Dashing Student

At the bottom of the pitch-black abyss, though there was no more bone-chilling black mist, there was still no sunlight shining down.

Only the Heaven-Burning Flame on Chen Nan's body was quietly burning, supporting a small patch of firelight.

The ghostly fires that suddenly appeared around him made Chen Nan tense up.

Although his body couldn't move yet, his mana was still functioning without issues. With a thought, the Heaven-Burning Flame on his body blazed fiercely.

In an instant, he saw clearly the origins of those ghost fires.

They were clearly... skeletons!

Those ghostly fires were the eyes of the skeletons.

Chen Nan suspected that he had arrived in Hell; otherwise, where did these undead creatures come from?

Among these skeletons, there were humans and demon beasts, all attracted by the firelight, moving towards Chen Nan, their numbers increasing.

Frightened, Chen Nan quickly withdrew the Heaven-Burning Flame, and the surroundings plunged back into darkness.

The skeletons remained nearby, but they seemed only interested in the firelight. Once the Heaven-Burning Flame was put away, the skeletons lost their target, wandering around and slowly drifting away.

When there were no more ghostly eyes around, Chen Nan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He now needed to wait for a slow recovery. His strong recuperative ability finally found its use; fractured bones were slowly mending, and split flesh was gradually healing.

No one knew how much time passed, since the bottom of the abyss had no sunrise or sunset, hence there was no sense of time passing.

Chen Nan slowly sat up from the ground, moved his limbs a bit, and found that now he could move without issue, though that gaping wound in his chest remained frightening.

"What kind of place is this? Could it really be Hell?"

He stood up and looked around. His vision had barely adapted to the darkness, yet he still couldn't see anything except the drifting ghostly fires.

Moreover, the temperature here was terrifyingly low, even a cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment Stage might freeze stiff.

Even his very soul could feel the extreme chill.

Fortunately, Chen Nan had the Heaven-Burning Flame to maintain his body's temperature, preventing him from freezing.

To figure out what those undead creatures were, Chen Nan, after bandaging his wound, quietly approached a skeleton.

He originally intended to silently get close, but unexpectedly stepped on something, making a "crack" sound, causing the skeleton to turn around instantly.

"Give it a shot!"

Clenching his teeth, Chen Nan lunged forward, twisting off the skeleton's head.

Even without its head, the skeleton kept moving, its ghostly eyes flickering as if staring at Chen Nan.

"Let's see if magic has any effect."

Chen Nan flicked his finger, and two sparks flew from his fingertip, landing on the ghostly fire, producing a "sizzle" sound.

Very quickly, the ghostly fire was entirely burned away by the Heaven-Burning Flame, and in the instant the ghostly fire disappeared, the skeleton scattered into a pile of bones.

It was clear that the ghostly fire was the core of the undead creature.

Following this, taking advantage of the fact that these undead creatures lacked intelligence and wouldn't actively attack, Chen Nan conducted all sorts of experiments and finally discerned the characteristics of these skeletons.

Firstly, these skeletons were quite weak, but the possibility of powerful entities couldn't be ruled out.

Secondly, the ghostly fire was indeed the core of the skeleton, and both flame and lightning could restrain it, but physical attacks had little effect on the ghostly fire.

Additionally, his magic could still be used normally, and was effective against undead creatures, proving that he was still within the Jiuzhou World, and hadn't arrived in Hell.

"Who would have thought that there would be such a place within the Wuyin Mountain Range, truly peculiar."

Chen Nan muttered quietly to himself, lowering his head with some confusion.

Because during his experiments, the King of Ten Thousand Gu in his Dantian stirred, and even the broken sword he almost gave up on started to show signs of activity!

Watching the broken sword incessantly trembling within its sheath, even emitting a faint sword hum, Chen Nan was astonished.

"Could it be that you come from here?"

Chen Nan drew the broken sword and could feel the intense yearning emanating from it, as if it were a... living thing!

While he was observing the broken sword, a skeleton silently approached him.

Not because he was careless, but because these skeletons acted like true dead objects, devoid of any aura fluctuation.

When he noticed, the skeleton was already face-to-face with Chen Nan, startling him into thrusting the broken sword into the skeleton's eye socket.

Unexpectedly, the ghostly fire in the skeleton's eye socket was absorbed by the broken sword!

Chen Nan watched in amazement as the ghostly fire slowly thinned, eventually being wholly absorbed by the broken sword.

He held up the broken sword to the firelight for a careful look, and it seemed... a bit longer?

To prove he wasn't just imagining things, Chen Nan went searching for more undead creatures with the broken sword, soon absorbing dozens of ghost fires.

Then he discovered, the broken sword really did grow longer.

Instead of getting longer, more accurately, a portion of the broken blade had been restored.

This discovery delighted Chen Nan to no end; merely being able to absorb ghostly fire indicated the sword was extraordinary, previously just not activated correctly.

He wondered what grade the broken sword would be after being restored.

With a new goal, Chen Nan became more eager in hunting down those mindless undead creatures, figuring he'd find a way to leave once his wounds were healed.

Yet this act of hunting undead creatures dissatisfied the King of Ten Thousand Gu in his Dantian.

As its master, Chen Nan could sense the King of Ten Thousand Gu's anxious aura, feeling puzzled, he released it.

"Little Snake, what's wrong with you?"

After devouring several demon beasts in succession, the King of Ten Thousand Gu's size had grown a bit, and the feelers on its head also became more pronounced.

Unexpectedly, the moment it appeared, the King of Ten Thousand Gu swiftly rushed towards an undead creature, opening its mouth to inhale, a stream of air swept the ghostly fire back and into its mouth like cloud.

It seemed as though it was savoring something delicious.

"You eat this too? Don't get a stomach ache!"

Worried, Chen Nan chased after it, but the King of Ten Thousand Gu was having a great time, since those mindless undead creatures posed no resistance.

Unknowingly, they had ventured far away.

The King of Ten Thousand Gu prostrated on a skeleton's skull, with Chen Nan standing behind holding a torch to attract more undead creatures with its light.

However, at this moment, the King of Ten Thousand Gu suddenly raised its head, and the vertical eye on its forehead gradually opened!

This was developed after devouring the Three-eyed Treasure Toad, and Chen Nan speculated it was the inheritance of the Three-eyed Treasure Toad's treasure-hunting ability, though he hadn't had a chance to use it until now.

Now with the vertical eye opened, Chen Nan instantly understood the King of Ten Thousand Gu's intention.

"Are you saying there's treasure ahead?!"