Chapter 1: The Mysterious Abyss

  In a vast world of thousands of miles, on an endless earth, there is a boundless and bottomless abyss that stretches for tens of thousands of miles.

  Below the mouth of the abyss, a hundred feet down, it was shrouded in a thick white mist. The path went straight down, and when we reached a depth of several thousand feet inside the abyss, the fog suddenly cleared, revealing another heavenly cave.

  From the endless depths below, five mountain peaks emerged, with one large and four small ones. The central main peak has an area of six or seven hundred miles, while the other four peaks in the east, south, west, and north have areas of three to four hundred miles. The tops of the mountains were flattened by humans using divine power, and numerous magnificent halls and temples were built!

  At this moment, Zhu Jiu, who was only ten years old, stood in the great hall of the easternmost mountain peak. There were also hundreds of other boys and girls over ten years old in the hall.

  These young people had different expressions, some were pale and terrified, while others looked relatively calm, even gathering in twos and threes to talk in hushed tones.

  Wearing a black traditional long gown, he was slender and pale, but his dark eyes were full of unusual colors. He turned his head subtly, his gaze wandering slightly as he carefully examined the people and scenes around him, revealing an uncommon composure, calmness and vigilance for someone of his age.

  The light inside the grand hall is dim, and the floor is paved with dark green stone slabs. The main source of light comes from the front gate of the grand hall. On either side of the gate stand two black door god statues, about four or five meters high, with a fierce and sinister appearance, emitting a chill in the air.

  For some reason, Zhu Jiu just glanced at the two wooden carvings and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. A strange and sinister coldness rose from the bottom of his heart, as if there was a pair of ruthless eyes staring back at him from the carvings.

  At the sound of Jiu Li's voice, he turned his head back, stopped looking around randomly, and perked up his ears to listen to the conversation between a few young men in front of him, wanting to gather more information through this. At the same time, he was also secretly muttering to himself:

  "After I died, I woke up to find myself in a young body, and arrived at this strange and eerie place. It doesn't seem like a good situation. The many fragmented images that appeared in my mind are probably the original memories of this body. According to these memories, it seems that this body was seriously ill and was drowned in a river by someone, before being possessed by my soul. Based on these memories, it's unbelievable that there really is such a thing as transmigration in the world!"

  Suddenly, a commotion rose in Jiǔ Xīn's heart, which lasted for a long time and gave rise to many questions that he couldn't understand at the moment. Just as his shocked emotions had slightly calmed down, he suddenly heard a young man whispering to another young man in front of him:

  "This time entering the sect, apart from us relatives and disciples within the sect, there are many people from all over who have come to offer tribute or even been robbed, heh, these country bumpkins think they can pass the test with us, what a ridiculous fantasy."

  Another young man chuckled and replied in a low voice:

  "It's said that among these earth bags, there are also those with extraordinary innate talents. The sect attaches great importance to them, saying they have an exceptional understanding of the ocean of knowledge, which is very beneficial for cultivating the law. Don't think that we're well-prepared and look down on you. This upcoming Ocean of Knowledge Life Symbol test, how confident are you in succeeding?"

  The boy who was asked hesitated for a moment and then said:

  "To be honest with you, whether or not I can successfully recognize the Sea of Symbols depends entirely on innate talent, and I really don't have any confidence in it!"

  Jiu heard this and his heart stirred again. The two young men's words seemed to imply that one could cultivate here, but what level of cultivation was it? Was it a high-level martial artist who could fly on the eaves and walk on walls? What did "Fa Xiu" mean?

  Shaking her head slightly, Zhu Xi smiled wryly and curled up the corner of her mouth, looked around and found no one paying attention to herself, then thought again:

  "After my death in my previous life, my soul was wrapped in a piece of green light, which allowed me to be reborn here. That light felt extremely familiar and should be the 'Evil-Repelling Mirror for Escorting the Dead' that every person from Xiangxi has. Could it be that my mirror is special, possessing the mysterious power to protect one's soul in its journey through reincarnation?"

  Just as Jiǔ was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a commotion among the crowd around him. He raised his head and looked through the gaps in the crowd, seeing from afar an old man with a sinister face wearing a pale green long gown walking into the grand hall, followed by over ten attendants of different ages, each with extraordinary demeanor, not ordinary people.

