Long Yuxue continued as she walked, "The troops stationed here are changed once every month, and there are a total of 10 corps in our legion with around 1,500 soldiers per corps. This is the main battle unit; units like our special service department are separate from this and are considered to be a part of the assistance battle unit. The rest are the logistical and research personnel, which add up to around 10,000 people in total. Hence, the total number of people in the legion has always added up to somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 people. For newbies like you, even if you join the main battle unit, you'll only be a backup soldier.

"The experience that we've accumulated during the past several thousand years have allowed us to drastically decrease the number of casualties compared to in the past. Generally speaking, after a month of special training, a newbie will go through a year during which they'll be a backup soldier. Only after progressing past this one-year period will a newbie truly be allowed to step onto the battlefield. Your situation is rather special as you're quite powerful, and that was why you were assigned to the special service department. This was also an arrangement made with the intention of getting you to familiarize yourself with battling in the abyss as quickly as possible.

Only after passing through three more points that were guarded by soldiers did they truly enter the abyssal passageway.

The lights up ahead had become very dim and faint compared to the light behind them.

"This light comes from the abyssal passageway. We're currently in a C-tier passageway, so we shouldn't encounter any overly powerful abyssal creatures; you'll definitely be able to handle them. Facing real abyssal creatures is going to be a little different from battling them in simulations. Have you ever fought real soul beasts? Probably not. Have you participated in any competitions? In any case, just remember that all battles you fight against abyssal creatures are battles of life and death, so you absolutely can't afford to hold back. You also have to be extremely vigilant and take advantage of any opportunities that come your way. This is not a drill."

Even though Tang Wulin had brilliant power and aptitude, Long Yuxue had seen many exceptional prodigies struggle to adjust after coming to the Blood God Legion. The continent had always been in a period of peace, so there weren't really any opportunities for Soul Masters to engage in real battles. In contrast, this was a true battlefield between humans and abyssal creatures, and it was certainly no joke. As such, she was presenting constant reminders to Tang Wulin in an attempt to make him take this situation seriously and not grow complacent through arrogance. Arrogant people were often the ones who died the quickest.

Tang Wulin gave no reply and merely nodded in response.

After advancing for around another kilometer, Tang Wulin estimated that they had already traveled seven to eight kilometers in total. There was a type of faint spatial energy fluctuations within the abyssal passageway, as if the passageway itself were an alternate spatial plane rather than something constructed from substantial rocks and soil. This was most likely why the abyssal plane couldn't access other places.

The situation was akin to the spatial passageway piercing a giant tube straight into the Douluo Continent, and they could only travel to the continent through this tube.

Now, the main tube had been sealed, so they could only search for some branches to enter through before attempting to open up the main tube.

"Prepare for battle," Long Yuxue yelled in a serious voice, and at the same time, light flashed from her hands before a soul weapon appeared in her grasp.

This appeared to be a massive gun with a length of over two meters, and the barrel of the gun was especially long, but it was slightly thinner than the high-frequency cannon barrel that Tang Wulin had once repaired. However, he could sense that the energy fluctuations imbued within this weapon were extremely fearsome, and he felt threatened by it even with his incredible defensive prowess.

After this soul gun appeared in her hands, Long Yuxue's aura instantly changed. It was no longer cold and aloof. Instead, it had completely vanished, and even the threat that Tang Wulin was detecting from her gun had disappeared. It was as if she had become one with the air around her, but she was clearly standing right there.

Tang Wulin couldn't help but admire her aura concealment skills.

Tang Wulin had never had a chance to familiarize himself with Long Yuxue's abilities; he could only roughly sense that her aura belonged to that of a five-ring Soul King.

Tang Wulin was a student of Shrek Academy, so he'd always been pitted against opponents of higher cultivation ranks than himself, so in his heart, there was no way that Long Yuxue's combat prowess could be superior to his.

