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

Chapter 182 The Energy Level of Calamity

Just as Chu Xiu was meditating to recover his magical power, in the battlefield not far away, Qin Xiang looked at the thick layer of ashes covering the entire cavern, and couldn't help but show a look of astonishment in his eyes.

As soon as he stepped in, the ashes covered his entire lower leg.

"With such a thick layer of ash, just how many corrupted creatures must have been killed!"

The ashes in front of us were nearly half a meter high. Even without considering the ashes that had escaped during this period, at least 100,000 people must have been killed in this cave alone.

Not long ago, he suddenly received information that a riot had broken out in the Third Front Passage, with a large number of corrupted creatures launching a surprise attack on the defensive stronghold.

Upon receiving this news, Qin Xiang's heart tightened immediately. He thought that the underground calamity was unwilling to sit idly by and had launched a surprise attack. He immediately led Wang Jie, who was in charge of guarding this battle line, to rush over.

However, upon arrival, they discovered that although the number of corrupted creatures that launched the attack was large, they were all low-level creatures of the mortal and warrior ranks, and were unable to break through the firepower blockade that everyone had already set up.

After leaving behind tens of thousands of corpses, they retreated in a sorry state.

This left Qin Xiang completely bewildered.

What are they doing here? Coming to their deaths?
However, Qin Xiang was naturally not careless and immediately sent out Awakened Ones to conduct reconnaissance.

However, the news he received shocked him: a massive battle had taken place at the next defensive outpost, involving at least 100,000 corrupted creatures! And it also involved a large number of high-ranking ones!
This news left Qin Xiang completely dumbfounded. All the other King-level experts were dutifully guarding their strongholds. Who else besides them had the ability to do that?
Just when he was completely confused about what had happened, he received another piece of news: before the invasion of the corrupted creatures, someone had seen the Night King go deep into the pit alone!
This made Qin Xiang both anxious and angry.

When he talked to Chu Xiu before, he knew that the other party would most likely not act according to his instructions, but he did not expect that he would be so audacious as to venture into the territory of the corrupted creatures alone!
No, you're just a low-level monster, who gave you the courage?

Even though he was a gifted envoy of civilization, he had only been awakened for less than two months, and at most he was only a high-level general.

Such strength would naturally overwhelm the geniuses of the same generation in the outside world, but it is not enough in the dangerous abyss!
"It seems that this child has had too smooth a life since awakening, which has made him arrogant and conceited."

Even at the risk of offending this person, we must find an opportunity to teach him a lesson; otherwise, how can we pass the Old Trials?

Qin Xiang was secretly furious, but he still immediately summoned another king to search for Chu Xiu's whereabouts.

After all, they were messengers of civilization; if they were to die like this, it would be a huge loss to humanity.

"So it should have been done long ago, and this boy's talent along with the [Proof of the Past] should have been stripped away."

Beside Qin Xiang, Mu Wu said with a cold smile.

"Although that guy is cautious enough, if the four of us King-level beings join forces, I don't believe he can react in time to a surprise attack!"

Qin Xiang remained silent and continued on his way, though he was secretly somewhat tempted.

Although he strongly opposed this method, the Old Trials were related to the development of human civilization, and he did not want any accidents to happen.

However, when the two arrived at the second defensive stronghold, which was also where Chu Xiu was fighting, they were both stunned.

What happened here?

Mu Wu swept away the ashes in front of him, revealing the uneven rock beneath, which had cooled but still showed signs of melting. His face showed an uncontrollable look of shock.

He quickly estimated that at least 100,000 corrupted creatures had died in this place!

"Even if all 100,000 corrupted creatures were of the mortal rank, it wouldn't be something an ordinary general-ranked person could kill in a short time, right? Moreover, according to the report, the interval between the departure of the Dark Night King and the attack by the corrupted creatures was no more than half an hour!"

This made Mu Wu frown deeply.

Qin Xiang, however, said seriously, "No, the corrupted creatures here are definitely not just low-level! Look at this!"

Mu Wu followed Qin Xiang's finger and saw a large tunnel boring machine stuck in the rocks, completely damaged.

At this moment, the blade of this enormous thing was covered with dense scratches, each one more than ten centimeters deep!

Mu Wu's eyes once again showed an uncontrollable look of shock: "This kind of energy output is definitely at the high-level general rank! Or even the king rank!"

"Could it be that the Dark Night King has already mastered the combat power of a King-level being? But how is that possible?!"

His face was full of disbelief.

Even the disciples most valued by the Heavenly Kings, with the Heavenly Kings' resources invested, usually take about half a year to acquire the combat power of a King. And the Civilization Envoys who have participated in the challenge in previous years have prepared for at least a full year before they go to participate in the Old Trials!
Qin Xiang also looked completely bewildered.

To be honest, when he heard Xue Li and others report that the Dark Night King had an extremely powerful ghost legion with overall strength comparable to that of a general, he was not too shocked.

