Immortal Divine Tribulation

Chapter 164: Sealing Demons

The abyss ahead looked nothing like a natural formation. It was as if some peerless divine weapon had forcibly cleaved it apart, leaving both of them shaken to the core. Was there really such a powerful existence in this world? Even gods shouldn’t be capable of this, right?!

Endless deathly aura surged upward from the depths, so thick it made them both nauseous. Their faces turned pale as they staggered backward. With their current cultivation, they could not yet peer into the future, but their extraordinary instincts screamed that this place was a land of death. Even from afar, their very bodies felt as if they were splitting apart, their souls trembling in pain.

“Dark Abyss!”

Those chasing behind also came to a halt at a distance, staring at the gorge with horrified expressions. The older cultivators at the Hunyuan realm shrank their pupils in fear, sensing an unrivaled danger. Slowly, they began retreating.

“Damn it, man! What kind of path did you take us on? You actually ran us into this place—believe it or not, I’ll cry right here!”

The Holy Son of the Demon Saint Palace, usually proud of his handsome face, now looked utterly stricken. Never in his wildest dreams did he think they’d end up here. This was the Dark Abyss, one of the three greatest forbidden zones of life on the Divine Martial Continent! Even more terrifying than the other two—for those at least had traces of vitality, some living creatures. Here, however, there was nothing but death, an eternal silence that devoured all.

“Leave this place!”

That was their first thought. But escape was impossible—they were already encircled, their retreat cut off.

“Hahaha! You actually ran here? Truly heaven itself wants you dead! In that case, this abyss shall be your grave!”

Two elderly figures sneered coldly. Even as they retreated further away, they struck together, unleashing a radiant palm strike. A chill ran down the spines of Tian Fan and the Holy Son of the Demon Saint Palace.

“Damn you!” the Holy Son cursed aloud. The old men weren’t trying to kill them directly—they wanted to blast them into the Dark Abyss, a place where survival was impossible.

“I curse eighteen generations of your ancestors!”

They struggled with all their might, but it was useless. Already wounded, they were no match for these two old men. Swept up by the violent energy, they were hurled over the abyss and sent plummeting downward. Here, even flight was impossible—some strange force suppressed their divine power completely.

Boom…

Suddenly, the void before the cliff split open, and a figure shrouded in black mist emerged. He hadn’t even released his aura, yet a chilling murderous intent radiated from him, lowering the temperature several degrees. His oppressive presence made it clear—this was a cultivator at the Immortal Ascension realm.

Only his eyes were visible, glimmering brightly with urgency as he reached down with a massive black hand. Divine power surged forth, but even then, the arm cracked the moment it extended past the cliff’s edge, struggling to hold.

Tian Fan gave a slight nod. He sensed the same aura from this man as from the Holy Son of the Demon Saint Palace. With a pained twist in midair, Tian Fan kicked the Holy Son upward, sending him just within reach of that fracturing black hand.

“Tian Fan!”

The Holy Son roared, reaching down, but Tian Fan had already fallen too far, his figure swallowed by the abyss. The black hand was crumbling apart, but still managed to lift the Holy Son away.

The shadowy expert cast the Sword Immortal Sect elders a cold, killing glare. The faintest flicker of intent made them feel like they’d fallen into an icy pit. Yet, he didn’t attack. Perhaps some hesitation remained about offending the Sword Immortal Sect. Holding the nearly unconscious Holy Son, he vanished.

“Hahaha! None can defy my Sword Immortal Sect!”

Breathing easier once the man departed, the two old men declared proudly before flying off into the distance. The crowd dispersed as well, sighing. A peerless genius had fallen; from now on, the Divine Martial Continent would lose much of its brilliance.

Over the abyss, a cold wind swept past. Though it was midsummer, the gusts were icy. From below, chilling drafts surged upward, carrying with them a suffocating stench of blood that made Tian Fan retch.

His eyelids grew heavy. A sense of surrender rose in him—he was too tired. He had gone through too much: being hunted, killing to survive. No matter how unwilling, his hands were already drenched in blood. Since Zi Ying’s passing, his heart and spirit were utterly exhausted, on the verge of collapse.

“Little Tian Tian, hehe…”

Just as darkness threatened to consume him, a beautiful figure appeared in his mind. A violet gauze dress, a charming face, a slender body, and a mischievous, sweet voice that sounded like it came from the heavens.

