My Simulated Road to Immortality

Chapter 421: 397: Cangwu’s Immortal Subduing Force

“That’s a relief. Now, as long as we follow the guidance, we should quickly locate it.”

The three exchanged glances and then flew discreetly toward the abyss of the Cangwu, sticking closely to the Abyss Boundary Cliff.

As they descended to about two hundred feet from the ground, the scenery within the abyss started to differ drastically from the surface scenery.

Due to the year-round fog above, the environment became increasingly dark the further down they went.

The cliff was no longer merely bare rock, but now bore numerous oddly shaped plants.

Some were luminous willows, others were Predator Pines disguised as rocks.

There were even trees as huge as pythons lying dormant in the dark, poised to strike at approaching prey.

Alongside these plants lived the Exotic Beasts mentioned in the Jade Scroll, which they needed to guard against.

Most of these exotic beasts appeared pitch-black, making them hard to detect in the dim, lightless depths of the abyss.

Their appearances were grotesque and vastly different from the living beings on the surface.

They did not seem to be naturally evolved, but rather, forcibly fused from the fragments of various creatures.

Lengthy insect predators that split open in the middle to catch their prey.

Strange apes with their heads retracted into their stomachs.

Strange birds with wings made of countless wriggling worms.

Their varied forms sent chills down one’s spine.

In this abyss, there seemed to be some mysterious force.

This force limited the sensing range of the cultivators’ spiritual consciousness.

This force became more prominent as they continued to go deeper.

During a cultivator’s descent, these strange beings would suddenly emerge from the cliff or the Void at the center of the abyss.

They would band together and launch attacks on cultivators.

They attacked as though they bore deep-seated grudges against the foreign cultivators, and their assault would only cease upon their absolute death.

Fortunately, although there were many living beings in the abyss, their strength was akin to the Final Stage of Energy Refining.

For Su Xiaomei and her companions, whose minimal strength was equivalent to the Gold Core, they posed no threat.

After a seemingly uneventful journey that took half a day, they finally approached a giant boundary stele embedded into the cliff.

Two big red illuminated characters were inscribed on it, reading “Thirty Thousand”.

You could see it from a long distance away.

Above this boundary stele, the continuous cliff had been hollowed out, creating a vibrant city that hung above the abyss.

“This is the first rest stop to explore the deep abyss of Cangwu.”

“Lincang City.”

“Going further down from here, the abyss becomes increasingly dangerous. So it’s necessary to have a place for rest and resupply.”

Xiao Heng looked at the constant flow of cultivators, raising his guard internally.

The cultivators who came to explore the Cangwu abyss were usually not ordinary people.

Their purpose for coming here was not only to collect the valuable specialty products of the Cangwu, but also largely due to the Fire Meteor that fell from the sky.

In recent years, there have been various speculations about the real identity of the Fire Meteor.

The theory that it is the genuine Medicine King’s cauldron from the ancient times, which broke through the realm, is not among the most widespread guess.

No matter what, it was enough to make all the cultivators who witnessed it feel thrilled.

This Fire Meteor was certainly extraordinary.

There’s an old saying that people could die for money.

So it wasn’t hard to understand why there were cultivators from the outside world tirelessly seeking it.

“Let’s go.” Xiao Heng and his companions didn’t enter Lincang City.

They flew directly over the boundary stele and reached the second layer, thirty thousand feet below the surface.

As they passed through the stele, it felt as if they had crossed an invisible barrier.

A strange sensation surged in Xiao Heng’s heart.

“My strength has weakened somewhat, indeed as according to the rumors.”

Filled with a heavy sense of dread, Xiao Heng turned to Su Xiaomei and the others.

“Can you sense the presence of the Immortal Subduing Force?”

“Yes, indeed a little. But for now, the influence doesn’t seem too significant,” both Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo confirmed after a brief moment.

“It seems that I am after all the weakest one.” Xiao Heng said, feeling somewhat helpless.

He could only hope that the location of the Medicine King’s true cauldron falls within the maximum depth he could descend.

The Immortal Subduing Force was the name cultivators used to refer to the mysterious force that enveloped the Abyss of the Verdant Wutong.

As one descended further into the Abyss, a cultivator’s strength would be correspondingly weakened.

The effects were not significant on the first layer, within thirty thousand feet.

It only interfered with the range covered by their consciousness.

But upon entering the second layer, the effects were immediately apparent.

Cultivators at the Mid Stage of Energy Refining or lower would essentially become indistinguishable from a mortal once inside.

The spiritual power within them becomes unmovable, and they lose the ability to fly.

Their fate is sealed: they fall toward the bottomless abyss, and are devoured by the peculiar creatures along the way without resistance.

Meaningfully, only cultivators at the Final Stage of Energy Refining or higher could survive the second layer of the Cangwu abyss.

However, as they descended deeper, the living beings inside the abyss gradually grew stronger,

while the cultivators’ strength was constantly suppressed.

This made exploration much more challenging the deeper they went.

The three took extra precautions as they ventured into the second layer, named the Spirit Language Forest.

The dense trees took root deep in the Abyss Boundary Cliff and extended their branches toward the void at the center of the abyss in an unnatural way.

They created an endless primeval forest that occupied a vertical space of fifty thousand feet.

The number and strength of the dangerous and peculiar creatures that lived there increased, but an even more lethal threat came from the occasional whispering sounds emanating from the forest.

These sounds induced varied hallucinations in the cultivators and made them lose their minds.

Those who did not have a strong will would lose their souls, as if drawn toward the center of the Spirit Language Forest, and never return.

All three were outstanding individuals with exceptional focus and willpower.

Moreover, their strengths were indeed formidable. It took them approximately a day to successfully cross the second layer.

They descended to a depth of eighty thousand feet.

At this point, the dense forest abruptly thinned out.

It seemed that there was another light source below, and their field of vision suddenly became clear.

This time, the marker of the boundary was not a stand-alone stele like before.

Rather, it was a giant eyeball growing on the cliff, into which two bloody characters, indicating “Eighty Thousand,” were embedded in place of the pupil.

The eyeball seemed to be alive, continuously moving and scrutinizing its surroundings.

At this moment, upon sensing the arrival of people from above, it instantly threw a glance at Xiao Heng and his companions.

An immense pressure descended, causing Xiao Heng’s body to tense up instantaneously.

Luckily, the giant eye only took a quick look before shifting its gaze, paying them no further attention.

“Phew…”

Xiao Heng let out a sigh of relief.

“This is the second stop in the exploration of the Cangwu abyss, the City of the Giant Eye.”