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

Chapter 159 Disaster
Under Chu Xiu's perception, the soul of the vengeful spirit transformed from the Blood Angel was expanding at a visible speed, becoming more solid and firm.

Unfortunately, after reaching a certain limit, no matter how many more souls it devours, its body will no longer grow, just like an athlete who has trained his muscles to the limit.

"It's still just one step short."

Chu Xiu shook his head with a hint of regret.

This is normal, though. If a ghost general could be born from just ten thousand ordinary souls, then the demonic cultivators would have already unified the world.

Moreover, he could sense that the inability to advance to the Ghost General level was not solely due to the Blood Angel transforming into a vengeful ghost.

At the crucial moment of advancement, the vengeful ghost's true form had reached its limit, making it extremely difficult to break through on its own. Therefore, the vengeful ghost began to absorb the power of other vengeful ghosts.

However, it absorbed too little power, not enough to allow it to advance.

Chu Xiu understood something.

"Ghost general, ghost general, what general are you talking about if you have no soldiers?"

"It is extremely difficult to raise a ghost from scratch to the level of a ghost general. Let alone ten thousand living souls, even one hundred thousand or a million might not be enough!"

"The true power of the Blood Fiend Soul Banner lies in its ability to gather the power of all the ghosts within the banner to help one of them break through! That is its secret! Otherwise, if it merely contains ghosts, it would be no different from any ordinary demonic inheritance."

"The overall elite level of my ghosts, especially the average level of the fierce ghosts, is not high enough, so I cannot create a ghost general."

After figuring out the key points and gaining new insights, Chu Xiu felt much less disappointed.

Having a hundred vengeful spirits has already greatly increased his strength. Next, he only needs to kill abyssal creatures to the extreme and refine their souls and flesh to slowly level up.

Chu Xiu didn't think any further, put away the Soul-Slaying Banner, and urged the four-winged monster bird to slowly descend.

Below, the other awakened individuals were discussing something with serious expressions.

Seeing Chu Xiu come down, everyone thanked him again.

However, Chu Xiu keenly noticed that Xue Li and Liu Feng seemed to harbor a subtle dissatisfaction towards him.

They probably felt that he appeared too late, causing them to lose many life-saving items for nothing, but neither of them was foolish enough to show it.

Chu Xiu didn't pursue the matter further, but simply said, "No need for thanks. Do you all still remember the promised rewards?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions on everyone's faces immediately turned strange. They looked at each other, but no one spoke first.

After a long pause, the leader of the Fang Squad gritted his teeth and reluctantly threw out a large ball of blue light: "There are 6,000 karma points here. That's all our squad has. 5,000 of them were just obtained. We hope you can be lenient with us for a while. We'll pay you back the remaining 4,000 karma points after we brothers have earned enough."

"If you can't wait, we can use our items and equipment to pay off the debt."

It was clear that all five members of the Fang Squad were quite reluctant to part with them, but since their captain had spoken, they had no objections.

Chu Xiu glanced at the burly man leading the group with some surprise; he hadn't expected them to be so trustworthy.

If you really want to shirk responsibility, there are many excuses, such as the fact that cause-effect points cannot be traded.

His name seems to be Zhao Yinwu. His professional talent is not apparent, but he should be an A-rank melee fighter, which is quite a good combat force. When combined with the other members of the team, he can be equivalent to a high-ranking general.

Chu Xiu didn't make things difficult for them, and simply said, "Give it to me when you've finished using it."

For him, equipping items is useless; he only lacks causal points.

Then Chu Xiu turned to Liu Feng: "You promised a [Legendary] piece of equipment before, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Feng's face turned even uglier, and it took him a long time to reluctantly nod.

But then he added, "However, I don't carry this with me. If you want it, Chen, just come to the Third Research Institute to find me."

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiu frowned, knowing that the other party was reluctant to part with it and was starting to make excuses. If there really was a [Legendary] equipment, how could he not keep it in his storage space?

He was too lazy to argue, and simply said, "Then let's exchange it for Causality Points and other equipment."

However, Liu Feng still shook his head: "Causal points are prohibited from being traded. Although no one in the abyss will care, I don't want to leave any evidence against me."

"Besides, since we agreed that it was [Legendary] equipment, there's no reason for us to exchange it for anything else, is there?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone knew that this old fox was planning to renege on his debt.

Before Chu Xiu could speak again, the old man who was in charge of protecting Xue Li spoke up: "To be fair, we were able to escape this time entirely thanks to my young master's life-saving item. Although we are grateful to you for saving us, Chen, you were just observing from afar and only came out to add to the glory after the situation was settled. It is unreasonable for you to want the same repayment as before."

Xue Li had previously promised a substantial reward, and now that the old man had stepped forward, it was clear he was there to support Liu Feng.

