Gathering at the Death Abyss Outer Ring

Evan Yang listened, but his curiosity kept nagging at him, so after asking his questions, he left to investigate further.

As he walked out, the seer sighed, "Another person heading off to die."

Evan waited for a while and soon saw an excited Theo Tian come out.

"So? Did you find it?" Evan asked, curious at Theo's excitement. "I did! The seer just told me," Theo replied.

"That's good. Do you know where it is?" Evan asked, still curious.

"I don't really know, but I got the name. I can go into the city and check the Death Realm's general layout," Theo said.

"Alright, let's do that. I'll get a map too," Evan replied.

Theo nodded at Evan, and the two of them left the Seer Tower, looking for a blue soul to ask where maps were sold.

They quickly found one. The map was similar to those of the Immortal Realm—just a small section—but Evan saw that the Death Abyss he needed was marked, a huge black circle covering a large area.

"This is exactly what I need," Evan said to the shopkeeper.

Theo also found a map with what he needed, so both of them bought one. The price wasn't too high—ten thousand each—and Evan had no trouble paying.

After leaving the shop, Theo said gratefully, "Thanks, Brother Mu. Without your Soul Stones, I wouldn't even know how to find my wife's soul."

"Don't mention it. Here, take some more Soul Stones. You can use them on the road," Evan said.

Theo looked a bit embarrassed. "I really shouldn't," he said.

"No need to be so polite. I've got plenty, and I can easily get more," Evan replied.

Theo hesitated, then finally agreed. "Alright, then."

"Looks like it's time for us to go our separate ways," Evan said.

"I don't know how to repay this kindness," Theo said gratefully.

"Alright, enough talk. Let's go. We'll split up when we reach the city," Evan said.

Theo nodded. Once they got outside the city, he said goodbye to Evan, and the two went their separate ways, heading for their own destinations as described on the map.

Evan memorized the map. Based on his initial estimate, it would take several months to reach the place, but fortunately, it was relatively close to the Death Abyss.

Evan thought it over—a few months was manageable. At worst, he'd just keep flying. With that, he set out, determined to find what he was looking for.

On the way, he passed through several cities. One day, while passing a city, a group of black souls appeared, startling Evan—it was his first time seeing black souls.

The black souls surrounded Evan, watching him closely. He was confused—he'd never offended them, so why were they stopping him?

"It's you, no mistake. Come with us," one of the black souls said.

"I don't know you. Don't block my way," Evan said, annoyed at being stopped.

"Still daring to resist? If you do, you'll be punished on the spot!" the black soul warned.

"Punished on the spot? Who exactly are you people?" Evan asked, curious.

"We're the enforcers of this region. Anyone who breaks the rules here will be punished. You dared to kill souls in the Death Realm, so you'd better come with us. Maybe you'll get a lighter sentence. Otherwise, your body will be destroyed, and your soul will end up blacklisted," the black soul said.

Evan was secretly shocked—he hadn't expected this. "So that's how it is. If I've already broken the rules, there's nothing I can do," he said.

After speaking, Evan flashed away quickly. By the time the souls reacted, he was already some distance off, with several chasing behind.

Except for one soul, the rest couldn't keep up.

"Aren't you afraid of being utterly destroyed?" the black soul behind him threatened.

"Soul annihilation? Let me warn you—if you keep coming, you'll be the one who gets destroyed," Evan replied with a grin.

"Arrogant! I'd like to see how you plan to destroy me," the black soul said angrily.

"Is that so? Then let me show you," Evan said with a smile. He released Soul-Slashing Water. Though it didn't affect others much, it was a natural nemesis to souls.

In front of him, souls would feel a sense of fear. When the black soul saw Soul-Slashing Water flying out, it trembled inexplicably.

"Who... who are you?" the black soul asked in terror.

"Weren't you just threatening to destroy me? Now I'll show you what that means!" Evan snorted coldly. The Soul-Slashing Water, eager for a taste, opened its maw and devoured the soul.

The soul was swallowed by the Soul-Slashing Water, lost all awareness, and had no idea what had happened.

"Swallow one, that's enough for you to digest. Go back." Evan Yang said, and with that, all the Soul-Reaping Water entered Evan's body.

