Chapter 412: Endless Abyss, Innate Dao Body

Chapter 412: The Endless Abyss, Innate Dao Body

At the heart of the God-Chosen Battlefield lies the Endless Abyss.

This is the gravitational singularity of the entire dimension.

The sky is a suffocating deep violet, with massive spiral clouds resembling the eyes of a god, gazing coldly upon the world below.

The abyss is not merely a pit, but a shattered continent suspended in the void, surrounded by turbulent spatial storms.

At the very center of this continent, an obsidian altar a thousand meters high pierces the heavens.

Atop the altar floats an ancient key, radiating a faint purple glow—the Astral Key.

The space around it is visibly distorted by the crushing weight of high-level laws, as if even light itself is being devoured.

By now, thousands of God-Chosen from various races have gathered around the altar.

Yet, no one dares to make the first move.

"That is a 'Gravity Trap'."

A Grand Duke of the Demon race, clad in dark red hellfire armor, speaks with a chilling gaze: "Whoever takes the key must endure a hundredfold gravity. In a place riddled with spatial rifts, once your speed drops, you become a living target."

The Templar Knights of the God race maintain a tight formation, their commander sneering: "We are waiting for a fool to trip the wire. The moment someone grabs the key, we all focus our fire and shatter him along with that patch of space."

The air freezes, thick with hidden malice.

It is a stalemate of patience.

Just then.

A piercing shriek tears through the horizon.

It is a sonic boom caused by an object moving at extreme velocity through the atmosphere.

"Something is coming!"

"Is it a meteorite? No, it's a person!"

BOOM!

A black streak of light, like a hammer of divine retribution, ignores all spatial turbulence and slams directly onto the top of the obsidian altar.

A terrifying shockwave sweeps outward, instantly blasting the nearest hundreds of greedy Lizardmen into the abyss.

The dust settles.

Qin Feng kneels on one knee, then slowly rises.

The obsidian ground beneath his feet is spider-webbed with cracks.

"The Human, Qin Feng!"

"He actually dared to charge into the encirclement?"

"A perfect chance! He is too arrogant!"

Qin Feng ignores the thousands of greedy, murderous eyes surrounding him.

He brushes the dust off his body, his gaze locking onto the Astral Key hovering before him.

"Is this what they call a trial?"

A sneer curls the corner of Qin Feng’s mouth.

He reaches out, without a moment’s hesitation, and grips the key that weighs enough to crush a mountain.

WUM—!

The purple light flares violently.

A terrifying force of law descends instantly.

[Warning: Holding the Astral Key.]

[Current Status: Gravity x100. Spatial Lockdown: Displacement skills disabled.]

CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...

The altar beneath Qin Feng groans under the unbearable burden, his feet sinking three inches into the stone.

"He took the bait!"

The leader of the Titan race—"Star-Breaker" Gor—lets out a thunderous roar.

"He has the key! He is slower than a turtle now! Everyone, attack! Kill him and claim the Human race's fortune!"

In an instant.

Thousands of spells, battle auras, and energy beams flood toward the figure atop the altar like a torrential storm.

Facing the overwhelming onslaught, Qin Feng does not dodge.

Or rather, under a hundredfold gravity, conventional evasion is indeed difficult.

But he does not need to dodge.

"A hundredfold gravity?"

Qin Feng grips the two-meter-long giant key, feeling the immense weight surging through his arms.

To an ordinary Venerable, such weight might make even lifting a hand impossible.

But to Qin Feng, who possesses the "Primordial Limitless Dao Body" and has trained on the edge of a black hole...

"The feel is just right."

Qin Feng takes a deep breath, his blood surging like a rushing river, emitting a thunderous roar within his veins.

He faces the Titan leader Gor, who is charging at the front—a hundred-meter-tall rock giant wielding a warhammer.

"Die, little bug!"

Gor’s warhammer descends with the sound of wind and thunder.

Qin Feng looks up.

He does not retreat; he advances.

He grips the end of the Astral Key with both hands, using it as a greatsword, or perhaps... a baseball bat.

