Han Shan sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes dropped to the hand that had blocked his saber, and what he saw stopped his retreat halfway. The skin was pale, like wax that had not touched light for a long time. Veins showed beneath that thin skin, but they did not pulse like the veins of a living person. No warmth came from the hand. There was no body heat, no sign of life, no trembling pulse. There was only pressure, heavy and cold, like stone that had somehow learned to move. An undead corpse. “What... what is that?” a cultivator behind Han Shan stepped back twice. His voice was barely more than a whisper. “Where did it come from?” “I did not see it earlier,” another cultivator said. His eyes searched for the place from which the creature had appeared, but found no answer. “It was not there before

When Rong Tian arrived at the ancient graveyard at the bottom of the abyss, his focus sharpened like a newly honed blade. He set aside his personal thoughts and sat cross-legged in a lotus position atop an old, damaged grave. Its inscription had long become impossible to read. The tombstone leaned to one side, half buried beneath the earth. Whoever rested there had been forgotten by the world above long ago. Yet a dangerous and terrifying aura flowed from the grave, an aura so heavy that even the desert wolves never approached this place, no matter how hungry they became. Among all the graves at the bottom of the abyss, this was the one with the thickest and most malicious energy. The air around it felt colder than anywhere else in the already cold abyss. It was not the cold of wind. It was the cold of something older than wind.&n

The young man sat cross-legged inside the dark, damp cave that had served as his hiding place in the Abyss of Suffering for a long time. The dim light from an oil lamp on the cave wall cast his shadow across the stone surface.That shadow shifted slowly whenever the flame trembled in the wind that slipped through the narrow cracks in the wall. The sound of the wind resembled whispers, as though the cave were alive and speaking in a language no one had ever been taught.Before him lay an old book whose cover had been worn by time. It was the record left behind by a demonic cultivator, a precious inheritance he had studied with great patience.The title on the cover could no longer be read, but the contents remained intact. Every page seemed preserved by something ordinary logic could not explain.Rong Tian turned the pages carefully, his eyes following every word and symbol written there. Without a master to guide him, he had to study each step of this demonic cultivation method with c

The sound seemed to pierce straight into their ears, stirring their souls in a way logic could not explain. The hair on everyone’s bodies rose. “What is that sound?” a disciple whispered. His head turned as he searched for the source, but he could not find one fixed point. It seemed to come from every direction. “I do not know,” the companion beside him answered, already gripping his sword hilt. “But I do not like how it feels.” The air around them seemed to change. It grew heavier and darker, as if something enormous were drawing breath before moving. Mo Zhengsheng stared into the darkness, his eyes brightening. “They are coming!” Roar! Dozens of undead corpses suddenly rose from the sand, as though born from the ground of the Hadarac Desert. Waves of sand spun like small whirlpools, releasing tattered fi

Suddenly, from inside the small building, a woman’s voice rang out, filled with harsh curses. “You useless old thing. Why don’t you just die? Your life only burdens others. Every day I have to bring food to trash like you.” The crack of a whip followed, accompanied by a cry of pain. “Please, do not hit me again. I am almost dead already. It will not be long...” Rong Tian froze. That was his father’s voice. Who dared curse and whip his father? His face darkened, and a red light flickered in his eyes, like fire ready to devour everything before it. Although Uncle Wu did not see Rong Tian’s expression, he felt a sudden chill cover the area. The hair on his body rose, as if some terrifying force had just awakened from something that had been sleeping with great patience. Ban