Monster Paradise

After he parted ways with Sword11, Lin Huang immediately made a beeline for the black market.

Lin Huang did not believe everything Sword11 told him.

Sword11 had given two reasons to justify his helping Great Heaven find an heir.

One was to return the favor, and the second was to gain another increase in his potential. Although it sounded logical, Lin Huang still felt like he was hiding something.

There was also the fact that his description of Swordfiend Abyss was completely different from what the black market’s intel said. Naturally, the black market information could not be false, so Lin Huang could not tell how much of what Sword11 said was true.

The thing that bothered Lin Huang the most was how Sword11 had not mentioned a thing about how he had changed his name and the ten years of closed-door cultivation. He did not even mention it in passing. If Lin Huang had not read his detailed file from the black market, he might not know that Sword11 was hiding anything at all.

Lin Huang did not want to pry into Sword11’s personal matters. He just thought that since they already talked about something as confidential as undergoing a transformation to increase one’s talent, there was no need to hide the closed-door cultivation and name change.

Even though there were so many doubts, Lin Huang was nevertheless quite certain that Swordfiend Abyss was indeed the first test to earn the Great Heaven inheritance.

Actually, when Lin Huang first saw the information about Swordfiend Abyss on the star map two days ago, he was already wondering if this place had something to do with Great Heaven.

After all, it stated that even a heavenly god-level powerhouse had gone missing here before. That meant that the person who left this trap there had to be a heavenly god-level powerhouse, at the very least.

Once he added his conversation with Sword11 to that, he grew even more certain of this possibility.

He spent more than ten days walking to the black market, and then Lin Huang entered Mute Pavilion once more.

“I want all the info you have on Swordfiend Abyss.”

As soon as he entered the room, Lin Huang went right up to the counter and made his request.

“We only have legends about Swordfiend Abyss, none of it verified. Are you sure you want to purchase that, sir?” reminded the woman in the short-sleeved shirt behind the counter.

If the information was unverified, the employees at Mute Pavillion would warn customers in advance, and the price was much lower as well.

“That’s fine, just tell me the price.” Lin Huang nodded.

“Since we are unable to verify the truth of the intel regarding Swordfiend Abyss, and since the information isn’t confidential, this file will only require ten thousand Divine Stones.”

“Done!” Lin Huang paid without hesitation.

“Do you need anything else, sir?”

“Do you have any info about that world-ending Swordfiend who emerged from Swordfiend Abyss alive ten thousand years ago?”

“Yes, but nothing too detailed. After all, too much time has passed since.” The woman in the short-sleeved shirt raised her head and looked at Lin Huang before stating the price. “That information costs eight thousand Divine Stones.”

“I’ll take one.” Lin Huang nodded without hesitation.

It was not that he did not want to haggle. He just knew that Mute Pavillion did not entertain that.

After he left Mute Pavillion, Lin Huang did not continue looking around the other stores in the black market. Instead, he bought some food and drinking water at a mart close to his hotel before returning to his room and looking through the information he had just obtained.

The file on Swordfiend Abyss did not have any substantial information regarding Swordfiend Abyss.

However, Lin Huang took out a list of the people who had gone missing in Swordfiend Abyss, as well as a list of people who had appeared to go in and reappear alive.

The latter list had Sword11’s name right there, as well as more than ten other names.

As for the list of missing persons, Lin Huang saw that six of them were listed as Heavenly Gods.

A hundred and eighty thousand years ago, a second-rank Heavenly God called Yan Qing became the first Heavenly God in recorded history to enter Swordfiend Abyss. He entered Swordfiend Abyss even before that world-ending Swordfiend did, and he was also the first Heavenly God to go missing in Swordfiend Abyss.

Ten thousand years ago, the next Heavenly God to go missing was Yue Yi, a third-rank Heavenly God. He went into Swordfiend Abyss with a friend of his, Qi Peng, also a Heavenly God. However, Yue Yi went missing, and his companion Qi Peng became something of a household name. He was none other than the Heavenly God who returned from Swordfiend Abyss and became the world-ending Swordfiend, causing a ton of bloodshed and turmoil.

Ninety thousand years ago, a Heavenly God named Shang Tian was the third to go missing in Swordfiend Abyss. He was quite the character as well; in his time, he was one of the top five strongest fighters in the entire Great Heaven Territory. Not only was he a sixth-rank Heavenly God, he was also an uber-powerful sword cultivator.

Eighty thousand years ago, the fourth, fifth, and sixth missing persons came from a trio of Heavenly Gods. All three of them were fifth- or sixth-rank heavenly god-level powerhouses, but such a magnificently-built team was still wiped out upon entering Swordfiend Abyss, and no one heard of them again.

After that, no Heavenly God in the entire Great Heaven Territory dared to approach Swordfiend Abyss again.

“Even sixth-rank heavenly god-level powerhouses die in there. That sure is a dangerous place…” Lin Huang could not stay calm after reading that file.

He had assumed that all the Heavenly Gods who went missing in Swordfiend Abyss were low-rank Heavenly Gods who ventured in on their own. Instead, he found out that not only were there mid- and high-rank Heavenly Gods in their ranks, there were even those who went in groups, only to get wiped out.

After reading all this information, however, Lin Huang was starting to believe some of the things Sword11 said now.

The Great Heaven inheritance was not something anyone who did not use a sword could touch!

Lin Huang spent more than an hour reading all the information, and tens of thousands of thoughts ran through his mind. Soon, though, he collected himself and looked at the intel on that world-ending Swordfiend.

His original name was Qi Peng, and he was a third-rank Heavenly God.

Ten thousand years ago, he was the only human Heavenly God sword cultivator.

Ten thousand years ago, he entered Swordfiend Abyss with his good friend Yue Yi, only to return alone one year later. Upon returning from Swordfiend Abyss, he seemed to go insane, killing swathes for no apparent reason. His combat level also shot up from third-rank to seventh-rank within a few short days, and finally, the humans worked together with the Heavenly Gods from some nearby tribes to kill him…

“He went from third-rank to seventh-rank within a few short days!” That news made Lin Huang’s eyes widen.

Bear in mind that Qi Peng was a heavenly god-level powerhouse, which meant that the resources he had to use to increase his rank by one step amounted to astronomical numbers. Theoretically, it took him more than ten times longer to increase his rank than True Gods did!

Besides, if it could make the third-rank Heavenly God Qi Peng lose his mind and turn into a Swordfiend, that must mean that Swordfiend Abyss was not especially kind to sword cultivators either.

After Lin Huang read through Qi Peng’s file, he fell into deep thought.

He was wondering if he should take this risk.

On one hand, he was now certain that Swordfiend Abyss was the first step to achieving the Great Heaven inheritance.

On the other hand, the danger posed by Swordfiend Abyss was making him hesitate about joining this test.

Although Lin Huang was usually quite confident in himself, this information made him completely unsure if he could successfully pass the test.

He thought it over for a long time, but eventually he made his decision and contacted Sword11 with a communicator he had bought from the black market.

“I’ve decided. Send the information over!”