Chapter 19: The Abyssal Invasion

The next afternoon, as Qin Shu cast his Spiritual Rain Technique, the core of the farm’s array began to vibrate.

He turned towards the east. “I wonder if they’re here.”

Outside the farm, eleven men and women awaited him, led by a female teacher.

“This branch is so disrespectful,” muttered a soft-faced man with a cold snort. “They haven’t even bothered to welcome us ahead of time.”

“Chen Donger, we’re guests here. Watch your language,” the female teacher chided.

“Yeah, Mr. Rabbit, remember we’re supposed to be honored guests.”

“If anyone calls me ‘Mr. Rabbit’ again, I’ll lose my temper,” Chen Donger growled, his eyes blazing red.

“That’s enough! Don’t make fools of yourselves.” The female teacher radiated her Origin Spirit Realm might, instantly bringing silence to the scene.

“Yes, Ms. Wang,” they all replied.

Now everyone behaved themselves.

Qin Shu didn’t keep them waiting long. Sensing the fluctuations in the array, he activated his Hurricane Step. In less than five minutes, he appeared at the edge of the farm and opened the array.

“My apologies for keeping you all waiting,” he said, adhering to the principle that courtesy never goes amiss.

“It’s no trouble; we haven’t been waiting long. Just show us to our accommodations,” Ms. Wang replied straightforwardly.

As for the other new arrivals, she completely ignored them.

Just a Bronze-tier spiritual soul—why bother stooping to his level?

Qin Shu sensed this dismissal but secretly sighed in relief; as long as there were no complications, that was fine.

“Please follow me,” he said, leading them to another villa at the opposite end of the lotus pond.

Upon arrival, Ms. Wang waved her hand indifferently. “If there’s nothing else, you may withdraw. Remember to open the formation early tomorrow morning.”

“Yes!” Qin Shu responded with a smile before silently taking his leave.

After some time passed, one girl remarked, “He seems perceptive, knowing when to advance or retreat. It appears even Bronze souls have their uses!”

“So what? Bronze is still Bronze—we’re not from the same world.”

“That’s right. Just a Qi Refinement cultivator, destined to be dust within two centuries at most. We, on the other hand, can attain infinite life as immortals.”

Each student held similar sentiments, exuding an air of arrogance and superiority.

As someone who had once been in their shoes, Ms. Wang understood her students’ thoughts well enough, yet she wouldn’t correct them—it was indeed true.

This sense of being above all others led them to disregard anything they deemed inferior.

Moreover, such character traits would only grow more pronounced over time, eventually reaching a state devoid of compassion.

Of course, not all spiritual soul awakened beings were like this; it was just that such individuals made up the majority.

In truth, Qin Shu’s state was similar as well. Except when facing those he cared about, his arrogance towards others exceeded even theirs. However, this pride remained internalized, never manifesting externally.

It wasn’t that he looked down on people, but rather that he simply didn’t pay them much attention—a mindset akin to “minding one’s own business in times of hardship.”

One day, as usual, passed peacefully. The arrival of these new students from the main campus merely served as an ordinary interruption.

They stayed only a single night before leaving the farm for their training expedition into the Kui Mountain Range.

“Finally they’re gone!” Qin Shu watched them depart, then contentedly cast a large-scale Spiritual Rain Technique over tens of thousands of acres of rice fields.

He thought he would continue enjoying peaceful cultivation days.

But shortly after these newcomers entered the mountains, a sudden catastrophe struck.

That very evening, several streaks of light flew out from within the Kui Mountain Range. Simultaneously, a voice boomed across the area: “All personnel within ten thousand kilometers of the Kui Mountain Range must evacuate immediately!”

The token at Qin Shu’s waist vibrated again, projecting a message:

An abyssal energy eruption has occurred in the depths of the Kui Mountain Range. A beast tide is imminent. Retreat swiftly.

When Qin Shu saw this message, he noticed black mist surging like a tsunami towards him; there was no escape.

“Damn it!” He couldn’t help but curse out loud. “What about the professional teams? How could they miss such a massive Abyssal invasion?”