"So—" Chu Xiu's eyes narrowed dangerously, "you're trying to renege on your debt?"

“We will naturally not go back on our promise, but as I said before, Chen, you did not act immediately, causing my young master to waste a life-saving item. Shouldn’t we settle this score?” The old man glared back without fear.

Although he was trapped by the corrupted awakened ones, he was aware of the situation on the other side.

In his view, Chu Xiu's actions were nothing short of opportunistic. Now that he was out of trouble, he naturally wouldn't give away so many benefits for nothing.

He wasn't afraid of Chu Xiu turning against him.

While Chu Xiu's ghost army amazed him, the summoning profession was more suited to large-scale legion battles and posed no threat to a powerful individual like him.

As a summoner class, the fact that the physical body is relatively weak is almost an ironclad rule.

As a martial artist (A) with exceptional one-on-one combat skills, the old man was confident that if Chu Xiu launched an attack, he could easily bypass the ghost army and directly target Chu Xiu's main body in the first instance!
This absolute confidence stemmed from the combat skills he had honed over decades.

As for worrying that Chu Xiu will grow stronger and seek revenge in the future, that's just needless worry. Putting aside the fact that it's perfectly normal for a genius to fall into the abyss, even if the other party does become a strong person in the future, we can just soften our stance and pay more compensation then.

Therefore, the old man showed no sign of backing down.

Seeing the situation suddenly become tense, Su Jinyu, who hadn't spoken until now, hurriedly stepped between the two and waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "Wait a minute! We can talk about repaying them later. There are more important things to do right now!"

"Crow, quickly show Chen the footage you scouted!"

Su Jinyu's anxious voice made Chu Xiu slowly turn his gaze away from the old man, who then let out a smug hum, a faint smile of a victor on his lips. Liu Feng also breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing completely. Chu Xiu ignored the two and looked at the crow. At this moment, he drew circles in the air with his hands, and as the ancient incantation sounded, an image appeared on the ground beneath their feet.

The scene appears to be from the perspective of a spirit raven in his hand, which is currently flying in a wide space. As far as the eye can see, there are gray and black jagged rocks everywhere. Chu Xiu quickly recognizes that this place is the huge pit!

As the scene shifted, Chu Xiu gasped as if he had seen something that shocked him greatly.

Within the massive pit, all the subterranean humans had awakened. As if receiving some kind of command, they gathered at the top of the pit, frantically digging at the surrounding rocks!
The gravel fell like raindrops, and there were muffled rumbling sounds from all directions. But the horror didn't end there. From the bottom of the pit, a large number of well-trained corrupted soldiers that Chu Xiu had seen before climbed up. They were so numerous that they were impossible to count. There were nearly a hundred powerful fusion mechs alone!
Even more corrupt soldiers have been incorporated into tanks and even fighter jets!

What shocked Chu Xiu the most was a giant engineering machine that was tens of meters tall and weighed over a thousand tons!
This is a tunnel boring machine (TBM) specifically designed for drilling tunnels. TBMs used for excavating tunnels are already huge enough, but this one seems to be a specially customized piece of equipment for the military, and it's even bigger! It's like a small building laid on its side.

At this moment, hundreds of corrupted creatures of the warrior rank and above had merged with it, causing this enormous machine to be suspended from the edge of the deep pit by its countless tentacles! The huge cutting disc at the top rotated at high speed, making a teeth-grinding friction sound as it came into contact with the hard rock, and thousands of kilograms of rock were destroyed every second!

"What...what is going on?"

A look of shock flashed in Chu Xiu's eyes.

Su Jinyu said solemnly, "They are destroying the mountain under the guidance of some will."

"If I'm not mistaken, the being at the bottom of the pit is determined to carve through the massive mountain and completely break its seal!"

Su Jinyu's words made Chu Xiu look incredulous.

To dig through the entire mountain?

Chu Xiu looked up at the location of the deep pit, which was a huge mountain peak with a height of nearly two thousand meters. In front of such a behemoth, even human technology seemed extremely small. Not to mention ordinary excavation machines, even a nuclear bomb would not be able to completely destroy it in a short time!

However, considering the terrifying number of underground inhabitants and their bizarre talents, Chu Xiu felt that it might not be impossible.

"And once that terrifying being is freed, its power will be completely unrestricted, and its subterranean races will multiply at an extremely terrifying rate, potentially even turning into a world-destroying catastrophe!"

"Is it really that exaggerated?" Chu Xiu clicked his tongue in surprise.

“Yes!” Su Jinyu nodded very seriously. “There are many similar examples in human exploration over the past few decades.”

"For example, in the 571st world, codenamed 'Shadow of the Night,' the first batch of trial participants successfully passed the trial and established a stronghold and a complete communication chain over the next five years, thereby attracting a large number of high-level awakened individuals to join, including five king-level individuals! It can be said that they have completely established themselves."

