The power of Cangwu to suppress the immortals

"Skull Senior truly spoke the truth; these broken cauldrons are indeed the keys to entering the Medicine King True Cauldron!"

When Xiao Heng informed Su Xiaomei of this discovery, she couldn't help but beam with joy.

"This is great. As long as we follow the guidance, we should be able to find it very quickly."

The three of them exchanged glances, then stayed close to the cliff walls of the Abyss Realm, discreetly flying down towards the depths of the Cangwu Abyss.

Once they descended two hundred zhang below the surface, the scenery within the abyss began to change drastically from the world above.

Due to the perpetual clouds and mist lingering above, the further down they went, the darker the surrounding environment became.

The cliff walls were no longer bare rock; instead, many strangely shaped plants had taken root and grown there.

There were slender willows that emitted light, and Predatory Pines camouflaged as rocks.

There were even withered black trees that lay in wait like giant pythons, ready to strike and injure prey as soon as they approached.

Living in symbiosis with these plants were the strange beasts mentioned in the earlier Jade Slip that they needed to be wary of.

Most of these strange beasts were pitch-black, making them difficult to detect with the naked eye in the dim, lightless abyss.

Their appearances were even more bizarre, vastly different from the creatures on the surface.

They didn't look like products of natural evolution, but rather like fragments of various creatures forcibly stitched together.

There were long worms that split open down the middle to feed.

Strange apes with their heads retracted into their bellies.

Strange birds whose wings were composed of countless wriggling tiny worms.

…

All sorts of aberrations that chilled the blood of anyone who saw them.

Furthermore, within this abyss, there seemed to exist some kind of mysterious power.

It suppressed the sensing range of a Cultivator's Divine Sense.

This power became increasingly prominent as the depth continued to increase.

Inadvertently during a Cultivator's descent, these weird creatures would emerge, either from the abyss cliff walls or from the Void Realm in the center of the abyss.

They would suddenly appear and attack Cultivators in swarms.

As if they held a blood feud against outside Cultivators, the attacks of these aberrations would only cease upon their complete death.

Fortunately, although these creatures beneath the abyss were numerous, their lethality was only equivalent to the Late Stage of Qi Refining.

To Su Xiaomei's group, whose lowest strength was at the Golden Core stage, they posed no real threat.

The journey was fraught with scares but no actual danger. After spending nearly half a day, they finally approached a giant boundary stone embedded horizontally in the cliff wall.

On it, the two large characters for "Thirty Thousand" were written in striking, red, glowing script.

It could be seen from a great distance.

Above this boundary stone, the continuous cliff wall was almost hollowed out inward.

A brilliantly lit hanging city above the abyss had been constructed there.

"This is the first resting point for exploring the Cangwu Abyss."

"Lincang City."

"Further down, the abyss becomes increasingly dangerous. So, providing a place for rest and supplies here is quite necessary."

Xiao Heng watched the Never Ending stream of Cultivators and secretly heightened his vigilance.

Most Cultivators who came to explore the Cangwu Abyss were not people to be trifled with.

Besides collecting the valuable local specialties of the Cangwu Abyss, their purpose for coming here…

…was largely for that Fire Meteor that had fallen from the sky years ago.

In recent years, there have been many different theories regarding the true identity of the Fire Meteor.

The idea that it was the Medicine King True Cauldron that had broken through the world boundaries in ancient times was just one of the more widely circulated guesses.

Regardless, it was able to make every Cultivator who witnessed it feel a sense of heart palpitations.

This Fire Meteor was definitely extraordinary.

As the saying goes, men die for wealth.

Thus, it is not hard to understand why outside Cultivators have been tirelessly pursuing it.

"Let's go." Xiao Heng and the others did not enter Lincang City.

They flew straight past the boundary stone and arrived at the second level, thirty thousand zhang below the surface.

The moment they crossed the boundary stone, it felt as if they had passed through an invisible barrier.

A strange sensation welled up in Xiao Heng's heart.

"My strength has weakened slightly; it's just like the rumors said."

With a heavy heart, Xiao Heng sent a transmission to Su Xiaomei and the other.

"Did you notice it? The existence of the Immortal-Suppressing Power?"

"Yes, there is indeed a trace of it. But for now, the impact isn't too great."

A moment later, both Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo responded in kind.

"It seems my strength is indeed weaker after all." Seeing this, Xiao Heng felt somewhat helpless.

He could only hope that the location of the Medicine King True Cauldron was within the maximum depth he could descend to.

Immortal-Suppressing Power was the collective name Cultivators gave to that mysterious force shrouding the Cangwu Abyss.

Its specific manifestation was that as one went deeper into the Cangwu Abyss, a Cultivator's strength would be correspondingly reduced.

In the first level within thirty thousand zhang, it wasn't yet obvious.

It would only interfere with the coverage range of Divine Sense.

But after entering the second level, the effect became immediate and apparent.

Once those with Middle Stage Qi Refining cultivation or below entered, they would become no different from a Mortal.

The spiritual energy in their bodies could not be mobilized, and they would lose the ability to fly.

There was only one outcome: falling toward the bottomless abyss, becoming fodder for the weird creatures along the way without any resistance.

This meant that at the very least, a Cultivator had to be at the Late Stage of Qi Refining to survive in the second level of the Cangwu Abyss.

But in reality, as the depth increased, the creatures in the abyss also became stronger and stronger.

Meanwhile, the Cultivators' strength was constantly being suppressed.

This resulted in exploration becoming more difficult the further down they went.

Xiao Heng's group of three ventured deeper into the second level, the Forest of Spirit Whispers, with increasing caution.

Trees deeply rooted in the abyss cliff walls extended their branches toward the center of the void Cangwu Abyss in a way that defied common logic.

They formed a continuous primeval forest that stretched beyond sight, occupying a space of fully fifty thousand zhang vertically.

Aside from the dangerous and bizarre creatures that were increasing in variety and strength…

…the murmuring whispers that occasionally came from the forest were even more lethal.

This sound would cause Cultivators to experience various hallucinations and lose their sanity.

Those with weak wills would fly toward the center of the Forest of Spirit Whispers as if they had lost their souls.

In the end, they would never be able to return.

All three of Xiao Heng's group could be considered elites, and their mental fortitude was equally remarkable.

Coupled with their truly formidable strength, they spent about a day successfully crossing the second level.

They descended to a depth of eighty thousand zhang.

At this point, the dense forest suddenly became sparse.

It seemed as if there was another light source below, and their vision suddenly became clear.

The marker for the level boundary was no longer a horizontal stone tablet like before.

Instead, it was a giant eyeball growing on the cliff wall.

The pupil in the center of the eyeball had been replaced by two large blood-colored characters for "Eighty Thousand."

This eyeball seemed to still be alive, constantly turning and peering around.

Detecting someone's arrival from above, it instantly cast its gaze upon Xiao Heng's group.

A massive pressure bore down, making Xiao Heng's body instantly tense up.

Fortunately, the giant eye only gave them a glance before shifting its gaze away, looking no further.

"Phew…"

Xiao Heng let out a sigh of relief.

"The second resting point of the Cangwu Abyss, the City of the Giant Eye."