Above the fifth layer of the Endless Abyss.
A black-red vortex rapidly appeared!
As soon as the vortex appeared, all abyssal creatures became frenzied.
Including the primal demons, every abyssal being immediately launched a fierce counterattack.
Many soldiers of Magnus' legion were caught off guard by this sudden reaction.
The reason for the frenzy was Chu Hao's inadvertent "gaze."
This gaze represented the will of the Endless Abyss—the only thing the creatures feared and obeyed in the Abyss!
However, although Chu Hao's consciousness appeared on the fifth layer, most of his focus was entirely on the Magnus soldier kneeling before the demon.
"I want to live!"
The moment Chu Hao spoke, the soldier's former faith collapsed, replaced by a new faith in the Endless Abyss.
Days of brutal combat had already worn a huge gap into his mind.
The promises he made under the angelic statues were long forgotten by his survival instincts.
Loyalty, defending the honor of angels…
"Those were just lies I spun for money and glory!"
The Magnus soldier knelt, feeling the hateful gazes of former comrades behind him.
If not for the mists being cleared, he might not have been exposed.
Yet, even so, he felt no guilt.
Instead, he redirected all his hatred and resentment toward the angels who sent him to this hell.
"Why can you enjoy the devotion of mortals from above, while we are forced to die in this place?"
Former glory meant nothing in the face of imminent death.
"Great Abyss… I pray to you…"
A small voice emerged from the depths of Chu Hao's soul.
In his vast spiritual ocean, a tiny, almost imperceptible flame appeared.
The Magnus soldier had fully fallen.
From flesh to soul, everything distorted toward monstrosity.
With the soldier's "conversion," a faint spark of divine fire subtly increased Chu Hao's total divine fire.
Even this tiny gain brought him joy.
"As expected, the rumored property of the Endless Abyss has been confirmed!"
"Foreign beings, especially those carrying faith, when corrupted in the Abyss…"
Chu Hao stared at the soldier, now reborn as an abyssal creature.
"Their faith will twist into devotion to the Abyss!"
"And the power of that faith will belong to the Abyss!"
A chain of lightning-like insights connected in Chu Hao's mind.
He recalled what he had learned from being observed by the Abyss itself.
"Now it makes sense!"
"No wonder dying deities, before their divine fire is completely exhausted, resolutely enter the Abyss!"
"And the Endless Abyss welcomes those who once opposed it!"
"So…"
Chu Hao's gaze cleared.
"This is a win-win 'transaction'!"
---
But while Chu Hao contemplated, Magnus was furious.
"Purge him!"
His roar echoed across the plane.
"Purge this damned heretic!"
His anger made all Magnus' soldiers shiver and refocus their fragile faith.
Several priest-dressed soldiers quickly advanced, weapons raised toward the primal demon variant that had lured the Magnus soldier.
Snap!
With a single strike, the soldier's head was severed, spinning like a top in the air.
From his body, blood gushed in pillars, splattering the ground.
The blood was immediately licked clean by countless tiny swamp insects.
The purifiers did not stop, forming a triangular formation and striking at the primal demon variant.
Due to the power gap, the demon was killed within a single breath.
All of this played out in Chu Hao's vision.
But he did not care.
The life of a primal demon, a fallen outsider, meant nothing to him.
Their value had already been fully exploited.
What Chu Hao cared about was…
The forefront of the battlefield, Magnus himself—the legendary-tier warrior, nearly demigod in strength, and most devout in faith.
A malicious thought suddenly emerged in Chu Hao's mind.
"If even someone so devout can be led to fall in the Endless Abyss…"
"How much divine fire can I gain?"
"And what will he become after mutating?"
Chu Hao had long abandoned the concept of assessment or stimulating primal demons.
All he desired now was purely to satisfy his curiosity.
A smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
---
Suddenly, Magnus felt a terrifying pressure!
As a legendary-tier warrior, he immediately raised his head.
Sure enough, above the Endless Abyss, within the black-red vortex, a pair of pure black eyes stared directly at him!
Unlike the previous mockery, this time, the gaze was filled only with malice!
Simultaneously, the spatial rules of the entire Endless Abyss became chaotic.
Countless spatial gates leading deep into the Abyss abruptly opened on the fifth layer.
These twisted gates, made of unknown bones and blood, were inscribed with crimson numbers.
Each number represented a unique layer of the Endless Abyss!
With the appearance of these gates, all Magnus' soldiers began to tremble.
They could hear terrifying sounds emanating from the gates…
Countless abyssal creatures and demons, eager to crush and devour them, were gathering!
Only now did Magnus understand why, on the first layer of the Endless Abyss, the world's incarnate will had looked at him with disdain.
"From beginning to end…"
"In its eyes… we are nothing but toys…"
Magnus muttered under his breath.