Void Abyss

"You're carrying far too much malice." Inside the office, Trozan was arranging flowers. She separated the blossoms layer by layer according to height, placing the full blooms lowest and the smaller buds higher up—a delightfully pleasing sight. "Isn't that how sword sorcerers are supposed to be?" Sonia sat across from her. "You were the one who told me, Sister: revenge should be pursued from morning till night, and you should never carry stress to bed!" "That's different," Trozan said. "A sword sorcerer must constantly harbor a breath of spite to whet their blade and temper their sword will. But malice is different. Malice festers and accumulates. It taints the soul, erodes the will, dulls the intellect... It can even become a vulnerability that mind sorcerers can exploit." "Then how do you tell the difference between spite and malice?" "Simple. Once you vent your spite, your heart feels much lighter, and looking back on the past no longer makes you angry," Trozan replied. "With malice, however, even if you vent it, thinking back on it later will only make you angrier and angrier." Sonia pondered this for a moment and nodded in admission. "Then I'm definitely brimming with malice." After a brief silence, Trozan suddenly asked, "Aren't you going to ask how to resolve it?" "I already have my own way." Surprised, Trozan looked closely at Sonia and saw that her expression was completely natural, her eyes shimmering with light. She truly didn't appear to be lying. "To be honest, I've always been quick-tempered and petty. I still remember everyone who crossed me when I was a child. It's just that I used to swallow it and hold it in, only letting it show now that I command the power of a Sanctuary Sorcerer." Sonia chuckled softly. "I know this temperament isn't great—it's like swinging a sword around recklessly. But..." A faint blush rose to her cheeks, and her voice softened. "I've already found my scabbard." "Hmph. You are straying far from the true path of a sword sorcerer," Trozan said coldly. "A scabbard will only slow your draw." "Still, this way, everyone will assume that the only reason you hid for a whole day was to bait them—using rumors of your death to teach a harsh lesson to anyone coveting your secrets," Trozan continued calmly. "I'll tell everyone that you were hiding here with me the entire time. Which, in fact, is the truth." Sonia walked over and hugged Trozan, pressing her cheek affectionately against the professor's, and thanked her sweetly: "Thank you, Professor Sister!" Sonia had actually logged into the Void Realm from inside the Meditation Building. But the moment Trozan returned from the Void Realm, she had slipped over to the Meditation Building and quietly carried Sonia away. That was why the university couldn't find Sonia—she had been asleep at Trozan's place the entire time. "Every unified sorcerer realm is almost certainly taking stock of their Sanctuaries right now," Trozan said as she fiddled with the vase. "Not only to find out who perished during the Spectre Prophet's resurrection, but also to identify the inheritors of the Nation of Thousand Wishes. After all, any Sanctuary Sorcerer escaping the Dream Heaven would hurry back to reality to rest; only the four black-robed sorcerers who inherited the Heaven of Thousand Wishes would linger inside the Heaven for so long. "If any Sanctuary slept for an unusually long time without returning promptly to reality, and then advanced to Legend shortly after, they would inevitably draw suspicion." Sonia widened her eyes at Trozan. Understanding the warning immediately, she nodded slowly and whispered, "I understand. There may be a half-year Sanctuary, but there won't be a half-year Legend." Hearing this, Trozan's lips twitched. She stood up, offered her seat, and sneered sarcastically, "Please, Miss Sevie, do have a seat. I'll just stand. Before you, how could I dare call myself Professor?" Caught between laughter and tears, Sonia pulled Trozan back down into the chair and said, "Professor Sister, you could beat two of me with one hand! Of course you're still my professor. Besides, my soul suffered some damage, so I might not be able to enter the Void Realm for a month or two. You might just reach Ruby Mountain during that time!" The higher a sorcerer's rank, the harder it was to recover from soul trauma. At the Sanctuary and Legend stages, recovery easily took half a year or more. An elderly sorcerer like the Alchemist King, who sustained ninety percent combat damage, would probably need until this time next year just to shed adult diapers. Sonia dared to claim she only needed a month or two purely because she had the Watcher's potion support to speed up her soul's recovery. "Legend..." Trozan couldn't help feeling a tinge of yearning. "When you're free later, tell me about your friend's experiences on Ruby Mountain." Sonia burst into giggles and nodded repeatedly. "Of course! By the way, Professor Sister, how did you recognize me?" "Don't use Evil Light Wave Sword in public ever again," Trozan said leisurely. "Or if you must, at least alter its visual appearance." The village girl froze, immediately remembering that when she attacked the bubble barrier from inside the Golden Hall, she had used Evil Light Wave Sword! Back then, the other sorcerers in the Dream Heaven could naturally observe the miracles they unleashed! "Just from that?" "Naturally, there was more," Trozan said calmly. "That was why I went to the Meditation Building to check on you, just in case." Sonia blinked and couldn't help asking, "Sister Trozan, why are you so good to me?" "Did