The Crevice Between Worlds, Apostle of Slaughter? (5k)
by spirapiraSu Xing felt a stirring of anticipation as he watched.
Could he reach the end of the Slaughter Battlefield?
Could he find a crevice leading to another world? This was directly tied to whether Su Xing could travel to the Azure Cloud Realm!
“I hope this time I can make it further…”
“At the very least, I can’t fall to those lost Legendary demon beasts again!”
Su Xing murmured, his gaze fixed on the simulation panel.
【On the endless Slaughter Battlefield, you continued pressing forward.】
【Your divine sense monitored every movement within thirty thousand zhang around you.】
【You did your best to avoid the lost demon beasts, steering clear of unnecessary battles.】
【But the farther you walked, the larger the crimson moon above your head grew, and the harder it became to control the negative emotions welling up inside you.】
【After an indeterminate amount of time, the number of low-rank demon beasts within your divine sense range grew fewer and fewer.】
【Nearly every demon beast was at least at the Demon King level or above.】
【Occasionally, you could even spot several Legendary demon beasts wandering aimlessly across the Slaughter Battlefield…】
【You continued onward, occasionally taking a Tranquility Pill to resist the crimson moon’s influence.】
【Finally, the weakest demon beasts you encountered were all at the Demon Emperor level, and you had come across no fewer than several dozen Legendary-stage demon beasts.】
【Your divine sense probed for potential enemies within thirty thousand zhang, and you still avoided engaging them, skirting around each one with extreme caution.】
【After all, you had no idea how much farther you still had to go on this Slaughter Battlefield, so you could only preserve your strength as much as possible.】
【And so, the crimson moon in the sky grew from the size of a jade plate, to the size of a carriage wheel… and finally to the size of a millstone.】
【You could feel that the closer you drew to the crimson moon, the more intense the violent urges in your heart became.】
【You walked onward for a long, long time… The vastness of this Slaughter Battlefield far exceeded your imagination.】
【Its area was possibly dozens of times, or even over a hundred times, the size of Earth…】
【You marveled inwardly at why the Slaughter Battlefield could be so impossibly vast.】
【By now, every few hundred li you walked, you would encounter one or two Legendary-stage demon beasts, all of which had completely lost themselves.】
【They would not attack each other, but the moment they sensed an unfamiliar aura, they would pursue relentlessly, never stopping until one side was dead.】
【Along the way, you accidentally encountered a Legendary demon beast and fought it for several hundred rounds before finally managing to slay it with great difficulty.】
【You understood that this was because of the crimson moon’s influence—your strength had dropped significantly.】
【Meanwhile, the lost Legendary demon beasts had become even more violent and bloodthirsty under the crimson moon’s influence, making them truly formidable opponents.】
【After that battle, you became even more cautious. Whenever you encountered a Legendary demon beast on the road, you would take a long detour to avoid combat.】
【An unknown amount of time passed…】
【Finally, you felt as though the crimson moon was right before your eyes—you could reach out and touch it…】
【A voice seemed to rise from the depths of your heart, ceaselessly beguiling you, urging you to abandon your resistance and surrender to the embrace of the god.】
【You didn’t know what this “god” referred to, but you knew it harbored no good intentions.】
【Fortunately, your willpower was unyielding, and you did not lose yourself.】
【The whispers in your ears grew more and more numerous, forcing you to expend ever greater mental energy suppressing the violent emotions within.】
【Fortunately, you still had plenty of Tranquility Pills on hand. With these, you were confident you could continue forward for a great distance yet.】
【You were like a weathered traveler, not knowing where the destination lay, but pressing ever onward…】
【After yet more time, two forking paths appeared ahead of you, and you didn’t know which way to go.】
【You decided to follow your instinct and chose to continue straight ahead.】
【Gradually, more and more forks appeared before you, each seemingly luring you off in other directions.】
【But you always managed to choose the correct path. You knew… this was the power of your talent, Human GPS!】
【At last, you seemed to have reached the end of the Slaughter Battlefield… though you weren’t entirely certain…】
【Because the crimson moon before your eyes had finally revealed itself in full clarity.】
【It was no longer hazy and indistinct as before, but appeared like an exquisite artifact within arm’s reach, close enough to touch.】
【A voice spoke in your mind, urging you to reach out and touch the crimson moon.】
【But your instincts told you not to.】
