Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era

”That fast? It’s been less than ten minutes since we set out.”

”If she really found something, Miss Xuanzhao should have taken the initiative to inform us, right?”

Chu Xiu’s words made a trace of hesitation appear on Zhu Jiu’s face.

Though everyone had ways to stay in contact, this Star Jumping Ship was a super‑massive solid steel block with a radius of two thousand kilometers—how difficult do you think communication is inside something like that?

So even for them, the number of times they could carry out long‑distance communication was limited, and each attempt consumed no small amount of Energy.

Chu Xiu said, ”For us, ten minutes is already enough to do a lot.”

”The most bizarre part of this instance right now is the lack of any time limit, but I vaguely have a feeling that somewhere we don’t know, some sort of Transformation is taking place. There must be an invisible ’countdown’ in this Trial.”

”I just don’t know whether this ’countdown’ is measured in days, hours, or even minutes!”

Chu Xiu didn’t spell it out too much, but everyone present were powerful Civilization Envoys who had participated in more Trials than they could count; to some extent, they all agreed with what he said.

Indeed, the lack of a time limit was very unsettling; it made everyone lose any sense of urgency when it came to time management.

If this damned Trial had some Rule like the number of Tribulation‑takers doubling every so often, then what they were doing now—hunting for Divine Artifacts—would instead be a time‑wasting form of ”slow suicide.”

”Then let me try.”

After a moment of pondering, Zhu Jiu still took out the communication Artifact and began contacting her.

As one rune after another shot out from Zhu Jiu’s hand, the short‑rod‑shaped communication Artifact lit up with a faint Spiritual Light.

But after just a few breaths, Zhu Jiu’s expression turned somewhat grave.

”No response...”

”It’s not that she’s deliberately not replying, but that some kind of interference is at work. The location Miss Xuanzhao is in seems to have some sort of barrier that can block information.”

Zhu Jiu’s words made the other three look at each other.

Chu Xiu also fell into thought. Although the situation was perfectly calm at the moment, far from the near‑despair difficulty of the previous Trials right from the start, the unease in his heart only grew stronger.

This Tribulation was clearly infused with the ”greatest malice of the Abyss,” but in this Trial so far, there was no sign of such malice at all.

”It shouldn’t be as simple as just buffing the boss. If that were the case, the enemy should’ve come to hunt me down at the first possible moment.”

Chu Xiu inclined more toward another possibility.

That there was a hidden Trial Rule he did not know of!

Thinking of this, he could no longer sit still, and said, ”Brothers, I intend to head to the central area for a look. Collecting Divine Artifacts doesn’t actually require all four of us.”

If not for needing to guard against the Tribulation‑taker, splitting up with one person in charge of one area would have been the most efficient choice. In that sense, what Chu Xiu said wasn’t wrong.

It was just that...

Zhu Jiu narrowed his eyes. ”Brother Chen, aren’t you afraid of running into danger?”

Chu Xiu naturally heard the implication in his words, but he did not retreat in the slightest. After all, judging from the Effect of these Divine Artifacts, they were hardly much help to him, while for the seven Civilization Envoys they were a massive power‑up.

Even if he wanted to get his hands on the Divine Artifacts before the others, he’d still need to find some excuse to leave on his own.

So Chu Xiu only said calmly, ”I don’t believe the Abyss chose people at random this time. I assume each of you Dao‑friends has your own life‑saving means. The crisis we’ve faced so far doesn’t really count for much.”

”I’m merely making what I consider the most advantageous decision at the moment. Dao‑friend, there’s no need to test me with your words.”

As he finished speaking, Zhu Jiu gave him a meaningful look. ”Is that so? But don’t you think prioritizing the collection of Divine Artifacts is more important? After all, according to our earlier deductions, once we gather all of them, not only will our strength improve dramatically, we can also ferret out the Tribulation‑taker hiding among us, can’t we?”

Chu Xiu had long expected his move would arouse their suspicions, so he wasn’t flustered at all. He just said, ”If it were really that simple, why would the mission bother to give a prompt to head to the ’Land of Divine Fall’?”

”Besides, aren’t you worried that Xie Xuanzhao is actually the Tribulation‑taker, and is currently carrying out some scheme we don’t know about?”

”That makes some sense,” Zhu Jiu nodded, then turned to the other two. ”What do you two Dao‑friends think?”

The Remnant Demon said nothing, while Mu Tuo spoke up: ”I still think prioritizing the collection of Divine Artifacts can’t be wrong. Splitting up ultimately just gives the Tribulation‑taker the chance to pick us off one by one.”

Seeing the two state their positions, the Remnant Demon also gave a slight nod.

This scene made Chu Xiu’s brows crease slightly. His mind was in chaos right now; he couldn’t pin down the logic of the instance, setting off loud alarms in his heart. He had a faint intuition that figuring out the hidden Rules behind this instance was far more important than a few Divine Artifacts.

Of course, this feeling was vague and insubstantial, nowhere near enough to be trusted. From a purely logical standpoint, seizing the Divine Artifacts was still a solid option—but on the condition that—

He had to find a chance to break away!

Under the others’ watchful eyes, it would be hard for him to make any moves. Even if they found the Divine Artifacts, there was no way the others would let him keep this second one; by then, they’d still end up tearing off the facade.

Chu Xiu’s eyes flickered, but before he could send out his Thought and speak again, a faint tremor suddenly came from beneath their feet.

The tremor was extremely slight, yet it made all four of their faces change at the same time!

How powerful were the Perception Abilities of Awakened? They almost instantly realized that something had happened.

”It’s outside!”

The four of them didn’t hesitate, soaring straight up. Terrifying, materialized Energy surged around each of them, directly melting the solid steel. In just a few breaths, they broke through the Star Jumping Ship’s hull and emerged outside.