Chapter 25

Chapter 25: The Abyss Without End

“Shizun!”

At the sudden sight of Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe’s shock was utterly overwhelmed by joy.

After all, from the moment the chaos began, he had anticipated that Shen Qingqiu would inevitably worry and come personally to the valley to rescue them.

Shen Qingqiu landed gracefully. Seeing several disciples gathering around, he asked, “Is anyone injured?”

Luo Binghe answered, “Aside from the Junior Sisters by the stream… and the Junior Brother who had his marrow drained, we’ve suffered no further losses for now.”

“You’ve borne much,” Shen Qingqiu said.

A faint smile touched Luo Binghe’s lips, his eyes shining brightly. “This disciple was merely fulfilling his duty.”

Shen Qingqiu glanced at Qin Wanyue, whose eyes were still red-rimmed. And you’re smiling? he thought internally. Do you even know one of your future wives just died?!

To the disciples, the appearance of a revered Senior to save them was like seeing their own mother. They nearly clung to his legs and burst into tears. “There is no need for panic or fear,” Shen Qingqiu reassured them. “The Sect Leaders outside are now aware of the situation. Many Seniors have already entered the barrier to reinforce us. Protect yourselves, and it will not be long before we fight our way clear.”

His words acted like a supreme calming pill, settling the frantic hearts of the young men and women. Luo Binghe asked, “Shizun, what was that thing just now?”

When it came to the demonic creatures from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, he had asked the right person. Shen Qingqiu recited the details like a familiar inventory: “No wonder you haven’t seen it before. It’s called a Skull-Spider. Vicious temperament, grotesque appearance. It can mimic an infant’s cry to lure prey close. Once the prey is near, the suction cup beneath its head latches firmly onto the victim’s crown. Its eight legs are razor-sharp, capable of piercing directly through the skull to suck the living brain.”

Luo Binghe listened to the incredibly detailed description with a mix of admiration and astonishment. “Such a wicked creature exists in this world. This disciple’s knowledge is truly lacking.”

Since Luo Binghe had taken the Dream Demon as his master, Shen Qingqiu had found fewer opportunities to guide him in spells and swordsmanship. Seizing this rare chance to play the authoritative master in front of his disciple, Shen Qingqiu felt an immense, secret thrill, as if he had recovered his long-lost aura of mentorship. “Skull-Spiders are a specialty of the demon realm. Unsuitable for the human world’s environment, they haven’t been seen for years, so common archives and texts naturally have few records. If you see one again, remember to strike directly at its temples. The one just now was merely a male. Thankfully, we didn’t encounter a female, or it would have been far more terrifying…”

Before they could exchange more words, a strange, rustling noise came from the leaves above the heads of the surrounding crowd.

Inverted heads, suspended by white silk threads, emerged from the trees.

Shen Qingqiu’s face paled drastically.

The cry of a Skull-Spider attracted hordes of its kin to converge!

With a reverse flick of his wrist, his folding fan sent out a blade of sharp energy, severing dozens of silk strands in an instant. The Skull-Spiders dropped like overripe fruit, thudding to the ground in unison. “Go!” Shen Qingqiu barked.

Luo Binghe responded crisply. Taking advantage of the spiders’ dazed state from the fall, the group fled. Master and disciple, one clearing the path ahead, the other covering the rear, sandwiched the cumbersome procession between them. Yet at both ends, a storm of blood and gore erupted. The Skull-Spiders were agile, with powerful leaping abilities, darting and flying through the air, only to be riddled like sieves by the crisscrossing streams of spiritual power unleashed by the two.

Once he knew how to handle them, Luo Binghe fought as if divinely aided, capable of piercing two or more with his eyes closed. Above the group, a bloody tempest raged, filled with wretched shrieks and strange cries.

Even so, their numbers were simply too great, and attacks came from all directions. Just as Shen Qingqiu was worrying about when that damned, cursed strange poison would act up, he felt his spiritual power stagnate. His next strike met empty air.

Speak of the devil!

Shen Qingqiu quickly shifted his output from mana to pure physical force. A flip of his hand sent the fan’s edge slicing horizontally through the Skull-Spider lunging at him, cleaving it in two. Luo Binghe, ever attentive to his master’s situation, noticed the irregularity. “Shizun?”