【By the time you arrived here, the road ahead seemed to have come to an end.】
【Suppressing the negative emotions threatening to burst free, you swept the surroundings with your divine sense.】
【Suddenly, you detected an area where the spatial fluctuations were extraordinarily intense.】
【Your spirits were instantly renewed. You knew—that might be exactly what you had been searching for: a crevice between worlds, a world passage!】
【But within your perception, an incredibly terrifying aura lingered before those spatial coordinates…】
【You did not hesitate. No matter what that aura represented, you had to go and investigate.】
【You arrived at the coordinates where the spatial fluctuations were most intense, and what you saw was like a glitch in the fabric of the world.】
【There, upon the blood-red earth, stood an incongruous wall of pure white air…】
【Just as you were about to approach the air wall, a dark shadow suddenly lunged at you.】
【Your mind was already somewhat addled by this point, but you barely managed to raise your Protective Hardened Qi, hoping to block the ambush.】
【Your Protective Hardened Qi shattered on impact, and you were sent flying several hundred meters, grievously wounded and coughing blood.】
【At the same time, you got a clear look at the creature that had attacked you.】
【It was a humanoid monster, its entire body pitch-black, with repulsive tentacle-like and tendril-like appendages growing from its form.】
【Unlike the lost demon beasts, it seemed to have retained its own consciousness.】
【It called itself a messenger of slaughter…】
【It warned you not to approach the white gate.】
【It asked whether you were willing to accept the god’s trial and become a divine messenger like itself, wielding boundless power…】
【You took one look at its grotesque form and refused…】
【The aberration calling itself the Slaughter Apostle sighed with a hint of regret. It said it could smell an odious scent on you.】
【The scent of one despised by the God of Slaughter…】
【With that, its figure flickered, and blade-sharp nails extended from its fingertips, slashing across your neck.】
【Your head fell from your shoulders, and your soul departed your body…】
【It captured your soul with effortless ease.】
【Then it struck a bizarre pose, seemingly performing a ritual of worship toward the blood moon.】
【It appeared to be offering your soul as a sacrifice to the blood moon.】
【Your consciousness slowly faded away…】
【You died!】
【Ding! Your talent Die With Eyes Open has activated!】
【You stared wide-eyed as the aberration calling itself the Slaughter Apostle hurled your soul toward the blood moon.】
【The moon in the sky seemed to flicker for an instant, and a strange gravitational force drew your soul toward the blood moon.】
【However, something you never expected occurred.】
【You had assumed the blood moon would absorb your soul, but instead you felt a wave of revulsion emanating from it.】
【The blood moon cast your soul back.】
【A look of abject terror appeared on the Slaughter Apostle’s face, and it began bowing frantically toward the blood moon.】
【In the end, it annihilated your soul…】
【Ding! This simulation has ended!】
After the simulation ended, Su Xing let out a long breath, his expression complicated.
“As I thought—once you reach Legendary, with that level of strength and powerful divine sense… it’s enough to reach the end of the Slaughter Battlefield!”
“And just as Old Dog Zong said, the end of the Slaughter Battlefield is indeed a passage to other worlds!”
Su Xing drew a deep breath.
Everything he had witnessed in this simulation left no room for doubt!
That strange wall of pure white air—perhaps passing through it would lead to another world?
And then there was the creature calling itself the Slaughter Apostle, who displayed such fear and even reverence toward the blood moon…
That indirectly spoke to the blood moon’s extraordinary nature. Perhaps it truly was the posthumous incarnation of some deity?
“And most crucially… why did that aberration say I was someone despised by the blood moon?”
“And why… did the blood moon of slaughter refuse to consume my soul?”
Su Xing truly couldn’t figure it out. Everything he had witnessed in this simulation still exceeded the limits of his understanding.
“Regardless, the end of the Slaughter Battlefield—that white air wall—absolutely warrants further exploration!”
Su Xing furrowed his brow slightly and murmured:
“But the Slaughter Apostle’s strength is at least at the Emperor level!”
“On top of that… the strange blood moon’s effect on my negative emotions caused my power to plummet!”
“I’m afraid I’ll need to improve my strength considerably before I’ll have any chance of defeating that Slaughter Apostle!”
After pondering for a long while, the deep furrow in Su Xing’s brow finally relaxed.
Regardless, everything he had witnessed on the Slaughter Battlefield was critically important information for him. “But anyway, right now… it’s time to choose my simulation rewards!”
Su Xing’s gaze turned to the simulation rewards panel.
