Chapter 394: The Scorched Abyss

Chapter 394: The Scorched Abyss

As Ji Xinghuo stepped out of the elevator, he felt his feet sink slightly. The gravity on Hei Huan Star was slightly stronger than that of Earth, about 1.3 times stronger.

This level of gravity didn't affect Ji Xinghuo much, and he quickly adapted to it.

The air on Hei Huan Star contained oxygen, but at a concentration lower than 5%. An ordinary person from Earth would definitely have difficulty breathing here.

However, Ji Xinghuo had long ago freed himself from his reliance on oxygen, and with the "Photosynthesis Ring" in his possession, he didn't need oxygen at all.

He looked around.

This was the base station of the space elevator on Hei Huan Star, located at the North Pole. A town had been built around the space elevator, not too large, spanning less than ten kilometers. Most of it was within the electromagnetic induction range and was called the "North Pole Transit Station".

A huge hemispherical dome, like an overturned bowl, covered the entire city.

Outside the transparent shield lay a world of ice and snow.

Endless icy winds howled, and white glaciers stretched to the horizon. A red sun hung in the sky, yet its warmth was nowhere to be felt.

Inside the protective shield, however, was a bustling scene. Numerous exotic beings scurried between the buildings, most of which were no more than five or six stories tall. Various mounts and vehicles traveled along the streets, and from time to time, transport planes took off, disappearing into the vast snowfields beyond the shield.

Every few minutes, a space elevator would descend from the heavens or ascend into space.

Ji Xinghuo mounted the Antler Cloud Elk and rode around half of the North Pole Transit Station, scanning his surroundings with electromagnetic induction to get a preliminary understanding of the place.

He then chose a shop and walked in.

This shop dealt in a variety of goods, selling weapons, armor, and potions, while also purchasing exotic treasures. They seemed to do a little bit of everything, and their scale was considered medium-sized within the North Pole Transit Station, with business being neither too good nor too bad.

Using electromagnetic induction, Ji Xinghuo detected that from time to time, customers would emerge from inconspicuous corners of the shop and head to the back to speak privately with the owner.

Obviously, they were also dealing in information trading.

Such a local snakehead must be well-informed and also engaged in fencing and illegal transactions.

"Sir."

Ji Xinghuo immediately drew the attention of the owner as he entered.

The owner was a Huizu, but not a You Gui. Instead, he was a Chi Gui, a common species in the Starry Realm, with a human head and a serpentine body. From the waist down, he was covered in fiery red serpentine scales, and his entire body was over four meters long. He had two arms, and his scarlet eyes were full of shrewdness.

Karula instantly realized that the newcomer was a Fifth-Order powerhouse and one of the very best within that rank.

His keen intuition told him that this unfamiliar barbarian was extremely formidable! So, he immediately put on a warm smile.

However, his smile looked rather eerie to Ji Xinghuo, and after a glance at his narrow serpentine eyes, Ji Xinghuo realized that the other party was quite perceptive. No wonder he was able to run an intelligence business in the North Pole Transit Station.

"This is my first time on Hei Huan Star," Ji Xinghuo said straightforwardly, not at all worried that the other party would dare to take advantage of him just because he was new to the place.

As he spoke, he took out his identity badge and flashed it before putting it away.

"Sir, then you've come to the right place," Karula said even more enthusiastically, his forked tongue hissing as he introduced himself, "My name is Karula, and I am honored to be of service to you. What do you require?"

A moment later.

Ji Xinghuo walked out of the shop's door, highly satisfied.

This Karula was indeed a local snakehead, not only well-versed in the situation on Hei Huan Star but also possessing an extensive information network.

Through Karula's introduction, Ji Xinghuo selected several areas suitable for his hunting activities and purchased a batch of equipment specially designed for Hei Huan Star's geographical environment and monsters. Although he spent tens of thousands of True Dragon Coins, it was well worth it.

Wasting no time, Ji Xinghuo boarded a transport plane with the Antler Cloud Elk in tow.

He had chartered the entire plane, and there were no other passengers.

"Whoosh..."

The transport plane slowly ascended, accelerating as it pierced through the protective shield and the boundless winds and snows beyond. Soon, it left the Arctic Circle and sped towards the equator at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters.

Ji Xinghuo observed the outside through the porthole.

White glaciers connected to towering mountains, and as the latitude decreased, the temperature rose, and vegetation covered a wider area, vibrant and lush.

No matter where one stood on Hei Huan Star, one could see a huge black wall in the distant sky, like a rainbow magnified countless times, spanning the heavens and descending at the end of the world.

The closer one got to the equator, the more imposing and oppressive that wall became.

The climate in the mid-latitude regions was relatively stable.