“It’s nothing,” Shen Qingqiu said hastily. “Mind your own surroundings.”

Fortunately, Shen Qingqiu had already led them into a peculiar area. The Skull-Spiders seemed to encounter an invisible barrier, not daring to advance further. Instead, they retreated with ghostly howls, vanishing back into the shrubs and foliage.

Shen Qingqiu let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Qin Wanyue, panting lightly, asked with confusion, “Senior Shen, why do those demonic creatures dare not pursue us here?”

Shen Qingqiu said, “Have you forgotten what rare, exotic flower grows within the Forbidden Grounds Valley?”

In truth, he was the one who had forgotten.

Forgive him, but he genuinely couldn’t remember the name of that flower!

Luo Binghe, ever considerate, helped him recall, uttering the name in an instant. “The Thousand-Leaf Pure Snow Magnolia Lotus!”

Finally, Shen Qingqiu understood why he hadn’t remembered the name of this exotic bloom before.

The proliferation of exotic flowers with naming formats like “XX Snow X” or “XXXX Lotus” had far surpassed being merely “commonplace.” Remembering them was a lost cause!

Shen Qingqiu: “…Correct. It is precisely the Thousand-Leaf Pure Snow Magnolia Lotus. This flower has grown in the depths of the Forbidden Grounds Valley for a millennium. Its spiritual energy is extraordinary, and it is a natural bane to species of the demon realm. A barrier that repels demonic creatures has naturally formed around it. Therefore, within the range of its barrier, we won’t face too many demonic invasions.”

Luo Binghe suddenly pressed further. “A natural bane to demonic species?”

He had been listening intently. Shen Qingqiu saw a spark ignite in his gaze, an unusual light flickering within, and found it strange. “That’s right?”

Luo Binghe asked, “Then, Shizun, could this Thousand-Leaf Pure Snow Magnolia Lotus neutralize demonic poisons?”

Shen Qingqiu was startled.

This attitude… Could it be that Luo Binghe was… thinking of picking the exotic flower to detoxify him?

Hold on. In the original work, the girl you picked the flower for, Qin Wanyue, is right here watching. And now you want to pick a flower for someone else—a grown man—right in front of her?

Give your future wife some face, will you?!

Shen Qingqiu immediately said, “Let us deal with the immediate crisis first.”

But Luo Binghe was relentless. “Please, Shizun, tell this disciple.”

“It cannot,” Shen Qingqiu stated.

Luo Binghe persisted. “Has Shizun tried it? How can you know without testing it? This disciple knows Shizun does not wish for me to take risks, but if I do not take this risk, I will never be at peace!”

That’s really not it!

Why must you choose this critical moment to be so filial to this old master of yours?!

He couldn’t very well tell him that the only way to thoroughly detoxify was to sleep with him, could he?!

Unable to explain clearly, Shen Qingqiu’s expression turned frosty. “Have I been too indulgent with you all these years, making you think you can willfully act recklessly even at a time like this?”

Truthfully, over the past few years, driven by a bizarre sense of preemptive atonement and other complex feelings, he had never spoken a single harsh word to this disciple. Thus, upon hearing this, Luo Binghe first stared in surprise, then reluctantly fell silent. Yet his gaze remained stubborn, and the Zheng Yang sword in his hand remained unsheathed, clearly not a sign of concession.

Just as the two were locked in stalemate, the grasses in the nearby wild forest rustled, and a figure emerged, followed by a group of battered, bloodied disciples who had clearly fought a fierce battle.

Shen Qingqiu warily shifted his gaze. The moment their eyes met, he felt as if a giant hammer had slammed into his temple.

In truth, this man’s appearance could be considered handsome and proper. It was just that an air of sleaziness clung persistently to his speech and demeanor. Upon seeing Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe, he smiled, sheathing his shimmering sword. “So it’s Senior Brother Shen. Now that we’ve joined up with you, I can rest easy.”

Rest easy. Rest easy my foot. With you here, there’s no chance of resting easy!

The man before him was the chief culprit behind this massive upheaval!