"But because an awakened squad accidentally released an ancient being during their exploration, a massive calamity quickly formed, ultimately leading to the destruction of the stronghold and the entire world sinking back into the abyss!"

"This means that all [anchor points] will become invalid, and humanity will completely lose this world."

"There are many similar examples, such as the 'Insect Swarm Invasion' world, the 'Mechanical Riot' world, and the 'Ice King' world, all of which were taken from Huaxia's control because of this."

"Based on my initial assessment, if we cannot stop the calamity in its early stages, the power existing underground will spread rapidly until even awakened Heroic Spirits cannot reverse it. At that point, humanity will have no choice but to completely abandon this world."

Su Jinyu's words made everyone's expressions serious, and Chu Xiu also frowned slightly.

Although he thought the other party was exaggerating, upon further reflection, it seemed quite possible.

Putting aside the mysterious existence underground, the sheer reproductive capacity of corrupting humans is terrifying enough. Underground, they can maintain such a huge population just by eating stones. Once they reach the surface, where there are plenty of readily available food sources with higher energy efficiency, what will happen?

However, a thought suddenly popped into Chu Xiu's mind: the increase in these underground creatures might not be a bad thing. On the other hand, wouldn't it mean that he would have a continuous source of experience and causal points?
He shared his thoughts, and everyone immediately looked at him with surprise, as if they hadn't expected him to have such thoughts at a time like this.

Unfortunately, Su Jinyu quickly shattered his idea: "Of course that won't work. Abyssal power can help abyssal creatures grow quickly, but it is not the only factor in their growth."

"The essence of the power of the abyss is the acceleration of time and causality. The point of cause and effect is just like that. The experience we gain by killing monsters and leveling up is also a concrete manifestation of the absorption of the power of the abyss."

"As for worlds that have not been swallowed by the abyss, the total amount of abyssal power is fixed. This means that these abyssal creatures can continue to grow by devouring living things, but no matter how high their level increases, the experience and causal points we gain from killing them will not change in the slightest."

"If that weren't the case, wouldn't we have been breeding and raising abyssal creatures on a large scale long ago?"

Su Jinyu's words made Chu Xiu realize why his experience gain was not as much as he had expected despite killing so many abyssal creatures. He was still not even halfway to level 4.

Therefore, the manipulation of letting the calamity grow until it is fattened up before killing it is not possible. For him, the optimal solution is to consume this batch of experience as soon as possible.

“But it’s simply impossible for us to do that with our strength,” said Zhao Yinwu, the leader of the Fang Squad.

“That’s right,” Liu Feng nodded. “We don’t have any classes like the Mechanic or the Destruction Mage that can perform large-scale damage skills. Given the size of that pit and the terrifying number of underground inhabitants, even if you threw a nuclear bomb in, it would most likely not be able to wipe them all out, let alone us.”

“So we need to proceed in three steps,” Su Jinyu calmly stated her plan.

"First, immediately send people back to the base for reinforcements. Second, those who remain should constantly monitor the condition of the mountain and try to slow down the rate at which it destroys the mountain, delaying the situation as much as possible. Finally, send people to find the nearby pollutants and recover them all."

"Recover [pollutants]?"

"Yes, just as I said, the power of the abyss can help them grow quickly, and the [contaminants] contain a large amount of abyssal power, but we awakened ones cannot use it directly."

"But the underground calamity can definitely be used. A single [contaminant] could easily cultivate hundreds of thousands of underground residents. If I'm not mistaken, the reason those corrupted awakened ones didn't engage in actual combat with us before was probably to conserve manpower to search for nearby [contaminants]."

Su Jinyu's calm analysis made Chu Xiu take another look at the girl; he hadn't expected this himself.

It wasn't that Chu Xiu was stupid, but rather that a lack of key knowledge prevented him from noticing this.

However, even though Su Jinyu's plan was very reasonable, it was still rejected.

“I’m sorry, my young master and I don’t want to take this risk.” The old man said calmly, “At present, this place is too risky and is no longer suitable for your training.”

Liu Feng nodded: "That's what I think too. I won't risk my life for this little opportunity."

Clearly, the scene of being besieged by corrupted humans had left him with a great psychological trauma.

Chu Xiu thought to himself, no wonder these people wanted to cheat him out of his payment; it turned out they had already planned to run away.

The members of the Fang Squad hesitated.

For upper-class individuals like Xue Li, it's perfectly normal to decisively switch to another world if the opportunities in one place aren't right; it's just a matter of a hundred or two hundred million Chinese yuan.

What does it matter to them whether the world is swallowed up or not?

However, for ordinary working people, the price of a single [anchor point] is most of their savings! The Fang Squad originally hoped to make a fortune in the Shiki world, so how could they bear to give it up now?

(End of this chapter)