An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 125 The Labyrinth of Flesh and Blood

Fifteen minutes ago, at the central tower.

Because Chu Xiu had killed all three major groups in advance, only the corpse demons, who were directly connected to the Corpse King through blood vessels, were left walking around inside the tower.

Thanks to this, the Awakened Ones were able to gather together safely without much effort.

They stood about fifty stories high, gazing up at the enormous labyrinth of flesh and blood before them.

For some reason, after they entered, the mutated flesh at the center changed. Its originally huge size began to shrink, and even the scattered tumors were absorbed and fused together. Although the size became much smaller, it was replaced by a more solid flesh wall.

These fleshy walls, like solid brick walls, together form a vast labyrinth encompassing an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of cubic meters.

Ye Junlin flapped the wings of the Steel Witch, circled the central tower once, and then returned to the gathering point with a somewhat solemn expression.

"Something's not right."

"This flesh and blood enveloped the outer perimeter. I made a few openings and found that a large number of ghouls belonging to the Night King were trapped inside, as well as many ghouls controlled by the Corpse King. The Night King himself was nowhere to be found."

Many people witnessed the scene where the Dark Night King slaughtered three Dark Gold Corpses, but then the Blood Moon descended and forcibly took the Dark Night King away, leaving all the Awakened Ones bewildered.

Is this because they were afraid that if the Dark Lord continued to fight, he would be wiped out by the Corpse King, so the Abyss forcibly took him away?

No one knew exactly what had happened, and could only speculate.

"In any case, the biggest problem we are facing now is that after the Night King disappeared, the ghouls under his command became extremely frenzied and will attack us whenever we encounter them. In other words, these ghouls that were originally helping us have now become the guardians of the flesh labyrinth."

Ye Junlin's words made the expressions of all the Awakened Ones present turn serious.

As things stand, there are only two ways to clear the border.

One approach was to start the attack from the very bottom, slowly dismantling the entire flesh and blood maze step by step.

This is a safe approach, but the group cannot guarantee sufficient damage output. After all, none of them possess the terrifying damage output of the Dark Night King. If the situation drags on until the Blood Sea engulfs them, things will be disastrous.

The second method is to team up and venture deep into the maze to directly target the location of the Corpse King's core.

Just as Ye Junlin was conducting his exploration, several analysts and staff members also took the opportunity to conduct a preliminary study of this flesh and blood labyrinth.

They discovered that although the flesh had been "hardened" in some way, greatly improving its defense, it also prevented it from contracting freely.

In other words, if you enter the maze, you don't need to worry about being divided and defeated by the Corpse King by altering the terrain, because as it stands, even the Corpse King is unlikely to have the ability to continue changing the maze.

In other words, once the structure of the maze is clearly understood, it is possible to concentrate forces and strike directly into the heart of the Corpse King, attacking its weakest point!

"After discussion among our analysis team, the recommended approach is still to adopt a scorched-earth policy and gradually clarify the path forward."

"Although these walls have been hardened, we now have nearly a hundred warriors and a large amount of modern firepower. The probability of taking down the Corpse King within an hour is very high!"

"But if we rashly venture into the maze, it's uncertain whether we can find the core of the Corpse King. If we cause casualties and the Corpse King unseals his power, that would be terrible."

The analyst's advice was reasonable, but he overlooked a crucial issue, or rather, he didn't overlook it but pretended to ignore it because he couldn't solve it.

That is, the contribution points accumulated by slowly destroying the flesh and blood walls are very slow. At this time, as long as someone dares to enter the maze, it is very easy to directly increase the contribution points.

Slaying a single ghoul under the Corpse King's command might yield more contribution points than diligently dismantling walls for half an hour!
In this situation, their opinions are actually insignificant.

“Miss, I suggest we follow the analyst’s advice,” the Lin family’s advisor continued, “Even if we can’t compare to Ye Junlin, with the equipment and props you’ve prepared at home, getting into the top three shouldn’t be a problem.”

However, Lin Wanyue merely glanced at him sideways and asked, "Are you scared?"

This left the latter feeling extremely helpless.

In fact, Lin Wanyue was quite patient at first. It wasn't her and Ye Junlin who were the first to get restless, but rather the smaller teams that weren't strong enough.

