Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 528: Slaying Spectral Entities

Pang Jian looked up at the sky.

The oppressive darkness that had shrouded the Imperial Dominion was slowly dissipating, giving way to the dawning of a new day in the Abyss.

Night retreated and daylight arrived, mirroring the shifting tides of fate within the fragmented land itself.

The majestic Celestial Gate no longer stood imposingly in the sky. Although Jiang Ran still hovered in the air with the Celestial Gate Sword in hand, his aura was now steeped in malevolence, radiating a suffocating pressure that bore down on one's soul.

His eyes remained as dark as twin stars under the pale morning light.

This person was clearly no longer Jiang Ran.

The Imperial Dominion had been engulfed in despair ever since the White Bone Gate appeared and forced Shang Xiuchun back to the fragmented land.

Those in the Imperial Dominion found themselves bereft of any hope for survival, and an overwhelming sense of defeat and desperation soon consumed their hearts.

Invading heretical forces slaughtered the orthodox rogue cultivators all throughout the fragmented land. Their flesh, bones, and souls became sustenance for these merciless intruders.

Then, Jiang Ran appeared. His overwhelming display of power rekindled a spark of hope among the downtrodden.

The rogue cultivators within the city started to place their faith in the arrival of the True Gods, clinging to the belief that salvation would eventually come.

Unfortunately, Jiang Cen swiftly extinguished their hopes.

Jiang Ran of the Sword Pavilion fell in battle at the hands of three heretical cultivators and the ominous black star.

This crushing series of events unfolded, only for it to be revealed that the True Gods had actually been present all along!

Wanderer Tian Du, for instance, had been around the whole time.

Even if some of the other True Gods refrained from stepping into the Imperial Dominion due to the hidden Mirror Tunnels, they still lurked in the shadows, silently watching as the heretical cultivators massacred seven thousand righteous cultivators.

They even watched as Jiang Ran met his end!

Pang Jian had learned of the hidden Mirror Tunnels from Jiang Cen while in the strange realm and had been intent on reporting this vital information.

An acute sense of irony filled him.

Pang Jian had previously assumed that the True Gods had chosen not to set foot in the Imperial Dominion because they had perceived the latent threat of the Mirror Tunnels.

After this, he finally understood that he had underestimated the True Gods ruling the abyss.

The resurgence of the heretical cultivators in the Second World, the dissemination of forbidden techniques, and the covert machinations of the Outer Gods and the foreign races had not escaped the notice of the True Gods.

The enemy's schemes within the Imperial Dominion had all been within the True Gods' expectations.

The True Gods had sacrificed seven thousand rogue cultivators and even the Imperial Dominion itself to turn the tables and deliver a devastating blow to the powerhouses of the Fifth World.

Jiang Ran, the seven thousand rogue cultivators, and the Imperial Dominion were nothing more than prices the True Gods had been willing to pay.

No wonder Wanderer Tian Du had urged him to dive underground and wait out the upheaval.

The only coincidence from beginning to end was Pang Jian's arrival due to Dong Tianze's presence.

Everything else had all been preordained.

Turmoil churned within Pang Jian's heart,

Meanwhile, Jiang Cen and Xie Tong were preparing to attack.

"Shadow Specter Annihilation Array!" Jiang Cen cried.

"Soul Rending Art!" Xie Tong unleashed a secret technique of the Blood Prison Sect.

Twelve Shadow Specters, now corporeal with flesh and blood, transformed into towering Ghost Race warriors, far removed from the frail forms typical of their race.

Although the Ghost Race warriors in the Fifth World were masters of soul techniques, their physical bodies were weak.

Through Xie Tong's secret technique, the Shadow Specters, forged from the souls of the Ghost Race warriors, were endowed with formidable physical bodies rivaling those of the Rank Eight Great Feys.

In other words, the inherent weakness of Ghost Race warriors had been nullified.

Crackle!

Lightning enveloped the twelve fearsome Shadow Specters as they seamlessly closed in on Pang Jian.

In Xie Tong's palm floated a heart, solidified from congealed blood.

The heart radiated an eerie crimson glow as it established a faint connection with Pang Jian's heart. With her claw-like fingertips, Xie Tong methodically scored and sliced the heart in her grasp as if carving through flesh.

Searing pain instantly wracked Pang Jian. It was like Xie Tong's sharp fingernails were slicing through his actual heart.

The agony was so intense that he could not suppress his roar of pain.

A two-zhang-tall Shadow Specter seized the opportunity to lunge forward and slash his claws down toward Pang Jian from behind.

Wooh! Wooh!

The remaining eleven Shadow Specters let out a chorus of ghostly wails that reverberated through the air. Invisible blades forged from their wails tore through Pang Jian's defenses, piercing straight into the depths of his sea of consciousness.

Twelve spectral blades struck his golden divine soul with sharp, echoing cracks.

The Heaven Demon Armor shielding Pang Jian's divine soul had effortlessly deflected the icy strikes.

The greenish-black sea of demonic energy that formed the armor was as impenetrable as a fortress and could nullify the Shadow Specters' insidious attacks with ease.

After all, the Shadow Specter Annihilation Array was not perilous for its attacks on physical flesh but for its devastating strikes against the soul.

Shadow Specters were ghostly entities and thus naturally excelled in sinister soul-destroying techniques.

The Heavenly Demon Armor is formed from the purest essence of demonic energy, refined to perfection, the Abyssal Demon said from within the sword. Countless demonic techniques can be channeled through it. This armor is your true source of power.

