Today was the day the assessment mission for the Dragonfall Abyss began, with everyone paying 10 spirit stones at the entrance to register.
Each participant received a list of required items for the Four Great Sects and a simple map.
All gains within the Dragonfall Abyss, apart from the mission items, including spirit herbs and spirit ores, were to be handed over. The Four Great Sects would provide a certain compensation in spirit stones.
Essentially, the Four Great Sects were once again fleecing the vast number of rogue cultivators through this assessment mission.
These major sects, possessing abundant resources, had numerous ways to generate income, easily amassing hundreds of thousands of spirit stones.
Before entering the Dragonfall Abyss, everyone had to undergo a spiritual sense check.
To prevent cheating by high-level cultivators, those at the Qi Refining stage and above were not allowed to enter.
Storage magical artifacts were also prohibited, to prevent participants from collecting rare spiritual items and not handing them over.
The Dragonfall Abyss was a secret realm, said to be the place where a black dragon had fallen long ago. The abundant spiritual energy emanating from its remains had nurtured many rare and unique spiritual items.
The spiritual power from a single dragon corpse could sustain an entire secret realm; its power in life was unimaginable.
While queuing to enter the Dragonfall Abyss, Xiao Fei spotted Zhu Yu also squeezed into the crowd.
Zhu Yu was no longer wearing opulent robes, his hair simply tied back, but his facial expression was rather peculiar, twitching intermittently.
Unsure what this flamboyant fellow was up to now, Xiao Fei decided that once inside the Dragonfall Abyss, he would keep as far away from Zhu Yu as possible.
Xiao Fei also saw Lin Xiang and a group of Lin family disciples in the crowd.
Nearly half of the new recruits for the Four Great Sects each time were family disciples.
Xiao Fei and Huang Feifei, following the flow of people, walked through a light portal. A moment of disorientation followed, and when Xiao Fei could see clearly again, he found himself in a swamp.
To his side, about two to three meters away, a large crocodile was eyeing him intently.
Upon seeing the delicious meal that had suddenly descended from the sky, the large crocodile was ecstatic. It truly was a case of pie falling from the heavens.
The crocodile opened its massive maw and, in just a few steps, lunged towards Xiao Fei.
Xiao Fei dared not underestimate it. This crocodile was a first-grade high-rank demonic beast, comparable to the black snake he had slain at Lion Peak Ridge.
Fortunately, Xiao Fei was no longer the person he used to be. He had reached the tenth level of Qi Refining and possessed a high-grade magical artifact.
Instantly, a golden light flashed. The Golden Silk Great Ring Blade flew into the air, and nine golden silk rings hurled towards the crocodile from all directions.
"Wretched beast! Surrender now!"
Following Xiao Fei's shout, the crocodile, not understanding what was happening, found all four of its legs and its mouth bound by the rings, rendering it unable to move.
"Slash!"
Xiao Fei then pointed at the crocodile's neck. The Golden Silk Great Ring Blade descended from the air, decapitating the crocodile in a single strike.
His first kill upon entering the Dragonfall Abyss, a first-grade high-rank demonic beast.
After collecting the crocodile's corpse, he scanned the surroundings with his spiritual sense. Rare spirit herbs often grew in areas frequented by powerful demonic beasts.
Indeed, about five zhang away, by a muddy patch of the swamp, a White Bone Grass was growing.
This spirit herb was precisely one of the mission items required by all Four Great Sects.
This assessment was limited to one month. Each of the Four Great Sects required the submission of 25 types of spiritual items, some of which were common, and some unique.
Xiao Fei dug up the White Bone Grass and temporarily transplanted it into his spatial dimension.
Having completed this, he then surveyed his surroundings. As far as he could see, he was alone.
Beneath his feet was a swamp, and in the distance, a range of high mountains.
He took out the simple map and compared his orientation, confirming he was still in the outer regions of the Dragonfall Abyss.
Xiao Fei put on his human skin mask and changed into a different robe.
He entered his spatial dimension and placed the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles and the two types of poisons made from Black Leaf Datura in easily accessible locations.
He also grabbed a handful of Iron Thorn seeds and put them into his sleeve pocket for quick access.
With all preparations made, he began walking towards the mountains.
This swamp seemed to be the territory of crocodiles. Along the way, he encountered several more crocodiles, none as strong as the first, and he easily slew them.
However, he did not encounter any more White Bone Grass; it seemed there was only one in the entire swamp.
Exiting the swamp, he entered a hilly area. The spiritual energy here was indeed much denser than outside, but spirit herbs were not found everywhere.
Xiao Fei's spiritual sense was fully engaged. He walked until nightfall without finding any trace of spirit herbs or spirit ores.
He could only find a large tree and make do with spending the night there.
The next day, he continued walking towards the mountains. Along the way, he began to encounter other cultivators. Everyone maintained a respectful distance and moved away from each other.
Of course, if a spirit herb was discovered, the situation would be different.
On the second day, Xiao Fei killed two misguided demonic beasts but found nothing else.
On the third day, he engaged in a prolonged struggle with a giant scorpion. He finally succeeded in killing it, though he was left panting and with his spiritual power nearly depleted.
However, it was all worth it. In the scorpion's cave, there were three Purple Ganoderma, one of which had reached fifty years of age.
This fifty-year-old Purple Ganoderma was one of the mission items.
Just as Xiao Fei was about to step forward to harvest the Purple Ganoderma, his expression changed. He immediately rolled to the ground, dodging about a zhang away.
The moment he dodged, a flying sword sliced through the spot where he had just been standing.
"Hahaha, thank you for your hard work, fellow Daoist!"
"Thank you for your assistance, fellow Daoist. Otherwise, this giant scorpion would have been quite difficult to deal with."
Two family cultivators emerged from the cave entrance. They had clearly been hiding nearby, waiting for Xiao Fei to kill the scorpion before swooping in to reap the benefits.
"Now you can die!"
The two family cultivators, one at the tenth level of Qi Refining and the other at the ninth, simultaneously unleashed their flying swords towards Xiao Fei.
Xiao Fei once again unleashed his Golden Silk Great Ring Blade. The blade and the nine rings engaged the two flying swords in mid-air.
However, Xiao Fei's spiritual power was depleted, and his magical artifacts were becoming increasingly weak. Several times, the opponent's flying swords came close to him.
At this critical moment, Xiao Fei retreated to a corner and threw out a disk-shaped item.
As the two family cultivators prepared to block with their flying swords, the disk suddenly exploded, unleashing countless poisonous needles like toothpicks.
Hundreds of poisonous needles shot out from different directions. The two family cultivators, caught off guard, were each pricked by several needles.
One family cultivator pulled a fine needle from his face and threw it on the ground.
"Nothing more than this!"
It couldn't even pierce his skin. He wondered if the piercing power was too weak or if his skin was too thick.
However, the two soon fell silent. The flesh at the points of impact on their bodies rapidly turned black and began to rot, spreading to other areas.
"Ah! Ahhhhh!"
"What poison is this? Hand over the antidote quickly!"
Seeing their flesh rapidly decaying and falling off, the two cried out in terror.
Xiao Fei mustered his last remaining spiritual power and ended the two family cultivators' suffering with two swift strikes.
Having successfully killed them, he collected the corpses of both humans and beasts into his spatial dimension.
He dug out two Purple Ganoderma of considerable age, leaving one seedling unharvested, as a chance for those who came later.
He would submit one and keep the other, which he could plant in his spatial dimension to propagate.
He walked to the cave entrance, scanned the outside with his spiritual sense, found no danger, and quickly left the cave.