For them, simply comparing damage output step by step would definitely not get them into the top 30, so they might as well go into the maze and take a gamble.

Anchor points can easily cost hundreds of millions, making it worth the gamble!
With them taking the lead, the larger forces couldn't sit still any longer. If the anchor point were to be seized by a force far weaker than themselves because of this, all their previous investments would be wasted.

In the end, Lin Wanyue and Ye Junlin were forced to enter the maze.

Fortunately, the awakened ones still retained their rationality. They rationally planned their respective routes and communication methods for seeking help from each other. Many forces also teamed up to explore, ensuring that the Corpse King would not have the opportunity to defeat them one by one, and minimizing the possibility of casualties.

Amidst this bizarre situation of mutual cooperation and open and covert struggle, the group gradually entered the labyrinth of flesh and blood.

When Zhang Qingshan arrived at the central tower with a group of support classes fifteen minutes later, only a few Awakened Ones who were unwilling to take risks and a few analysts remained.

Upon seeing that Zhang Qingshan had brought back almost all the support classes, the chief analyst stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

Of the nearly one thousand awakened individuals who entered the abyss this time, one-fifth were support classes, which is a total of two hundred people.

Those who went with Zhang Qingshan numbered no more than thirty at most.

"How did you do that?" the analyst exclaimed in astonishment.

"This is thanks to a masked mechanic friend (A)."

"She recently passed the Warrior rank and created a device called the 'Escape Balloon,' which can generate tremendous lift in a short time to help the wearer soar into the sky and escape danger."

"Originally, she only used it as a last resort, but in the end we used it to modify a huge air balloon, and together with my green dragon and four flying summons, we transported more than a hundred people at once, which barely allowed us to send everyone over."

Zhang Qingshan's words drew admiration from the chief analyst.

Although it is theoretically feasible, there are many difficulties in actual implementation. For example, a group of support professions have to take advantage of the few minutes that Zhang Qingshan and his group have to arrive to set up the framework of the air balloon. Another problem is that the air balloon is also difficult to control; it is not possible to fly to the designated target simply by having energy.

Moreover, Zhang Qingshan was unaware that a mechanic would be helping them before the operation began.

"It's too risky. If we fail, you might get trapped."

Zhang Qingshan smiled and said, "At the time, I was just thinking about saving as many people as I could. I didn't expect that a mechanic and her team would be willing to come with us. It seems that there are still more kind people in this world."

The chief analyst didn't say anything more, but said with some regret, "Then you guys need to speed things up, or the anchor points will all be snatched away."

Fifteen minutes is a long time for an awakened being.

The analyst then quickly explained the situation to him.

However, after listening, Zhang Qingshan immediately realized a serious problem. "I can't leave."

"If I leave with the high-level awakened ones, then the support classes here will be left unprotected. If I were the Corpse King, I would definitely leave the maze and launch a surprise attack. I would never miss such a good opportunity."

"It seems the task of clearing the labyrinth of flesh and blood can only be left to us," Zhang Qingshan sighed.

Upon hearing this, the analyst's eyes showed even greater admiration. He said nothing more and began to assign suitable jobs to the awakened individuals present.

For those who lack power, they cannot make decisions that change the situation; all they can do is try their best to fulfill their responsibilities.

Soon, the group began to destroy the flesh labyrinth from the entrance. Since the ghouls near the entrances had already been cleared by the awakened ones who had entered earlier, the initial progress was very fast.

But the worry in Zhang Qingshan's large eyes grew even heavier.

"Although the Corpse King is currently in a weakened state, theoretically, even if we risk entering the Flesh and Blood Labyrinth, we still have a high probability of success."

"But you seem to have overlooked a very crucial issue."

After a pause, Zhang Qingshan solemnly uttered two words: "The Ultimate Path".

“I didn’t,” the analyst sighed, “but no matter how much I try to persuade him, the outcome won’t change.”

He looked up at the enormous maze above him and murmured, "Now, all I can hope is that those lunatics haven't gone that far."

Zhang Qingshan frowned deeply, and after a long while, he looked up, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"I won't entrust my fate to a madman."

