Chapter 513: Lord of the Abyss
Chapter 513: Lord of the Abyss!
Jiang Chen and Chen Bo had positioned themselves at a comfortable distance, yet their vantage point afforded a crystal-clear view.
Thus, the two men refrained from approaching, opting instead to observe from the shadows.
Under normal circumstances, it was absolutely impossible for the foolish prince to cultivate with such diligent serenity. After all, his mind was shattered; his usual routine consisted of throwing sudden tantrums, rolling in the dirt, or spiraling into fits of sheer madness.
Yet now, a full hour had slipped away. He sat perfectly still, devoid of even the slightest ripple of impatience, looking like a devoted ascetic.
“Senior Brother, you see it too, don’t you?”
“There is indeed something amiss with this boy. Could his shattered mind have been restored?”
“It is possible, or perhaps…”
“Perhaps what?”
“He was never mad to begin with!”Jiang Chen’s thoughts drifted back to his initial encounters with the foolish prince. He recalled a routine inspection of the outer Spirit Farms, where he happened upon the boy stealthily transplanting seedlings with practiced, methodical precision.
In that fleeting moment, he hadn’t looked like a fool at all, but rather indistinguishable from any ordinary mortal.
But then-whether he had sensed Jiang Chen’s gaze or something else had triggered him-the boy had suddenly descended into feigned lunacy, tearing up the very sprouts he had just planted and thrashing wildly in the mud.
Chen Bo frowned, deeply perplexed. “Why would he play the fool?”
Jiang Chen smiled, a meaningful gleam in his eye, while his inner thoughts raced: “It’s just like the novels. Anyone with a grand background acting out of character has absolutely stumbled into a Fated Chance.”
Unsurprisingly, the foolish prince fit the trope perfectly.
Either some ancient grandpa was squatting in his soul…
…or he’d picked up some heaven-defying artifact.
Either way, this guy wasn’t just sane; he was a deeply hidden old fox playing the long game.
Seeing his companion fall silent, Chen Bo nudged him with an elbow. “Junior Brother, speak your mind.”
Snapping back to the present, Jiang Chen replied, “He is likely afraid.”
Chen Bo looked taken aback. “Afraid?”
Jiang Chen patiently guided his senior’s thoughts. “Think about it. He was originally snatched away by a great demon and returned afflicted with soul-loss. If he were to suddenly make a miraculous recovery now, who would believe it was natural?”
Realization dawned on Chen Bo’s face. “That makes sense.”
Jiang Chen furrowed his brow. “However, even though we have unearthed his secret, confronting him outright serves no purpose. After all, Senior Brother Chen Tian is not here.”
Chen Bo pressed, “Then how should we proceed?”
Jiang Chen’s tone turned serious. “We will do this: you attempt to send word to Senior Brother Chen Tian, while I remain here to observe him a while longer.”
Chen Bo warned, “Tread carefully. Avoid any direct clash at all costs. Whatever happens, we must wait until Chen Tian receives the precise intelligence before making our next move.”
Jiang Chen patted his chest confidently. “Rest assured.”
Sparing one last glance at the meditating prince, Chen Bo finally turned and vanished into the shadows.
Chen Tian was out tempering himself; reaching him would be no simple feat.
Left alone, a faint, cryptic smile curled at the corners of Jiang Chen’s mouth.
On the other side, the cultivating Mo Yin slowly opened his eyes. “What is wrong?”
A low, gravelly voice echoed directly within his mind: “The spiritual resonance here feels off. It seems we are being watched.”
Under the tutelage of this unseen entity, Mo Yin’s cultivation had surged by leaps and bounds. He now stood firmly in the mid Foundation Establishment stage, mere steps away from the late stage.
Hearing the warning, he immediately swept his divine sense outward in cascading ripples, scouring the immediate vicinity several times over. He found absolutely nothing.
Mo Yin shook his head slightly. “You must be mistaken.”
The voice reverberated again, carrying a cold, ancient weight. “In my past life, I was a ten-thousand-year Demon Emperor. How could a being of my stature suffer from mere illusions?”
Mo Yin rose to his feet, casting a dismissive gaze over the empty courtyard. “Yet, as you can see, there is no one here aside from the servants delivering our daily Spirit Meals. Chen Tian has been out wandering the mortal dust for years. If he had returned, the sect outside would be drowning in the clamor of welcome gongs and firecrackers!”
Chen Bo?
A useless waste!
Long Ao?
He rarely shows his face!
Jiang Chen?
He has never once set foot here!
