Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era

Chapter 94: Chapter 92: Return to the Abyss

The next day, before entering the Abyss for the second time.

Chu Xiu was called by the school into a spacious hall, where dozens of people had already gathered, both men and women, all participants in this trial as Awakened ones.

People kept coming in during this time, and after waiting a few more minutes, when the number of people in the room reached about a hundred, a middle-aged man in a suit closed the doors and walked up to the podium.

”Hello everyone, I am Wu Long, a C-level operative from the Awakened Administration Bureau.”

”You are all about to enter the Abyss again soon. I was sent by the higher-ups to explain some of the arrangements for this operation.”

”But before that, I would like to first have a minute of silence for the classmates who lost their lives during the trial.”

As he said this, Wu Long solemnly lowered his head.

Many of the students below also seemed to recall something, their expressions heavy.

After a minute, Wu Long lifted his head and smiled, ”Alright, let the past remain in the past.”

”Next, the only thing you need to consider is how to complete the World Task.”

”Relevant materials have been distributed to you in the past few days. It’s fine if you haven’t read them. My task is to ensure that you all have a specific understanding of this operation before entering the Abyss.”

Without further ado, Wu Long got straight to the point.

”The strategy period for the World Task is divided into three phases over nine days. The first three days are for power-up. I suggest you immediately head to the nearest base upon entering the Abyss, where personnel will integrate information, help you reasonably form teams to complete three challenge tasks, and gain Cause and Effect Points to enhance yourselves.”

”The middle three days are for intelligence collection and reducing monster density. During this phase, we will officially move towards the center city area.”

”Those who have received contracts should act according to the instructions of their affiliated powers. Those without contracts can go to the gathering points set by the government and complete tasks under government dispatch. Rest assured, the country won’t make things difficult for you; all tasks are based on safety, and the rewards are substantial.”

”Of course, you can also freely explore and seek out hidden opportunities in the Corpse Demon World, which I won’t elaborate on.”

”In short, we must eliminate all easily killable monsters in the city within these three days to maximize our combat power!”

”The last three days are the official phase for the World Task strategy.”

”I think you’ve all probably heard about how generous the rewards for the World Task are before coming here?”

”But what I want to tell you is that compared to the generous rewards, the difficulty of completing the World Task is even higher!”

”The Abyss isn’t doing charity; it’s dangling the world as a lure to trap more lives inside!”

Wu Long said, opening a report: ”In the past three years, the completion rate for World Tasks is 29.67%, and only 16.88% for the outer city!”

”Even though this batch produced quite a few talented individuals, considering the difficulty of the Corpse Demon World, professional prediction agencies estimate the completion probability to be no more than 30%!”

”I’m saying this to tell you that now is not the time for competition amongst ourselves; we all have one common goal, and that is to unite and complete the [World Task]!”

”If even the [World Task] isn’t completed, then any generous rewards will all be for nothing, utterly meaningless!”

Wu Long’s words made the students below sport more serious expressions, and Chu Xiu also came to realize that this was a pre-battle mobilization.

At the same time, a few more traces of solemnity appeared in his eyes.

Chu Xiu had never underestimated the difficulty of the World Task. Don’t be misled by Lin Wanyue and Ye Junlin scrambling fiercely now, there’s a high probability that they may find in the end that even combining their forces won’t be enough to complete the World Task.

The reason? None other than the fact that the regional level of the Corpse Demon World is three!

This means that within the trial area, there exist creatures of the Fierce Tier at the highest level.

And as the boss of the World Task, it’s at least an Elite Fierce Tier, and it’s not unheard of for a Fierce Tier Leader to appear!

It was precisely considering the high difficulty of the World Task that Chu Xiu spent a considerable amount of money forging three whole Blood Curse Bone-Piercing Nails; for dealing with others alone, such a large weapon is not needed at all.

