I don't know how much time had passed when Shen Qing was awakened by a sweet female voice.
She opened her eyes and met a pair of bright big eyes.
"You're finally awake, Shen Qing."
Shen Qing covered her forehead and struggled to sit up. "You know me?"
Standing in front of her was a girl dressed in gorgeous clothes. She looked to be in her late twenties.
With a smiling face, she said playfully, "Of course I know you."
"Who are you?"
Shen Qing rummaged through all the memories in her mind but still couldn't recognize who this girl in front of her was.
The girl took a few steps back and said with a laugh, "Take a good look at me again." As she spoke, she twirled around in front of Shen Qing twice.
Shen Qing looked at the girl's face. She had a pair of bright, round almond - shaped eyes, and her chubby cheeks were extremely cute. There were two dimples on the sides of her cheeks when she smiled.
Her smile was so sweet...
This was Shen Qing's first impression of the girl in front of her.
The girl looked at Shen Qing's dazed look helplessly and flicked her head with her finger.
"Really. You took my power but can't recognize me. You don't seem very smart."
Shen Qing was greatly surprised. The image of the girl in front of her gradually overlapped with that of little Luo Ling.
"You... You're Luo Ling! Luo Ling when she grew up!"
Seeing that Shen Qing finally recognized her, the smile on the girl's lips widened.
"You're not too stupid after all. Yes, I'm Luo Ling."
Shen Qing stood up and looked around, but all she saw was a vast expanse of white.
"If you're Luo Ling, then where are we?"
"This is my inner world. You can also understand it as a small space I created."
"You obtained my power in the Phantom Wolf's illusion, so a connection was formed between us, and I was able to pull you here."
Shen Qing nodded and looked at Luo Ling curiously. "Did you want to see me?"
This Luo Ling in front of her should be formed by the few remaining spiritual powers in this world.
Presumably, she wanted to see who the person was who had inherited her power.
Luo Ling clapped her hands, and the pure - white space instantly turned into a range of mountains.
In front of them, a huge abyss appeared.
Under the abyss, the dark current surged, and its depth was unfathomable.
It was like the wide - open mouth of a giant beast. Standing on the edge, one seemed as if they would be swallowed by it the next second.
There were eighteen huge stones standing above the abyss, and each stone had a glowing character on it.
But Shen Qing noticed that half of the stones already had cracks of varying depths.
Two of the stones were particularly severely damaged. The golden characters on them flickered on and off, as if they were about to disappear.
"What is this?"
The smile on Luo Ling's lips faded a bit as she explained, "People in the cultivation world always hear about the Demon Abyss, but few know where it is and what it looks like."
"You already know from the Phantom Wolf that I sacrificed myself to seal the Demon Abyss. The place I'm showing you... is the Demon Abyss."
Shen Qing frowned and pointed at the two stones that seemed about to shatter. "Are these the sealing stones?"
Luo Ling nodded, led Shen Qing to the two sealing stones, and gently stroked one of them with her hand.
"The seal of the Demon Abyss has lasted for ten thousand years. A thousand years ago, the seal was almost broken. Someone deliberately damaged these two stones, which made a corner of the Demon Abyss's seal loosen."
"Although some people came later to reinforce the seal, it was just a drop in the bucket. These two stones won't hold on for much longer."
Shen Qing's heart tightened. "Then what should we do? All the great powers in the cultivation world who could seal the Demon Abyss again have already fallen. If these two sealing stones shatter, we won't have anyone to stop the Demon Clan..."
The Demon Abyss has existed for a long time. To seal it, an ancient formation is needed, but the scrolls and books recording these formations seem to have disappeared overnight.
Even the more than a dozen great powers who participated in the sealing back then were tight - lipped about the formation to seal the Demon Abyss.
Now that she thought about it, Shen Qing found it a bit strange. None of the great powers who participated in the sealing of the Demon Abyss back then was able to successfully ascend. They all died when their lifespan was exhausted.
Could there be some connection...?
Luo Ling led Shen Qing around half a circle, sat cross - legged in front of a stone, and leaned her body against it.
This stone also had small scars, but it was not as seriously damaged as the other two.
"Sit down," Luo Ling greeted Shen Qing to sit beside this stone.
For some reason, Shen Qing vaguely felt that this stone was very familiar and kind.
Luo Ling smiled. "It feels familiar and kind, doesn't it?"
Shen Qing nodded, looked at the stone curiously, and reached out to touch it.
The stone also seemed to have some reaction to Shen Qing. The characters on it kept flickering.
"It... seems to recognize me?"
Seeing this, a flash of grief passed through Luo Ling's eyes. She looked at Shen Qing with a complex expression.
"Shen Qing, if I said... you are destined to die, what would you do?"
Shen Qing turned her head in surprise, her mouth slightly open. "What do you mean by this...?"
"Each of the eighteen stones you see represents a person, and this stone... is me..."
Shen Qing was shocked and looked around. Her pupils trembled slightly, and she couldn't help but think of the worst - case scenario.
"You mean... back then... those who sacrificed themselves to seal the Demon Abyss... were not just you. There were thirty - six people including you?!"
Luo Ling shook her head. "Not thirty - six."
The tightness in Shen Qing's heart relaxed a bit, but then she heard Luo Ling say.
"Not thirty - six, but thirty - six."
Luo Ling said this sentence lightly, but it caused a huge wave in Shen Qing's heart.
"Thirty - six..."
Shen Qing knew that many people in the cultivation world sacrificed themselves ten thousand years ago to seal the Demon Abyss, but she never knew that some people sacrificed themselves in the formation.
Sacrificing oneself in the formation means using one's own soul and essence and blood as a sacrifice to become a part of the formation.
The souls of these people will dissipate, and they will truly disappear from this world, without even the chance of reincarnation.
That's why Shen Qing was so surprised and in awe when she learned from the Phantom Wolf that Luo Ling sacrificed herself to seal the Demon Abyss.
But now, she learned that Luo Ling was not the only one who sacrificed herself back then. There were thirty - six people!
And these thirty - six people were probably not randomly chosen. They were probably all people with special abilities like Luo Ling.
How could one not be in awe of people who were willing to disappear from the world like this?
Shen Qing calmed her thoughts and then asked, "Do you mean... I will also become one of these stones in the future?"
Luo Ling sighed. "Speaking and the law follows, making the withered bones spring back to life. One must be favored by the Heavenly Dao to such a great extent to obtain such an ability."
"But you probably don't know that using this ability means consuming one's own lifespan and luck to fight against the Heavenly Dao. The so - called 'Speaking and the law follows' is just going against the will of fate. How could it be so easy..."