Shang Qinghua—the character Shen Qingqiu had internally mocked with “Shang Qinghua, huh? Should I test into Beida then?”—was the Peak Lord of An Ding Peak. Simultaneously, he held another identity: the traitor within the Immortal Alliance Conference, a chess piece planted by the demon race years ago.

Originally, Shang Qinghua was merely an obscure junior disciple under the An Ding Peak lineage, captured by an important figure from the demon race and forced to become a mole.

Well, not exactly forced. He had accepted the weighty task of espionage with cheerful enthusiasm and zero psychological pressure.

With the demon race as his secret backing, Shang Qinghua’s path henceforth was smooth, his rise meteoric, until he somehow ended up in the seat of An Ding Peak Lord.

Yet, he remained unsatisfied. Why?

Because of An Ding Peak!

Just hearing the name told you it wasn’t a place for the ambitious. The traditions and specialties of this peak matched its name perfectly—logistical support.

Naturally, the entire peak, including its Lord, became a brick to be moved wherever needed. Send a few laborers here today, supply some materials there tomorrow. The mountain gate broken? Let An Ding Peak fix it. Need a carriage driver? Ask An Ding Peak for someone. Monthly expenses over budget and short on funds? Have An Ding Peak report it.

For a Peak Lord like this, even if his professional skills could “punch Blue Sky and kick New Oriental,” was it majestic? Impressive? Cool, domineering, and awe-inspiring?

Did it carry the dignity befitting a Peak Lord?

He couldn’t even compare to a talented junior disciple from another peak in terms of swagger.

Thus, Shang Qinghua resolutely became a running dog for the demon race. He took helping the demons dominate the human realm as his personal mission, committing every manner of villainy.

The sight of him gave Shen Qingqiu a stomachache. “Junior Brother Shang. On your way here, did you happen to see any large demonic creatures nearby?”

Shang Qinghua paused, then said, “Large demonic creatures? That… I did not.”

Shen Qingqiu’s heart sank. None at all?

This "large-scale demonic beast" was also a key piece of the narrative machinery. In the original tale, the very event that exposed Luo Binghe's demonic heritage was the release of a Blackmoon Python-Rhinoceros into the Immortal Alliance Conference grounds.

Luo Binghe fought desperately to protect the others. The Blackmoon Python-Rhinoceros was a behemoth, its destructive power and colossal size far beyond him; of course he couldn't win. And when you can't win a fight? You tap into your latent power, naturally.

Thus, right before Shen Qingqiu's eyes, Luo Binghe's secret was laid bare. That was what gave Shen Qingqiu the justification to "place righteousness above personal ties" and strike him down into the abyss with a single palm strike, sending him off to level up.

Shen Qingqiu hadn't sensed the demonic aura of the Blackmoon Python-Rhinoceros at all, nor had he heard its legendary, enigmatic howl at the moon—that sound described as both serpentine and rhinocerine. Now, Shang Qinghua claimed he hadn't seen it either. Shen Qingqiu couldn't help but grow wary. Without this crucial prop, was he supposed to just kick Luo Binghe into the abyss for no reason whatsoever?

He couldn't help but glance at the silent Luo Binghe. The boy seemed still fixated on the dilemma of whether to cure the poison or pick the flower. The gaze he leveled at Shen Qingqiu was stubborn, tinged with what seemed like a hint of grievance.

Grievance? For heaven's sake, I'm doing this for your own good! You can pick the flower, just don't give it to the wrong person, thank you very much!

Shang Qinghua lamented with profound anguish, "By the time I made my way here, I'd already seen many disciples from various sects fallen along the path. These were the future pillars of the cultivation world! Whoever released these demonic creatures here is truly malicious, shameless, despicable, and utterly insane!"

Shen Qingqiu was at a loss for words.

Weren't you the one who released those very creatures? Is it really okay to attack yourself with such vocabulary? Though I suppose it's fine if you don't mind…

Before his internal rant could finish, a violent tremor shook the earth without warning.

Everyone staggered, thrown off balance. Panicked cries and confused shouts filled the air. Shen Qingqiu's pupils constricted to pinpoints.

This tremor, with the unmistakable force of a magnitude 7.5 quake, could mean only one thing.

The Endless Abyss had finally been opened!