The Shattered Vortex

Chapter 4 Into the Ghost Valley

The morning after the alleyway fight, the outer sect was not quiet. Word of Young Master Zhou’s broken sword had spread like wildfire through the lower tiers [1.1], but the retaliation did not come in the form of a midnight ambush. Instead, it arrived as an official decree from the high elders, delivered by a grim-faced deacon [1.1].

Lu Chen stood before the long, weather-worn bounty board at the edge of the outer plaza. In his hand, he held a heavy parchment scroll sealed with the black-and-crimson wax of the Hall of Discipline [1.1].

"Ghost Weeping Valley," Lu Chen read aloud, his voice dropping into the damp morning air.

The outer disciples standing nearby immediately kept their distance, whispering frantically behind their silk sleeves [1.1]. The Ghost Weeping Valley was a notorious, cursed gorge located forty miles outside the protective boundary of the Vermilion Mountains. It was a place where the sun never reached, choked by a dense, purple miasma that drove ordinary mortals insane within hours.

The mission scroll was explicit: Track and eliminate a Tier-2 Demonic Ape disrupting the local spirit-stone caravans. Failure to report back within five days will result in immediate execution for desertion.

It was a blatant death sentence [1.1]. A Tier-2 beast possessed power comparable to a cultivator at the peak of the Flesh Tempering Realm or the entry stages of the Core Formation Realm. Sending a freshly minted, bare-handed outer disciple into that abyss was nothing short of state-sanctioned murder, undoubtedly orchestrated by Young Master Zhou’s powerful inner disciple brother [1.1].

"They want me dead," Lu Chen murmured, a cold, humorless smile playing on his lips as he tightly rolled up the parchment. "But they don't realize the dark is where I thrive."

Two days later, Lu Chen stood at the precipice of the gorge. The valley looked like a jagged, open wound in the earth. A thick, unnatural fog swirled below, echoing with a low, whistling wind that sounded exactly like thousands of spirits weeping in agony. The air here was heavy with the smell of wet sulfur and decaying leaves.

Lu Chen didn't hesitate. He pulled his frayed hemp rope tighter around his waist and leapt down into the fog [1.1].

The moment his boots touched the muddy floor of the valley, the toxic, corrupt ambient Qi of the gorge tried to violently invade his body. Normal cultivators had to consume expensive Miasma-Purifying Pills every hour to protect their meridians from being corroded by this environment [1.1]. Lu Chen had no such luxuries.

As the purple fog forced its way into his chest, it rushed straight toward his navel. But the moment the corrupt energy touched his internal center, the miniature, razor-sharp vortex erupted with a predatory roar.

Vrrr—

Instead of rejecting the toxic energy, the jagged fragments of his shattered foundation seized it [1.1]. The glass-like shards of his Qi spun at an astronomical speed, acting like a cosmic meat grinder. The toxic miasma wasn't just filtered—it was violently broken down, crushed, and utterly devoured by the vortex.

Lu Chen gasped as a strange, icy sensation flooded his widened pathways. The vortex didn't break; it grew hungrier. By destroying the rules of traditional cultivation, he had unlocked a terrifying, hidden property of the Shattered Mirror Technique: The Devouring Maw [1.1]. His vortex could consume the hostile, corrupt energy of the world and refine it into raw, unyielding power [1.1].

"They sent me to an execution ground," Lu Chen whispered, his dark eyes glowing with a faint, predatory crimson light in the fog. "But they accidentally handed me a banquet."

For the next several hours, Lu Chen advanced deeper into the gorge, intentionally drawing deep breaths of the toxic fog, fueling the spinning storm inside his belly [1.1]. His muscles hardened, and his senses sharpened to a razor-sharp point. He could hear the dripping of moisture on moss half a mile away.

Suddenly, the whistling wind of the valley died down, replaced by a heavy, rhythmic thudding that caused the muddy puddles at his feet to ripple violently.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The fog ahead violently parted. A massive shadow, towering nearly fifteen feet tall, stepped into the clearing. The Tier-2 Demonic Ape had arrived. Its body was covered in matted, jet-black fur, and its chest was scarred with ancient battle marks. Its long arms ended in claws that could easily crush a boulder, but its most terrifying feature was its eyes—they were completely blood-red, burning with the same maddened, demonic energy that filled the valley.

The beast locked its gaze onto the lone human in rags [1.1]. It let out a earth-shattering roar that caused the stone walls of the canyon to shower loose gravel down upon them.

Lu Chen didn't take a step back. He slowly raised his bare fists, feeling the jagged vortex inside him spinning faster and faster, desperate to feast on the immense, dark energy radiating from the monster.

"They expected a beggar begging for scraps," Lu Chen said, his voice cutting through the beast's echoes. "Instead, they found a monster looking for a throat."

The Demonic Ape lunged, its massive fists coming down like a falling meteor.