Fang Min clutched the bloody, mangled side of her face, feeling as if her world had collapsed.

Although Mo Qi’s strike hadn’t killed her, it had successfully disfigured her.

Would Wang Hao still love her now that she was disfigured? Fang Min knew the answer all too well.

"You want this idiot’s bones? I refuse to grant your wish!" Fang Min swung her long whip, sending Uncle Niu’s scattered remains flying into the distant Wailing Abyss.

"Go ahead and jump in to get them if you’ve got the guts!" Fang Min cackled maniacally, looking like a woman possessed.

Mo Qi, having just crawled out of the muddy ditch, saw this happen and unhesitatingly leaped into the Wailing Abyss after them.

For one, he could not allow anything to happen to Uncle Niu’s remains. For another, his physical condition was terrible; if he stayed, Gu Dong and Fang Min would surely kill him.

He was still no match for a Refining God Realm cultivator.

Only by jumping into the Wailing Abyss might he have a sliver of a chance to survive.

Fang Min was stunned. The Wailing Abyss was a forbidden ground of the Void Sect. No living being who trespassed had ever survived. She never imagined Mo Qi would actually dare to jump.

"Letting him die like this is getting off too easy," Fang Min said, resentful.

Gu Dong glanced at her but said nothing more. The mission was complete, and the rest was none of his business.

...

Liu Hui, who had resolved to follow Mo Qi to repay his kindness, was meditating by the door, standing guard over the house.

Having already perfected Refining Essence and on the verge of stepping into the Qi Refining Realm, he failed to notice a young man who had suddenly appeared inside the house.

The young man didn’t disturb Liu Hui. He took a light sniff and discovered a powerful scent of qi and blood pervading the house, accompanied by an unusual fragrance that made his mouth water.

’As expected of the cook Master Yu can’t stop thinking about. His skills are the real deal.’

The young man went to the kitchen and saw two already packed food boxes, and an idea sparked in his mind.

’Master Yu ordered me to deliver the Qi Sea Pill to him. Taking one box of food isn’t too much, right?’

As if to better convince himself, the young man muttered, "The Qi Sea Pill is incredibly precious. It gives someone who can’t cultivate a fifty percent chance to open their Qi Sea and form their Dantian. This isn’t stealing. It’s an equivalent exchange."

"That’s right, it’s an equivalent exchange. Besides, I’m taking the food to offer to Master Yu as well. Mo Qi would agree."

And so, a bottle of Qi Sea Pills was left on the stove, while one of the food boxes vanished.

If the young man had known that the food box contained "Bear and Tiger Fight" cooked with the Blood Spirit Flower, he wouldn’t have made such a shameless claim about an "equivalent exchange."

He also had no idea that this "Bear and Tiger Fight" would set off a frenzy in the Void Sect in the near future.

But that was a story for later. By the time the young man hurried back, Yu Liang had already entered seclusion to refine a furnace of very important elixirs.

As for the "Bear and Tiger Fight," it was temporarily set aside. He didn’t dare to do something like keeping it for himself.

...

"I’ve troubled you with this matter, Senior Brother. This bottle of Nourishing Spirit Pills is a small thank-you gift from your junior brother. Please accept it," Wang Hao said with a smile as he stuffed a bottle of elixirs into Gu Dong’s hand.

Gu Dong didn’t refuse. He accepted the Nourishing Spirit Pills, cupped his fists, and left without another word.

After Gu Dong was far away, Fang Min, whose wound was now bandaged, complained, "Brother Hao, why are you still so polite to him? If it weren’t for his negligence, I wouldn’t have been injured by that piece of trash."

Mo Qi’s final strike had sliced off a good part of Fang Min’s face. Although the bleeding had stopped, whether it would heal was another matter; it was more likely she would be permanently disfigured.

Because of this, Fang Min had come to hate Gu Dong as well.

Wang Hao’s brow furrowed. He shot Fang Min a cold look and said, "He is my senior brother. I don’t want to hear what you just said a second time. Don’t think you can act with impunity just because you’re my woman. I like obedient women. You’d better learn your place!"

A pang of pain and indescribable grievance shot through Fang Min’s heart. But she knew Wang Hao always meant what he said, so she could only lower her head and reply, "Min’er knows she was wrong. It won’t happen again."

Only then did Wang Hao’s expression soften. Very satisfied with Fang Min’s attitude, he instructed, "Since Mo Qi jumped into the Wailing Abyss, there’s absolutely no chance he survived. We must both act as if we know nothing about this. At the competition a month from now, if he doesn’t show up, no one will care about a coward who fled before a fight. The whole thing will blow over."

Fang Min nodded, then as if she suddenly thought of something, said, "Brother Hao, that piece of trash can’t cultivate, yet his physique is astonishingly strong. Even though I grew up with him, I never heard him mention it, nor did I ever notice anything unusual. So..."

"So what?"

Fang Min said in a low voice, "So I suspect he must have a secret on him—a secret that can strengthen his physique and enhance his power."

"A good-for-nothing who can’t even condense True Essence was able to instantly kill Cui Yu, a Qi Refining First Heaven, just by relying on his physical strength. If you were to obtain this secret, Brother Hao, then..."

Fang Min left her sentence half-finished, but Wang Hao understood perfectly. And he was incredibly tempted.

’That’s right. If even a piece of trash like Mo Qi could become so strong, if I got my hands on that secret, wouldn’t I be able to become a Core Disciple? I could even stand out among the Core Disciples and become a seed candidate for the next Sect Leader!’

’In a few hundred years, I would be the Sect Leader of the Void Sect, its future supreme ruler!’

