Ning Rongrong passed through the dense swarm of Abyss creatures and arrived at the core area.
"The changes in Wind and Snow Valley are this drastic?" Ning Rongrong revealed a look of surprise.
At the location of the rift valley, the howling winds that blew out painted the surroundings in a gray haze, giving off an aura of lifeless desolation.
Within dozens of li around the rift, a terrifying number of Abyss creatures were gathered.
The more powerful Abyss creatures seemed unable to descend at will, but that did not mean ordinary Abyss creatures had no way of doing so.
The auras here were substantial—definitely true bodies.
Creatures comparable to Soul Douluo, and even those just entering the Title Douluo level, were present in numbers that rivaled the center of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Closer to the rift, in the areas occupied by these Soul Douluo and Soul Sages, even more vast and majestic energy fluctuations could faintly be felt.
"Right here."
The auras of five Abyss creatures—Abyss Lords at the Limit Douluo quasi-god level.
Ning Rongrong did not disturb these quasi-gods. She quietly slipped past their guarded positions and directly infiltrated Wind and Snow Valley.
These small fries were merely projections. Even if she killed them, they would simply come back from the other side. First, she needed to confirm the status of the seal.
For instance, when the Abyss Holy Lord and the Mother of the Abyss would be able to descend—that was the most important thing.
Moving with familiarity, she endured the raging Abyss storm and arrived at the original location of the seal.
The enormous fissure seemed like a gaze into the Abyss, and the Abyss stared back.
It gave an unbearable feeling to look directly at it.
Ning Rongrong glanced around. The ten-thousand-year cold marrow that had once been here had been corrupted by the Abyss aura into pitch-black ink color. It now faintly formed a special array formation instead of serving to seal anything.
"It still cannot accommodate the entry and exit of a first-level god, but compared to two and a half years ago, the fissure has grown by about a quarter."
Back then, the reason the Abyss Holy Lord had been able to descend was due to the Ancient Black Phoenix.
It was similar to how, in Dragon King Legend, the Abyss Holy Lord had used the Demon Empress's body to descend into the Douluo plane—though once thrown into the passage, there was no way back.
As for the Mother of the Abyss, she had likely used some divine artifact or super-divine artifact to briefly project her consciousness and energy across from the Abyss plane to the Douluo Continent. It simply could not be sustained for long.
The cost of crossing planes was not something so easily paid.
"Who is it? Who's there!"
Five black-robed figures descended from above. Their terrifying speed caused the air itself to spark and crackle with electric friction.
"Discovered?" Ning Rongrong did not pay it much mind. Perhaps the entry of abnormal energy had triggered an alert, prompting these Abyss Lords to rush over urgently.
The five figures formed a circle, completely surrounding Ning Rongrong.
"It's you!"
The black-robed figure who seemed to possess the strongest aura revealed a pair of eyes from within the pitch-black robes. His tone grew cautious.
"I came to investigate the seal and see if I can patch it up." Ning Rongrong nodded. "It's always troublesome for people to keep coming out from inside. The people of our world find it quite a headache too."
"Hmph, a headache? Then let me paint your brains across the ground." Another black-robed figure's cloak vanished, revealing a somewhat alien body. In his hand was a skull scepter.
"Ridiculous. With just you?" Ning Rongrong sneered. "Even the true bodies of the Sickle Emperor and Spirit Emperor weren't my match. Mere projections—what do you have to defeat me with?"
"What do we have? This!" The skull scepter released a black glow. A dozens-of-meters-tall skull head formed of energy opened its massive maw and lunged toward Ning Rongrong.
"Soul-corroding power?" Ning Rongrong gazed at the skull head right before her eyes. From time to time, it emitted wails like those of hellish ghosts, attempting to disturb the mind.
"Useless. I'm not one of those Title Douluo you've dealt with before."
Her gaze focused slightly. Ning Rongrong's pupils transformed into clock-like dials.
The expressions of the five Abyss Lords changed. They quickly distanced themselves from Ning Rongrong. However, the Ghost Emperor who had used his skill was a step too slow and got locked on.
First, the energy-formed skull head exploded.