"Get... lost!"

No flashy techniques.

Pure, unadulterated strength.

Combined with the terrifying mass of the Astral Key itself.

WHOOSH—

The air is compressed to the limit, turning into a solid white wall.

The purple key leaves a blurred afterimage, striking first despite moving second, slamming heavily into Titan Gor’s warhammer.

BANG!!!

A deafening roar erupts, strong enough to shatter eardrums.

The Titan warhammer, fabled to be indestructible, shattered into dust the instant it made contact.

Yet the key’s momentum remained undiminished.

Carrying the weight of a hundredfold gravitational potential, it pressed onward, slamming squarely into Gor’s chest.

Squelch—

There was no scream.

For Gor’s entire upper torso had simply ceased to exist.

It had been pulverized into fundamental particles by the sheer force of absolute violence.

The rain of blood and stone fragments had not even touched the ground before being scattered by the terrifying shockwave.

One strike.

The Titan race’s greatest warrior, fallen.

A deathly silence descended upon the field.

The alien warriors, who had been mid-charge, skidded to a halt, their faces twisted in terror.

"What... what kind of monster is that?"

"He is wielding something with a hundred times the gravity; how can he still move with such speed?!"

"That is no key... that is the scythe of the Grim Reaper!"

Qin Feng hoisted the key onto his shoulder with one hand, its tip causing the earth beneath to fracture and crumble.

He scanned the crowd, his gaze indifferent.

"Who else desires this key?"

"I can give it to you. Provided you can catch it."

The intimidation lasted only three seconds.

Greed ultimately overcame fear.

"Ranged attacks! Do not get close!"

The Grand Duke of the demons shrieked, "Use hellfire and curses to wear him down! He cannot move; he is a sitting duck!"

Countless black fireballs and green poison arrows blanketed the altar once more.

Qin Feng shook his head.

"Cannot move?"

"You know nothing of true power."

Boom!

The muscles in Qin Feng’s thighs bulged as he shoved off the ground with a violent kick.

The obsidian altar, which had stood for ten thousand years, collapsed completely in that moment.

Using the recoil, Qin Feng launched himself like a purple cannonball, charging forward with the key on his shoulder.

The hundredfold gravity did indeed limit his agility.

But it also granted him unparalleled kinetic energy.

At this moment, he was a walking neutron star.

He crashed into the demon phalanx.

There was no need for technique.

The mere shockwave from his high-speed charge tore hundreds of low-level demons into shreds.

"Stop him! Raise the shields!" the Grand Duke of the demons roared in panic.

Eighteen dark veils rose, forming the demons' strongest defensive array.

Qin Feng remained expressionless; he dropped his shoulder, and the Astral Key swept outward.

Crack—Boom!

The eighteen shields were as fragile as glass.

Wherever the Astral Key passed, armor, flesh, and soul alike were crushed into nothingness.

The Grand Duke of the demons did not even have the chance to beg for mercy before he was sliced in half by the purple blur.

"Run! Run!"

"This is a monster! He cannot be stopped!"

The coalition collapsed.

This was no hunt; it was a tiger loose among sheep.

Qin Feng did not pursue the stragglers.

He glanced at the time.

[Mission duration: 15 minutes elapsed.]

"No time to play with you anymore."

Qin Feng shouldered the key and turned toward the direction of the human fortress.

It was three thousand kilometers from the Abyss.

"Running back is too slow."

Qin Feng’s eyes narrowed, and he slammed the Astral Key into the ground.

"Earth veins, rise!"

He was using the key’s suppression of the rules to forcibly pry open the ley lines of the Abyssal plate.

Rumble—

A massive earthen dragon rose, carrying Qin Feng and traveling across the land at staggering speed toward the S-09 zone.

Every alien stronghold and monster nest along the way was ruthlessly flattened by the dragon and the terrifying gravitational field radiating from it.

"..."

"Although I’m used to Qin God’s absurdity, using a mission item as a weapon is still too ahead of its time."

