Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era

”Is this fellow Daoist planning to enter the Eighth Ring? The city entrance fee is five taels of Yin Stone per year.”

The guard at the city gate first cupped his hands in a salute, then said to Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu scrutinized the two; their aura was indeed much higher than the outermost layer of guards, but still far behind the person from the Immortal Palace.

After pondering for a moment, Chu Xiu asked, ”I wonder what the minimum entry duration is? Is it one day?”

The guard was taken aback, carefully assessing Chu Xiu, as if understanding something, and asked, ”Is the fellow Daoist here to climb the Holy Mountain?”

”I just wish to get a closer look,” Chu Xiu said.

The guard bowed once again, ”I didn’t realize you were a venerable expert, my apologies. If the senior wishes to see, I can have someone escort you over as long as you can withstand the baptism of Death Qi, then there’s no need for the city entrance fee.”

This statement left Chu Xiu momentarily surprised, and finally he cupped his hands, ”Then I’ll trouble the fellow Daoist.”

In his heart, he mused, could it be that the people here are overly kind? No, it should be said the ghosts here are.

He thought a lot, considering all possibilities, and felt that even if the other party wished him harm, he could protect himself. Thus, he calmly followed the Ghost Soldier through the city gate.

Beyond the city wall, he seemed to merge into another world, and as expected, the density of Death Qi increased by a level.

Chu Xiu remained composed on the surface, channeling his mana to dispel the encroaching Death Qi.

The Ghost Soldier glanced at Chu Xiu with admiration, ”Senior has profound cultivation, I am in awe.”

He led Chu Xiu deeper inwards. After entering the Eighth Ring, there were fewer people within the city. Occasionally, there were Spirit Grass and livestock being bred inside enclosures, of considerably high grade, which startled Chu Xiu.

At the gate of the Seventh Ring, after the handover, the Ghost Soldier from the Seventh Ring continued to escort Chu Xiu further in.

The deeper they went, the higher the density of Death Qi became. By the time they reached the Fifth Ring, Chu Xiu already had to mobilize Demonic Qi to isolate it, and the soldiers guarding the city, their Soul Bodies were far superior to those of the outer rings, donned in specially crafted armor of unknown material.

When they reached the Third Ring, there were no visible buildings, let alone cultivated Spirit Plants or Spirit Beasts; everything was shrouded in a grey mist, like nuclear fallout drifting after a nuclear apocalypse. By the time they reached the Second Ring, the dust had already formed into a black storm.

No soldier dared to approach the Second Ring; only those from the Immortal Palace remained here.

Beside Chu Xiu stood a six-meter-tall ghost of the Demon-Exorcising Race. Though it was at King Tier, the energy intensity of its Soul Body was more than ten times that of an ordinary King Tier, nearly approaching that of a Heroic Spirit.

By converting Death Qi to cultivate the Inverted Yin and Yang Technique, they achieve far superior power levels than ordinary King Tiers.

Even so, such a powerful ghost coated itself tightly in Heavy Armor, with a large black umbrella hovering above its head, seemingly some tool to resist Death Qi, enabling it to traverse the Second Ring.

Chu Xiu, too, felt a drop of sweat trickle down his forehead, feeling the strain; this Chaotic Death Qi was far more frightening than he had imagined.

At last, after passing through the final city wall, Chu Xiu saw the full form of the Holy Mountain, majestic and towering, piercing the sky. A waterfall, black as ink, cascaded down from a height of a hundred thousand meters, the colossal impact forming a fierce storm. Merely maintaining his balance consumed a great deal of mana.

Yet, using no tools, he managed better than those from the Immortal Palace surrounding him, earning an admiring gaze from the ghost.

Then, Chu Xiu suddenly uttered a light ”Oh,” for he noticed three figures standing in the center of the Death Qi storm, and deeper within, a vague silhouette was swiftly climbing towards the mountain top!

”Fellow Daoist, you might want to wait a moment; some are currently ascending the mountain,” said the ghost beside him.

Chu Xiu nodded, focusing his gaze. Within the center of this Death Qi storm, even he dared not casually unleash his Divine Sense despite mastering the Yama Scripture; he could only rely on his eyesight to observe from afar.

He saw a winding mountain path seemingly snaking up through the Death Qi waterfall descending from the sky.

”Why not ascend from other directions?” Chu Xiu asked.

This path was built at an opening in the mountain, right where the Death Qi was most intense.

”Fellow Daoist may not know, the space around the Holy Mountain is twisted; only by climbing the Immortal Ascension Ladder can one hope to reach the Penglai Immortal Realm,” the ghost explained.

Chu Xiu squinted, peering closely, and indeed noticed the tell-tale signs. The Death Qi that surged from the Penglai Immortal Realm originally spread out in all directions, but before long it was distorted by the twisted space, flowing downward to form this column-like majestic waterfall.

Filled with amazement, Chu Xiu restrained himself from further questioning, choosing instead to focus on the silhouettes ascending.

One was a ghost resembling a cheetah, draped in Metal Armor, surrounded by four different Dharma Artifacts. These artifacts emitted a faint cyan Spiritual Light, dissolving any Death Qi upon contact. Under their protection, the leopard ghost leapt agilely upwards, ascending ten thousand meters in a flash, roughly a tenth of the way.

”Cyan Sun Umbrella, Immortal Lamp, Bright Light Candle... Fellow Daoist Grey Stone is well-prepared this time; I wonder how far they’ll climb,” marveled the ghost from the Immortal Palace.

Chu Xiu was curious as well. Although he couldn’t deploy his Divine Sense, he noted that the leopard ghost’s strength was far superior to the ghost from the Immortal Palace beside him, veritable Heroic Spirit level. However, given the different rules here, this ghost was likely still a King Tier, but its actual combat prowess likely rivaled even the highest-ranked Asura, potentially handling a real Heroic Spirit with some finesse.