During his time stationed in the Saint Abyss Continent, Xiao Yan spent a significant amount of Sovereign Spiritual Liquid to purchase a large variety of items. In the end, he even painfully exchanged nearly forty drops of Spiritual Deity Liquid for a scroll of a Grandmaster-level formation diagram. Although he wasn't yet capable of fully deploying it, being able to comprehend even a portion of it would still benefit him immensely.
After securing a location to settle down, Xiao Yan dove into the Heavenly Tomb again and entered closed-door cultivation, remaining there until the Ancient Saint Abyss fully awakened. Only then did he emerge from the Heavenly Tomb, summoning the puppet crafted from Long Nixian and heading toward the Ancient Saint Abyss.
On the journey, he encountered several other teams also heading toward the Abyss. When they noticed him, expressions of surprise appeared on their faces. After all, the Ancient Saint Abyss was infamously perilous—even the teams dispatched by ancient clans traveled in organized groups. It was rare to see someone like Xiao Yan charging in solo.
But Xiao Yan didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't that he didn't want allies—it was simply that none were suitable. The journey into the Ancient Saint Abyss would undoubtedly be filled with deadly danger. Even Lesser Earth Sovereigns faced serious life-threatening risk, let alone ordinary Sovereigns. Qing Tan was certainly out of the question. Mandala, while strong enough, had to stay behind to oversee the Endless Fire Domain. Thus, Xiao Yan hadn't considered bringing her either.
Though there were plenty of temporary teams recruiting in Saint Abyss City, Xiao Yan had no intention of joining a group of strangers. No matter how powerful, the lack of trust and coordination made it too risky to expose his back to them. Moreover, with many of his techniques unsuitable for public view, he decided he was better off traveling alone.
Saint Abyss City was still quite a distance from the Ancient Saint Abyss. Even with Long Nixian transporting him, it still took quite some time to arrive. Along the way, Xiao Yan experienced firsthand just how harsh the Saint Abyss Continent's environment truly was—and he could only imagine that the interior of the Ancient Saint Abyss would be even more treacherous.
Under the protection of Long Nixian, Xiao Yan successfully passed through the storm of space-time. Compared to the spatial storm he had encountered when he first crossed into the Tianxuan Continent, this one was many times more fearsome. Without the escort of a Heavenly Sovereign, one would likely be shredded to nothingness upon contact. Even someone as daring as Xiao Yan had no thoughts of trying to absorb energy from the storm like he had in the past. This time, he obediently followed the safe path like everyone else.
As soon as he entered the Ancient Saint Abyss, Xiao Yan was overwhelmed by a crushing pressure. This wasn't a natural effect of the abyss itself, but rather the residual aura of fallen Heavenly Sovereigns from the past. No wonder the Daluo Palace in Saint Abyss City repeatedly emphasized that anyone below the Earth Sovereign level should not venture in—ordinary Sovereigns wouldn't even survive this initial pressure, their bodies crushed into pulp instantly.
Of course, while this suppressive force was intense, it posed little threat to Xiao Yan. After all, he trained daily with the Heavy Xuan Ruler strapped to his back. After numerous enhancements, that weapon was now so heavy it could crush an Earth Sovereign on impact. Being used to its oppressive weight meant the pressure in the Ancient Saint Abyss felt like nothing to him.
The only issue was that the ambient suppression greatly increased spiritual energy consumption. However, for Xiao Yan, that posed no problem. With the Creation Green Lotus in his possession, even though he had yet to reach the Greater Earth Sovereign level, the amount of spiritual energy he could store rivaled that of a Heavenly Sovereign. On top of that, he had prepared plenty of recovery pills and Sovereign Spiritual Liquid for the journey.
What truly caught Xiao Yan off guard was the sudden invasion of a chilling, sinister cold into his body. The instant he entered, this strange icy current crept into his meridians, momentarily disrupting the flow of his spiritual energy. Fortunately, the disturbance was short-lived, and the energy soon stabilized.
When he attempted to expel the icy current, he realized it clung to him like a maggot on rotting flesh. No matter what he did, it wouldn't leave. Though it didn't seem to cause harm, its presence was unnerving. Still, since it wasn't hurting him directly, Xiao Yan simply accepted it.
'This must be the lingering will of one of those fallen Demon Emperors from the Extraterritorial Race,' he speculated. If Heavenly Sovereigns could leave such a pressure behind, then Demon Emperors likely left similar remnants as well.
Little did he know, this time, he was completely wrong.
The frigid current inside his body was indeed left by a Demon Emperor—but not one who had fallen in the Ancient Saint Abyss. It was left by the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor himself, the very one who had once confronted Xiao Yan across space and suffered a minor setback. Although the Demon Emperor couldn't descend personally to eliminate Xiao Yan, he had still managed to leave a hidden mark on him.
This mark was so well-concealed that even Xiao Yan, with soul power comparable to a Heavenly Sovereign, failed to detect it. Even the sacred-grade Grandmaster-level spiritual formation at Saint Abyss City had not identified the mark. After all, the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor's cultivation far exceeded that of any spiritual formation master.
Now that Xiao Yan had entered the Ancient Saint Abyss, the mark had fully activated. Though harmless in and of itself, it would continually emit signals that revealed Xiao Yan's location to the hidden Extraterritorial Race lurking within the abyss. Should any of them desire, they could follow this trace directly to Xiao Yan.
While the Extraterritorial Race had no idea why an Earth Sovereign would be marked by the Saint Heavenly Demon Emperor himself, they all understood one thing clearly—if they succeeded in killing the marked target, they might just earn the personal favor of the terrifying Demon Emperor. And in their world, gaining such favor could mean ascending through the ranks overnight.
Xiao Yan, of course, was completely unaware of all this. But if he had known, he would likely be ecstatic. After all… that would mean a massive bounty of Demon-Slaying Points was headed his way.
(End of Chapter)
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