Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 236: Rescuing Dong Tianze from Peril

One cloudy night, Dong Tianze gritted his teeth and retreated into a massive cave in the desolate depths of an unnamed fragmented land in the Third World.

He fought through the pain, pulling out several spirit jades and regulating his breath in an attempt to focus on his meditation.

Although his spiritual sea was still relatively full, he had a gaping wound on his lower left back, deep enough to reveal bone and oozing an endless stream of blood.

His opponent's blade had stabbed through his waist when his protective shield shattered.

Desperate, he had unleashed Spirit Devils with his Ghost's Cry, giving him enough time to escape.

Even so, he knew his opponent would surely come looking for him once they dealt with the Spirit Devils.

After all, his opponent was a Celestial Phoenix Divine Guard like him. They both bore the Celestial Phoenix Imprint on their forehead and could sense each other's presence in the barren wasteland.

"A Divine Guard in the middle stage of the Profound Abode Realm," Dong Tianze muttered, face pale.

His expression was a complicated mix of fierce and helpless.

Dong Tianze had truly hit a brick wall this time.

Feeling provoked by Pang Jian, Dong Tianze had left the Dark Abyss Continent to hunt down other Celestial Phoenix Divine Guards, deliberately seeking out locations where the remnants of the Celestial Phoenix had fallen.

His hunt had gone smoothly in the beginning, and he located three Divine Guards with cultivation realms that were either lower or the same as his.

He had killed all three of them.

This had allowed him to advance to the late stage of the Innate Realm, and he was now only one step away from advancing to the Profound Abode Realm.

Dong Tianze had set out in search of a fourth Divine Guard but was unlucky enough to encounter one with cultivation in the middle stage of the Profound Abode Realm.

The treasures the Sinister Soul Temple had bestowed on him had allowed Dong Tianze to hold his ground during their first two battles.

However, the vast difference between their cultivation realms became apparent once those treasures were damaged and their power depleted, and he soon found himself overwhelmed.

Dong Tianze had been seriously injured in their last battle.

The Ethereal Ghost Token allows me to communicate with the Sinister Soul Temple, but it's unlikely they could help in time. He frowned in thought. I need a pill rich in blood essence to heal my body's severe injuries, but I've already used up the ones I have.

As he mulled over his next move, he abruptly recalled the Ghost Altar.

He clung to a desperate hope, gritting his teeth through the pain and setting up the enormous Ghost Altar.

Dong Tianze planned to ask Pang Jian if he had any pills that could heal serious injuries and was willing to use spirit jades to trade if necessary.

As soon as the Ghost Altar was set up, a slip of paper appeared before him.

How have you been?

His face twitched and he wrote two words beneath the message before tossing it back.

Pang Jian had been observing the ascension of the foreign races through the Giant Abyssal Serpent when he noticed a faint glow from the Ghost Altar.

A piece of paper flew out.

Dong Tianze had written two words beneath Pang Jian's question.

Not good.

Pang Jian's expression became weird.

He cut off his connection with the Giant Abyssal Serpent and went to the Ghost Alter, adding a few missing flags around its edge to restore its full functions.

Whoosh!

Dong Tianze appeared in the center of the Ghost Altar.

His face was pale and blood seeped from his waist.

"Pang Jian!" Dong Tianze forgot his purpose for contacting Pang Jian the moment he laid eyes on him and could not help himself from yelling. "You killed Elder Lou and you—"

"Shh!" Pang Jian raised his finger to his lips and gestured for Dong Tianze to lower his voice. "Keep your voice down. I'm in a guest room aboard a Cloud Sail. Other people will hear you if you keep yelling."

Dong Tianze gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice, "How dare you take Elder Lou's belongings and trade them with me? Pang Jian, you're blatantly disrespecting the Sinister Soul Temple. We won't let you off!"

Pang Jian ignored Dong Tianze's whispered rebuke and asked, "Who injured you?"

"A rogue cultivator in the middle stage of the Profound Abode Realm. They're also a Divine Guard," Dong Tianze coldly replied. "I haven't reached the Profound Abode Realm yet, so I suffered some losses while hunting him."

Pang Jian raised an eyebrow. "You've got guts."

"Not as much as you, daring to kill the likes of Jiu Yuan and Liang Ying!" Dong Tianze retorted coldly.

He had found himself in this predicament because of Pang Jian.

Pang Jian's feats of killing several Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators while still in the Profound Abode Realm had clouded Dong Tianze's judgment, influencing him into thinking that cultivators in a higher cultivation realm were not necessarily that fearsome.

If Pang Jian could defeat Spirit Condensation Realm cultivators while in the Profound Abode Realm, then surely Dong Tianze could also take down a middle-stage Profound Abode Realm cultivator while still in the late stage of the Innate Realm.

Unfortunately, reality was far from what he had envisioned.

The more he thought about his situation, the angrier Dong Tianze became.

In his mind, Pang Jian was partly to blame, and he could not help but find everything about Pang Jian annoying.

Despite that, he had no choice but to swallow his anger as he mentally prepared himself to ask Pang Jian if he had any pills that could rapidly heal his injuries.

But before he could even open his mouth, Pang Jian voluntarily asked, "How can I help you?"