【Human GPS】: Purple talent. Price: 1,000,000 energy points.
【Void Return Stage, Sixth Layer】: Mid-stage Void Return cultivation. Spiritual energy flows endlessly like a great river. Price: 300,000,000 energy.
【ten years of alchemy experience】: Upon redemption, existing alchemy insights increase by a small margin. Price: 1,000,000 energy.
【Separation Fire Technique (Major Mastery)】: A powerful divine ability developed by a great cultivator after observing the ancient divine flame, the Southern Illumination Separation Fire. Cultivated to the Major Mastery realm, its temperature is sufficient to slaughter demons and extinguish spirits. Within a range of three thousand zhang, with but a thought, Separation Fire appears! Price: 50,000,000 energy.
【Rebirth Pills (High-Grade) x100】: A pill originally developed by the ancient Wu Clan and subsequently improved by Su Xing, approaching high-grade quality. When consumed by Divine Power realm cultivators, it rapidly boosts cultivation. When consumed by Void Shattering stage cultivators, it benefits body tempering cultivation. Has certain side effects. Price: 200,000,000 simulation energy.
“Inside the Slaughter Battlefield, there seemed to be many branching paths at the end… and this time, I reached the final destination guided by the Human GPS talent.”
“What consequences choosing other branching paths might have had, I still don’t know…”
Su Xing took note of this simulation’s purple talent, Human GPS.
This seemingly useless talent had played a crucial role before Su Xing’s final encounter with the Slaughter Apostle.
“The alchemy experience naturally doesn’t need to be chosen again… after all, I didn’t develop any new pills this time…”
Su Xing also took note of the simulator’s description of the Rebirth Pill.
He hadn’t expected his own name to appear in the Rebirth Pill’s introduction.
This meant that the Rebirth Pill had indeed been independently improved and created by Su Xing himself.
Therefore, Su Xing naturally possessed a Major Mastery or even Perfection-level understanding of the Rebirth Pill.
“But anyway, there’s nothing to hesitate about with this round’s reward selection!”
“I choose the Void Return Stage Sixth Layer cultivation and the Mastery-level Separation Fire Technique!”
Su Xing declared decisively.
【You have successfully brought out Void Return Stage, Sixth Layer cultivation. Cost: 300,000,000 energy. Remaining energy: 432,560,000 points.】
【You have successfully brought out Separation Fire Technique at Mastery-level. Cost: 50,000,000 energy. Remaining energy: 382,560,000 points.】
After the simulator’s notification sounded, two streams of mysterious power surged into Su Xing’s body.
Feeling the restless, surging spiritual energy within him, Su Xing hurriedly sat cross-legged in meditation, steadying his mind and guarding his spirit.
Immediately after, the cultivation within Su Xing’s body began to skyrocket.
Void Return Stage, Third Layer… Void Return Stage, Fourth Layer… Void Return Stage, Fifth Layer!
Finally, Void Return Stage, Sixth Layer!
In the span of just a few breaths, the spiritual energy within Su Xing’s body had more than doubled once again!
He had jumped directly from early-stage Void Return to mid-stage Void Return!
He was even just one minor realm away from late-stage Void Return…
Su Xing first stabilized the energy within his body before slowly opening his eyes, murmuring:
“The feeling of having my cultivation surge like that… incredible!”
In any cultivation world, being able to leap from the third layer of Void Return to the sixth layer in just twenty-five years—
That was without question the mark of a genius!
After all, this wasn’t the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stage—this was Void Return!
“Cultivation resources really are the top priority… Back during the Golden Core stage, breaking through three layers took ten to twenty years…”
“Now at the Void Return stage, it still only takes about twenty-some years… That’s the importance of cultivation resources!”
Su Xing couldn’t help but grin.
Using spirit liquid combined with a Heavenly Spirit Root to cultivate with cheats—the feeling was simply too good!
Unfortunately, over a million drops of spirit liquid had only been enough for Su Xing to cultivate for one year…
“It seems the plan to acquire more spirit liquid must be implemented as soon as possible. Otherwise, the cultivation gains at late Void Return and the Body Integration stage will probably slow down again…”
Su Xing muttered to himself, then shifted his attention to the Separation Fire Technique.
“What kind of astonishing power does a Mastery-level Separation Fire Technique possess?”
With a thought, Su Xing tried summoning the Separation Fire Technique.
A wisp of flame appeared in Su Xing’s palm.
