Chapter 54: An Expedition into the Desperate Abyss

The location pointed out by Liu Yong was an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.

A bright red skull was marked on the map, symbolizing extreme danger.

Thick, heavy dark clouds shrouded the area, blocking out the sun, and the air was filled with a sickening stench of decay.

Shattered reinforced concrete and twisted metal pipes, resembling the remains of giant beasts, lay scattered across the barren earth.

The team members took a deep breath, gripped their weapons tightly, and stepped into this dead silence.

Sun Yue walked at the very front, crouching low, moving agilely through the ruins like a cheetah, constantly alert to his surroundings.

Wu Xia followed closely at the rear, the compass in her hand spinning continuously as if sensing something.

Pan Yue's spell marks flickered faintly, ready at a moment's notice to provide support for her teammates.

Chen Qiang's towering physique stood like a mobile fortress, safeguarding the team's safety.

Feng Yao's healing spell marks emitted a soft glow, dispelling the fear in everyone's hearts.

Chu Feng walked in the center of the formation, his gaze piercing as he scanned the surrounding environment.

He knew that the key to advancing to intermediate spell masters was hidden here, and fatal dangers lurked in the shadows alongside it.

Yet he did not hesitate in the slightest, because the flames of vengeance burned within his heart; for revenge, he was willing to pay any price.

The deeper they went, the more intense the aura of evil spirits became.

Inside the abandoned workshop, eerie gales blew, emitting hair-raising whimpering sounds.

The walls were covered in bizarre spell marks, radiating a faint green glow.

A suffocating sense of oppression filled the air, as if something terrifying was watching them from the dark.

"Everyone, be careful!" Chu Feng warned in a low voice. His voice was deep and powerful, like the low roar of a sleeping lion.

Suddenly, Sun Yue stopped in his tracks. He whipped around, his face pale, and pointed at a patch of shadows ahead, his voice trembling as he asked, "Th-that... what is that?"

Following the direction of his finger, the others saw a blurred figure slowly emerging from the shadows...

"Watch out!" Chen Qiang roared.

Emerging from the shadows was a giant spider-like evil entity. Its entire body was pitch-black, covered in sharp barbs, and its eight scarlet eyes flashed with a bloodthirsty gleam.

It let out a piercing screech that made everyone's eardrums ring.

With a fierce push of its massive spider legs, it lunged straight toward them.

"Spread out!" Chu Feng shouted. His shadow spell marks instantly erupted, and his figure transformed into a streak of blackness, dodging the spider entity's attack.

The other members also scattered, unleashing their respective spell marks and engaging the spider entity in a fierce battle.

Chaos instantly erupted inside the abandoned factory.

The light of spell marks intertwined and flashed, explosions echoed one after another, and metal fragments and gravel flew everywhere.

Pan Yue's spell marks turned into razor-sharp blades, continuously attacking the spider entity, but they were all blocked by its hard shell.

Liu Yong's mechanical arm sprayed flames, scorching the spider entity's body, but the effect was minimal.

Sun Yue utilized the terrain advantage, darting around to attack, yet he consistently failed to find any weakness on the spider entity.

Chen Qiang stood in front of the group, taking the brunt of the spider entity's assaults with his own body, which was soon covered in wounds.

Wu Xia remained in the rear, constantly gathering intelligence and providing support to her teammates.

Feng Yao's healing spell marks flickered with light, continuously mending her teammates' injuries, but her face was pale, clearly suffering from massive exhaustion.

The spider entity's strength far exceeded their imagination; the team members gradually felt overwhelmed, and injuries mounted.

A sense of despair began to spread through the squad.

Just at that moment, Chu Feng suddenly felt the shadow spell marks inside his body surge, and a powerful force awakened within him.

It was as if he had attained sudden enlightenment regarding the application of some intermediate spell master abilities, and his strength instantly skyrocketed!

"Shadow Assault!" Chu Feng growled, his figure once again transforming into a dark blur, charging toward the spider entity at a speed almost impossible to capture with the naked eye.

The dagger in his hand flashed with a dim light, piercing precisely into the spider entity's eye.

"Hiss—" The spider entity let out a shrill, miserable scream, its massive body trembling violently.

Seizing the opportunity, Chu Feng launched another attack, every strike landing accurately on the spider entity's weak points.

Encouraged, the other members rallied their spirits and renewed their fierce onslaught against the spider entity.

Under Chu Feng's leadership, the team's attacks poured down like a violent storm, forcing the spider entity to retreat step by step, while the surrounding lesser entities fled in panic.

Finally, amidst a series of violent explosions, the spider entity crashed heavily to the ground, dissolving into a cloud of black mist that dissipated into the air.

Calm was restored inside the abandoned factory, leaving behind only debris-strewn ground and lingering smoke.

Leaning on his dagger, Chu Feng breathed heavily. Pan Yue immediately ran to his side, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"

Looking at Pan Yue, Chu Feng smiled faintly. "I'm fine..." He suddenly paused, gazing deep into the factory, and whispered, "Over there... it seems there is something..."

Amidst the swirling smoke, Pan Yue's gaze never left Chu Feng's figure.

She watched him fight through blood, every sweep of his dagger carrying an unstoppable might, making him look like a descending deity.

The moment Chu Feng had erupted just now was deeply etched into Pan Yue's mind.

It was not merely an increase in strength, but a profound sense of steadfast reliability.

She felt her heartbeat accelerate; amidst life and death, affection between the two had quietly sprouted.