Of course, with such high completion difficulty, the rewards are naturally unimaginably generous, especially the first prize [Core Positioning Anchor Point], whose value is higher than all other [Positioning Anchor Points] combined! Chu Xiu is determined to obtain it!

Moreover, it is said that if the contribution share during the World Task completion is particularly high, there is a chance to receive extremely rare extra rewards.

Afterward, Wu Long mentioned some specific arrangements, and everyone was led to the training ground, ready to enter the Abyss together.

Just as Chu Xiu walked into the training ground, Zhang Qingshan ran over as if he had been consistently searching for Chu Xiu.

”Once you enter the Abyss later, stay away from those High Tier Awakened ones like Ye Junlin and Lin Wanyue,” Zhang Qingshan seemed to have received some news and hurriedly came over to warn Chu Xiu.

”These guys are crazy for the [Anchor Points], and being around them easily leads to being used as cannon fodder.”

”After you meet up with Chu Qin, just follow government arrangements; that way, at least your life won’t be at risk. Don’t think about the rewards anymore, surviving is most important!”

Chu Xiu nodded in agreement, and Zhang Qingshan didn’t say much more, only giving Chu Xiu a bear hug in the end.

Soon, as the cooldown period ended, the Awakened ones on the field began to [Deep Dive] one after another, and Chu Xiu entered the Awakening Space as well. Having run countless dungeons, he was familiar with it; as the surroundings changed, when his feet stood on the ground once again, a dry, hot wind blew in his face.

Before his eyes was a deserted, desolate street, yellow sand and stones whipped by gales clattered against the car frames, sounding ”clang clang.”

”Back again.”

The place where Chu Xiu descended this time was identical to the place he left before, right next to towering apartment buildings.

Just as he was examining the surroundings, a roar suddenly sounded in his ear, and Chu Xiu turned his head to see a Corpse Demon with its bloody mouth wide open lunging at him!

”Puff!”

The Celestial Demon Hand blasted out from behind Chu Xiu, smashing the Corpse Demon into a pile of flesh.

However, this noise attracted more Corpse Demons’ attention, and with Chu Xiu’s powerful perception, at least more than a dozen Corpse Demons were approaching him!

”Interesting, have the Corpse Demons refreshed?”

Chu Xiu revealed a smile, and with a wave of his hand, several Yin Ghosts rushed out, effortlessly tearing all Corpse Demons into pieces.

Their Divine Souls were devoured by the Yin Ghosts, and their flesh became nourishment for the Evil Soul Banner.

Unfortunately, for Chu Xiu now, the experience provided by these low-level ghouls is pitifully low.

He didn’t follow the plan to meet up with Shen Zhuo but instead took a run through the underground garage first.

He was disappointed to find that only low-level ghouls had respawned.

”If I’m not mistaken, the Blood Moon Ceremony is used to upgrade low-level ghouls to high-level ghouls. This place is a large Gu breeding field.” Chu Xiu thought to himself.

He remembered that for ghouls, the reward for completing the Blood Moon Ceremony is Level +1.

Although there were no high-level ghouls, Chu Xiu did not disdain them. He swept through the hundreds of ghouls in the underground parking lot, successfully refining two Yin Ghosts, and then made his way upwards, quickly reaching the stronghold.

Shen Zhuo and the others were very happy to see him and extended another invitation to join their team, which Chu Xiu ruthlessly rejected.

”Alright then,” Shen Zhuo said regretfully, ”let’s follow the government’s arrangement for now.”

As he spoke, he took out a map marked with the nearest rally points.

To coordinate the world’s mission tackling operation, the government invested heavily in creating hundreds of two-way radios that could be sent into the Abyss and established thirteen strongholds.

Each of these thirteen stronghold leaders possessed more precise maps, including a lot of known Warrior Tier creatures and lair locations.

Of course, each stronghold leader only had monster information for their nearby areas, while the map released to ordinary Awakened individuals only had rough terrain and stronghold locations.