At this thought, Wang Hao’s breathing grew ragged. His eyes glittered with a sharp light, filled with a lust for power and madness.

"What do you propose we do?" Wang Hao asked, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

Fang Min said, "Mo Qi can’t condense True Essence, so it’s impossible for him to have a Storage Space. His secret is likely not on his person. I guess it’s most likely hidden in his residence."

Wang Hao thought that made a lot of sense. He immediately gave his orders and a promise: "Then I’ll leave this matter to you. Don’t worry, Min’er, I won’t treat you unfairly. I promise, as soon as I have the secret, I will marry you. If I ascend to the position of Sect Leader in the future, you will be the Sect Leader’s Wife, second to one and above all others."

Fang Min was overjoyed. Even the pain in her face didn’t seem so bad anymore.

However, what she didn’t see was the fleeting look of disgust and ridicule deep in Wang Hao’s eyes.

Was Wang Hao really that stupid? Did he really not know what kind of person Fang Min was? Would he really marry a woman who was, in the eyes of others, used goods—a woman who was almost completely disfigured? Only he himself knew the answer.

...

The Wailing Abyss was so named, on one hand, because it was bottomless, and on the other, because it was filled with a dense miasma of malevolent, yin, and foul energies.

If a cultivator were to be tainted by even a little of it and failed to purge it, they would descend into madness in moments, becoming a mindless lunatic who would furiously destroy and slaughter every thing and living being in sight.

In the end, they would either be slain by other beings or die from exhaustion.

It was terrifying.

Years ago, the Mountain and Sea Empire had joined forces with the Four Great Sects—the Void Sect, the Wolf Fang Sect, the Celestial Sword Pavilion, and the Wuji Sect—to explore the Wailing Abyss, hoping to find a great fortuitous encounter.

In the end, they found nothing and instead lost countless powerful experts. The matter was eventually dropped.

The most terrifying things in the Wailing Abyss were not the malevolent, yin, and foul energies.

Because sunlight could not reach it year-round, the abyss was teeming with Evil Ghosts and Spirits, and it was also home to countless powerful Fierce Beasts.

These were the most deadly threats.

No one knew where these Fierce Beasts came from, because everyone who had ever seen them was dead.

Only the constant roars echoing from within proved the existence of those Fierce Beasts.

This was the origin of the word "Wailing."

Mo Qi followed Uncle Niu’s remains down into the Wailing Abyss, but his injuries were so severe that he passed out midway through his fall.

What he didn’t know was that as the malevolent, yin, and foul energies tried to corrupt him, the keepsake that represented his true heritage—a ring Mo Qi had been treating as a simple iron band—burst into brilliant light after being stained with his blood.

BUZZ!

An invisible wave repelled all the surrounding malevolent, yin, and foul energies, forming a clean, fresh, vacuum-like area around Mo Qi.

In the Wailing Abyss, this pocket of vacuum was like a bright lamp in the dead of night—dazzling and eye-catching.

An unknown amount of time passed. When Mo Qi finally landed at the bottom of the abyss, the entire Wailing Abyss erupted into a frenzy.

An outsider has invaded!

Countless terrifying existences were awakened, and their rage surged to the heavens.

They would crush the intruder, blast the intruder to ashes!

RUMBLE! KEK KEK KEK!

The deafening thunder of galloping hooves, the ear-piercing, soul-stealing shrieks.

Countless Fierce Beasts and Evil Ghosts and Spirits swarmed in, and the scene instantly became chaotic and terrifying.

Everyone in the Void Sect heard the commotion from the Wailing Abyss. However, they weren’t worried, as these kinds of uproars happened periodically. This time, though, it seemed far more severe than usual.

"Hmph!"

A soft snort echoed from the bottom of the Wailing Abyss. The rampaging Fierce Beasts and Evil Ghosts and Spirits all froze in place, stunned. The scene was frozen in time.

"Oink!"

The same sound echoed again. All the Fierce Beasts and Evil Ghosts and Spirits scattered in a panic, as if they had met their natural predator. Terrified of being struck by lightning if they were too slow, they didn’t dare take a single step within a hundred-li radius of Mo Qi.

"Oink!"

A fat, round figure descended from the sky and landed in front of Mo Qi. Its features were impossible to make out in the gloom.

Meanwhile, Mo Qi was in the middle of making an incredibly important decision.

Beneath the Chaos Scripture, an irregularly shaped boulder floated in mid-air. It was the very piece of Obsidian he had begged from the Inspector Elder.

This was the first time the Chaos Scripture had formally communicated with him.

"What kind of weapon do you require?"

The voice was cold and emotionless, its gender indiscernible.

"Who are you? Why did you give me a cookbook?" Mo Qi asked the question that was burning in his mind.

If the Chaos Scripture had thoughts, it would have wanted to stop talking and desperately leave him.

’Cookbook my ass!’

’You illiterate fool! It’s the Chaos Scripture, okay? Not the Wonton Scripture!’

"What kind of weapon do you require?" the voice repeated.

Mo Qi tried asking several more times, but the voice just patiently kept asking him the same question.

In the end, Mo Qi had to give up. "I want a cleaver, a wok, a Fire Stick, and a long ladle."

After a pause, Mo Qi thought for a moment and added, "Of course, a rolling pin, a spatula, chopsticks, knives and forks, bowls and plates... that sort of thing would be even better."

The Chaos Scripture: "..."

After a long silence, Mo Qi gave a dry laugh. "Ahem, well, you can just decide. I’m not a picky person."

Finally, the Chaos Scripture spoke: "Given the limited amount of Obsidian, only four items can be forged. Please make your selection."

"Then I’ll take the cleaver, wok, Fire Stick, and long ladle."