However, near the equator, chaos reigned. Volcanoes erupted frequently, and the weather could change from clear skies to raging storms in an instant. The ground was littered with heart-wrenching craters, left behind by falling satellite fragments.

Meteors streaked across the sky, their fiery tails visible even in the daytime as they broke free from the planet's ring.

"What a desolate place..."

Ji Xinghuo shook his head as he surveyed the charred forest, pockmarked with what looked like meteor craters.

This was just the surface.

As he drew closer to the equator, he discovered that Black Ring Star's magnetic field was also in chaos, extremely unstable.

This would definitely affect him as well; he would need to be more focused when utilizing his rotating magnetic field, electrostatic field, and Thunderclap Hand techniques, especially when releasing spiritual lightning, as both the range and accuracy were affected by the interference.

Fortunately, it wasn't a major problem.

Ji Xinghuo had already changed into his newly purchased combat armor aboard the transport plane. It was primarily tech-based, incorporating etheric technology, and was equivalent to a superpower level of three.

He also switched to a high-powered plasma pistol, its range and lethality no less than that of the Black Eternal Crystal Battle Bow. The output power could be adjusted, making it suitable for various levels of combat, and at maximum power, a single beam of high-temperature plasma could even instantly kill an unguarded legendary powerhouse.

Additionally, he was equipped with dozens of energy canisters, enough to sustain prolonged battles.

Away from the Starry Realm, he naturally relied on high-tech weapons and equipment.

All of these were products of the True Dragon Dynasty.

Although the True Dragon Dynasty's foundation lay in the Starry Realm, and they primarily developed etheric technology, they had not completely abandoned scientific research. Their technological level far surpassed that of Earth, and their technological prowess alone placed them at the level of a Level-6 civilization.

Ji Xinghuo jumped onto the Antler Cloud Elk and pointed south. "Let's go."

Southward lay the equator.

One of the locations that Karula had provided was called the "Scorched Abyss," a region composed of countless east-west-running rifts, the deepest of which reached down to the planet's crust. The surface had been bombarded by falling meteors from the planet's ring for centuries, leaving it riddled with craters and extremely dangerous.

However, the environment was only one factor.

The most terrifying aspect of this area was that it had once been a bio-experiment park of the Yin Demon Sect. After the sect's demise, countless creatures escaped into the underground rifts, forming a complex ecosystem.

The Antler Cloud Elk nimbly navigated the rugged mountain roads as if they were flat terrain.

Ji Xinghuo looked up.

The black planet ring stretched from the ground into space, its end unseen, like an impending collapsing giant wall, awe-inspiring and oppressively vast.

According to records, Black Ring Star's moon had only been partially shattered. The remaining portion had fallen within the Roche limit distance and was torn apart by the planet's gravity, with the heavier parts already crashing into the surface, causing catastrophic disasters.

Countless smaller fragments formed the planet's ring.

However, in the distant future, hundreds of thousands of years from now, as more and more fragments fell, the planet's ring would gradually disappear.

The innermost part of the planet's ring was composed of blocks of black rock and ice, streaking through the sky at an altitude of several kilometers, resembling an endless stream of meteors.

Occasionally, a meteor would fall towards the ground.

"If I filmed this and posted it on Earth's internet, it would definitely break a hundred billion views!"

With that thought, Ji Xinghuo took out his phone from his dimensional pouch and started recording.

After taking several video clips, he suddenly stopped.

His right hand moved like lightning as he drew the plasma pistol from his waist and fired at something in the side periphery. A flash of blue-white light streaked away.

Hundreds of meters away, a monster's corpse fell from the shadows.

[Spiritual Source Energy +18]



Only then did the Antler Cloud Elk sense the presence of the monster and tremble, almost turning back in fear.

"Go on."

Ji Xinghuo commanded, and the elk obediently continued forward.

With nimble steps, the Antler Cloud Elk approached the monster's corpse, and in that moment, Ji Xinghuo pulled the trigger three more times, sending three more blue beams of light flashing out toward different directions, taking down three more hidden monsters.

[Spiritual Source Energy +13+16+9]



"Not bad!"

Ji Xinghuo smiled at the prompts that appeared in his vision, feeling the familiar thrill of hunting monsters and harvesting spiritual source energy.

He jumped off the elk and examined the monsters up close.

In the monocle he wore over his eye, identification information popped up: "Large Shadow Demon Hound, Superb rank, keen sense of smell, stealth capabilities, fast runner, excels at ambushing, social behavior, weak point is the head, high threat level..."

"Shadow Demon Hound, Elite rank..."

Similar prompts appeared as he inspected each monster's corpse.

This was a special pair of scanning glasses designed for identifying Black Ring Star monsters, equipped with night vision infrared capabilities and the ability to detect hidden creatures at close range. Almost every hunter on Black Ring Star had a pair.