  The elder led the crowd to the center of the grand hall, his eyes gleaming with a hint of excitement, and swept his gaze across the standing young men and women. With a wave of his hand, a streak of dark light suddenly burst forth from his fingertips, transforming into an ancient and mysterious symbol that seemed to hold the essence of time itself.

  The symbol was held in the old man's hand, and between the flashes of light, countless black mist emerged from it. These mists quickly took shape, with human and beast forms appearing, like thousands of demons and ghosts, shrinking into the old man's palm, screaming and howling, with a fierce and savage posture!

  The old man lifted it lightly, and in his palm, it seemed like a miniature world, with countless demons and evil spirits, which was incredibly amazing!

  The ninth-grade boy stared blankly at the scene, shocked by the old man's display of magic and horror, as well as the thousands of demons screaming in his hands.

  What followed was an even stranger scene before everyone's eyes, as two figures suddenly leapt out of the old man's grasp from among the thousands of wailing demons and ghosts, and in the blink of an eye transformed into two human-sized misty figures within the grand hall.

  The old man lightly waved his hand, and the astonishing images of the demon world in his palm instantly disappeared without a trace, as if they had never appeared before.

  Two human-shaped black fogs leaped out of the old man's palm, with black air surging around their bodies and a faint blue glow flashing at the position of their eye sockets.

  At this moment, they suddenly opened their mouths together, and a wisp of cold air sprayed out from their mouths, condensing into a high-backed chair that seemed to be real, which was steadily placed behind the old man. Then these two human-shaped strange objects floated lightly behind the chair, standing solemnly.

  This kind of magic makes one feel like they are in a dream world!

  An middle-aged man followed behind the old man and saw two groups of human-shaped black fog with a faint flash of green light at the eye socket position, and said to the old man in a flattering tone:

  "The elder's refined Ghost Country Spirit Symbol, even casually summoning two small ghosts are both fifth-grade Qinghui level, the chair condensed from the ghost energy is almost indistinguishable from reality. The elder's technique of cultivating ghosts and refining corpses is truly unmatched in its divine power, surpassing all others!"

  The old man sat steadily in the chair behind him, without responding to the man's flattery. After a while, he spoke in a low voice, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time, his voice was dry and hoarse:

  "I'm fed up with these trivial matters of recruiting disciples, but I've already declined several times before. As one of the elder undead, I couldn't avoid it this time. My mood isn't exactly great right now, so this selection will be especially strict. Those who fail to make the cut will be executed on the spot, their souls trapped in a soul jar and used as fresh food for the little ghosts. Heh heh!"

  These words were like a gust of cold wind, instantly sweeping across the entire grand hall.

  Hundreds of young people standing in front of the old man, most of whom had not yet fully recovered from the magic revealed by the old man earlier, suddenly heard the meaning of the conversation between the old man and his subordinates, and those two black fog-like human figures were actually legendary ghostly objects, all greatly shocked and extremely frightened.

  It was also heard that they would have to participate in some kind of selection, and those who were not selected would be put to death. This made them even more fearful, unable to control themselves. Those who were slightly timid immediately turned pale with a greenish tint, and tears welled up in their eyes.

  Of course, there were also some young people who had already grasped certain information and stood on the spot without fear.

  Jiu withdrew his gaze from the two ghostly objects behind the old man, who had lived in Xiangxi in his previous life. Due to his study of ancestral corpse-driving techniques, he was not afraid of ghosts and spirits, but he felt that the old man's emotions were unpredictable, and slightly furrowed his brow.

  The old man sitting upright in the chair saw the fearful expressions of many young people, felt very impatient, wrinkled his black and green strange eyebrows, and asked the attendant behind him:

  "Isn't it that these young men have already been screened by the people below to save me some time, and only those who are barely qualified for cultivation are left? How can they still be so unimpressive?"

  The old man's entourage of over a dozen men and women exchanged glances with each other, and it was still the middle-aged man who had flattered him earlier who cautiously replied:

  "These young people come from different places and have varying qualities, so it's inevitable that they won't all be the same. Please don't blame them, elders."

  The old man lightly waved his hand and interrupted him before he could continue speaking:

  "Hurry up and start the trial planting of the Sea of Recognition symbols, then send these young men into the Demon Corpse Dead Realm. Those who successfully communicate with the demon corpses and return will be selected for a duel to the death, and the best will be chosen."