After Fa, Celestia, Salsa, Zhamisi, and Yuyuer entered, there was no dizziness and no sensation of falling—only an overwhelmingly irresistible invisible pulling force. The five were instantly dragged into a bizarre space utterly different from the "Senseless Abyss." This place was not absolute nothingness, but filled with maddening distortion and oppression. Light here lost its normal behavior, twisting and refracting like shattered colored glass, casting grotesque, ever-shifting, bizarre shadows. The pungent stench was so intense it nearly condensed into solid form—the foul odor of rotting flesh, the acrid bite of strong acid, a cloyingly sweet alien fragrance, and a bone-piercing, mentally corrupting sweetish miasma all mixed together, frantically assaulting their nasal passages and brains. Underfoot was cold black crystal ground that emitted a faint yet highly penetrating dark purple glow; the glow itself carried an erosive quality that caused a slight stinging pain on the skin. The air was thick with ink-like poisonous fog, in which visible swirls of dark green, deep purple, and deathly white churned and surged. Every breath felt like swallowing scalding venom, accompanied by a mountain-like, all-pervasive mental pressure that sought to crush their wills.
At the center of the space, five differently shaped soul entities radiating terrifying pressure slowly rose from the deepest sludge of the abyss. Their very existence warped the surrounding light and shadow; the aura they emitted was like five volcanoes on the verge of eruption, pressing heavily upon the hearts of the five.
The Five Souls Appear:
Poison Soul · Corrosive Sludge (leftmost): Its soul body had no fixed shape, resembling a constantly churning, flowing dark-green toxic swamp. Its edges were blurred, continuously dripping smoking corrosive droplets. A pair of ghostly green eyes formed from pure miasma floated and flickered within the toxic liquid, brimming with extreme malice toward all life. Thick toxic fog carrying powerful corrosive and neurotoxic properties swirled around it like breath, dissolving anything it touched.
Poison Soul · Bone Devourer (second from left): The soul body was a deep, nearly black dark purple, shaped like a semi-solidified, viscous toxic polymer. Most horrifying was the surface covered in dense, pale-white bone spikes that wriggled slightly like living creatures. The tips of these spikes constantly oozed deep-purple toxic liquid that gave off a strong fishy stench. When the droplets hit the crystal ground, they produced intense sizzling sounds and green smoke, carving deep corrosion pits. The toxic gas it emitted possessed strong bone-marrow-eroding properties.
Poison Spirit King · Miasmic Plague (center): It was the absolute core and sovereign. Its soul body possessed a bizarre dual form: the lower half was flowing, semi-transparent silver-blue spiritual energy radiating icy soul pressure; the upper half was thick, inseparable dark black-green toxic liquid that constantly churned and boiled, emitting destructive lethal toxic aura. Its eyes were especially terrifying—the left eye a madly spinning silver-blue spiritual vortex, the right eye a toxic-liquid pupil burning with destructive green flames. Merely its gaze inflicted dual terror of soul-freezing and flesh-rotting upon the five, its pressure far surpassing the combined might of the other four souls.
Spirit Soul · Illusion Dream (first from right): The soul body was flowing, flickering humanoid silver light, its outline resembling a ghost draped in a wide robe, ethereal and unstable. Its eyes were two ever-changing, multicolored illusory halos that radiated fatally attractive allure. Invisible spiritual waves that numbed the mind and distorted cognition spread outward like tides, attempting to weave reality into the nightmare it desired.
Spirit Soul · Heart Breaker (second from right): The soul body was broken and unstable light blue, as if forcibly pieced together from countless sharp spiritual fragments, its edges flickering with dangerous cracks. Its eyes had no pupils—only two points of icy, eternal-frost-like blue ghostly light. Most lethal was the invisible yet piercingly sharp spiritual scream that surrounded it, a sound that acted directly upon the depths of the soul, capable of shattering the mind and tearing apart emotions.
"Outsiders…" Miasmic Plague's voice did not travel through air but exploded directly in the deepest recesses of the five's minds like countless cold steel needles, carrying absolute majesty that looked down upon ants and hidden madness beneath. "Coveting the inheritance of poison and spirit? Pathetic lives, first prove you are qualified to live and bear this power! Use your struggles and agony to entertain us! The trial—begins!"