As soon as he finished speaking, he strode toward the entrance without hesitation. Almost without any verbal communication, his team members automatically split into two groups: one group stayed behind to protect the support classes, while the other group went into the flesh and blood labyrinth with Zhang Qingshan.

At the same moment, the scenery around Chu Xiu began to shatter.

Not long after the end of his second battle, he returned to the ancient arena.

Four statues of gods stood silently before him.

This time, however, all four gods shone with a faint glow, a stark contrast to the desolation he had witnessed upon his arrival.

Three orbs of blue light shot out from the boundless blood pool and merged into Chu Xiu's body.

[Item Obtained: 4000 Causality Points]

[Item Obtained: Warrior-Rank Perfect Treasure Vault Selection Scroll *1]

[Item Obtained: Ancient Blood *3]

After inspecting his haul, Chu Xiu couldn't help but marvel at the Blood Pool's generosity once again.

Not only did they give me 4,000 karma points, but the remaining two items were also extremely valuable.

The Optional Scroll allows you to freely choose a perfect-quality Warrior-rank equipment or item from the treasure vault of the Boundless Blood Pool. As for Ancient Blood, it is the universal currency in this bloody arena, which can be used to trade or directly exchange for equipment, items, blessings, or anything else you want from the Boundless Blood Pool.

"However, I can only use these things after I become a formal gladiator."

"But I'm still a bit short of being able to cultivate the third level of Demonic Qi Infusion."

As the ultimate inheritance of the warrior class, the karmic points required to reach perfection are too many. He cleared out the three major clans and obtained more than 10,000 points. He also received the Blood Pool reward in succession, but he is still short of three or four thousand!

"A skill that requires so many causal points to unlock must be extremely powerful. I wonder if I can collect enough causal points."

Just as Chu Xiu was pondering this, a blood infant, even taller and nearly two hundred meters tall, walked over.

This blood infant seemed different from the ordinary ones. It wore a wide robe and knelt down in front of the four statues as soon as it entered, its head slightly tilted, as if it were listening carefully to something.

"What are they doing?" Chu Xiu whispered.

“They must be listening to the will of the gods,” the tongue replied. “Blood servants are high-ranking blood infants and are also in charge of the arena, so when the four gods need to engage in a special competition, blood servants will appear.”

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiu understood; the four gods were up to something.

Not long after, the Blood Servant turned around and whispered something strange to him.

Chu Xiu understood its meaning. It was telling Chu Xiu to follow it. The Boundless Blood Pool had prepared a special trial for him, which would be held in three days. It was telling him to rest and recover first.

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiu immediately became anxious: "Tongue, quickly tell him I have something to do and need to go back. Ask him if there is a way to return temporarily, or arrange a third opponent for me immediately."

The tongue took over Chu Xiu's tongue and rattled off a whole bunch of words.

Chu Xiu could feel that his tongue had thoughtfully added many honorifics to his original words.

After hearing this, the Blood Servant was stunned for a moment, and then immediately went to communicate with the four gods.

And this time, it returned very quickly.

"The gods are pleased with your request, and they are eager to see your contest as soon as possible."

"But there are no suitable fighters at the moment, so if you want to start the match immediately, you will be fighting against a professional gladiator."

Chu Xiu's expression became slightly more serious. Every formal gladiator was a trump card carefully cultivated by the gods. Even if they were of the same warrior rank, they were definitely far superior to the opponents he had encountered before, and at least much stronger than the rock trolls.

"Of course, the gods know how difficult this challenge is. As compensation, if you win, you will receive a higher level of blessing."

Blood Servant added.

Hearing this, Chu Xiu no longer hesitated and nodded, saying, "I agree."

As his words fell, the surrounding scenery began to change again. Chu Xiu felt a sense of weightlessness, and when his feet touched the ground, he was standing on a plain.

The strong smell of blood filled Chu Xiu's nostrils. He looked up and saw that there were human corpses everywhere. Some of them had been disemboweled, and others had their limbs torn apart. Almost everyone had a look of terror on their face, as if they had encountered something extremely horrific before they died.

Not far in front of him, there was a high mound of corpses, and at the highest point of the mound, a dark figure stood silently, staring at Chu Xiu expressionlessly.

(End of this chapter)