"Titan Chieftain: I was careless, I didn't dodge."

"This isn't 'moving under a heavy load,' this is turning the load into a weapon of mass destruction!"

"Qin God: What hundredfold gravity? Isn't this just my daily weight training?"

One hour later.

The human fortress.

When Qin Feng appeared on the horizon carrying that massive purple key, every human within the fortress (mostly newborns and puppets) felt a crushing pressure upon their souls.

Qin Feng walked step by step onto the fortress’s central platform.

With every step he took, the entire fortress trembled.

He approached the "Flame of Civilization" and slowly inserted the [Key of the Astral Realm] into a phantom slot beneath the flickering fire.

"Click."

It fit with absolute, seamless precision.

In an instant.

The violet radiance receded, coalescing into a golden pillar of light that pierced the heavens, surging straight into the firmament.

The hundredfold gravity dissipated.

In its place, a warm, magnificent, and vibrant surge of energy rippled outward.

[Ding.]

[Congratulations to the Human God-Chosen, Qin Feng, for completing the mission "Key of the Abyss."]

[Mission Rating: SSS (Absolute Domination).]

[You have secured the sole victory in this global competition.]

[Reward Settlement:]

Resource Unlocked: The second layer of the God-Chosen Battlefield, "Spirit Realm," is now open. The Human Stronghold has been granted access to the "Spirit Realm Entrance."

Special Item: [Heart of the Abyss] (Can be used to reinforce the Stronghold Core).

Core Reward (Civilization Ascension):

Human Civilization Level elevated to: 1.5 (High-Energy Spiritual Civilization).

Racial Talent Awakened: [Innate Dao Body (Pseudo)].

Racial Comprehension Enhanced: [Light of Wisdom].

As the system announcement concluded, the golden pillar of light erupted, shattering into countless motes of light that defied the distances of space, showering directly upon the human territories of the physical universe.

This was a leap in the hierarchy of life.

It was no longer a simple increment of strength or lifespan, but a fundamental transformation of essence.

Deep within the Kunlun Mountains, in a secluded Taoist temple.

In this era where spiritual energy had only just begun to recover, an old Taoist sat withered beneath a pine tree, his body like decaying wood, his breath hanging by a thread.

He had spent his entire life pursuing the ethereal "Foundation Establishment," but constrained by the talent of the Dharma-Ending Age, he had never been able to pierce that final layer of paper.

"The Dao cannot be sought... the Dao cannot be sought..."

The old Taoist sighed deeply, preparing to close his eyes and welcome the arrival of death.

Just then.

Golden motes of light pierced the clouds and descended upon his brow.

[Civilization Ascension: Innate Dao Body (Pseudo) activated.]

[Light of Wisdom: Activated.]

Boom!

The old Taoist’s once-cloudy eyes suddenly erupted with two beams of brilliant light.

He felt the stagnant, dead-water-like internal energy within him suddenly boil. The previously obscure and difficult spiritual particles in the surrounding air now became incredibly intimate, scrambling to burrow into his pores.

The barriers of his meridians, which had plagued him for eighty years, were pierced like thin paper in this very moment.

"This is... this is..."

The old Taoist stood up, trembling.

His head of white hair turned black at a speed visible to the naked eye. His withered skin regained its luster and fullness.

A vast aura erupted from his body, shaking the accumulated snow from the pine tree.

The old Taoist roared at the sky, his voice like a booming bell, echoing through the mountains.

"To hear the Dao in the morning, one may die content in the evening! But having heard the Dao today, I shall live another five hundred years!"

Blue Star, Kyoto No. 1 Elementary School, Class 2, Grade 3.

It was an ordinary Chinese literature class. The teacher was writing the ancient poem "Song of the Knight-Errant" on the blackboard.

"Zhao guests wear tassels of Hu silk, Wu hooks shine like frost and snow..."

Previously, the children had only memorized it by rote, finding it dull and tedious.

But as the motes of light showered into the classroom.

The chubby boy sitting in the back row, usually the naughtiest of them all, suddenly stood up.

