Don't Cause Trouble Chapter 53: Endless Abyss

The true form of the Mind-Bewitching Insect was a translucent insect with no real offensive power. Its tail gland emitted a faint muddy scent that caused hallucinations, projecting an illusion based on the target’s appearance and mental state, confusing a cultivator’s mind.

Once a cultivator fell under its influence and became immersed in the illusion, the moth would use the cultivator’s body as nourishment, spawning countless larvae.

Despite its lack of combat ability, this kind of translucent insect was extremely dangerous for any cultivator with an unstable Dao heart. Encountering one often led to disaster.

It’s said that before the Divine Demise Stage, major sects used these moths to test their disciples. Regular evaluations were conducted, and any disciple who failed would be left to serve as an incubation host for the moths.

The moth that encountered Ye Su had never gone through anything so terrifying in its life. It had never been forced to shapeshift into so many cultivators—and all kinds of bizarre things—in such a short amount of time.

In the end, it ran out of hallucinogenic fluid in its tail gland and had no choice but to self-destruct, splitting apart right in front of Ye Su.

At the moment it split, Ye Su snapped out of the illusion. She looked around and realized they were all still standing inside the corridor of the Desolate City. In front of each person floated a thumb-sized translucent Mind-Bewitching Insect.

Only You Fushi stood off to the side, calmly playing with the Mist-Killing Flower wrapped around his wrist.

You Fushi raised his eyes to look at Ye Su, his tone light, as if they were just on a spring outing and nothing serious had happened.

"Ready to go?"

"Let’s wait a moment," Ye Su replied. As soon as she spoke, Cheng Huaian and Xu Chengyu regained consciousness. One of them drew symbols in the air using spiritual energy, while the other unsheathed his sword just half an inch—instantly killing the two moths floating in front of them.

"Excuse me, make some room." Ye Su quickly stepped forward, pulled out an empty bottle from her qiankun bag, and began collecting the hallucinogenic liquid from the dead moths’ tail glands on the ground.

By the time she stood back up, the others had also started to regain awareness. Lian Lian was the last to wake up, and her face was by far the ugliest among them all.

Ma Congqiu helped Ye Su by using sword energy to draw out the remaining liquid from the moths and gather it into the bottle she held.

"This stuff can be used for forging?"

"It can," Ye Su explained. "It’s suitable for use in small magical tools, or it can be refined into hallucinogenic incense."

The two cultivators from the Wuxing Sect didn’t move forward. Instead, they stood nearby and observed. Lian Lian stared intently at Ye Su’s robe as if she’d remembered something.

"Qianji Sect? You’re a tool refiner?"

Ye Su had just finished collecting the last bit of hallucinogenic liquid. As she capped the bottle, she answered, "Yes. If you ever need anything, feel free to visit Qianji Sect."

"A tool refiner, not even a sword cultivator, and you’ve come to the Desolate City secret realm? Trying to die early?" Lian Lian mocked.

"If sword cultivators can enter, why can’t tool refiners?" Ye Su replied. "Besides, I’ve never heard of any rule in the cultivation world saying tool refiners are forbidden from entering secret realms."

Lian Lian’s face curled into a sneer.

"True, there’s no such rule. But aside from making magical tools, what else can a tool refiner do? When faced with a demon beast, you’d just run for your life."

"That’s not quite right," Ye Su said seriously. "Tool refiners can forge weapons with strong offensive power, and they can also make protective artifacts. As long as you have enough tools, and they’re powerful enough, you can still handle demon beasts. Sword cultivators and tool refiners are just two different cultivation paths in this world."

Lian Lian’s expression flickered, then she gave a cold laugh.

"Self-deception!"

"Oh, give it a rest," Zhou Yun couldn’t help saying. "Lian Lian, are you a hornet or something? Always stinging people with your words."

Ma Congqiu, standing nearby, couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

Lian Lian snapped, "I’d love to see how you handle demon beasts."