A myriad of faces flashed through his mind.
Yet without exception, they were either beneath his notice or entirely absent.
This time, no rebuttal echoed in his mind; the ancient entity seemed to fall silent.
Mo Yin’s tone turned glacial. “Hui Jiuming, you have been dead for ten millennia. Now, you are nothing but a wisp of a remnant soul bound to my mortal coil. Cast aside your bygone arrogance and awaken to the harsh truth of your reality.”
If that name were ever to reach the outside world, it would undoubtedly trigger a blood-soaked tempest across the realms.
Hui Jiuming, Lord of the Abyss.
A sovereign among the ten-thousand-year Demon Emperors, wielding a terrifying, apocalyptic might.
Legends claimed he had stood merely a half-step away from ascending as an Immortal Demon God before vanishing without a trace.
Neither human cultivators nor the demon races knew of his final resting place; it remained an unsolved enigma to this day.
Who could have fathomed that such a supreme overlord would be reduced to this pathetic state-a fragmented ghost clinging to a mortal prince?
A visceral spiritual pressure flared as Hui Jiuming flew into a primeval rage. “Insolent whelp! Without my sanctuary, where would you have acquired the Jade Dew Sect’s profound mantras, mystic arts, and heavenly treasures?”
“You are merely a speck at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet you dare to look down upon this Emperor!”
Mo Yin’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. “I harbor no contempt for you. I only wish for you to open your eyes.”
“Ten thousand years have ground to dust. The entirety of the Azure Realm has shifted; the era of your reign is dead and buried.”
Confronted with this unyielding truth, Hui Jiuming sank back into a heavy silence.
Whether the abyssal lord was too weary to argue or had finally bowed to the cruelty of fate remained a mystery.
Feeling the ancient presence recede, Mo Yin exhaled a quiet breath of relief and strode toward the courtyard’s edge. “If my memory serves me, today is the auction at the Loose Cultivator market for the Four Seasons Fruit Tree and the Jade Dew Spirit Buds. It is a pity the karmic accumulation of Spirit Stones is so painfully slow; otherwise, my tempering could advance even swifter.”
Fortunately, this sanctuary was perfectly secure and free from prying eyes.
As long as he maintained his facade of idiocy, he could hoard his strength in the shadows. The arrangement was simply perfect.
After taking a brief moment to cycle his Qi, he departed from Chen Tian’s underwater cave abode.
With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a shimmering water snake, shaped like a fluid ribbon of silver. It stretched about fifty feet in length-sleek rather than bulky-its crested head just broad enough to carry one or two passengers.
Whoosh!
Man and serpent blurred into a streak of light, vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Trailing closely behind, completely masked by the illusionary arts of his Mirage Dragon Transformation, Jiang Chen frowned. “What’s this kid’s game? He was just arguing with the empty air, and now he bolts out of nowhere.”
Along the journey, Mo Yin encountered absolutely no resistance.
Though he only possessed a Wood Spirit Root, the looming shadow of Chen Tian’s backing meant no disciple dared to cross his path.
He quickly breezed past Water Immortal Peak, eventually leaving the protective boundaries of the Cloud Sea Sect far behind.
Initially, Jiang Chen was baffled by the route. However, as the fleeting scenery began to strike familiar chords in his memory, a spark of realization hit him. “Oh? Isn’t this my third home?”
His first home was the Spirit Farm nestled in Red Leaf Valley.
His second home was the towering Azure Rock Peak, thousands of miles away.
His third home was the Fragrance Pavilion, right in the heart of the Loose Cultivator market.
It was glaringly obvious-the foolish prince was making a beeline for Green City.
Whatever his ultimate objective was remained shrouded in mystery, but he was clearly driven by an urgent need.
The vast expanse between the Cloud Sea Sect and Green City typically required roughly two hours of travel aboard a sect-issued giant flying sword.
But Mo Yin employed a Spirit Beast, slicing through the winds at a far superior speed.
In flight, the serpent tore through the clouds, leaving behind a brilliant silver vapor trail.
Consequently, it took him less than a single hour to breach the outskirts of Green City.
Fortified by his Mirage Dragon Transformation and the suffocating might of an Earth-grade Golden Core, Jiang Chen felt zero apprehension about being unmasked or stumbling into lethal complications.
He tracked the foolish prince like a phantom, following him all the way to a secluded courtyard.
There, his gaze locked onto an incredibly familiar face.
Jiang Chen blinked, thoroughly stunned. “Wait… isn’t that Yue’er, the girl I always favor?”