The final thought rang out like a battle horn. The five souls launched their devastating assault without the slightest hesitation!
First Wave: Corrosive Mist and Nightmare Assault
Corrosive Sludge and Bone Devourer struck first. Corrosive Sludge's dark-green fluid body suddenly swelled like a bursting dam, turning into a sky-filling dark-green toxic fog. Bone Devourer violently shook the bone spikes covering its body, spraying out large amounts of deep-purple toxic gas clouds. The two differently attributed yet equally lethal toxic mists instantly merged and spread, forming two ferocious poison dragons that rolled toward the five, carrying a pungent sweetish-rot stench and powerful paralyzing and corrosive properties. Wherever the toxic mist passed, the hard black crystal ground emitted painful sizzling sounds and rapidly melted into uneven pits.
"Combined toxic mist! Watch out for corrosion!" Zhamisi reacted with godlike speed. As a poison master, she had the sharpest perception of toxins. She gave a low shout; her twin poison-fang curved blades crossed in a slash, and dark-green toxic energy surged forth. "Deep Flow Poison Bite · Soul-Eroding Rain!" In an instant, countless fine needle-like toxic raindrops flickering with ghostly green cold light formed out of thin air. Carrying Zhamisi's refined corrosive and nerve-destroying properties, they shot upward like reverse rain to meet the oncoming dual-colored toxic mist. The two powerful toxic energies collided violently in mid-air, interweaving and annihilating each other with intense sizzling explosions. The choking stench instantly filled the entire space. Although Zhamisi's toxic rain was pure and neutralized a large portion of the incoming mist, the abyssal poison souls' original toxins were more domineering and primordial. The remaining mixed dark-green and deep-purple toxic gas stubbornly broke through the rain barrier, weakened but still deadly as it pressed forward.
"Water Barrier · Pure Flow!" Yuyuer's clear voice rang out. She raised her dragon-bone staff high; the large crystal orb at its tip burst with brilliant azure light. The ground shook as a thick, flowing transparent water curtain rose abruptly, forming a semicircular shield that firmly protected the five. The water curtain's surface rippled with light, imbued with Yuyuer's powerful water-element purifying force. The surging residual toxic gas slammed into the curtain, producing dense hissing sounds. The contacted surface boiled violently, turning turbid and corroding into countless pits as water elements and deadly poison fiercely consumed each other.
At the same time, the mental assault descended! Illusion Dream's flowing silver-light body suddenly brightened; the illusory halos in its eyes spun like vortices. The five's minds shook violently, and the world before them instantly twisted and collapsed! Their deepest fears and most unwilling scenes were forcibly forced into their consciousness:
Fa saw Arya's face rapidly rotting and dissolving within the dark-green toxic mist, letting out a shrill scream, reaching out a pleading hand that turned into pus before her fingers could touch her.
Celestia's Aelios suddenly convulsed violently in her arms; countless poison insects seemed to wriggle beneath his skin. He opened his eyes, pupils a dead green, letting out a non-human howl of pain as his body disintegrated inch by inch in her embrace.
Salsa's vision was swallowed by endless darkness; countless souls of her clansmen wailed within the dark, torn apart by invisible forces, hurling desperate accusations at her.
Zhamisi saw Yuyuer pierced through the chest by an invisible blade, blood gushing, her crystal orb shattering, wise eyes rapidly losing their light as she collapsed in a pool of blood.
Yuyuer felt herself sinking into the icy darkness of the ocean depths; countless grotesque, rotting sea beasts lunged from all directions, tearing at her flesh with sharp teeth.
These illusions were suffocatingly real—the sensations, smells, sounds, and even the despair deep in the soul were vividly clear, instantly shaking the foundations of their minds. Even worse, Heart Breaker's broken body trembled violently, unleashing a silent yet extremely sharp spiritual scream! This scream was like billions of red-hot steel needles, bypassing physical defenses and stabbing into the most vulnerable parts of their souls, bringing soul-tearing agony that stacked with the illusions to form a devastating mental storm.