Chu Feng helped Pan Yue to her feet and looked around. The other members slowly gathered.

Chen Qiang and Sun Yue were heavily injured, and Feng Yao's healing spell marks had dimmed considerably, showing clear signs of exhaustion.

Wu Xia was inspecting the surrounding environment, seemingly searching for something.

Liu Yong walked alone toward the depths of the factory. He carefully observed the surrounding walls and ground, his brow furrowed in deep thought.

Suddenly, he stopped, pointed at a complex spell mechanism on the wall, and said, "These mechanisms... seem to be interconnected."

Hearing this, the others gathered around.

Pointing to several key mechanisms, Liu Yong explained, "Look, this mechanism controls the fire, while that one controls the poison gas release device. If we activate both at the same time, the flames and the poison gas will neutralize each other, thereby disarming the danger."

Only then did everyone realize the truth. Previously, they had been troubled by these mechanisms and dared not touch them lightly, never expecting such a clever solution to exist.

Liu Yong's intelligence won everyone's admiration once again.

Drawing upon his past experience as a mechanical engineer, he easily dismantled the heavy traps set by the enemy.

Under Liu Yong's guidance, the group carefully operated the mechanisms, and sure enough, the once-fatal traps were neutralized one by one.

Successfully bypassing the numerous internal mechanisms of the factory, they arrived before a massive metal door.

The metal door was carved with ancient spell marks, emanating a heart-palpitating aura.

Chu Feng reached out and touched the spell marks on the door, and a chilling energy instantly coursed through his entire body.

"Here..." Chu Feng withdrew his hand, speaking in a low voice, "It seems some secret is hidden here..."

Wu Xia took out her compass, its needle spinning wildly before finally pointing straight at the metal door.

"It seems what we are looking for is inside," Wu Xia said.

Chu Feng took a deep breath, his gaze resolute. "Then open it!"

Just as Chu Feng prepared to force the door open, Liu Yong suddenly called out, "Wait!" He pointed at an inconspicuous groove on the door. "Here... it seems something is missing."

Observing closely, the group realized the groove was shaped like a piece of some special stone.

"What kind of stone?" Pan Yue asked.

At that moment, the previously silent Sun Yue suddenly pulled a black stone from his pocket and said, "Could this... be what we are looking for?"

Chu Feng took the stone and examined it closely. It felt icy to the touch, with strange patterns carved into its surface that bore some resemblance to the spell marks on the door.

He placed the stone into the groove, and it fit snugly without a single gap.

Rumble—

The metal door slowly opened, and an ancient and mysterious aura rushed toward them...

"This..." Chu Feng stared at the sight behind the door, his pupils contracting sharply. "What is this place..."

Behind the metal door lay a massive underground space. Glowing crystals were embedded in the surrounding walls, illuminating the place as brightly as day.

In the center of the space stood an ancient altar, and floating above it was a crystal emitting powerful energy fluctuations—precisely the target of their trip: the spell mark energy source.

"We did it!" Pan Yue couldn't help cheering, her crisp voice echoing in the empty space.

Relief washed over the faces of the other team members; after enduring such perilous combat, they had finally reaped their reward.

"The energy of this thing is so powerful!" Sun Yue's eyes glowed as he stared at the floating crystal, as if he were looking at boundless wealth.

Liu Yong calmly analyzed the surrounding environment, noting that the ground around the altar was carved with complex spell marks that shared similarities with those on the metal door.

Feng Yao walked to the edge of the altar, cautiously reaching out to feel the energy radiating from the crystal.

To her astonishment, this energy contained a potent healing force.

Chen Qiang walked up to Chu Feng, patted him on the shoulder, and laughed heartily, "Chu Feng, we owe this all to you. All the brothers respect you now!"

Chu Feng smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over every teammate present. Each of them had contributed immensely to this battle, and their trust and camaraderie had grown even deeper.

He walked up to the altar and slowly extended his hand toward the crystal radiating immense energy.

The moment his fingers were about to touch the crystal, the spell marks on the altar suddenly flared into light, and a powerful force blasted him backward.

"Watch out!" Wu Xia cried out in alarm.

Everyone immediately raised their guard, watching the changes on the altar with vigilance.

The light on the altar grew increasingly intense, ultimately converging into a massive sphere of light inside of which a mysterious symbol emerged.

It was a pattern composed of countless twisted lines, looking remarkably like a giant eye gazing into the void, inducing an inexplicable sense of dread.

Chu Feng slowly stood up, his expression solemn as he stared at the mysterious symbol, an ominous premonition welling up in his heart.

"What does this symbol... mean?" Pan Yue asked softly, breaking the surrounding silence.

"I don't know..." Chu Feng furrowed his brow, shaking his head. He had never seen such a symbol before, yet he felt it somehow harbored some ancient secret.

"We must leave this place as soon as possible!" Liu Yong said in a deep voice. "This place is definitely not benign!"

The others nodded, knowing time was of the essence. They swiftly gathered the crystal and, carrying the vital intelligence, departed from the secret-laden underground space.

When they returned to the surface, the sky was still blanketed by thick dark clouds, as if nothing had happened at all.

They walked toward the exit of the ruins.

"Over there... it looks like there's something..." Sun Yue pointed into the distance, his voice trembling slightly.

Everyone turned their gazes in the direction he indicated. Deep within the mist, the silhouette of a massive dark shadow loomed faintly, like a giant beast with its maw agape, waiting for its prey to arrive...