The Abyss of Souls was a place where even the sunlight feared to tread. Massive, gnarled trees with bark like rotting flesh reached toward the sky, their branches tangled together to form a ceiling of thorns. This was the dumping ground of the Cloud Mist Sect—a place for failed experiments, broken weapons, and "trash" disciples.
Su Lan stood over the carcass of the first Soul-Eater Beast. The white mist of its essence was still being pulled into her palm by the Void Root.
In her previous life, cultivation was a slow, painful process. You had to sit for days, meditating, trying to coax the thin spiritual energy of the world into your veins. It was like trying to fill a bucket with a single drop of rain.
But this? This was different.
[Ding! Level Up! Current Realm: Body Refining Level 2.]
[Ding! Level Up! Current Realm: Body Refining Level 3.]
In less than five minutes, Su Lan had regained the strength of a common soldier. She could feel her muscles tightening, her senses sharpening. The smell of the damp earth and the distant sound of dripping water became crystal clear.
"If I can level up just by killing," Su Lan thought, her eyes flashing with a predatory light, "then this Abyss isn't a prison. It's a buffet."
From the darkness, the red eyes multiplied. The smell of the first wolf's blood had acted like a dinner bell for the rest of the pack. Slowly, a dozen more Soul-Eater Beasts emerged. They were larger than the first, their fur matted with dried blood and their claws scraping against the jagged stones.
[Warning: Pack Mentality detected. Enemy strength is equivalent to Body Refining Level 5. Does the Host wish to retreat?]
"Retreat?" Su Lan let out a low, cold laugh. She wiped a stray drop of blood from her cheek. "System, you don't understand. I've spent my whole life being told to be 'cautious' and 'gentle.' Look where that got me."
She clenched her fists. The black energy of the Void crackled around her knuckles like dark lightning.
"In this life, I don't move backward."
The lead wolf lunged, its jaws wide enough to snap off a human head. Su Lan didn't dodge. Instead, she stepped into the attack.
[Skill Activated: Void Step.]
Her body blurred. To the wolves, it looked like she had turned into a puff of black smoke. The lead wolf snapped at thin air, and in the next heartbeat, Su Lan appeared directly beneath its belly.
She thrust her palm upward.
BOOM!
The energy exploded. The massive beast was sent flying twenty feet into the air, its internal organs shattered by the sheer force of the Void energy. It crashed into a tree, dead before it hit the ground.
[Ding! Kill confirmed. Gained 200 Experience Points.]
The rest of the pack froze. These beasts survived on fear, but for the first time in centuries, they were the ones feeling it. They looked at the small, slender girl in the tattered, blood-stained white robe. To them, she no longer smelled like a weak human. She smelled like a black hole.
Su Lan didn't give them time to rethink. She became a whirlwind of shadow.
Crack. Snap. Thud.
One by one, the wolves fell. Su Lan's movements were not the elegant, flowery forms taught by the Cloud Mist Sect. Her movements were efficient, brutal, and designed for one thing: ending life. She used her fingers like claws, her elbows like hammers, and her Void energy to bypass their thick hide.
Ten minutes later, the clearing was silent.
Su Lan stood in the center of a circle of corpses. Her breathing was slightly heavy, but her eyes were brighter than ever. Streams of white essence rose from the fallen beasts, flowing toward her like rivers to an ocean.
[Ding! Mission Complete: Killed 10/10 Soul-Eater Beasts.]
[Distributing Rewards...]
[Gained: Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique (Rank: Divine).]
[Gained: 500 System Points.]
[Gained: Void Storage Ring (Infinite Space).]
[Ding! Level Up! Current Realm: Body Refining Level 9 (Peak).]
Su Lan felt a massive surge of heat in her chest. Her bones creaked and hardened, and her skin became as tough as refined iron. In a single hour, she had jumped from a "waste" to the peak of the first major cultivation realm.