The two groups continued forward along the Desolate City passage. On the surface, they looked calm and composed, but everyone was on high alert. They had just stepped inside and were already ambushed by Mind-Bewitching Insects. That didn’t bode well for what lay ahead.

"You don’t have to respond to Lian Lian," Zhou Yun quietly said to Ye Su as she walked beside her. "I’ve thought for years now that something’s wrong with her brain. She’s always sharp-tongued and, for some reason, has a crush on Lu Chenhan."

"You used to like Lu Chenhan too, didn’t you?" Ye Su recalled what Ma Congqiu had said earlier.

Zhou Yun hesitated.

"…Let bygones be bygones. I didn’t know better back then."

She sneaked a glance at You Fushi walking on Ye Su’s right and had to swallow hard just to keep breathing.

Zhou Yun had noticed long ago that the disciples from Qianji Sect were all remarkably good-looking. Every single one of them had an outstanding appearance and graceful presence. Ming Liu Sha was the image of a handsome young man, Xiyu had bright eyes and flawless teeth, and Xia Er had that youthful glow.

As for You Fushi—and even Yi Xuan from the Sword Sect—people might walk into a wall just from seeing them.

Then there was Ye Su. Her features were refined and elegant, clearly not someone of ordinary looks. But what stood out most upon first meeting her were her calm and penetrating eyes, which left a lasting impression.

"Actually, I used to be friends with her," Zhou Yun continued, glancing at Lian Lian in the distance. "But over time, she got lazy, stopped studying talisman crafting, and started relying on pills to advance her cultivation. So we drifted apart."

In the world of cultivation, the prevailing tradition was to grow through one’s own efforts. Relying solely on pills might provide short-term gains, but in a real battle with demon beasts or fellow cultivators at the same level, such practitioners were doomed to fail. And in the long run, those who leaned too heavily on pills would never reach the Ascension Stage.

As they were speaking, the ground beneath their feet suddenly gave way. The descent was rapid, as if a bottomless abyss had opened up to swallow them all.

Several sword cultivators instinctively drew their swords in unison, trying to fly upward using swordflight. But no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t ascend—it felt as though the space above was rising as well.

"Endless Abyss?" Ma Congqiu looked around. "The elder clearly said we’d encounter this trial later. Why are we running into it right at the start?"

"You didn’t know the Ruined City is alive?" Cheng Huaian was drawing a spell formation with his fingers, trying to calm himself. "All kinds of mechanisms and arrays shift every so often."

"What exactly is the Endless Abyss?" Ye Su adjusted her falling posture and grabbed her little junior brother, who looked like he was about to lie down midair. She turned and asked Xu Chengyu nearby.

"It means the abyss has no end. Even with swordflight, you can’t rise out of it," Xu Chengyu explained. "No one knows what’s down there. The cultivators who escaped never went all the way in, and those who did—never made it back."

Lu Jiu was surprised. "If that’s the case, how do you know anything about it?"

"Some disciples managed to send messages just before dying to others who were still in the secret realm but outside the Ruined City," Xu Chengyu said. "It’s happened enough times that people eventually pieced together some information."

"Inside the Endless Abyss, there are these stone bats that constantly attack cultivators," Zhou Yun said, gripping her sword. "Everyone, be on guard."

"If no one’s ever come out alive, you really think we can?" Lian Lian sneered.

Zhou Yun looked at her with disappointment. "Trying is still better than giving up like you."

"Suit yourself."

After falling for a while, nothing happened. Everyone was becoming numb to it.

"At this rate, we won’t be killed by stone bats—we’ll starve to death after our fasting pills run out," Ma Congqiu said weakly.

The constant falling dulled their senses and left them utterly exhausted.

"Ye Su, what are you doing?" Xu Chengyu suddenly asked.

Everyone turned to look. At some point, Ye Su had pulled out a piece of hide.

"Falling like this is exhausting. I’m prepping something," she said without stopping her work. She had taken out the eight-eyed dog’s hide and some spare materials she’d kept for practice—she planned to make a large parachute.

