Chapter 10: The Abyssal Lord's Challenge
The air was heavy.
Not just with abyssal energy, but with something greater—a presence that demanded obedience.
Lin Fan stood motionless, his golden eyes locked onto the figure emerging from the mist.
The Abyssal Lord had arrived.
Towering at nearly five meters, its form was a grotesque fusion of shadow and flesh. Its body was wrapped in abyssal mist, shifting constantly between solid and ethereal. Jagged horns protruded from its skull, and its molten crimson eyes burned with an intelligence that sent a silent warning—
This was not a mindless beast.
This was a ruler of the Abyss.
And it would not kneel easily.
Lin Fan's smirk widened.
Good.
A test of his newfound power was exactly what he needed.
---
A Sovereign's Battle
The Abyssal Lord moved first.
With a single step, the ground shattered beneath it, sending shockwaves through the ruined forest.
Then, without warning—
It vanished.
Lin Fan's instincts screamed.
He barely had time to twist his body before a massive clawed hand descended from above, crashing into the earth with the force of a meteor.
BOOM!
The entire clearing collapsed into a crater, debris flying in every direction. Trees were uprooted. The air was thick with dust.
But Lin Fan had already reacted.
He landed a dozen meters away, his body crackling with abyssal energy. The chaotic power surged within him, reinforcing his limbs, sharpening his senses.
He could keep up.
And more importantly—
He could win.
---
The Unchained Abyss
Lin Fan didn't wait.
He extended his hand—
And the abyss obeyed.
The shadows at his feet erupted, tendrils of black mist shooting toward the Abyssal Lord. The mist twisted into blades, spears, chains, each one seeking to devour its target.
The Lord growled, a deep, guttural sound that reverberated through the shattered landscape. With a sweep of its clawed arm, the abyssal energy was torn apart, dispersing into the air.
But Lin Fan was already in motion.
He appeared behind the Abyssal Lord in a blur of darkness, his fist coated in raw chaos energy.
"Fall."
His punch connected—
And the Abyssal Lord reeled.
The sheer force sent the towering entity skidding backward, carving trenches into the broken earth. For the first time, its burning gaze flickered—not with fear, but acknowledgment.
Lin Fan's smirk deepened.
He was no longer just a cultivator.
He was something beyond that now.
And the Abyssal Lord knew it.
---
The Lord's True Power
But the fight was far from over.
The Abyssal Lord roared—a sound that cracked the air itself. The mist surrounding its body grew denser, warping reality. The very concept of space seemed to bend, and Lin Fan felt an unnatural force pulling at him.
[Abyssal Domain: Lord's Sanctum Activated.]
The world shifted.
The ruined battlefield was gone.
Lin Fan now stood in a realm of pure abyss—a void filled with swirling darkness, where gravity twisted unpredictably, and the laws of reality were no longer stable.
The Abyssal Lord wasn't just powerful.
It could create its own battlefield.
Lin Fan's expression turned serious.
A true test, then.
Perfect.
---
Breaking the Chains of the Abyss
Lin Fan took a step forward—
And the Abyssal Lord descended upon him.
Blades of abyssal energy tore through the air. Reality twisted as the Lord moved at impossible speeds, its claws and tendrils shredding through space itself.
Lin Fan didn't retreat.
He met the attack head-on.
Chaos Infusion—Second Form.
His Abyssal Mark blazed, and the energy within him ignited. His body became a conduit for raw, untamed chaos, his strikes leaving behind echoes of destruction.
He dodged the first swipe.
Countered the second.
Then—
He struck.
And this time—
The Abyssal Lord staggered.
Its form flickered, struggling to maintain stability in the face of Lin Fan's chaotic power.
Lin Fan's grin was sharp.
"You're strong," he admitted. "But you've made one mistake."
The Abyssal Lord's burning gaze narrowed.
Lin Fan raised his hand—
And the entire domain trembled.
Because the Abyss no longer belonged to the Lord alone.
It belonged to him.
---
A Sovereign Rises
The Abyssal Lord's domain began to collapse.
The very abyssal energy it had commanded was now being absorbed by Lin Fan's presence. The swirling darkness bent toward him, drawn by something greater—
Not just power.
But authority.
Lin Fan clenched his fist, and the remaining abyssal energy imploded, forcing the Lord back into the material world.
The battlefield returned.
The air was still.
The Abyssal Lord stood there, silent.
Then—
It knelt.
[Abyssal Lord Recognizes Your Authority.]
[Would You Like to Claim the Lord's Throne?]
Lin Fan exhaled slowly.
So this was what it meant to rule.
He stepped forward, placing a hand on the creature's massive horned head.
"I accept."
The moment he spoke the words—
A surge of abyssal energy flooded his body.
The Abyssal Mark on his palm twisted, expanding into something far more intricate, laced with glowing runes of both chaos and dominion.
And deep within the Forbidden Region—
The other Abyssal Lords felt it.
A new Sovereign had been born.
And soon, they would have to choose.
Submit.
Or die.
---
Beyond the Forbidden Region: Cultivation Sects React
Far beyond the abyss, in the grand halls of the most powerful cultivation sects, the Heavens trembled.
Elders who had meditated for centuries snapped awake, their divine senses shaking with unease.
In the Celestial Dao Sect, the Grand Elder opened his ancient eyes, murmuring a single word:
"Abyssal Sovereign…?"
Elsewhere, in the halls of the Scarlet Sun Pavilion, a powerful cultivator clenched his fists.
"This aura… impossible. No one has tamed the Abyss since the Era of the Primordials."
A storm was brewing.
And at its center—
Lin Fan stood alone.
But not for long.
Because soon—
The entire cultivation world would come for him.
And he would be ready.