She looked at her hands. The scars from the Spirit-Locking Chains were fading, replaced by smooth, flawless skin.
"System," Su Lan whispered. "How do I get out of here?"
[Answer: The Abyss is sealed by a 'Heaven-Locking Formation' placed by the Sect Leader. To break it, the Host must reach the Foundation Establishment Realm and use the Heaven-Slaying Sword.]
"Foundation Establishment, huh?" Su Lan looked deeper into the Abyss. The forest went on for miles, filled with even stronger monsters and ancient, forgotten ruins. "Then I'll just have to keep killing until the world itself can't hold me down."
Meanwhile, at the Top of the Mountain...
In the luxurious "Phoenix Pavilion" of the Cloud Mist Sect, the atmosphere was festive.
Lin Yue sat on a throne of silk, her face glowing with health. Around her, dozens of disciples were offering gifts and flattery.
"Junior Sister Lin is truly a genius!" one disciple chirped. "To merge with a spiritual root so perfectly... you will surely become the top cultivator in the Great Province!"
Ye Chen, the Senior Brother, stood by her side, looking proud. "Of course. Yue'er was always meant for greatness. Unlike that Su Lan, who was nothing but a clumsy tool."
Lin Yue giggled, hiding her mouth behind a silk fan. "Brother Chen, don't be so mean. Sister Su... she served her purpose. I will use her root to reach the heavens. In a way, she is still 'with' me."
They all laughed, a sound of pure arrogance. They had already forgotten the girl they threw into the dark. They assumed she was being digested by the wolves, her bones turning to dust.
Suddenly, a strange vibration shook the ground.
Qinghe, the Sect Leader, frowned and looked toward the Back Mountain. For a split second, he felt a chill go down his spine—a sensation of a Great Terror waking up beneath the earth.
"Master? Is something wrong?" Lin Yue asked, noticing his pale face.
Qinghe shook his head, forcing a smile. "Nothing. Just the wind in the mountains. Today is your day, Yue'er. Let us drink!"
He ignored the feeling. He didn't know that deep below, the "clumsy tool" he had discarded was currently holding a sword made of pure shadows, staring up at the bottom of his mountain with eyes that promised fire and blood.
Inside the Abyss: The First Treasure
Su Lan didn't care about the party above. She had followed the System's map to a small cave hidden behind a waterfall of black water.
[Ding! Detected: Ancient Cultivator's Remnant Soul.]
[Warning: The soul is hostile. Does the Host wish to 'Devour' or 'Negotiate'?]
Su Lan walked into the cave. Resting on a stone pedestal was a rusty, broken sword. Above it hovered a faint, blue ghost of an old man.
"Who dares enter my tomb?" the ghost roared, his voice shaking the cave. "A little girl at the Body Refining realm? Leave your flesh for my reincarnation, and I might give you a quick death!"
The ghost lunged at Su Lan, his spectral hands reaching for her throat.
Su Lan didn't blink. She simply opened her mouth and activated the Void Root's hidden ability.
"Devour," she said.
A black vortex appeared in front of her. The "Ancient Soul" didn't even have time to scream before he was stretched like taffy and sucked into Su Lan's Dantian.
[Ding! Devoured 'Ghost King' Remnant Soul.]
[Gained: 2,000 Experience Points!]
[Gained: Map of the Secret Treasury of the Cloud Mist Sect!]
[Congratulations! Host has broken through to: Foundation Establishment Realm – Level 1!]
Su Lan felt a massive "click" in her soul. The liquid energy in her body solidified into a foundation of black jade. She picked up the rusty sword. As she touched it, the rust fell away, revealing a blade as dark as a starless night.
"Lin Yue, Ye Chen, Qinghe..." Su Lan whispered the names like a curse. "The Empress is coming home."
She swung the sword. A wave of black energy sliced through the waterfall, through the rocks, and cut a giant "X" into the side of the mountain.
The hunt had officially begun.