After all, the Dark Night King's strength in the battle against the Corpse King was already astonishing enough, and he later exchanged for so many Karma Points, so it's not surprising that his strength experienced a rapid increase.

But it should end here.

Once the resources are exhausted, shouldn't the rate at which their strength increases stop?

But what's going on now? Why isn't it slowing down at all, but instead speeding up?

Could it be that this guy, having only been awakened for two months, is already qualified to participate in the Heroic Spirit Ranking?

This is almost unique in the entire history of awakened beings in China! Only a few princes and their descendants, with abundant resources, can be compared to it!

This left both kings looking completely bewildered.

"It must have been done using some special method, such as a powerful one-time use item, or some kind of special trap formation," Mu Wu affirmed.

Qin Xiang nodded as well. Neither of them could explain how someone could reach the King rank within two months; it was simply beyond the realm of common sense.

If they knew that the damage to the tunnel boring machine was merely the aftershock of the Judgment Demon Blade, I wonder how interesting their expressions would be.

This strike was merely an ordinary Judgment Demon Blade, not even the True Demon Blade with doubled power.
Just as the two kings were in shock, more news arrived.

Chu Xiu, who had been missing for a long time, reappeared in the camp.
Three days later, inside the Awakened Camp.

Chu Xiu looked at Qin Xiang, who seemed hesitant to speak, and said with a smile, "Senior Qin, why did you call me here? If you have anything to say, please speak."

Qin Xiang let out a soft breath and asked seriously, "Student Chen, there's something I need to ask you. Was the incident that happened on the third attack route related to you?"

“That’s right,” Chu Xiu readily admitted. “At the time, I wanted to explore further and find some opportunities. I happened to encounter an ambush by corrupted creatures, so I killed them all.”

"I just didn't expect these guys to be so hot-tempered, and to have chased after us all the way here."

Looking at Chu Xiu's nonchalant expression, Qin Xiang couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

That's as if you casually slaughtered a few corrupted creatures, but you actually killed so many that you filled a 5,000-square-meter cavern!
Three days ago, after learning that Chu Xiu had returned to the camp, Qin Xiang was full of doubts, but he did not go to find him immediately because there was still a battle line that needed his command to stabilize it.

Therefore, after sending people to investigate, they launched a general attack on the deep pit according to the original plan, putting Chu Xiu's matter aside.

Although he didn't personally investigate, Qin Xiang's men were all elites, and they were able to reconstruct the battle situation with a high degree of accuracy.

It is likely that Chu Xiu used the defensive facilities of the second defensive stronghold to set up corresponding formations and traps, and used [Contaminants] to lure out the Calamity troops, annihilating them in one fell swoop.

It's unclear how many high-level combatants the other side deployed, but even if they were all low-level, it's still astonishing.

It must be admitted that this was an extremely bold move, which caused Qin Xiang to change his opinion of Chu Xiu once again.

Perhaps, this child's rapid growth is not solely due to his exceptional talent.
Without dwelling on it any longer, Qin Xiang got down to business: "I heard from my men that you've been inquiring about the situation at the front lines lately?" "Yes," Chu Xiu nodded.

Three days of cultivation had completely replenished his depleted Golden Embryo Essence and magical power, allowing him to act again.

Qin Xiang said, "The information you've heard is probably somewhat inaccurate. Since you want to know, I'll tell you myself."

Next, Qin Xiang briefly recounted what had happened in the past three days.

As Chu Xiu had anticipated, there was not much fierce resistance on any of the three fronts.

After all, he wiped out all the high-level combatants in one fell swoop, and Calamity isn't stupid, so naturally it won't take the hit head-on.

Conversely, Calamity adopted a strategy of attrition.

In short, the strategy was to continuously send out small groups of troops to attack, depleting the Allied forces' artillery reserves at minimal cost.

The Allied forces quickly realized their mistake and began to engage the enemy more often with Awakened Ones, only resorting to artillery when they encountered large forces.

Under these circumstances, although the allied forces were advancing steadily, the pace was not fast. It took them three whole days to reach the vicinity of the deep pit.

Only then did everyone realize that a large part of the mountain near the pit had been dug through. If everyone had acted a week or two later, the disaster would have been able to escape.

The Calamity, whose plans were disrupted, retreated with all its elite forces back to the bottom of the pit, only sending low-level corrupted creatures to harass them.

"Currently, there are only small-scale, low-intensity battles on the front lines, which can be considered a stalemate."

"In order not to waste shells, we did not rush to attack the bottom of the pit, but ordered to build defensive fortifications on the spot and expand the stronghold area."

After listening to Qin Xiang's words, Chu Xiu nodded thoughtfully.

The calamities were all within his expectations.

Moreover, because he had killed most of the high-ranking beings, even though the allied forces had eliminated a large number of corrupted creatures during the three-day battle, the resources they obtained were not satisfactory. Even if all of them were added together, they would only have a little more than Chu Xiu, and each person would receive a pitiful amount.

