This gambler senior always gave off the feeling of being unreliable.
Jiang Kai didn't want to listen to his long-winded speech. Shaking his head, he said flatly, "I've already made my choice. Now send us back to the surface."
[Ahem, the situation is like this. That little fellow on your shoulder... it's consumed far more energy than I expected. It's a bit beyond my calculations.]
"You—what do you mean?"
[You and Wei Ying—only one of you can go back. That little fellow definitely can't return either. It's consumed even more energy than both of you combined.]
Jiang Kai's eyes widened. "Wait, didn't you just say it was fine?"
[I did say that, but... I didn't expect this little thing to be so... special.]
Jiang Kai was speechless. Other people's "seniors" were masters of martial arts, all-powerful beings. The one he met? Way too weak.
As expected, gamblers were never the reliable kind.
He had just made one difficult choice, and now Jiang Kai was facing another.
"When the Temple of Destiny disappears, is the Abyss outside still dangerous?"
[Almost impossible to leave alive.]
"Damn it!" Jiang Kai shook his head.
He looked at the little fellow on his shoulder, then thought of Wei Ying.
Finally, Jiang Kai sighed. "Send Old Wei back. I can't just watch him die here."
[Alright then, it's time for farewells. May your gambling luck always prosper!]
Jiang Kai lowered his head. Even his farewell blessing had to be this weird?
The voice had just faded when Jiang Kai's vision went dark—the meadow, the temple, and the three rooms all vanished, leaving only endless darkness.
At the same time, his body plummeted rapidly!
Apparently, Wei Ying was no longer by his side—he must have already been sent out.
Jiang Kai thought he might end up falling to his death.
But not long after, he landed on something soft and cushiony.
When he stood up, he felt his body become unusually heavy, his breathing labored, his heartbeat slow but powerful.
That feeling instantly reminded him of the gravity training back in the Special Training Hall.
The pull of gravity here was terrifyingly strong—judging by how he felt, it was likely ten times stronger than on the surface!
Back during gravity training, Jiang Kai couldn't last even two hours. Even though he wasn't in a death battle with his clone now, humans simply couldn't survive long in such extreme gravity.
"No good—if I don't find an exit soon, I really will die here!"
The time left for him—maybe only a day or two!
Jiang Kai hurriedly ignited the King Yan Order and the Divine Light Order, and finally saw clearly what was beneath him—a mountain of beast corpses.
The little fellow immediately leapt down from Jiang Kai's shoulder, burrowing into the mouth of a giant beast and gnawing on its tongue.
"Hey! Little guy—wait till later! I already gave up looting these corpses, and you're still eating? Think of a way out first!"
The little creature crawled out of the beast's mouth, looked at Jiang Kai, then reluctantly glanced at the thick pile of corpses, wiped its mouth, and hopped back onto his shoulder.
Jiang Kai guessed he was now at the bottom of the Abyss. Looking up, he couldn't see the exit at all.
But around the base of the earthen walls, there were several caves—it was unclear where they led.
"Those top experts can't all be dead. If any of them survived, they'd definitely be trying to find an exit too. I wonder which way they went."
Not thinking too much about it, Jiang Kai climbed down from the mound of corpses, looked around, and headed toward one of the caves.
Not long after he left, the corpse of a giant python twitched.
Moments later, several figures crawled out from beneath it.
"Good thing we waited here! Jiang Kai went that way!"
"This time we must capture him—otherwise there'll be no way to explain things to Liu Yuanxiang."
"We're three mid-level anomalies. No way he can escape us! Go—after him!"
The three immediately crawled out from under the corpses and dashed into the cave Jiang Kai had entered.
......
This wasn't Jiang Kai's first time underground.
Back in the Golden Devouring Beast's nest, he'd stayed underground for a long time before getting out.
But this time, he realized the tunnels here seemed to be naturally formed.
The little fellow didn't resist being here at all—it jumped off Jiang Kai's shoulder and scampered ahead, leading the way.
Still, Jiang Kai found it strange. Back then, this little thing had betrayed him and abandoned him, yet it had followed Chang Siyao for months and always stayed loyally by her side.
"So... it's male?"
He didn't know how far they'd walked when Jiang Kai glanced at his wristwatch—it had been about an hour.
At that moment, he suddenly felt the heaviness intensify even further.
"Gravity increased?" Jiang Kai's brows furrowed tightly.
It seemed that the Temple of Destiny wasn't the true cause of the massive collapse. Something else must be buried deep underground—and whatever it was, it was also the source of this increasing gravity.
Now that the pull was growing stronger, it could only mean he was heading straight toward that true source.
Thinking that, Jiang Kai wanted to turn back.
Just as he turned, the little creature suddenly came running from behind him, squeaking frantically and waving its limbs.
Jiang Kai was surprised. "Huh? Weren't you ahead of me just now? Why are you behind me?"
The little creature puffed up its chest and strutted upright for a few steps, then bent low, hunched over, and walked a few more. Then it moved again, spreading its tiny arms like a muscleman, taking heavy steps.
Jiang Kai frowned. "You're... acting out three people?"
The little creature nodded quickly, then pointed behind them with its tiny paw.
Jiang Kai instantly understood.
"There are three people following us?"
The creature nodded.
Jiang Kai brightened. "Great! There are survivors! Let's find them—maybe we can get out together."
The little guy panicked. It pointed at Jiang Kai, then at the direction they came from, and made a throat-slitting gesture.
"Ah? They... want to kill me?"
The creature nodded rapidly.
Jiang Kai got it now. The little fellow couldn't speak, but it could understand human speech. It must have overheard those three talking, which was why it was so certain.
"They're clearly coming for me... Could it be Huang Jianguo's people again?" Jiang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly.
Whatever they were planning, he absolutely didn't want to fight them. Even if he won, he'd die soon after in this extreme gravity.
Gritting his teeth, Jiang Kai turned back around and quickened his pace deeper into the tunnels.
"No matter what's ahead... I can't turn back now!"
......
Luo Ping had just received the report.
This time, an unprecedented catastrophe had struck the Fallen Mining Zone—
the entire area had turned into a massive abyss.
Countless beasts, countless Huaxia War Gods—all swallowed by that Abyss.
Now, Huaxia's extraordinary professionals—numerous Star-class and unmatched wanderers—had all gone missing in the mining zone. So far, except for Hu Yan's group, no one else had returned.
"Seventy percent of Huaxia's War Gods... and over two hundred Star-ranked wanderers... all swallowed up?!"
Even calm and composed Luo Ping's face changed drastically.
"The price of death for a transcendent is enormous. If all of them perish, this will be a devastating blow to Huaxia!"