124: Chapter 124 Burial Abyss

One week later, in the early morning, the three women sat around a stone table in the East Courtyard. A cup of freshly brewed hot tea sat before each of them, but no one took a sip.

Yao Ling stood before the three of them, checked their pulses one by one, and a faint smile appeared on her youthful face.

She withdrew her fingers and turned to look at Hun Feng, who had just stepped out of the study, "Congratulations, Young Master. Lady Yao Yao, Lady Xiao Yi Xian, and Lady Yun Yun—all three ladies are with child."

There was a moment of silence around the stone table.

Yao Yao was the first to react. Her peach-blossom eyes widened, and she looked down at her still-flat abdomen, reaching out to touch it in disbelief.

Usually the most talkative, she couldn't say a single word at this moment. Instead, she looked up at Hun Feng, and a faint shimmer of moisture welled up in her typically mischievous peach-blossom eyes.

She had grown up with Hun Feng. Over the years, she had watched Cai Lin, Xun'er, and Cao Ying get pregnant. While she always claimed not to care, in her heart, she cared more than anyone.

Now that it was finally her turn, her eyes reddened, but she couldn't suppress the smile on her lips.

Xiao Yi Xian's hand, holding her teacup, froze in mid-air. Her face, usually as cold as frost, remained expressionless, but her knuckles gripping the cup turned slightly white.

After a long while, she whispered, "I will embroider a few pouches for the child in a few days," her tone remaining as calm and unhurried as ever, but her ears had quietly turned red.

Yun Yun sat upright on the stone stool, her hands folded on her lap. She was as dignified and composed as ever, but her eyes were slightly red.

As a woman approaching forty, she had thought she might never have children again when she married into the Hun Clan. Now that happiness had come so quickly, she didn't know what to say, so she simply squeezed the hand of Xiao Yi Xian beside her and nodded at Hun Feng.

Cao Ying, holding her daughter, clicked her tongue in amazement nearby, "Husband, your efforts over these three nights were truly not in vain. Three at once; the East Courtyard is going to have quite a few more people."

Hun Feng leaned against a porch pillar, the smile on his lips impossible to suppress. He walked over to his three wives, kissed each of them on the forehead, and said gently to take good care of themselves and tell Hun Qian if they needed anything.

From today on, he would sleep in the study—to avoid being unable to control himself.

Yao Yao burst into laughter, the touch of emotion from just a moment ago instantly cast to the nine heavens. Her peach-blossom eyes were once again filled with mischief, "So you have a day like this too? Who was it that said 'I'll give you all my stock' back then? Do you know what it's like to be afraid now?"

Hun Feng replied without changing his expression, "I'm not afraid; I'm just worried about you."

Xiao Yi Xian rarely took the initiative to add, "The study is cold at night, add an extra quilt," her tone still calm, but the corners of her eyes clearly curved.

Yun Yun said nothing, only pushed her teacup toward Hun Feng.

And so, the dignified Young Master of the Hun Clan, an Eight Star Dou Sheng and wielder of the Heaven-Slaying Flame, moved into the study in defeat that very night.

Every evening, Yao Yao would support her waist and wander around the door of the study, asking him if he was used to sleeping there.

Hun Feng would always say, "Just you wait, when the child is born, see how I deal with you."

Medusa leaned on a soft couch, watching this scene. Her fingers, which were turning over a letter, paused slightly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

Gu Xun'er held her teacup, covering most of her face, but the clear eyes revealed were clearly curved into crescent moons.

Cao Ying laughed the loudest, sitting on a stone stool with her daughter in her arms, teaching Hun Muying to wave a handkerchief at her father.

Hun Muxiao poked her head out from under the corridor, watching her father's pitiful appearance as he reviewed war reports in the study, and asked Aunt Yaoyao earnestly, "Did Father get kicked out by Mother again?"

Yao Yao laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up, repeatedly saying, "Yes, yes, yes, your father deserves it."

One month later!

Hun Feng had completely refined the energy of those Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan elders, and his foundation at the late Eight Star stage was extremely stable.

He could feel the massive energy in his dantian filling his meridians; he only needed one final opportunity to break through the bottleneck.

However, to cross this threshold required extremely vast soul energy as support—relying solely on daily cultivation would require at least several years of accumulation.

Just as he was pondering where to find this opportunity, Hun Qian came to report that the Clan Leader was waiting for him in the main hall.

Hun Tiandi was not sitting in the main seat reading his endless ancient scrolls today. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back in front of the sand table in the center of the hall. Void Swallowing Flame stood in human form beside him, and Hun Qinger was also there, leaning in a corner and playing with a tiny ice crystal.

The sand table marked the Northern Region of the Soul Realm. At the northernmost end of the sand table, there was a long, narrow fissure circled in cinnabar—the Soul Burial Abyss.

