Chapter 488: Rules for Survival

Behind the woman in green and her two companions stood a man with a stern expression. He also looked a bit older than Shen Daoxing. He leaned against the side of the tree hollow, arms crossed over a longsword, unsmiling and difficult to approach.

"And you are?"

Shen Daoxing couldn’t help but ask as he looked at the four of them.

The woman in green who had saved Shen Daoxing and Liu Ying immediately smiled. "Hehehe, little junior brother, what a coincidence. We’re also disciples of the Cyan Nether Sword Sect."

Seeing that Shen Daoxing was only about eighteen or nineteen, the woman in green naturally didn’t imagine he was already the Island Master of an Immortal Island at such a young age. She simply treated him as her junior brother.

As she spoke, the woman in green turned and pointed to the people behind her, introducing them to Shen Daoxing one by one.

Only then did Shen Daoxing learn that they were all Stewards of the Cyan Nether Sword Sect. The young woman before him was named Qing Luan, a disciple of the Pengze Lineage.

The two heavyset men behind her were called Fu Ren and Fu Yi, both disciples of the Tan Yuan lineage.

And the one who looked difficult to approach was Xuan Ye, a disciple of the Fusang lineage.

Furthermore, all four were quite powerful. Even Fu Ren and Fu Yi were experts at the Ninth Layer of the Earth Profound Realm.

Qing Luan was an expert at the Second Layer of the Refining Dust Realm.

As for Xuan Ye, he was even stronger—an expert at the Fifth Layer of the Refining Dust Realm. He was an outstanding figure among the Cyan Nether Sword Sect’s Stewards and their greatest combat asset at the moment.

After Qing Luan finished her introductions, Fu Ren and Fu Yi’s eyes went wide. They immediately squeezed forward and eagerly asked about Shen Daoxing and Liu Ying’s cultivation levels.

"Earth Profound Realm, Third Layer."

"Earth Profound Realm, Seventh Layer."

Shen Daoxing and Liu Ying were taken aback for a moment before stating their cultivation levels.

Fu Ren and Fu Yi looked disappointed upon hearing this. They sighed, "Ah, what! Just the Earth Profound Realm? We’re done for. We still can’t beat those guys on the other side. Sigh, why did two useless little guys have to show up?"

Fu Ren and Fu Yi couldn’t help but complain.

Qing Luan shot the two of them a glare.

Fu Ren and Fu Yi froze, instantly realizing they had misspoken. They gave a silly laugh and fell silent, not daring to make another peep.

Qing Luan, however, looked at Shen Daoxing with delight. "Little junior brother, what time period are you from?"

"What time period?"

Shen Daoxing was stunned for a moment.

After Qing Luan’s explanation, Shen Daoxing finally understood. The Ancient Ruins of the Abyss not only had chaotic space and time but also jumbled people from different eras together. For instance, Qin Tiannan and Pan Jie, whom he and Liu Ying had just encountered, were figures from a hundred years ago.

And Qing Luan, Xuan Ye, and the others were actually from the Cyan Nether Sword Sect of three hundred years ago.

’No wonder I didn’t recognize their names when Qing Luan mentioned them,’ Shen Daoxing thought. ’So they’re from three hundred years in the past.’

Afterward, Shen Daoxing explained his own origins.

However, he didn’t reveal his identity as the Island Master of Pengze Immortal Island.

This was a world where the strong were respected. For someone merely at the Third Layer of the Earth Profound Realm like Shen Daoxing to have become the Island Master of an Immortal Island was simply too incredible. To avoid unnecessary trouble, he concealed his true identity and presented himself only as a disciple of Pengze.

When Qing Luan heard that Shen Daoxing was also from the Pengze Lineage, just like her, she felt an even greater sense of closeness to him.

Although they weren’t from the same time period, they were all from the Cyan Nether Sword Sect, so they quickly grew familiar with one another.

But their current location was no place for idle chatter.

By now, the sky had grown dark, though no one knew exactly when.

"ROAR!"

Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed through the entire forest. Shen Daoxing felt the ground tremble violently, as if some enormous creature had started to move.

Suddenly, Shen Daoxing turned his head to look outside the tree hollow. He saw a colossal Barbaric Qilin Dragon emerge from the depths of the forest. At the same time, the ground outside abruptly split open, and the Ancient Giant Monster tunneled its way out as well.

"SKREEE!"

Human-faced Pigeons tilted their heads back and let out strange cries, flapping their massive wings as they soared out into the sky.

These were all Ancient Fierce Beasts.

Seeing this, Shen Daoxing was stunned.

But right now, the forms of these Ancient Fierce Beasts were illusory, not solid. Their bodies were tattered and broken, a stark contrast to the vigorous and lively Ancient Fierce Beasts Shen Daoxing had seen before.

Their eyes were dazed and blank, as if they were wandering through the forest without a shred of consciousness.

As these strange Ancient Fierce Beasts appeared, the bizarre, slender shadows that had been devouring people’s souls also began to emerge slowly. They drifted through the mountain forest, woodenly turning their heads as if searching for prey.

Seeing this, Qing Luan hurried forward to the entrance of the tree hollow. She muttered something under her breath and pointed a finger forward.

Suddenly, a cyan talisman flew from her sleeve and stuck to the tree hollow. With a flash of light, it sealed the entrance, leaving only a small peephole to observe the situation outside.

Then, Qing Luan immediately turned to the others. "Everyone, lock down your Spiritual Qi. Don’t let any of it leak out."

Everyone quickly did as she said, concealing their auras.

Qing Luan then turned to Shen Daoxing with a grave expression. "Little junior brother, today, let your senior sister teach you a rule you must obey to survive in the Ancient Ruins of the Abyss. The first rule is: never go outside after dark. The night belongs to the Phantoms and the Ancient Evil Souls. It’s when they are most active."

’Phantoms and Ancient Evil Souls?’

Shen Daoxing abruptly turned his head to peer outside through the small opening in the tree hollow.

He saw ethereal Ancient Fierce Beasts wandering through the mountain forest like zombies.

There were also those sinister, terrifying black figures, barely visible, silently turning their bodies.

’Clearly, those are the Ancient Evil Souls and the Phantoms!’

"HUMMM!"

Without any warning, a black figure—a Phantom—over a hundred feet long, suddenly stirred outside.

It abruptly lowered its head, extended a long, large hand, and moved aside a massive boulder below. With a simple scoop, it grabbed a man who was now screaming and struggling for his life.

The Phantom lifted the man to its mouth and slowly opened its pitch-black maw.

The man let out a terrified cry, and an ethereal, soul-like specter floated out of his body, slowly drifting up and into the Phantom’s mouth.

Suddenly, the man’s body stiffened and turned to stone, piece by piece, his expression frozen in a terrified scream.

Nearby, the Ancient Fierce Beasts’ noses twitched as if they had smelled something. Their eyes brightened, and Suddenly they lunged forward, scrambling over each other toward the space beneath the overturned boulder. They were like starving tigers pouncing on prey, all traces of their previous sluggishness and stupor gone.