This made him realize once again that his actions were correct; if he had participated in the final battle step by step, the resources of the colonel and other high-level creatures would have gone to others.

“However, if I want to continue eating meat, it will be a bit troublesome.” Chu Xiu stroked his chin.

The bottom of the pit is the domain of calamity, and there is currently too little information; no one knows what they will encounter down there.

In the worst-case scenario, we might even have to face the calamity itself!

Chu Xiu was not arrogant enough to think that killing the colonel would render the Calamity helpless. When he first came into contact with the Calamity, he sensed several terrifying auras. There must still be powerful creatures at the bottom of the pit, but perhaps, like the Calamity, they were unable to leave due to certain restrictions.

Furthermore, Chu Xiu felt that the Calamity might be deliberately feigning weakness, and it might actually be able to turn one or two human awakened individuals against their will, just as it claimed. In other words, he still had to be wary of others.
"So, what are the government's current plans?" Chu Xiu asked.

Qin Xiang didn't speak, but instead pushed a small media player in front of Chu Xiu.

"These are the images we initially obtained from our reconnaissance."

Chu Xiu looked down at the monitor, which was completely dark and he couldn't see anything. Suddenly, a faint light appeared, briefly illuminating the surrounding environment. There were only a few blurry images: steel buildings, some of which were covered with dark red vines that looked like veins.

A few seconds later, the screen suddenly shook violently, as if the recording device had been attacked, and then the screen went black.

"We have very little information at the moment, but we can roughly determine that there is a huge and complete military base at the bottom of that deep pit!"

"Its area alone is at least thirty square kilometers, and it most likely has a complex underground structure!"

"Furthermore, this military base has complete defensive facilities, including anti-aircraft guns, automatic cannons, minefields, and so on. Although these modern technologies may not seem cutting-edge to us, they possess special power after being corrupted."

"Working with those corrupted creatures that aren't directly confronting us will make the exploration extremely dangerous!"

"What's even more troublesome is that, according to the latest intelligence, the bottom of the pit is more than 13,000 meters away from our stronghold, making it very difficult to deliver fire support!"

Qin Xiang's words made Chu Xiu frown as well.

In this situation, even for him, venturing in rashly would be very risky.

"Therefore, I hope you can give up this exploration. There are many opportunities in the Corpse Demon World, and this one is not an exception. Let the high-level Awakened ones handle this matter," Qin Xiang advised.

In response, Chu Xiu simply smiled and said, "Senior Qin, I believe that the government's elites would not have only collected this much information, nor would they have only made this much preparation."

"You just need to inform me of the government's arrangements, and I will assess the pros and cons."

Seeing that Chu Xiu was not frightened at all, Qin Xiang sighed and said with a wry smile, "You really don't listen to advice. Fine, I'm too lazy to care. You can see for yourself."

After saying that, Qin Xiang showed Chu Xiu a strange chart: "This is the energy density of the calamity that we monitored using special tools."

"Currently, its energy level is between [King Rank] and [Heroic Spirit]. Considering the energy utilization efficiency of the Calamity, its combat strength can be roughly judged to be between high-level King Rank and top-level King Rank."

"Optimistically speaking, an average-level King-rank Awakened could fight against it, while conservatively speaking, it might take two or three people working together to drive it away."

"Furthermore, since we are unaware of the special abilities the other side may possess, this adds many unexpected variables to the battle."

"At the same time, there are at least three to six King-level combatants lurking in the base."

"Our plan is to first use firepower to target and eliminate the defensive facilities of the underground military base, while simultaneously reducing the density of corrupted organisms to the greatest extent possible."

"Next, four king-level elite teams will lead the first exploration team to go deeper into the calamity. Their goal is not to eliminate the calamity, but to gather as much intelligence as possible."

"Once we have established a firm foothold, we can then allow other teams to enter."

"Originally, to be on the safe side, we did not intend to let anyone other than the King-level team go deep into the area. However, this is an opportunity after all, and we have no right to stop it. Therefore, we will allow others to form their own teams and sign up freely."

"So, after hearing this, are you still planning to go down?"

Chu Xiu did not answer, but a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.

In other words, the worst-case scenario is that there is one top-tier King-level player below, along with six ordinary King-level players?

Seeing that he showed no fear whatsoever, but instead began to think seriously, Qin Xiang couldn't help but ask, "Tell me honestly, do you already have the strength of a King?"

Chu Xiu smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

Qin Xiang sighed softly: "I had already made up my mind to stop you from entering the pit no matter what. After all, as an envoy of civilization, you are not only related to yourself, but also to the future development of humankind."

“But your talent has indeed far exceeded my expectations. I don’t want to limit an extraordinary genius like you with the thinking of ordinary people. Just do what you think is right.”

"However, if you insist on entering the deep pit, I have one condition."

"What are the conditions?" Chu Xiu asked.

"That is, you need to bring at least three teammates and treat this operation as a rehearsal for the old trial."

(End of this chapter)