The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

"Boom!!"

Even before the iron gate could open, a booming collision sound arose. Su Qi had already drawn out his silvery white hammer, his eyes fixed on one of the iron doors that was slowly opening a crack, as loud growls continued to rise.

And when the iron gate opened wide enough to pass through.

A horde of vicious prisoners, clad in prison garb with eyes glowing red and weapons in hand, charged forward!

"Kill!"

"As long as we kill him, we can leave this place!"

Su Qi was stunned, "Oh, there's a plot?"

He didn't hesitate at all and directly charged at the roaring prisoners.

The silvery white hammer thundered out with a heavy smashing sound, and it moved extremely fast! With a sweep of his Spiritual Energy, it even burst forth with purple lightning! Booming explosively!

A mass of prisoners was sent flying in all directions, turning into charred coal as they were flung back.

"Although numerous, their strength... probably disordered. But I've come to understand a thing or two..." Su Qi looked at the dead prisoners without any fear, but rather they roared and rushed at him with red eyes ablaze.

"They're all... lunatics."

The Yellow Robed Priest gently stated, "The Anxious Land... is a special Fragment from the Abyss; it constantly evolves, creating all kinds of dangerous life forms."

"Creating life forms..." Su Qi was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, that's the terror of the Anxious Land's power."

The Yellow Robed Priest lamented, "And some mysterious entity has modified it, and it's being suppressed here by the Gods Palace."

"Zzt—!!"

Su Qi's eyes faintly lit up with white light, and he shot out intense laser beams. His current attribute was Ray, and this AOE was quite powerful, but it was just too draining on his Spiritual Energy.

He swept around.

Spiritual Energy directly dropped by twenty percent.

Some attributes weren't well suited for him. After using them, Su Qi decisively switched from continuous to burst mode.

The second and third iron gates were also slowly opening, with prisoners bound in Heavy Armor roaring and charging out even faster!

This time.

Su Qi could clearly feel that they were all infected with Pollution, the power of Black Fog, and their strength had clearly risen by one or two levels.

"You'd better be careful... based on previous experiences, the creatures that appear will keep getting stronger."

"Even though you, relying on the Divine Artifact, killed a Seventh Rank, the past is the past, and now is now."

Su Qi surged forward.

He was pondering a question.

He had entered that hospital before, examining the bodies of four Divine beings. Why was it that the moment he was about to go downstairs to retrieve medicine, he was suddenly kicked out of the connection?

Now it seemed.

Retrieving the medicine...

Apparently, it was related to the nine layers of the Anxious Land.

He might even encounter the real... sealed, slumbering patients.

As Su Qi rampaged and fought, although many prisoners could unleash powers, with every beat of his Ancient God's Heart, he could suppress their traits!

Almost nullifying those of the same sequence.

Even suppressing those of the Seventh Rank.

Previously dealing with the old monster with a murderous face was purely because the latter was low on intelligence, a pure Pollutant, who was deceived and oppressed by simulating the Evil God. But if he were to meet a normal Seventh Rank, it would still have to be settled by actual combat.

The ninth layer of the world was not too difficult for Su Qi. In just twenty minutes, corpses lay scattered around him.

At that moment, a gust of wind suddenly whipped up.

The spot where he had previously landed slowly rose into a point of light... and it kept expanding, eventually turning into a Vortex Passage.

"The entrance has appeared..." the Yellow Robed Priest reminded.

Su Qi: "I see it, but I'm thinking about something."

"What?"

"I wonder, what would happen if I took someone down with me."

Su Qi strode like a Meteor, slapping a prisoner who lunged at him until they were completely dazed, then grabbed their neck and headed straight for the Vortex Passage!

In that instant.

Su Qi clearly saw... the prisoner's flesh bursting apart, but the black blood on their body and the black blood left by all the other prisoners he had just killed... all were falling with the Vortex Passage.

[Player has successfully passed through the ninth layer, current location: the eighth layer.]

As Su Qi passed through the swirling Black Fog, he didn't fall as before, but after a brief stupor.

He opened his eyes slightly.

And this time.

He found himself in a classroom, nearing evening, the sunset accompanying an unsettling environment releasing signals of unease step by step.

The eerie crescent had already quietly appeared above the sky dome.

It seemed like the ninth layer was not the same pattern because Su Qi had already seen... scrawled in blood on the chalkboard ahead were a few large, sloppy characters.

"Run!"

"...bad..." the Yellow Robed Priest said gravely, "Starting from this eighth layer, we will gradually come into contact with more dangerous and bizarre things, some of which cannot be resolved simply through combat and one's own strength. A single misstep could lead directly to a fatal outcome."

"It feels strangely familiar to me."

Su Qi, on the other hand, looked around the place like a seasoned driver, gathered the information, and opened the classroom door: "A whiff of Paradise."

The sense of déjà vu was strong.

The mysterious existence that had once drastically transformed this Anxious Land... it was hard for Su Qi not to suspect it had something to do with Paradise.

Moreover.

This time... there were other people.

Su Qi looked toward the classroom... other doors were also slowly opening, revealing cautious eyes.

"You are...."

"Normal people!"

"Finally, we've come across other people!"

Su Qi watched this scene unfold: "They're all participants in the Temple's trial."

It seemed everyone was unsettled and unfamiliar, exceedingly cautious about everything before them.

"Since we've all met during this Audience trial, it means we're meant to work together," someone said softly.

"Not necessarily."

Su Qi paused: "It might be a battle where each of us is fighting in our classroom as a faction, where only the last person standing can escape."

"???"

Some began to grow tense, while others shook their heads: "That's unlikely. I observed that the blackboards in each person's classroom all have the words 'run' written on them... and I searched a bit and found a piece of paper torn into fragments in a drawer. Although I didn't get to look closely, I saw words like 'Wandering Soul' and 'Death'."

"That means we have a common enemy."

The group was pleased.

With the young man's analysis... he had instantly established himself as the brain of the team, commanding and judging.

"Not necessarily."

And Su Qi inappropriately mused again: "It's also possible that the Wandering Soul... is hiding among us, quietly corrupting each person's mind, then turning us against each other, with only the survivor…"

The young man grew impatient: "Can your reasoning not be so illogical!!!"

"Just a casual, rational guess."

Su Qi replied, unruffled.

The young man sighed in frustration: "It's not rational at all."

"Anyway, let's all go back to our own classrooms and search to see if there are clues like that piece of paper."

Everyone nodded eagerly.

But Su Qi did not head back to the classroom; instead, he walked toward a dark stairway.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to the bathroom."

The young man's eyes bulged: "The hell you are!"

Was now really the time for a bathroom break?

"I can't hold it in."

Su Qi waived: "You all go search."

The young man watched Su Qi disappear up the stairs and sighed: "What's he playing at? Nightfall is coming, and danger could strike at any moment."

"What a headache!"

The Yellow Robed Priest was also stunned: "What are you doing? Why are you acting alone?"

"This is the eighth layer, and it's even more dangerous."

"Without sufficient information, the general principle is to cooperate with others."

"That Wandering Soul is definitely the enemy of this world, nothing ordinary."

"Su Buxian, are you even listening to me!"

"I feel like the danger is escalating!"

"Stop it." Su Qi walked into a quiet spot in the Dark Land, extremely secluded and inconspicuous.

He reached out and twisted a doorknob.

"Night has not yet fallen, and the ultimate enemy... has not yet gained great strength, and it's still asleep inside."

Su Qi drew a knife: "I'm going to check on its sleep quality."

Yellow Robed Priest: "???"