"It's high-level illusion magic! Steady your minds!" Salsa's soul phantom flickered violently like a candle in the wind. Enduring the soul-tearing pain, she swiftly formed seals; pure shadow energy erupted from her body. "Illusion Tide · True Mirror Realm!" Several twisted, ever-changing shadow mirrors appeared around her, attempting to reflect, distort, and even absorb the pervasive illusory power. However, Illusion Dream's spiritual power was far beyond expectation; its illusory force carried the brand of the abyss and proved extremely stubborn. Salsa's shadow mirrors lasted less than two breaths before shattering like fragile glass! The breaking of the mirrors not only failed to dispel the illusions but made the nightmare scenes even clearer and more impactful. Heart Breaker's spiritual scream intensified, and the five were nearly crushed by the double assault, their mental defenses on the verge of collapse.
"Break—for me!" Celestia bit her silver teeth, a trace of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. The four wings on her back—one pair of black bat wings, one pair of tattered black feathered wings—suddenly spread wide. Wind-and-thunder power gathered furiously at her fingertips. Her eyes flashed with resolute silver-blue electric light. She pointed at Illusion Dream's core and unleashed an invisible spike condensed from all her spiritual power and wind-thunder will—"Spear of Delusion Breaking!"—that tore through the air (though the air here was also full of toxic mist) and shot toward Illusion Dream with silent, lightning-like speed.
The spiritual spear pierced through layers of illusory mist and stabbed viciously into the core of Illusion Dream's flowing silver-light body!
"Ugh—" Illusion Dream let out a pained spiritual wail. Its body shook violently, its light dimming noticeably, and the illusory power afflicting the group fluctuated and weakened. However, this powerful counterattack thoroughly enraged Heart Breaker. Its broken body suddenly contracted, then erupted with an even sharper, colder, more despairing spiritual scream storm that swept over like an icy tidal wave! The five, who had just caught a brief respite from the weakened illusions, suffered another heavy blow to their souls. The pain darkened their vision and nearly robbed them of mobility.
Second Wave: Toxic Creature Tide and Soul Crushing
Just as the five were reeling from the spiritual assault, the ever-hovering Poison Spirit King · Miasmic Plague finally moved!
Its silver-blue lower body suddenly lit up, and countless twisted, painful, and resentful phantom souls struggled to emerge and wail from it, forming a terrifying spiritual ghost domain. The powerful soul pressure was like a tangible hammer, slamming hard into the spiritual world of the five people.At the same time, its dark black-green toxic-liquid upper body churned violently, condensed, and instantly transformed into a massive serpent entirely formed from boiling miasmic toxic liquid! The serpent's scales were flowing poison, its eyes two orbs of destructive green-flame toxic fire. It opened its giant mouth of pure miasma and gathered light deep in its throat, then fired a ball of extremely concentrated dark-green miasma bullet that carried intense spiritual corruption waves, shooting like a cannonball straight at the five trapped by toxic mist and water curtain! This miasma bullet possessed terrifying physical corrosive power and also contained Miasmic Plague's own spiritual crushing force—a dual material and spiritual annihilation strike!
"Careful! It's Miasmic Plague's attack!" Fa endured the soul-tearing pain, her right eye's star pupil flashing madly with ghostly blue light as she forcibly stretched her time perception. In her nearly frozen vision, she clearly captured the trajectory of the destructive miasma bullet. Without hesitation, she pushed the ice magic from her Cold Silence origin to the limit and slashed with her short blade, drawing an extremely cold arc. "Ice Sealing Path · Absolute Wall!" A thick, crystalline, freezing-everything ice wall rose abruptly, blocking the miasma bullet's path!
Boom—!
The dark-green miasma bullet slammed into the ice wall! Intense corrosion sounds echoed through the space. The sturdy profound ice visibly eroded and melted at terrifying speed; dark-green and deep-blue energies clashed and annihilated madly. The ice wall shook violently, cracks spreading rapidly. Although it successfully blocked and greatly weakened the bullet's impact and part of its toxicity, it ultimately could not fully withstand Miasmic Plague's full-powered strike. After merely two breaths, the ice wall shattered with a boom, and the remaining toxic miasma, still carrying strong spiritual oppression, surged forward!