“I can’t die. I can’t die…”

A guttural roar burst from Tian Fan’s throat. His eyes snapped open, divine light flickering within. His body throbbed with agony as black demonic energy poured into him, ravaging his flesh ceaselessly.

“I want to live!”

He bellowed, forcing himself through the pain as his Divine Celestial Heart Sutra and Five Elements Method spun frantically. Golden and silver radiance intertwined, driving out the invading demonic energy. Blazing divine light illuminated the abyss.

Step by step, he steadied himself, slowly descending into the darkness. No matter how he strained his gaze, he could see nothing. The abyss seemed bottomless; he felt as if he had been falling for years.

Crack…

At last, just as his patience ran out, a crunch echoed beneath him. He had reached the bottom.

Here, the demonic aura was so thick it was nearly tangible. Bones littered the ground in every direction, belonging to creatures even Tian Fan could not recognize.

“Ooooh…”

His scalp prickled as countless phantoms appeared—ghosts, zombies, demons, liches—forming ranks and arrays. The heavens shook, space itself shattering and dissolving into chaos. They charged toward him in overwhelming force, enough to make even gods tremble.

But then, he exhaled in relief. The shadows passed straight through his body. They were mere projections, fragments of a distant past. He fell into thought. What had happened here in ancient times? What wiped out the immortals and gods of this land? A war between gods and demons? He shook his head. Too many contradictions.

“Forget it. Why think so much? None of this has anything to do with me.”

Shaking off the thoughts, he reminded himself—he was just a small cultivator. All he wanted was to save that mischievous, lovable girl. What were divine wars or world-ending calamities to him? Right now, he only needed to find a way out.

This place knew no daylight—eternal darkness. No vegetation, no life. Even ghosts could not be seen. He trudged on through endless withered thickets, numb to the flickering shadows drifting around him. He knew they weren’t real.

Ahead, the dark aura thickened. His chest tightened—he could hardly breathe. Retreat was impossible; the black mist sealed everything behind him. He could only press forward.

“That is… impossible! Impossible!”

Climbing over a ridge, Tian Fan froze. His pupils dilated, cold sweat drenching him.

Before him stretched a vast mountain of bones, hundreds of miles across. Countless skeletal remains piled together, none of them human. The air was filled with sorrow and desolation.

He spotted a humanoid skeleton—with eight bone wings protruding from its back, a flat, jutting forehead. It resembled the legendary Fallen Angels. This one had eight wings, surpassing even the Immortal Ascension realm.

Shuddering, he turned to another corpse. Over three meters tall, still standing, flanked by jade-like bones. Twin horns jutted from its head, a long tailbone stretched behind. Tian Fan’s heart nearly stopped—it was a Heavenly Demon, a royal of the Demon Realm. Judging by its size, it was no ordinary demon, but a Demon King. Yet its only wound was a tiny hole at the brow—slain in one strike.

“Who… who could have such strength, to kill a mature Demon King with a single finger?!”

His lips trembled. But then his gaze fell elsewhere, and he was utterly stunned. A colossal corpse sprawled across the ground, nearly a hundred meters long. Its body was riddled with gaping holes the size of vats, yet some flesh still clung, blood still dripping.

A dragon. A true dragon. Five claws marked it as a Dragon Emperor.

Hum…

Light radiated from Tian Fan’s body. A ball of purple-golden brilliance floated out, hovering before the skeletal dragon. Faint, childlike wails echoed—like a baby crying. The little spirit was heartbroken.

For reasons he couldn’t explain, Tian Fan suddenly wanted to weep as well. It felt like this tragedy was tied to him somehow. Fighting the crushing sadness, he lifted his gaze to the peak of the bone mountain. There, black mist swirled most densely, shrouding everything.

But this time, he focused his sight.

A massive dark-green stone stele towered at the summit, standing for who knows how many millennia. Two ancient characters were carved upon it, bold and sharp as divine blades, exuding a killing chill. 

Tian Fan nearly cried out—the inscription was almost identical to the stele in the Enchanted Forest, even the calligraphy the same. The weight of it pressed down on his chest like a mountain, suffocating him.

Those two words read—

“Sealing Demons.”