But since she was a tool refiner, of course her parachute would be a magical artifact. The hide had to be enhanced with additional components.

As a tool refiner perpetually living on the edge of poverty, Ye Su didn’t have many materials. She could only make do with what was in her qiankun bag and try to create the best possible result.

The Flying Mirror Armor was an excellent defensive artifact, but since it belonged to Quan Jiaying, she couldn’t modify it. Instead, she embedded it into the parachute’s canopy—so that when spiritual energy hit its activation point, it would form a protective barrier to fend off external attacks.

So there they were: one group of sword cultivators, one group of talisman users, and a tourist-looking fellow—crowded around Ye Su as she refined an artifact, witnessing it live.

"Tool refiners from Qianji Sect are kind of interesting," Cheng Huaian whispered as he adjusted the talisman formation beneath his feet and drifted closer to Lian Lian.

Lian Lian scoffed, but her gaze stayed fixed on Ye Su. She couldn’t look away from the spiritual flame in Ye Su’s hands.

After who knew how long, Xu Chengyu and the others had attempted swordflight countless times to no avail. Meanwhile, Ye Su had finally completed her artifact. She tossed the half-human-sized parachute upward—it expanded instantly, large enough to hold more than a dozen people.

"Get in," Ye Su said as she opened the basket door. She reached into her qiankun bag and handed a folding stool to her junior brother. "You can sit down."

You Fushi thought it over and immediately accepted this very down-to-earth suggestion.

"This thing…" Ma Congqiu drifted over using his sword, wide-eyed. "Can I get in too?"

Swordflight was tiring, and endlessly falling wasn’t a great alternative either.

"Anyone can get in."

With that, the three disciples from Wu Jian Sect and Lu Jiu all climbed into the basket.

"Would you two like to rest in here?" Ye Su asked Cheng Huaian and Lian Lian. "It’s not expensive—just 10,000 mid-grade spirit stones per person."

"I’m in," Cheng Huaian answered immediately. Lian Lian was about to protest, but he pulled her inside without giving her a chance.

Ye Su climbed in last and closed the basket door. She then activated the Flying Mirror Armor’s defense system, and a barrier formed around the entire parachute.

Xu Chengyu was stunned. He had never seen such a bizarre magical artifact before. He instinctively asked, "Ye Su, what do you call this artifact?"

"*Descending Mountain," Ye Su replied without thinking.
(Note: Should I just leave it as *Jiang Luoshan in pinyin?)

Xu Chengyu repeated it quietly, "Descending Mountain? Nice name."

Ye Su didn’t know when the Endless Abyss would end, but that didn’t stop her from doing business.

She pulled out a few large wooden blocks from her qiankun bag. Originally, they were meant for You Fushi to practice with, but the junior brother had been too lazy. Since she’d already given him the expensive Purple Pear Burlwood, she’d half-heartedly let him off the hook—but she’d kept the blocks anyway.

"Little stools. One for 10,000 mid-grade spirit stones," Ye Su said as she finished carving one out in just half an hour, sat down, and started naming her price.

"Fellow Daoist Ye, these stools are hard to come by. I’ll pay twenty thousand," Xu Chengyu said, meeting her gaze and deliberately raising the price—clearly showing off for the two disciples from Wuxing Sect nearby.

"We’ll buy them," Cheng Huaian said. "Fellow Daoist Ye, please make two."

Ye Su was ambidextrous and, as a tool refiner, could shape the wood easily using spiritual power.

Before long, everyone in the basket had their own little stool. All they were missing were two small tables, and they could’ve held a tea party.

Xu Chengyu didn’t sit for long before he stood up voluntarily. "Even with the protective barrier, we should still take turns keeping watch."

Cheng Huaian stood as well. "If Fellow Daoist Ye agrees, I could carve a spell formation inside."

"Go ahead," Ye Su readily agreed. She was curious to see how a true disciple from Wuxing Sect would inscribe talismans.