Antique Shop Zero: Disfigured School Beauty Becomes a Succubus to Pay Off Debts

Chapter 393 The Great Abyss Returns to Ruins

The great ravine has returned to its ruins.

There is neither sky nor earth here.

The black water beneath our feet was like a mirror, reflecting no image.

The abyss above swallowed the light, its end nowhere in sight.

In the distance, several translucent black figures were crawling along, dazed and confused, showing neither fear nor joy, simply circling around the huge stone tablet.

Yang Xiao could sense that there was some inexplicable closeness between those shadowy figures and his ghostly gloves.

Those shadowy figures seemed to share the same source of power as him.

He transformed into a black shadow and floated onto the stone tablet.

The inscription on the monument reads: "Dahe Guixu".

The back features a line of ancient Chinese text:

[Liezi, Tang Wen: East of the Bohai Sea, for countless billions of miles, lies a great chasm, truly a bottomless valley, its bottom unfathomable, named Guixu.]

Yang Xiao read it aloud: "The Great Abyss Returns to Nothingness?"

He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with Guixu.

The sea train driven by the sea coachman was headed for Guixu.

But no matter what he did, he couldn't get in, like an old dog that couldn't find its way home.

Yang Xiao suddenly realized the problem and scoffed, "Isn't it because we can't find our way home?"

Some complete idiot tore down the gate to the underworld of Guixu; it would be a miracle if it could even return.

He sat down on the base of the stone tablet, looked up at the inscription, and muttered to himself, "Liezi Tang asked—what is this again?"

Before the words were finished, a clear female voice came down from above: "Liezi, a Taoist thinker from the pre-Qin period, whose real name was Lie Yukou, was one of the ten great figures of the pre-Qin period."

Yang Xiao looked up.

A woman had appeared on top of the monument at some point; to be precise, she was an excessively beautiful female monster.

According to Yang Xiao's aesthetic standards: a mature woman with hips wider than her shoulders who is trying to look young.

She was draped in black gauze, her breasts were excessively full, and her fair cleavage almost overflowed:

The black tulle skirt had an extremely high slit, almost reaching her waist, revealing a pair of pearl-white stockings underneath.

That face was incredibly alluring, with the charm of a mature woman in her eyes and brows.

Her black hair was piled high, she wore black lipstick, and a pair of black pearl pendants dangled from her ears.

Yet, despite having such a charming face, her expression was as stern as a middle school headmaster.

Yang Xiao looked at her and inexplicably thought of the woman who had stood on the podium and caught him copying his homework years ago.

He didn't pay any attention to this woman who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Judging from his aura, he was only at the mid-level god level, but what about himself?

He is now one of the most outstanding among the high gods.

Yang Xiao asked unhurriedly, "And who is Tang Wen?"

The woman floated down from the top of the monument and landed in front of Yang Xiao. Her gaze swept over him, filled with undisguised disdain.

I

"Tang Wen is not a person" refers to the question posed by King Tang of Shang.

The "Questions of Tang" is a dialogue between the first emperor of the Shang Dynasty and his minister Xia Ge.

Lie Yukou's "Tang Wen" records more than just this, including "Yu Gong Moving Mountains," "Kua Fu Chasing the Sun," and "Bian Que Changing Hearts," among others.

o

Yang Xiao blinked.

This old lady knows quite a lot.

But his disdainful yet eager-to-lecture demeanor is increasingly resembling that of his junior high school dean of students.

The woman walked towards the stone tablet, reached out and touched the inscription on its surface. As her fingertips traced the inscription, her tone became unusually emotional: "The 'Tang Wen' chapter of the Liezi reflects the profound curiosity and philosophical speculation of people in the pre-Qin period about the universe and nature. It is truly moving."

Yang Xiao noticed her nails—they were excessively white, long, and pointed, as if she had a manicure.

He didn't pay much attention, crossed his arms, and casually remarked, "It's truly moving. So what's written in all that gibberish on it?"

The woman's expression froze, and her disdain deepened, but she still patiently explained: "The inscription means that—east of the East Sea, hundreds of millions of miles away, there is a huge deep ravine, which is actually a bottomless valley with no bottom visible below. Its name is Guixu."

She turned to look at Yang Xiao: "In other words, the Great Abyss Returns to the Ruins is the place in the underworld closest to the human world."

This dark realm lies beneath the sea.

The woman asked again, "Do you know what the true nature of the ocean is?"

Yang Xiao shook his head blankly.

These questions today are all beyond the scope of the curriculum.

But he couldn't show his weakness, so he pretended to ponder for a long time: "It's all water..."

'

"Alright, that's enough."

The woman's disdain for Yang Xiao was beyond measure; she said directly, "The sea is a place without shadows."

Yang Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

The Land Without Shadows.

On the high seas, the daytime is an absolute realm of sunlight, and the nighttime is an absolute world of darkness.

Where did that shadow come from?

The shadows of the reefs, the boats, the islands—before the vast ocean, they are all insignificant, almost negligible.

His own power comes from his shadow.

Hearing the phrase "the sea is a place without shadows" makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

The woman paused, then continued, "A shadow is also the soul of a human being."

When people die at sea, their bodies fall into the ocean and are eaten by fish and shrimp.

Its shadow continued to fall, eventually settling into the deep ravine and becoming a new inhabitant of this place.

Yang Xiao suddenly looked up at her, staring at her in disbelief: "You mean, this place is also part of the Underworld?"

The woman was stunned, looking at him in disbelief, her beautiful brows furrowing deeply.

Is this kid an idiot? He's only just realizing it?

Just then, the ground suddenly began to shake violently.

Yang Xiao stumbled, regained his balance, and asked in astonishment, "Earthquakes in the underworld?"

The woman formed a hand seal and gently cast a spell towards the ground, instantly calming the tremors: "It wasn't an earthquake, it was just the giant turtle from the immortal mountain having a nightmare."

Yang Xiao slowly lowered his head, his pupils suddenly contracting.

What he was standing on was not ground or rocks, but a giant turtle as big as a mountain.

That aura was at the True God level, and among the best of the True Gods.

Yang asked with a smile, "Are there many of these giant turtles in the Great Abyss?"

The woman shook her head: "There used to be fifteen, now there are only nine left."

Yang Xiao then asked, "What about the other six?"

The woman pursed her lips: "They were lured away by a bunch of 'dragon brothers' (a euphemism for promiscuity)."

Yang Xiao blinked: "What's Uncle Long?"

The woman said, "In the vast underworld, in the land of the Yellow Springs, there is the Golden Empire."

The emperor of the Gengjin Empire is an emperor for all ages.

Beneath it dwells a giant capable of traversing mountains and seas.

The emperor's kingdom was named Dragon, and he was called the Dragon Emperor. The giants under his command called themselves Dragon Earls.

Yang Xiao certainly knew about the Emperor of Ten Thousand Generations—that was the forbidden sculpture in the basement of the gentleman's house.

Today's words have filled in all the secrets he hadn't heard over the years.

He turned his gaze back to the woman before him, a dangerous smile slowly creeping onto his lips: "And who are you? What brings you to me?"

The woman lowered her eyes, slowly knelt down, and performed a grand salute to Yang Xiao with standard Qin court etiquette: "This servant is the White-Clawed Black Dragon of the Great Abyss, named—Jiao Lao."

Today, our King returns, and it is only right that this servant personally greets him.

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