His heart raced as realization struck—there was no way for him to flee. After a moment of rapid deliberation, he made his decision: This is my only choice.

He immediately connected with the aura of the Infinite Abyss and teleported inside.

If this area could be preserved, upon successfully completing his mission, he would be able to teleport back to exactly where he started. If not, he’d be sent to another safe location on the God Soul Continent instead.

At that point, though, pinpointing his exact position would become impossible.

Let’s hope fortune smiles upon us, he thought.

In the instant he teleported into the abyss, the once lush Kui Mountain Range transformed into towering peaks of darkness. Monster birds and beasts carrying the unmistakable scent of the Abyss began their rampage.

The farm’s protective formation crumbled instantly, as fragile as wet tissue paper against the onslaught.

Of the 179 branch campuses, only those far from the Kui Mountains managed to evacuate successfully. The rest found themselves trapped within the maelstrom.

Liu Yubai gazed in the direction of the Kui Mountains and sighed heavily. “We’ve suffered tremendous losses this time.”

In one of the fragments of the Infinite Abyss, Qin Shu sighed as well. “We’ve suffered a great loss this time.”

Indeed, the crops they had painstakingly tended to were destroyed overnight—a loss of over a hundred thousand spiritual soul coins!

His heart ached at the thought.

Qin Shu’s divine sense swept across the area, revealing nothing but ruins and debris.

A gust of wind kicked up, filling the air with sand and reducing visibility to near zero.

Looking up through the swirling yellow haze, he spotted an enormous silhouette standing between heaven and earth.

As he approached, it became clear that it was once a skyscraper—hundreds of stories tall—now severed at the waist, its other half lost to the void.

Suddenly, the ground began to quake.

Without thinking, Qin Shu pushed off his feet, launching himself into the air.

Boom!

An immense monster burst forth from the earth, its gaping maw snapping at Qin Shu in a single bound, propelled by explosive force far greater than his own.

In that moment of peril, Qin Shu activated Hurricane Step, compressing air beneath his feet to create a sonic boom. He rode the shockwave, evading those colossal jaws.

Only then did he get a good look at the creature.

Its body was sheathed in fine scales, each seam packed with dense, glossy fur.

Its head formed a massive mouth, eight thick lips that opened to reveal a pitch-black cavern when agape—like an abyssal pit—and closed to form a drill bit, reminiscent of a tunneling machine.

This was a second-rank Earthworm Monster—an elite among its kind.

“I smell trouble coming this way!”

Qin Shu’s space ring glinted, and the Spiritual Acuity Sword flew out, growing larger as it settled in his hand.

The earthworm monster, though eyeless, was incredibly sensitive to its surroundings. Failing to strike true with its first attack, it began writhing in its mouth.

Pff!

Acidic mucus erupted from its jaws, a foul-smelling greenish-yellow ooze.

“Return whence you came!” Qin Shu pushed his hands forward, conjuring a tempestuous wind that coalesced into a whirling vortex, hurling the viscous spray back at its source.

The mucus fell like rain, seeping into the sandy soil and corroding it into chunks, while thick smoke billowed upwards. Some droplets landed on the earthworm monster’s fine scales, but they merely slid off without leaving a trace.

Realizing it had met its match, the creature turned tail, attempting to burrow underground and escape.

“Trying to flee? Perfect timing. I’ll use you to test my power.”

Qin Shu’s counterattack commenced as he materialized an apricot-yellow flag. “Seal the Earth!”

He thrust the flagpole into the ground; with a flash of yellow light, the surface hardened into an impenetrable barrier.

The earthworm monster’s drill-like head sparked against the ground, yet couldn’t penetrate even a fraction of an inch. Even the small segment already buried became trapped, rendering it immobile.

Qin Shu executed the first form of the Cyan Lotus Sword Art: Lotus Bloom!

His fingers moved with sword-like precision, channeling energy into a streak of sword qi. This arc condensed the essence of heaven and earth, transforming into a cyan lotus.

As the lotus blossomed before the earthworm monster, its petals unfurled with explosive force.