Under the Abyssal Demon's control, the black-gold demonic sword shot out of its scabbard and sliced through the air.

The peerlessly sharp slash effortlessly bisected the Shadow Specter that was attacking Pang Jian from behind.

As it attacked, the demonic sword radiated a dazzling interplay of gold and black light. The gold light tore through the blood bead, while the black light engulfed the Shadow Specter.

Boom!

The blood bead and the Shadow Specter were destroyed in the blink of an eye.

Wasting no time, the demonic sword transformed into a beam of light and streaked directly toward Xie Tong of the Blood Prison Sect.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Six demonic realms abruptly manifested, spreading out behind Xie Tong before the beam of light even hit its target.

Boundless waves of demonic energy surged as entrancing, soul-snaring melodies reverberated across the sky. The Abyssal Demon's ethereal figure flickered between the different realms.

"Jiang Ran's sword has already ruined your resolve and spirit." the Abyssal Demon sneered through his manifested form. "A battered heretical cultivator is only worth a single strike from me,"

The Abyssal Demon appeared within a blazing demonic realm of searing magma, lips pressed together and a demonic orb resting in his hand.

His full demonic soul form exuded an air of supreme arrogance and aloofness.

Xie Tong's divine soul trembled uncontrollably under the six demonic realms' imposing layers of restriction. Even her dantian and blood essence had been sealed off.

The gold and black sword lights struck both the heart of congealed blood she held with her palm and the one beating in her chest.

After piercing both hearts, the Abyssal Demon flickered out of existence, reappearing within Xie Tong's sea of consciousness.

Her divine soul was drawn into the demonic orb with a simple beckoning gesture. Even her Immortal Realm cultivation could do nothing to defend herself.

The Abyssal Demon extinguished her soul soon after.

Following the calamity on the Demon Abyss Continent, the Abyssal Demon had unraveled the secrets of his origin and lineage.

He also ascended to the pinnacle of his power after absorbing vast amounts of demonic energy into the Abyssal Demon Sword and obtaining the Heaven-Encompassing Demonic Array, which Pang Jian had refined into a demonic orb.

His combat prowess now far surpassed when Mo Nan wielded the unbroken Abyssal Demon Sword.

The Abyssal Demon could have betrayed Pang Jian as he had once done to Mo Nan.

However, Pang Jian had earned his recognition in their time together, and the Abyssal Demon had since set his sights on loftier ambitions as well. Not to mention, the Primordial Demon still lay sealed in the Resolute Expanse.

Despite having the full capability to overturn their roles and take control, he no longer had any desire to.

Whoosh!

After Xie Tong's demise, the eleven remaining Shadow Specters shed their corporeal forms and surged into Pang Jian's sea of consciousness.

Pang Jian slaughtered them effortlessly in his sea of consciousness, slicing through them like they were brittle leaves.

"Jiang Cen clearly underestimates me," he sneered.

Three thousand golden streaks of light, imbued with the unique properties of the Nether Abyss Spirit Bees, radiated from his divine soul.

These three thousand golden blades pierced through the Shadow Specters invading his sea of consciousness long before they could even approach his divine soul.

It only took moments to annihilate them.

Pang Jian's divine soul reigned as an omnipotent god within the sanctuary of his own sea of consciousness, effortlessly wielding every energy at his disposal.

If Jiang Cen himself dared to send his divine soul into Pang Jian's sea of consciousness, Pang Jian was confident he could destroy Jiang Cen's divine soul, regardless of the cultivation realm that separated them.

Pang Jian's caution against Jiang Cen in the strange realm stemmed solely from his divine soul being outside his sea of consciousness.

The combat prowess of Pang Jian's divine soul surged exponentially when inside his sea of consciousness. His sea of consciousness was his divine soul's equivalent of the Resolute Expanse.

The Shadow Specters recklessly invaded, only to end up courting their own destruction.

Pang Jian and the Abyssal Demon Sword eradicated the threats in the blink of an eye.

A subtle twitch of Pang Jian's fingers saw the Abyssal Demon Sword shooting into his hand.

"Jiang Cen," he muttered as he raised the demonic blade to strike.

Crack!

The crystalline radiance representing a divine seat above Jiang Cen's head emitted a sharp sound, like the shattering of jade.

Its shimmering brilliance dissipated and, with it, countless principles of sinister Dao.

The eerie Netherworld Sacred Flame was also snuffed out.

The Netherworld Sacred Flames ranked two levels above the Azure Netherworld Ghostfire among the myriad spectral flames of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect and was key in assisting Jiang Cen in refining his divine seat.

Its extinguishment signified the collapse of Jiang Cen's path to godhood.

Whoosh!

A seven-colored brilliance shot out as the resplendent divine seat ascended back to the sky, returning to the radiant cluster of clouds.

The clouds lingered in the sky, circling as if searching for the next worthy individual capable of attempting an ascent to the True God Realm.

It scanned the expanse below but appeared unable to find a single worthy individual.

At that moment, a searing heat emanated from the Gate of the Abyss on Pang Jian's chest.

The bronze door creaked open to reveal a faint crack.

The seven-colored radiant clouds in the sky suddenly shot down toward Pang Jian like a meteor.

This cluster of clouds, which only ever formed around peak Immortal Realm cultivators striving for ascension to the True God Realm, now barreled toward the Nirvana Realm Pang Jian.

Such an occurrence was unprecedented in the entire history of the Abyss.