His eyes were fixed intently on the characters on the blackboard, and the pencil in his hand was trembling slightly.

"Teacher..."

The chubby boy murmured, "I think I see a man... practicing the sword."

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

The teacher was about to reprimand him.

But then she noticed that every child in the class had closed their eyes.

A faint white glow was emerging from their bodies—the sign of spiritual energy entering the physical form.

A little girl extended her finger, tracing shapes in the air.

Though there was no power behind it, each stroke contained a certain profound "Sword Intent."

[Racial Comprehension Enhanced].

This generation of children was no longer merely mortal.

They could grasp the essence of books and perceive the Dao through martial arts.

The teacher dropped her chalk in shock.

She realized that a new era—an era where everyone was like a dragon—had begun.

Mars Colony, Geological Survey Team.

Susan was driving a rover across the red wasteland.

She had always felt that the universe was cold, silent, and desolate.

But just now, she heard a sound.

It was a rhythm coming from the depths of the starry sky.

She stopped the vehicle, stepped out of the airlock, and removed her helmet (though the atmosphere had been modified, it remained thin).

She took a deep breath.

She felt it.

The soil of Mars was breathing. The veins of ore beneath the surface were flowing. The gravity of distant Jupiter was pulling.

This was a brand-new perception—the embryonic form of the unity of heaven and man.

She reached out, clutching at the empty air.

A hundred-pound slab of ore on the ground wobbled, then drifted upward, settling into her palm.

"Telekinesis?"

Susan stared at her own hand. "No, this is my resonance with the magnetic field."

She gazed into the profound starry sky, her eyes no longer filled with fear, but with an endless yearning.

"So, we were never alone. The universe has always been waiting for us to grow up."

...

The revelry of the real universe continued unabated.

Yet, within the God-Chosen Battlefield, Qin Feng did not indulge in the joy.

He knew this was merely the beginning.

A Level 1.5 civilization was still but an infant in the cosmos. Only by reaching Level 3 could one earn the right to raise their voice in the dark forest.

Qin Feng stood atop the fortress, staring at the brand-new portal opened by the [Astral Key].

Inside the light, there was no lush, ethereal fairyland, but rather a heavy, suffocating aura of death and decay.

It was the second resource zone—the [Spirit Realm]—though Qin Feng preferred its other name:

The periphery of the Land of Fallen Gods.

Just then, the system issued a new mission.

This time, the text was blood-red, accompanied by a warning skull icon.

[Warning: Human civilization level leap detected.]

[Battlefield difficulty self-adjusting... Adjustment complete.]

[Triggered Exploration Mission: Sighs in the Mist.]

[Mission Description: Deep within the Spirit Realm lie the ruins of a civilization from the previous epoch that failed to challenge the gods. There, you will find endless treasures, but also cursed undead. You must travel to the "Wall of Sighs" and find the clue leading to the third level.]

[Mission Objective: Explore the Wall of Sighs and retrieve a "Godhood Fragment (Faint)".]

[Hostile Faction: Undead Scourge.]

[Special BOSS: Lich King Arthas (Demigod Projection).]

[Time Limit: 24 hours.]

"The Lich King?"

Qin Feng looked at the name, his brows arching slightly.

"It seems the difficulty of the second level is finally getting interesting."

"A demigod projection... though only a projection, it still brushes against the edge of the laws."

He glanced back at the human fortress, which had already begun to take shape.

Defensive towers stood like a forest, energy shields were thick, and newborns thrived under the nourishment of the Fountain of Life.

"The home is secured; now, it is time for the expedition."

Qin Feng flipped his palm.

A pitch-black spear appeared in his hand—his signature weapon, the Star-Swallowing Spear.

He pointed the tip toward the grey portal.

His aura shifted instantly from that of a "sturdy guardian" to a "sharp pioneer."

"The undead, is it?"

Qin Feng took a step forward, his red cloak snapping in the wind.

"Since you are already dead, then let me make your end a little more absolute."

(End of chapter)