"Your foundation at the late Eight Star stage is stable, but you still lack one opportunity." Hun Tiandi did not turn around, his voice calm yet carrying an unquestionable weight, "Before every generation of experts in the Hun Clan attempts to reach the Nine Star stage, they all go to the Soul Burial Abyss."

"That is the trial ground of the Soul Realm. At the bottom of the abyss drift the vengeful souls of experts killed by the Hun Clan over countless years. Each wisp of vengeful soul is a source of soul essence that has been imprisoned for thousands of years."

"With your Emperor Realm Soul and the purifying power of the Heaven-Slaying Flame, the risk of devouring those vengeful souls is low, but the benefits are immense."

"Cultivating there for one day is equivalent to dozens of days in the outside world, and the speed of soul power improvement is incomparable to the outside. Those who make it out alive have all broken through. Many, however, die inside."

Hun Feng walked to the sand table and looked down at the long, narrow fissure circled in cinnabar.

He knew about the Soul Burial Abyss—it had been mentioned in the original work; core disciples of the Hun Clan would all go there when attempting to break through major bottlenecks.

Risk and reward coexisted; those whose willpower was not firm enough would be devoured by the vengeful souls and become mindless walking corpses.

But his Emperor Realm Soul was already stable, and the purifying power of the Heaven-Slaying Flame was the nemesis of vengeful souls. He was ninety percent sure he could cross this threshold.

"When do I depart?" Hun Feng straightened up.

Hun Tiandi finally turned to look at him, a faint smile appearing on his lips, and said there was no rush; before leaving, he should go say goodbye to his wives.

There is no sun or moon in the Soul Burial Abyss; once inside, one loses track of time. It could take a few days, or it could take several months.

Void Swallowing Flame's low voice echoed in the hall, "Back then, Soul Yuan Tian stayed inside for two months before breaking through, and he was a whole circle thinner when he came out. Although that place is the trial ground of the Hun Clan, it is not without risks for you."

Hun Feng nodded, bowed slightly to Void Swallowing Flame, and then turned to walk out of the hall.

On the eve of his departure, the East Courtyard set up a simple farewell banquet for him.

A few dishes of home-cooked food and a small pot of warmed wine were placed on the stone table. His wives sat around the table, the atmosphere a bit quieter than usual.

Medusa leaned on a soft couch; her due date was not far off, her abdomen was visibly rounded, and her movements were much slower than before.

She called Hun Muxiao over, whispered a few words to her, then looked up at Hun Feng and said only two words: "Be careful."

Hun Feng nodded.

Yao Yao tugged at his sleeve, her peach-blossom eyes unusually devoid of playfulness, only saying that when he returned, he must be the first to hold the child in her belly.

Gu Xun'er gently placed a Gu Clan protective talisman in his palm, saying it was sent by her father and could block one fatal attack.

Xiao Yi Xian did not say much, simply stuffing a bottle of detoxifying pills she had concocted herself into his sleeve.

Yun Yun straightened his collar, her movements very light and slow, saying that the Flower Sect's founder would bless him.

Cao Ying held her daughter and told him to go with peace of mind, as they would take care of the home.

When Hun Feng left the East Courtyard, he looked back at the lights that were lit one after another.

Yao Yao's room was lit; she was likely fiddling with her bone whip again. Xiao Yi Xian's room was lit; she was likely still embroidering a pouch. Yun Yun's room was also lit; she was likely organizing the Flower Sect documents that Hun Qian had delivered today.

Six bedrooms, six lights, three unborn children—all waiting for his return.

He withdrew his gaze, turned, and walked toward the Northern Region of the Soul Realm.

The Soul Burial Abyss was located in the deepest part of the Northern Region of the Soul Realm.

The entrance was a massive fissure stretching for hundreds of miles, like a hideous wound cleaved into the earth by an invisible giant axe.

The mouth of the abyss was filled year-round with thick, ink-like black mist, formed by the vengeful souls of experts killed by the Hun Clan over hundreds of millions of years, churning and shrieking in the abyss.

Hun Feng stood at the edge of the abyss. The aura of the vengeful souls rushing toward him made even his Emperor Realm Soul tremble slightly. Countless twisted voices rose from the bottom of the abyss—some laughing wildly, some wailing, some cursing viciously, weaving into a hair-raising chaos.

He took a deep breath, and the blood-red light of the Heaven-Slaying Flame spread around him, its nine flame halos particularly dazzling in the darkness.

Then he leaped, disappearing into the black mist at the bottom of the abyss.

The world at the bottom of the abyss was completely different from the outside world.

There was no sky, no earth, only endless darkness and churning vengeful souls.

Countless twisted soul bodies surged from all directions, each carrying deep resentment and killing intent.

He sat cross-legged on a protruding black boulder at the bottom of the abyss and spread out his Emperor Realm Soul, allowing those vengeful souls to surge into his sea of consciousness like a tide.

The threshold for breaking through to the Nine Star stage was right before him.

All he had to do now was to stay here—until that bottleneck was broken.