And this was only the beginning. Illusion Dream (wounded by Celestia's spiritual spear) and the madly screaming Heart Breaker were temporarily restrained, but Corrosive Sludge and Bone Devourer seized the moment when the water curtain was rocked by the miasma bullet's shockwave and Yuyuer was distracted, launching an even fiercer attack!
From Corrosive Sludge's churning toxic liquid emerged countless dark-green toxic scorpions whose tails flickered with deadly ghostly light, surging like a tide. Bone Devourer's surface bone spikes detached, twisted, and swelled, transforming into sinister bone serpents made of pale bone with deep-purple toxic liquid dripping from their joints! These creatures were numerous, extremely fast, and let out piercing hisses as they pounced on the five from the flanks and the ground. The scorpions' tail stingers glowed with cold green light; the bone serpents' fangs and spikes were razor-sharp. Their assault was like a deadly wave that sought to drown the tiny defenders completely.
"Shadow Hunting Hawks · Assault!" Salsa endured the spiritual shock and once again erupted with powerful shadow energy. Dozens of larger shadow hawks wreathed in dense shadow and biting cold aura shrieked as they burst from the shadows around her. Their talons gleamed with ghostly blue cold light like forged ice crystals, carrying bone-chilling frost, and fearlessly dove toward the toxic scorpions and bone serpents! The hawks' talons tore through scorpion shells, their icy breath froze serpent joints, instantly clearing an area. However, the creatures were too numerous, endless, and fearless. The shadow hawks were soon overwhelmed and torn apart by the surging toxic tide, dissipating into vanishing shadow and cold air.
"Water Flow Strangle · Vortex!" Yuyuer swung her staff rapidly; the crystal orb blazed with blue light. Part of the protective water curtain split and spun, transforming into dozens of high-speed rotating, razor-edged azure water whips that lashed toward the densest clusters of creatures! Wherever the whips passed, scorpions were shredded and serpents severed, toxic liquid splashing everywhere. Yet the creatures' bodily fluids were also highly corrosive; when they splattered on the water whips, they produced sizzling sounds, rapidly contaminating and weakening the pure water elements. The whips' glow dimmed and their rotation slowed.
"Damn stinking bugs! Taste this!" Zhamisi was thoroughly enraged. She roared, no longer holding back. Raising her twin blades high, thick dark-green toxic mist nearly solidifying poured out from her body and instantly spread, forming a deadly toxic domain centered on her. "All Things Wither · Poison Mist Domain!" Her toxic mist carried powerful decomposition and withering properties and clashed fiercely with the toxic gas emitted by the creatures summoned by Corrosive Sludge and Bone Devourer. The space was instantly filled with swirling, bizarrely colored poisonous fog that even distorted light. Zhamisi's domain barely held back the toxic creature tide, but it also made breathing even harder for the five inside, their skin burning with pain.
Just as the five were pinned down by the toxic creatures, the water curtain was on the verge of collapse, and Zhamisi's poison-mist domain was barely holding, the mental pressure suddenly doubled! Illusion Dream, shielded by Heart Breaker's scream, had repaired part of its damage. Its illusory halos blazed once more. This time, the illusions did not merely show companions' deaths but began distorting their perception of each other and their surroundings—Fa saw Celestia suddenly stabbing her claws into Aelios; Celestia saw Fa coldly turning away; Salsa saw Yuyuer's water curtain turning into a cage trapping her; Zhamisi saw Yuyuer coldly smiling at her; Yuyuer saw Zhamisi's toxic mist corroding her own allies… Seeds of suspicion, paranoia, and despair were sown madly. Heart Breaker's spiritual scream transformed into countless fragmented, maliciously cursing whispers that continuously drilled into their minds, eroding their last remaining willpower. Their mental defenses were like a small boat in a storm, on the verge of capsizing.