The Mastery-level Separation Fire Technique produced a scorching, vivid red flame—and within it, there was even a faint hint of purple…
With a mere thought, Su Xing could make this wisp of Separation Fire appear anywhere within the spirit field grotto-heaven.
But Su Xing didn’t dare experiment too much.
After all, while the Separation Fire wouldn’t harm Su Xing himself, if it burned the flowers and plants in the spirit field grotto-heaven, he’d be heartbroken…
“The temperature and power of the flame… it really is several times stronger than before!”
“Just this tiny wisp of flame—if an ordinary Martial Emperor were to come into contact with it, they would probably be burned to ashes in an instant!”
“Even a Peak Martial Emperor, if carelessly touched by it, would face almost certain death!”
Su Xing could feel that as the Separation Fire Technique’s proficiency increased, the power of the Separation Fire had grown substantially…
At the same time, Su Xing also noticed that the spiritual energy required to unleash the Separation Fire Technique had more than doubled.
Fortunately, Su Xing’s spiritual energy was now far more abundant than before. This level of consumption didn’t even register in his eyes.
“Might as well try some alchemy…”
With a thought, Su Xing took out an alchemy furnace.
But after burning for just a few seconds, the alchemy furnace forged from second-order exotic metal was completely melted down.
Su Xing blinked, then shook his head slightly:
“As expected, second-order exotic metal simply isn’t sturdy enough to withstand this Separation Fire!”
Fortunately, Su Xing still had the alchemy furnace left behind by Qingyunzi, which he could use to refine pills.
“Once I get my hands on alchemy furnaces forged from fourth-order exotic metal, they should be able to withstand the Separation Fire Technique’s temperature!”
Su Xing thought to himself.
Of course, the premise was that Su Xing wasn’t driving the Separation Fire Technique at full power.
Alchemy and killing—the control of temperature was naturally different!
Over the following week, Su Xing spent his time busy with farming as usual.
Because the second-order exotic metal furnace had been destroyed, Su Xing could only use a single furnace for alchemy, instantly halving his efficiency.
Su Xing simply refined around two thousand pills and left it at that.
The rest of his time was spent collecting spirit liquid—over the course of the week, Su Xing gained an additional thousand drops.
Su Xing even found time to pull some weeds from the fields.
He also rearranged the layout of the spirit-gathering formation.
After all, Su Xing’s spirit field grotto-heaven might soon be welcoming even more Spirit-Gathering Flowers!
Soon, the week passed.
It was now October 7th.
After disguising himself and concealing his aura, Su Xing once again went to find Jin Congxue.
Jin Congxue had already been waiting in her villa room for quite some time.
Unlike her sporty-girl style from last time, today Jin Congxue wore a form-fitting long dress. As autumn deepened, the dress still couldn’t conceal Jin Congxue’s graceful curves.
Su Xing silently marveled.
Jin Congxue’s beauty was truly like the first snow of winter—pure and lovely… yet also like an ever-changing sprite, impossible to pin down.
Especially after taking Su Xing’s Beauty-Preserving Pills consecutively, her skin had reached the condition of an eighteen-year-old girl’s—dewy, flawless, brimming with collagen.
Jin Congxue’s pretty face flushed under Su Xing’s gaze, and she pouted coyly:
“Sit down and eat already~”
Su Xing chuckled. The two sat across from each other and enjoyed their meal together.
Soon the meal was finished, and Jin Congxue handed over a storage ring.
Su Xing opened the ring and looked inside. Sure enough, it contained refined exotic metal ore.
Along with a full five reddish-purple alchemy furnaces.
“Are these… alchemy furnaces forged from fourth-order exotic metal?”
Delight flashed across Su Xing’s face as he hurriedly took out one of the furnaces to examine.
Indeed, the craftsmanship of these furnaces far surpassed the previous second-order ones.
With a thought, Su Xing pressed his finger against it with moderate force, leaving only a faint fingerprint.
“Hss~ Sturdy indeed!”
Su Xing was secretly pleased.
Though he hadn’t used his full strength, the previous second-order furnace would have been poked right through. The improvement in durability was clearly massive.
“Not bad—this should be able to withstand the Separation Fire Technique’s power!”
Su Xing thought to himself.
Soon the two finished their meal. Su Xing performed his routine security sweep, then returned to the spirit field grotto-heaven.
“After this next simulation, it’ll be time to set out and kill that Old Dog Zong…” Su Xing murmured, a hint of anticipation in his heart.