This was to prevent a powerful Awakened like Chu Xiu from using their first-mover advantage to sweep all resources clean, leaving nothing for others.

After all, due to the depreciation mechanism of experience gained, theoretically distributing monsters by level to all Awakened individuals is the best strategy for overall strength enhancement. But obviously, higher-level Awakened ones won’t spare lower-level monsters, so some safeguards are necessary.

”Rather than blindly exploring the city, it’s best to first go to the stronghold to get map information.”

The city was too large, and no matter how strong he was, Chu Xiu couldn’t search it alone. Moreover, he didn’t think that reaching the Warrior Tier made him invincible—there were certainly creatures in this city stronger than he was now.

”My next task is to continually search for and hunt monsters in the city to level up while probing for hidden quest information.” Chu Xiu quickly formed a plan.

After noting down the locations of the strongholds, he parted ways with Shen Zhuo and others, ignoring their pleas to stay.

He arrived at an uninhabited area, equipped the Robe of the Painful Elder and the Mask, then stepped out from the balcony, leaping directly from the thirty-second floor!

The Gale blew his robe up, revealing the gruesome Bone Armor underneath. Chu Xiu took several Mist Steps to absorb most of the gravitational potential energy.

”Bang!”

Chu Xiu landed in a stylish pose, shattering the bricks beneath his feet, sending dust scattering.

Drawn by the massive sound, a horde of corpses gathered, which was exactly what Chu Xiu wanted. He waved his hand, and a large number of Yin Ghosts and Fierce Ghosts charged out!

It was like a dozen Heavy Knights charging into a swarm of peasants, with bits of flesh flying as wave upon wave of ghouls were swiftly hunted down!

[Professional Experience +1]

[Professional Experience +1]

[Professional Experience +1]

Experience points kept being refreshed, as Life Souls were continuously absorbed into the Evil Soul Banner, spawning new Yin Ghosts, and occasionally dropped Cause and Effect Points and Equipment!

In the distance, a group of ghouls noticed Chu Xiu and, led by an Elite Ghoul, roared as they surrounded him.

Chu Xiu glanced over and, without a word, activated Mist Step, leaping into the air, then slammed heavily into the horde, with the Frenzied Celestial Demon Hand following right after. That Elite Ghoul didn’t even have time to open its mouth before being smashed into pulp with one punch like a whack-a-mole game!

[Professional Experience +3]

The other ghosts swarmed, instantly dismembering and devouring the horde.

[Professional Experience +5]

[Acquired Item: Cause and Effect Points *104]

[Acquired Equipment...]

[Acquired Equipment...]

”Reality’s more exhilarating—this is way more efficient than grinding dungeons.”

Gazing at the continuously refreshing notifications, Chu Xiu couldn’t help but sigh.

He recalled how, the last time he was here, he wouldn’t have dared provoke a large zombie horde led by an Elite Ghoul, nor even stride openly down the street for fear of attracting the attention of the mysterious birds flying overhead.

Back then, there were too many creatures that could kill Chu Xiu!

But now, it’s basically a breeze! Chu Xiu wished there were more monsters for him to kill!

Even the previously unbeatable monster birds could be dealt with in a single Frenzied Celestial Demon Hand punch!

That’s just how bold he was!

”Now that I don’t encounter Fierce Tier, there’s basically no opponent. Even with Fierce Tier, I can hold my ground!”

With that in mind, Chu Xiu decided to unleash all the ghosts from the Evil Soul Banner to let them hunt the nearby ghouls freely.

In an instant, countless ghosts swarmed out like locusts, hunting the nearby ghouls at will!

Thus, with the ghost horde, Chu Xiu swept his way to a residential building.

Previously, when exploring near the apartment buildings, Chu Xiu marked several terrifying existences not to be provoked at any cost.

But now, these ”terrifying existences” would become his experience points one by one.

Now that Chu Xiu was strong enough after biding his time, he would strike boldly and seize all resources without hesitation!