After the incident with the cultivators deactivating his formation, Yuan continued to spend every moment spreading the poison mist until it was almost time for the gathering at the Undying Fiery Summit.
In just over a month, Yuan had already slaughtered more than seventy million beings within the Abyssal Underworld, leaving him with fewer than thirty million to complete his quest. Of course, he still needed to break through to the True Immortal realm.
Once it was almost time, Yuan retrieved all of the poison mist with the Baneful Abyss before leaving the Abyssal Underground.
Although he could've left the poison there to passively grind kills, he didn't want to risk people deactivating his formation while he was gone, as he wouldn't be able to save them in time.
Moreover, he could easily return to this place to finish his quest in the near future, and since he still had to reach True Immortal, he was in no rush to complete it.
After emerging from the Abyssal Underworld, Yuan lingered near the entrance for several moments, his divine sense spread wide as though searching for someone. Moments later, he flew off in a particular direction and descended before a familiar middle-aged man.
“Y-You! Why are you here?!" The middle-aged man exclaimed in shock, surprised to see Yuan standing before him, almost as if he was looking at a ghost.
“What's wrong? You look as if you'd seen a ghost" Yuan remarked, snapping the middle-aged man out of his daze.
“What happened to the Senior Zeng?" The middle-aged man immediately asked about her.
“Oh, it was horrible." Yuan quickly responded, his voice filled with anguish. "We made it to the 300th floor without any problem, but as we neared the Abyssal Crystal Ants’ territory, the ground beneath us exploded, releasing a bunch of poison mist. Fortunately, I have poison resistance. However, the guide... she was not so lucky, and she perished from the poison.”
"WHAT?! SHE'S DEAD?!" The middle-aged man exclaimed, his face filled with disbelief. “I'm sorry for your loss." Yuan sighed.
“That can't be! There's no way she's dead!"
Yuan shrugged, "I don't know what else to tell you. If you don't believe me, you can go see her corpse for yourself. However, I don't know if itll still be there by the time you get there."
The middle-aged man fell to his knees with a blank expression on his face.
Yuan said nothing more and simply turned to leave. Though the man might have been colluding with Zeng Guoquan, Yuan lacked the proof to act. And even if he had it, killing the man in front of so many witnesses would only make him appear the villain, not to mention he needed to convince everyone there about Zeng Guoquan's true character. After departing from the Abyssal Underworld, Yuan followed Feng Yuxiang toward the Undying Fiery Summit.
Their destination lay within a land of eternal flame—a vast expanse wreathed in undying fire. For thousands of miles, the flames stretched unbroken, growing ever more intense the deeper one ventured, their power marked by a gradual shift in color.
“What's the story behind this place?" Yuan asked.
Feng Yuxiang replied, "According to legend, a Primordial Phoenix was born here. At its birth, the flames you see now were ignited, and they have burned ever since. It's said that even a great flood once tried and failed to extinguish them—hence the name, the Undying Flame Valley."
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