Then, before he could retreat, his entire body was torn apart by the distorted space. He couldn't even let out a wail before turning into black mist and dissipating.
Ning Rongrong glanced over and murmured toward the Abyss passage:
"It seems simple methods can't kill you, but delaying your revival and making it harder for you to come back and cause trouble is still within my grasp."
In the original story, even Gu Yuena's Silver Dragon Spear, when used against Abyss projections, could greatly delay their revival after killing them.
Simply put, it used higher-level energy to interfere with the array's operation.
That empty-headed dragon could actually purify?
What first-level god who combined wisdom and beauty in one body.
Mm… she really was quite beautiful.
As for wisdom… well, it was about average.
"Erasing the divine soul of the projection means the next time they want to come over, it won't be so quick."
Projecting to this side required a complete and stable soul.
Even if they could recover, it wouldn't be something done in a short time.
"Very good. You've been checkmated."
Ning Rongrong looked up at the four quasi-god-level Abyss Lords who had pulled back.
"I heard there was someone else who came this time, right? Call him out too so I can deal with you all at once."
From the information she had learned in conversations with Ning Fengzhi and the others, the first time the Abyss Lords appeared, there had been one more than now—something like a strategist.
Clearly, that guy was either hiding or had possibly infiltrated into the native Douluo Continent.
Crossing the defensive line was difficult, but for someone at quasi-god level, it wasn't completely impossible. After all, soul tools hadn't yet reached the level of the ten-thousand-year Peerless Tang Sect era.
The buildings were tall and impressive, sure, but no matter how impressive, they couldn't erase a ten-thousand-year gap in a short time.
"Little girl, don't be too reliant on brute force. You won't be leaving this place today."
A vast wave of demonic energy erupted. His aura was slightly stronger than the others.
"Hm? Divine power… interesting. Are you the Demon Emperor or the Blazing Emperor?"
In the Abyss, the Demon Emperor of the fourth layer, the Blazing Emperor of the third layer, and the Spirit Emperor of the second layer had all approached god level to varying degrees.
All three had reached the boundary of godhood in certain aspects, and their overall strength was roughly equal.
"This seat is the Blazing Emperor. Little girl, young people shouldn't be so arrogant. If you leave now, this seat can let bygones be bygones."
"Pfft—" Ning Rongrong laughed.
"If you can't beat me, then let bygones be bygones? Since when did Abyss creatures become so cowardly?"
"Or is this strategy from the Wisdom Emperor who wandered off somewhere unknown?"
"How do you know about the Wisdom Emperor? He should never have revealed his name." The Blazing Emperor frowned slightly.
As expected…
Ning Rongrong did not answer. In her mind appeared information about the Wisdom Emperor.
In the later parts of the Douluo storyline, the Wisdom Emperor had faked his death and escaped, but then went missing.
He was the only one among the ten great Abyss Emperors who had not been eliminated in Tang San's schemes.
"I know more than you imagine. Oh, right—it was the Ice God who told us!" Ning Rongrong silently thought in her heart, "Ice God, please don't blame me." She felt no embarrassment at all for not actually lying.
She hadn't even entered the Ice Palace—how would she know the Ice God? Xue Di had only inherited the power and apparently not much of the memories.
"The Ice God—that woman?" The Blazing Emperor's expression darkened. "Forget it. Since she's already dead, there's no need for us to care about someone who once barged into our Abyss plane."
The former Ice God had been very strong. Alone, she had forced the Abyss back into their passage and even charged in herself. Relying on the Ice Palace, she had slaughtered gods and Buddhas alike.
If not for the Mother of Crimson intervening at the end, it would have been hard to severely wound her. A woman even the Holy Lord feared—a true god, and a true deity.
While Ning Rongrong was speaking with the several Abyss Lords, the entire Abyss rift area.
The winds of Wind and Snow Valley stopped, sealed off by a vast surge of energy.
Seeing this, the Crack Emperor laughed loudly:
"You're finished, little brat! Lord Holy Lord has already sealed off the valley region and is about to descend. He is the faith of our Abyss!"
"Just obediently prostrate yourself in the great Abyss and curse your own incompetence."
"Hahahaha!"
"Human, you have already courted death!"
(End of chapter)