you not pay attention in class?" Trozan mocked. "A sword sorcerer must harbor a breath of spite, or they cannot sharpen their blade; a sword sorcerer must cherish a heart of passion, or they cannot cleanse their sword. "Hone the blade with spite, wash the sword with blood—only then will the blade be irresistible and indomitable!" Sonia was dazed by the speech and nodded. "I understand." "You understand again?" "It just means Sister Trozan dotes on me!" Sonia clung to Trozan, acting coquettishly with a giggle. "I love the professor best!" "Really the best?" Trozan asked sarcastically. "At least right now you're the absolute favorite!" Sonia declared resolutely, without batting an eye or blushing. Just as Trozan dodged Sonia's embrace with a look of pure disgust, both of their miracle bracelets suddenly vibrated repeatedly. They opened them and saw identical messages. [Meteorological Bureau Emergency Notice: Void Realm passages have appeared in the Steel Abyss, Shipwreck Abyss, and Eyeball Abyss. The probability of Void Realm passages appearing in areas surrounding Jialesi has increased. Please report any Void Realm passages or unidentified persons to the Police Bureau immediately.] "Void Realm passages in the abysses?" Sonia was puzzled. "And in three abysses at the same time... Isn't that too much of a coincidence?" "All coincidences in this world stem from unavoidable inevitabilities," Trozan mused. "The Four Great Inheritances just ended, and now abnormal situations are cropping up in reality. Perhaps..." "The impact of the Four Great Inheritances is only just beginning to unfold." *** Gospel Nation, Yisu Imperial Palace. [How much more time will it take for Overcoming the Superior to take control of the Gospel god?] The Gospel Book replied: [It will take 45 more days to exert initial influence over the Gospel god, and 465 more days to gain complete control over the Gospel god.] "Yay!" The Witch jumped up on her bed in excitement, but the mattress was so springy that she bounced right off. Not annoyed in the least, she simply lay on the carpet, daydreaming about the future. Finally, there was a chance to escape the Gospel god's threat! In this advancement to Legend, the biggest beneficiary was actually Diya. Whenever a sorcerer reached a higher layer of the Void Realm, their soul underwent a metamorphosis; otherwise, they could not accommodate higher-tier sorcery spirits. For Diya, enduring the Gospel god with a Sanctuary soul versus a Legendary soul was a world of difference in difficulty. Originally, it would have taken another year to resist the Gospel god's brainwashing. Now, she only needed to wait forty-five days for the Overcoming the Superior sorcery procedure to spread across the entire country; by leveraging the populace to launch Overcoming the Superior, she would be able to establish a balance of power against the Gospel god! When that time came, even if she confessed to everyone that Lisdia was the Witch, her personality wouldn't be wiped by the Gospel god! Her soul also happened to need more than a month to recover, so she could easily afford the wait! Diya had originally intended to "build a relationship with Yaxiu from scratch," but the Sword Princess had too immense a first-mover advantage. If Yaxiu hadn't had psychological issues of his own, Diya wouldn't have stood a chance at all. Yet even though Yaxiu had accepted her, their emotional connection still felt far too ethereal and fragile, like a sandcastle in the mist that would scatter at the first gust of wind or crash of a wave—and even without wind or waves, the Sword Princess would stir up trouble to scatter it. Holding onto her previous notions was out of date. Once the Overcoming the Superior miracle was complete, she would come clean directly and leverage their life-and-death experiences together to boost her chances. First, she would find a way to trick Yaxiu into coming back to the Gospel Nation—once he was here, anything would be easy to handle! Then again, if he returned, he would definitely go see Annan... and maybe even Qinna... What should she do about that? While all sorts of scheming plots brewed in the Witch's mind, her Gospel Book suddenly popped up on its own, displaying several messages: [Void Realm passages have appeared at the bottoms of abysses in Fanmula, Azura, Hemaila, Modora, Mengfeila, and other regions. More Void Realm passages are expected to appear within ten days.] Void Realm passages appearing in the abysses? Diya paused, stunned; this was the first time she had witnessed such an anomaly. But she didn't need to ponder it herself; she could just ask directly: [Why are Void Realm passages appearing in the abysses?] This time, however, the Gospel Book calculated for nearly ten minutes before providing an answer: [Due to the influence of the Void Abyss.] [What is a Void Abyss?] [A Void Abyss is a subterranean area or abyss contaminated by the Void Realm. Possessing properties of the Void Realm, the spatial barrier of a Void Abyss is exceptionally frail, making it extremely prone to forming Void Realm passages. Concurrently, new sorcery spirits suited for the Void Abyss will appear in the Void Realm. The subterranean abysses where Void Realm passages have manifested are Void Abyss zones.] [Summarize the impact of the Void Abyss on sorcerers in one sentence.] The Gospel Book: [By utilizing the Void Abyss, sorcerers can travel to other regions with greater ease.] Diya found it rather strange: [Why haven't I heard of the Void Abyss before?] The Gospel Book: [Because it is a new concept that came into being just twenty hours ago.]