light soared into the sky throughout the spacious hall!

The crimson altar, built from countless piled-up bones, was now erupting with an exceptionally dazzling, sinister light.

At the center of the altar, the black vortex had expanded to a diameter of ten meters!

An indescribable, terrifying pressure was squeezing through the vortex’s passageway, slowly forcing its way over from the distant plane of the Abyss!

The air was filled with black mist so dense that it seemed almost impossible to disperse.

This was pure Abyssal aura!

Merely coming into contact with a trace of the escaping black mist caused several enormous gray rats lurking in the corner of the hall to swell grotesquely in an instant, as though they had been inflated like balloons.

“Squeee—!!”

Amid the spine-chilling sounds of flesh and bone tearing apart, pale, mutated spikes burst straight through their fur. Their original eyeballs exploded with a bang, transforming into two blood-red, murderous glows. In an instant, they became aberrant monsters capable only of savagely biting one another.

And it was not limited to living creatures.

Even the dark moss stubbornly clinging to the walls of the underground hall was instantly drained of all vitality the moment it touched the black mist. It withered and twisted at an incredible speed, eventually melting into puddles of black water that gave off a pungent, foul stench.

All life withered. Vitality was extinguished.

“The ritual is ready!”

A hunched figure in a black robe knelt before the altar and shouted in a feverish voice.

However—

The face of the Abyss Bishop, standing at the very front of the altar, was hidden beneath the shadow of his hood, his expression shifting unpredictably.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

Within his ghostly green eyes flickered a trace of panic and unease—emotions so rare that they were almost impossible to see.

A sense of dread!

An overwhelming feeling of dread unlike anything he had ever experienced before, as though the Grim Reaper himself had fixed his gaze upon him!

“What’s going on?”

The bishop pressed a hand to his chest, feeling his heart pound with abnormal intensity.

“Why do I feel…”

“That this operation is going to fail?!”

The intuition had come without warning, yet it was terrifyingly strong.

So strong that he felt an urge to turn around and flee immediately!

Even as he stared at the terrifying phantom slowly descending above the altar, an absurd thought surfaced in his mind—

Could it be that even the Demon Saint Lord would meet his end here today?!

“Lord Bishop, what’s wrong?”

The high-ranking hidden operative beside him noticed the bishop’s abnormal behavior and asked in a low voice.

“I…”

The bishop drew a deep breath and abruptly shook his head.