This Superb rank Shadow Demon Hound was three and a half meters long, hairless, with deformed claws on its four limbs, and a large, disgusting black tumor on its abdomen.

Nevertheless, they had all met the same fate—a fatal shot to the head.

Ji Xinghuo reached out and placed his hand on the largest corpse, and a window of exotic information appeared before his eyes.

Monster: Shadow Demon Hound

Rank: Superb

Exotics: Spirit Scent, Camouflage Skin, Toughness, Rip, Darkvision, Blink

"Oh?"

Ji Xinghuo exclaimed in surprise.

This Shadow Demon Hound was only a Superb-rank monster, yet it possessed six exotics, one or even two more than the average Superb-rank monster. Moreover, each exotic was incredibly useful, as if they were carefully selected for this specific creature.

For the vast majority of monsters and spiritual beasts, the exotics they awakened were related to their environment.

Even the strongest of monsters would have some exotics that were not as powerful or useful, becoming redundant or even useless after multiple evolutions.

This was the result of natural evolution.

Only intelligent races would selectively fuse and combine exotics, maximizing the utility of each one.

And the fact that this Shadow Demon Hound's exotics didn't have an asterisk indicated that they were awakened, not fused afterward.

He inspected the other three Shadow Demon Hounds.

Although they were slightly weaker and had some variations in their exotics, they were all equally useful.

"This should be the special characteristic of the monsters on Black Ring Star," Ji Xinghuo mused. "Most of them are products of the Yin Demon Sect's biological experiments, and even after thousands of years of intense evolution, they still bear traces of artificial intervention."

Just by harvesting the exotics from these four Shadow Demon Hounds, he could perfect a "Shadow Blade" profession template.

Ji Xinghuo quickly finished the collection.

Then he continued on his way.

Before long, he sensed several Gray-Striped Giant Spiders lurking in ambush and casually shot them down with his gun, reaping their spiritual source energy.

Just like the Shadow Demon Hounds, these spiders' exotics had an incredibly high utility.

And their bodies also exhibited deformities.

Shadow Demon Hounds, Gray-Striped Giant Spiders, Carrion Feeders, Burrow Worms, Mist Demons... As the Antler Cloud Elk ran for hundreds of kilometers, Ji Xinghuo hunted along the way, and not a single monster could get within a hundred meters of him. They all met the same fate—a fatal shot to the head.

Regardless of the type of monster, they all had deformities.

And they shared another common feature—they were adept at stealth and ambush, a trait characteristic of the Yin Demon Sect.

The Yin Demon Sect's racial talent was called "Shadow Master," which allowed them to briefly shift their bodies between reality and illusion, avoiding attacks and hiding their positions. Thus, they were innate stealth assassins.

As the Yin Demon Sect evolved, the Shadow Master talent became increasingly powerful.

Eventually, they infused their bodies with dark matter and utilized the omnipresent dark energy in the universe to drastically increase their strength.

Their biological technology research primarily focused on this direction.

After the destruction of their entire race...

These monsters, skilled in stealth and ambush, were able to survive in the rapidly changing environment and defeat other monsters.

As for the deformities...

Ever since Ji Xinghuo had approached the equator, his scanning glasses had been constantly warning him about excessive radiation levels.

Over a thousand years ago, after the True Dragon Dynasty killed the Star Shepherd of the Yin Demon Sect, they dropped tens of thousands of nuclear bombs on the Yin Demon Planet, destroying all cities and bombing away a layer of the planet's surface.

Even now, nuclear radiation still lingered, and this was the underlying cause of the constant deformities in Black Ring Star's monsters.

As nightfall approached.

Ji Xinghuo arrived at the Scorched Abyss, located right on the equator. Before him lay countless deep and bottomless chasms, where meteorites fell, and it took a long time for the echoes from hell to reach his ears.

He glanced at the interface of the Myriads Star Pupil.

Along the way, the number of monsters had gradually increased, and he had already harvested 500 points of spiritual source energy.

Peering down into the abyss, Ji Xinghuo could sense the presence of countless monsters hiding below.

This was a treasure trove of spiritual source energy!

Even a hunting team led by a fifth-order legend would not dare to venture deep into the abyss, as even a Heavenly King might not make it out alive.

Ji Xinghuo gave the order: "Go down."

The Antler Cloud Elk stood at the edge of the abyss, its eyes filled with fear, and its limbs trembling. No matter how many times Ji Xinghuo urged it, it refused to move.

"Useless thing,"

Ji Xinghuo sighed in exasperation, although he hadn't intended to use it anyway. "Stay here and wait for me. Hide yourself well." With that, he flew off the elk's back, his body quickly falling into the pitch-black abyss under the pull of gravity, soon disappearing from view.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end