Evan thought for a moment. Looks like he’d need to be wary of these things in the future—this time they were weak, but next time he might run into something powerful.

So, in the days that followed, Evan not only kept traveling, but kept running into black souls. Every time they saw him, they tried to block his path.

This left Evan pretty frustrated, but all he could do was keep moving and keep wiping them out.

But eventually, he ran into a powerful black soul. It unleashed a heavy pressure at Evan and said, "You dare kill so many souls? You’re courting death!"

A surge of force attacked, and Evan dodged immediately. What followed was a fierce duel between man and soul, sparks flying in the air.

"Who are you?" Evan asked.

"I am a High-Rank Soldier Soul!" the soul replied.

"High-Rank Soldier?" Evan had no idea how these soldiers were ranked.

"You wouldn’t understand. I’ll tell you after I kill you." The soul snorted coldly.

The soul attacked rapidly, forcing Evan to dodge again and again. After a while, Evan unleashed Soul-Reaping Water. The High-Rank Soldier Soul was clearly afraid, but still snorted, "What kind of weird thing is that? Watch me destroy you."

The soul tried to attack the Soul-Reaping Water, but its attacks had no effect. Furious, the soul grew even angrier.

"No need to get angry. Let me send you on your way." Evan snorted coldly.

With that, he devoured the soul. Evan then composed himself and continued on his way. But halfway, the Soul-Reaping Water spoke up: "That High-Rank Soldier Soul was too big—I need to rest. Don’t call me out again, or I’ll burst."

Evan was stunned for a moment, then nodded. He left it alone. Just as he was about to leave, he felt something wrong with his body—it was starting to stiffen. "What’s going on?" Evan wondered, alarmed.

He saw several cracks appear on his body, as if it was being corroded by something.

"Right, a month has passed—does that mean my body really can’t survive here for more than a month?" Evan exclaimed. He hurried into his tower, and only then did he avoid disaster.

"Whew, looks like the tower’s space is independent, cut off from the outside. I’ll be fine here," Evan muttered. His body’s wounds slowly healed.

If he went outside again, the same thing would happen. But if he controlled the tower to fly outside, it’d be easy for the souls to spot him. Faced with this situation...

Evan didn’t know what to do, until he remembered the Soul Realm. His body and soul used to be separate—worst case, he’d try again. So Evan closed his eyes, and after a while, his body and soul separated, this time successfully.

His body was alive, his soul was alive, and Evan could control both with a single thought. So he left his body in the tower and sent his soul out. Now, in the Death Realm, he was just like any other soul—but oddly, he appeared as a black soul. He wondered why not blue or red, but black.

Faced with this puzzle, Evan didn’t know how to solve it. He kept moving forward, seeing other black souls along the way. When they saw him, they greeted him and moved on.

"They’re treating me like one of their own?" Evan wondered, surprised.

But this worked out well—it let Evan easily avoid the black souls. None realized the soul that just passed by was actually Evan.

After a few months, Evan arrived at a city on the outskirts of the Death Abyss. He didn’t rush into the abyss—instead, he decided to learn about the area first, especially since he was now in soul form, which was much more convenient.

Just a few steps in, Evan saw many souls flying around, some even swooping overhead, their destinations unknown.

Evan’s goal now was to understand the situation. He’d already visited several soul gathering spots—here, black, blue, and red souls mingled.

There were even some deep blue and deep red souls. Evan knew these were strong, so he didn’t provoke them—just listened from the sidelines.

These souls even drank, maybe a habit brought from the human world. Their drinking style was similar, but no one knew what liquid they drank.

Evan ordered some, tasted it, found it pretty good, and drank while listening in on the souls nearby.

Among the black souls, Evan overheard talk about a human who’d killed souls—they were hunting that person. Evan knew exactly who they meant and was surprised to hear himself discussed.

After listening to that, Evan turned to see what others were discussing.

"Hey, East-Laugh Ghost King, what’s this about? Why are we being sent to that place?" a blue soul asked curiously.

Another blue soul muttered, "I heard there’s some treasure appearing there. Whoever gets it can unify the Death Realm."

"Is that for real? I doubt it," another blue soul said skeptically.

"Who knows? But look around—most of the souls in this city are here for that, and they’re all under different Ghost Kings," a blue soul replied.