Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 359: Ambush

Zeng Yulan attracted many eyes at the entrance of Moonwater Town in her light blue robe and even her cold demeanor could not hide her striking beauty.

To her, the leaders of the Mountain River Society were nothing but insignificant weaklings.

"We didn't know!" cried the leaders of the Mountain River Society, voices trembling with fear.

Lei Qie stood to the side and watched as the once-arrogant Second World gang leaders groveled before the disciples of the Sword Pavilion. The sight further solidified his resolve to join the Sword Pavilion.

He silently vowed to secure a position as an outer disciple, no matter the cost or effort.

For his own sake, and for—he glanced at his panic-stricken mother and his rather attractive older sister—his family.

Lei Qie clenched his fists and muttered to himself, "The Sword Pavilion!"

Pang Jian said nothing, though his gaze shifted toward the distance.

Whoosh!

A flying vessel from Water Rhythm City arrived at the entrance of Moonwater Town and stopped beneath the Sword Boat.

A rotund man named An Qian leaped down, greeted Zeng Yulan with a fawning smile, and inquired about what was happening.

"The Mountain River Society tricked my...brother into gambling and swindled him of all his spirit jades," Zeng Yulan said coldly, tone vastly different from how she addressed Pang Jian. "He just came up from the lower world and was supposed to join the Sword Pavilion, but these rats targeted him the moment we let our guard down."

"The Mountain River Society?" An Qian narrowed his eyes at the five trembling gang leaders and snarled, "They have a death wish!"

He whipped out his Free Spirit Fan and flicked it.

With a blinding flash, the heads of the five Mountain River Society leaders were severed from their bodies.

The sight of the flying heads and spraying blood made those spectating from Moonwater Town retreat in fear.

The An Clan controlled Water Rhythm City, and Moonwater Town was considered part of that city. An Qian held the lives of commoners and cultivators within a hundred-li radius in his hand.

"Is there anything else the An Clan can assist you with?" An Qian asked, bowing slightly.

He did not inquire about Zeng Yulan's identity as a single glance at the sword token hanging at her waist was enough for him to know she was an inner disciple of the Sword Pavilion.

An Qian had already noticed Pang Jian in the Sword Boat above but dared not look directly at him, fearing he would offend him.

"What do you think, Junior Brother Pang?" Zeng Yulan asked.

Pang Jian nodded. "That's enough."

"Then we'll leave it at that," Zeng Yulan said coldly.

She brought Lei Qie and his family aboard the Sword Boat without another glance at An Qian.

Turning to Song Zihe, she said, "Junior Sister, let's head back."

The Sword Boat soared into the sky.

Only after the Sword Boat disappeared into the distance did An Qian dare to stare in their direction with a look of contemplation.

"Junior Brother Pang? Pang isn't an uncommon surname and there are probably many people with that surname in the Sword Pavilion.

"But his status has to be quite high for an inner disciple to treat him with such respect. That narrows the possibilities. Hm...

An Qian trembled as realization struck. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"It can't be him...can it?" he muttered, horrified.

Turning to the member of the An Clan responsible for managing affairs in Moonwater Town, An Qian ordered, "Execute all the leaders of the Mountain River Society in Moonwater Town! And create a spectacle of it so we make a lasting impression...

He paused.

"On second thought, this is such a small matter that it won't even reach the Sword Pavilion. Let's just get rid of the Mountain River Society altogether."

***

On the Sword Boat, Pang Jian glanced at Lei Qie's mother, the timid Lei Shi, and then at his half-sister, Lei Yu.

"Lei Qie will become a member of the Sword Pavilion," he said.

The overjoyed Lei Qie immediately kowtowed while his mother and sister hurriedly thanked Pang Jian.

Lei Qie's mother was petite and delicate. While she was fairly pretty, she was not particularly outstanding compared to Lei Kun's other women.

She already had a child from a previous marriage when Lei Kun initially took a liking to her, which made it hard for her to compete. However, her luck turned after she gave Lei Kun a son, becoming his most favored woman.

As a result, even the daughter from her previous marriage benefited and gained the privilege to embark on the path of cultivation. When the disaster in the Third World approached, Lei Kun even spent a significant amount of spirit jades to send both of them to the Heaven Awakening Continent with Lei Qie.

None of Lei Kun's other women received such treatment. The rest had simply been sent to survive in the remote fragmented lands of the Second World.

Lei Kun is quite sentimental, Pang Jian thought to himself.

Turning to Zeng Yulan, he humbly asked, "Senior Sister Zeng, it's not the time for the Sword Pavilion to recruit disciples yet. Will we have to wait?"

Lei Qie held his breath.

"If an elder takes a liking to him, he won't have to go through the usual stringent procedures and can directly become an inner disciple of the Sword Pavilion," Zeng Yulan explained with a smile. "When elders come across a fated disciple, they only need to bring them back and enter their name in the registry.

"Of course, this doesn't happen often and only the eight elders have this authority."