"I have quite a few spirit jades, but I don’t have any pills to heal serious physical injuries." Dong Tianze rambled, "The Sinister Soul Temple focuses on soul cultivation and quick advancement in cultivation realms, unlike sects like the Blood Moon Sect that also emphasize body tempering, so...

"I want to buy some pills to restore blood essence. You should have some after killing Jiu Yuan."

"I'll give them to you," Pang Jian said without hesitation.

Dong Tianze eyed Pang Jian suspiciously.

Taking out a Blood Enhancing Pill, Pang Jian infused it with a surge of potent life energy, placed it on the depression on the Ghost Altar, and sent it over before Dong Tianze could even take out any spirit jades.

The pill appeared on the Ghost Altar before Dong Tianze.

"This—" Dong Tianze's pale face morphed into an expression of utter disbelief. "Pang Jian, when you took it out, it was clearly dark red. Why is it green now? Did you just poison it?

"You bastard! I agreed to trade with you multiple times, and I didn't even hold you accountable for those times you messed with me! Now, when I need help the most, you’re trying to stab me in the back with a poisoned pill!"

"Pang Jian! You deserve to die a miserable death!" Dong Tianze cursed between gasping breaths.

Pang Jian's face darkened. He had the sudden urge to rush over to where Dong Tianze was and slap him a few times.

My good intentions are being taken for malice!

That Blood Enhancing Pill has been enhanced with rare life energy, significantly boosting its healing properties!

I can overlook Dong Tianze not appreciating the gesture, but to accuse me of poisoning?

Pang Jian desperately reminded himself that Dong Tianze could one day become a powerful ally for his sister and stomped down his rising anger.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he explained, "The pill turned green because it was stored in the bottle for too long. Trust me, there's nothing wrong with it. Your wounds should heal significantly if you take it."

"Trust you? Never!" Dong Tianze roared, crushing the pill. "You didn’t even ask for a huge amount of spirit jades or take advantage of the situation. This is definitely a poisoned pill!

"Pang Jian, do you think I don’t know how vicious and greedy you are? There's no way you'd just give me a genuine pill for free!"

Dong Tianze rose to dismantle the Ghost Altar, seething with animosity toward Pang Jian.

He swore that he would stop at nothing to kill Pang Jian if he made it through this ordeal.

The thought of Pang Jian sending a poisoned pill when Dong Tianze needed help the most made him despise Pang Jian to his core.

Pang Jian gritted his teeth through the frustration of being falsely accused and held back his impulse to tear Dong Tianze apart.

"Take a closer look," he said calmly. "The green energy within the pill is—"

"In your dreams!"

A surge of fear gripped Dong Tianze's heart.

He started to regret crushing the pill and feared the green energy would corrode his flesh if it touched his skin.

A fierce glint appeared in his eyes and he contemplated severing his hand to halt the spread of the poison.

At that moment, the life energy within the pill fragments started to seep into his skin and flowed toward the wound on his waist.

Dong Tianze fell into silence as he quietly sensed the changes in his body.

Then, without hesitation, he swallowed the remnants of the pill on his hand. He even gathered the remaining fragments that had fallen onto the Ghost Altar—disregarding the dust and dirt—and consumed those too.

"I’ll give you another one." Pang Jian placed a new Blood Enhancing Pill on the Ghost Altar.

Dong Tianze spat out the grains of sand in his mouth.

"You should have said there was more!"

He grabbed the new Blood Enhancing Pill and swallowed it down.

As the severe wound on the back of his waist healed, his expression only grew more and more complicated.

"Pang—"

Dong Tianze wanted to apologize but could not force the words of apology out.

He tried again.

"Pang—"

His face turned red from the effort.

"It's alright, there's no need for such formalities between us," Pang Jian said with a magnanimous wave of his hand.

One is in the middle stage of the Profound Abode Realm while the other is in the late stage of the Innate Realm. Although they're both Celestial Phoenix Divine Guards, Dong Tianze has greater potential.

Let's see, the Sinister Soul Temple specializes in controlling souls. In that case...

"Wait here for a moment!" Pang Jian said before disappearing from the Ghost Altar.

On the Ghost Altar, Dong Tianze was stunned.

"There's no need for such formalities? When did we become so close?" Dong Tianze wondered aloud.

Still feeling slightly suspicious, he took the opportunity to assess his injury.

His confusion only deepened when he realized it was indeed healing without issue.

Dong Tianze racked his brain, trying to understand why the usually sinister, greedy, and cunning Pang Jian would offer him help for free.

At that moment, Pang Jian returned.

"Cao Mang's Black Iron Mountain is filled with powerful beast souls. I'm lending it to you to defeat your opponent," he said, placing a pitch-black mountain in front of the Ghost Altar and activating the teleportation array.

Boom!

Cao Mang's colossal spirit artifact appeared before the stunned Dong Tianze.

"I wish you luck. Hurry up and kill that middle-stage Profound Abode Realm Divine Guard so you can advance to the Profound Abode Realm."

With that, Pang Jian disappeared once again.

"Pang Jian..." Dong Tianze stood in the center of the Ghost Altar and stared at Cao Mang's Black Iron Mountain with dazed eyes.