However, at this moment, his conviction in that belief wavered slightly. Long Yuxue was most likely more powerful than he'd imagined, and she had definitely reached her military rank at such a young age through her power.

After summoning her weapon, Long Yuxue's speed also increased. The tips of her toes gently tapped against the ground, propelling her forward in a fast yet completely soundless manner.

There were node-like places situated at regular intervals down the abyssal passageway. These places were like stone chambers, and they were also the ideal places to battle from.

After passing another node, Long Yuxue suddenly stopped and looked down at the device in her hand, then made a hand signal toward Tang Wulin, indicating for him to remain quiet.

The tail of her soul gun was rested on the shoulder of her miniature mecha, and she held onto the gun with both hands. She stood in a very stable manner, and her aura became even more feeble; even her breathing seemed to have completely cut off. She was standing still on the spot like a stationary statue.

All of a sudden, Long Yuxue sprang into action. Her body rotated slightly, and a burst of grey light instantly erupted from the gun in her hands.

The streak of light was far too fast for the naked eye to trace, and even with his Purple Demon Eyes, Tang Wulin was only able to just barely catch sight of a silver shadow that vanished in a flash.

Just as Tang Wulin was wondering what was going to happen next, a piercing cry suddenly rang out in the distance, and a greyish-black living being appeared within the darkness.

This was a lizard-like creature that was entirely greyish-black in color. There were sharp hooked spikes growing all over its body, and one of its eyes had already been destroyed, presumably by that grey streak of light. Its body writhed and spasmed as it screeched, and not long after that, it dissipated into a cloud of grey mist that flew straight into the depths of the abyssal cave.

This was the first real abyssal creature that Tang Wulin had ever seen, and he flashed forward to stand in front of Long Yuxue. At the same time, he withdrew his wings and battle armor, but pulled out his Golden Dragon Spear.

"Be careful." Long Yuxue's cold voice sounded beside his ears.

"I will." Tang Wulin pointed his Golden Dragon Spear forward before advancing further into the passageway.

There appeared to be more types of abyssal creatures than he'd imagined. At the very least, he'd never seen that lizard before. However, through his studies with Long Yuxue, he knew that this was a type of abyssal creature known as an Engulfment Lizard, and these creatures were very adept at concealing themselves. They were considered to be a prominent race among abyssal creatures, and they devoured the life force energy of all types of living beings for sustenance.

There were powerful beings within their race that were comparable to Demonic Enchantresses, and there was an extremely vast number of them, all of which had drastically different levels of power. They also possessed extremely powerful defensive prowess, and their eyes were their only weakness.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Right at this moment, several figures sprang toward them like lightning. These were also Engulfment Lizards, and that came as no surprise as these beings had always been known to be social creatures that lived in groups. After the first lizard was killed, its companions naturally charged forward to face the enemies.

Tang Wulin swept his Golden Dragon Spear through the air, and countless spear projections instantly filled the entire cave, encompassing the oncoming Engulfment Lizards.

A string of dull thumps rang out as one Engulfment Lizard after another had their bodies punctured by the Golden Dragon Spear. After the Golden Dragon Spear pierced through their bodies, bursts of grey energy would try to escape from these Engulfment Lizards, but instead of successfully fleeing the scene, these bursts of energy were absorbed by the Golden Dragon Spear and reciprocated into Tang Wulin's body.

Following a filtering process conducted by the Golden Dragon Spear, Tang Wulin was reciprocated with pure energy.

Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed slightly, and he immediately understood what was happening. After these abyssal creatures were killed, the vast majority of their energy would be recovered by the abyss. As such, regardless of how many of these abyssal creatures were slain, they could most likely be reborn within the abyss. At the same time, he had verified through practical combat that the energy of these abyssal creatures really could be absorbed through the use of his Golden Dragon Spear.

These Engulfment Lizards didn't possess anywhere near enough energy to effect any notable changes within his body, but it was certainly better than nothing.