In other words, only Liu Junhong, Xu Yu, Wang Ce, Guang He, Cai Xin, Lu Xiaolin, Shi Bingyun, and Grand Elder Jiang Ran could bypass the usual rules and directly accept disciples outside of the recruitment season.

"The elders..." Pang Jian frowned.

"Junior Brother Pang, with your connections, you could have the four elders take a look. They could take a liking to the boy and grant him a position as an inner disciple," Zeng Yulan said with a smile.

"Even becoming an outer disciple would be fine!" Lei Qie added hastily.

"That's easy." Zeng Yulan chuckled. "Junior Brother Pang, just say the word and Qi Feng will arrange it for you."

"Where will his mother and sister settle after we return to the Sword Pavilion?" Pang Jian asked.

"Just say they're your family and they'll be allowed to stay in the towns between the mountains temporarily. Of course, non-official disciples aren't allowed in the major mountain peaks or the Sword Honing Peak."

"Understood."

***

The Sword Boat crossed the Celestial Lagoon Sect's territories and flew over a desolate wilderness.

Pang Jian's expression suddenly changed. "Be careful!"

Zeng Yulan and Song Zihe were startled.

They had never encountered anything on the Heaven Awakening Continent that could threaten the disciples of the Sword Pavilion.

"Someone is hiding underground," Pang Jian said, expression darkening.

There had been nothing unusual about the wilderness when heading to Moonwater Town, but he sensed powerful soul fluctuations from several zhang underground on the trip back!

And not just one, but three!

Pang Jian's divine sense had instinctively sensed something when the Sword Boat passed through the area.

"Change directions and don't fly in a straight line," Pang Jian instructed. "And, make the Sword Boat ascend!"

He then spread out his golden divine sense.

Several zhang underground, three individuals wearing ghost masks used their divine sense to probe the area above their man-made pits.

The two sides' divine sense collided!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A thunderous sound erupted from below.

Pang Jian's golden divine sense crashed down and completely overwhelmed the ghost-masked individuals' divine sense. The pressure was so immense that they were forced to withdraw their divine sense back into their sea of consciousness!

"The Soul Wandering Realm!"

"Who said he was in the Spirit Condensation Realm?"

"Damn it!"

The trio cursed when they realized their presence had been exposed.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The three ghost-masked individuals shot up from underground and charged toward the Sword Boat.

One of them casually tossed a pair of black eagle and vulture talons. It expanded dozens of times in size and grabbed the Sword Boat from below.

Boom!

The talons halted the Sword Boat's ascent.

The Sword Boat hung in the air for a long moment before plummeting downward.

"This Sword Boat is quite sturdy! It didn't break apart with one strike!" A masked individual clicked his tongue in surprise.

He raised a flagpole made of white bone topped with a dark red, blood-stained banner and waved it toward the people on the Sword Boat.

Blood-red patterns squirmed like worms within the banner, weaving together to form a strange, malevolent energy.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Everyone on the Sword Boat aside from Pang Jian spat blood.

"Mom! Sister!" Lei Qie let out a heart-wrenching cry.

Lei Qie survived thanks to a protective treasure garment Lei Kun had gifted him, but his mother and sister were not so lucky.

The two bled out and died almost instantly.

"You idiot! I told you to go easy on them! If they all die, the boy will have no reason not to flee back to the Sword Pavilion!" scolded the one who unleashed the black talons.

"A Meridian Opening Realm cultivator is barely stronger than a mortal. Even if I held back, they'd still die!" the one with the flagpole said helplessly.

Boom!

The Sword Boat crashed to the ground.

Blood trickled from the corner of Zeng Yulan's mouth as she said in disbelief, "They actually dared to attack us?!"

Her deeply ingrained worldview was shattered. She simply could not comprehend the idea of anyone daring to strike at Sword Pavilion disciples on the Heaven Awakening Continent.

Song Zihe was equally stunned.

They had lived on the Heaven Awakening Continent for a long time and had frequently traveled by Sword Boat.

As inner disciples of the Sword Pavilion, the sword tokens on their waists had always been enough to earn them the utmost respect wherever they went.

Noble families and rogue cultivators revered them like gods and dared not show even the slightest disrespect.

Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that someone would dare launch such a brazen attack on them.

"They're here for me," Pang Jian said coldly, hovering in the air. He had not crashed down with the Sword Boat. "There are three Soul Wandering Realm cultivators. I wonder, was it Su Li who sent them, or Zhou Wenhao?"

His right hand gripped the Startling Slaughter Spear, while his left hand clutched the sword token.

He sent a trace of divine sense into a sword-shaped symbol and transmitted a message.

Strangely enough, there was no response from Li Zhaotian, Qi Qingsong, or Zhuang Yuyan.

A magnetic field seemed to have disrupted the arrays engraved within the sword token.

"Soul Wandering Realm? All three of them?" Zeng Yulan groaned.

She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and hurriedly grasped her sword token, intending to seek help from her master, Xu Yu.

Song Zihe did the same.

Both women were terrified and frantic.

As far as they knew, even Pang Jian was only in the Spirit Condensation Realm. Three Soul Wandering Realm attackers meant their enemy intended to kill them all.