Trials of the Abyss

No matter how much the Abyssal Demon cried and begged, Pang Jian remained utterly unmoved.

His golden divine sense completely erased all the Abyssal Demon's demonic wills within the sword.

The insidious, cunning Abyssal Demon could regenerate through the evil thoughts of others as long as even a sliver of its demonic will remained.

It could only truly die when all its demonic wills were destroyed, and Pang Jian was determined to do so this time!

The Abyssal Demon had refused to cooperate and even repeatedly schemed against him, making it a liability to keep around. Killing it was the only way to calm the anger in his heart.

When the boundless darkness faded, Wu Yuan saw Pang Jian covered in blood while holding his sword.

"Pang Jian, are you alright?" Then, more cautiously, he asked, "Are you…still Pang Jian?"

The image of Hong Qiming being taken over was still fresh in Wu Yuan's mind and he was uncertain if the same had happened to Pang Jian.

"I'm fine. The sword is useless now."

Pang Jian dropped to the ground with a heavy thud and slowly reabsorbed the Thunder Pool into his spiritual sea.

The backlash had shattered his protective shield, destroyed the black turtle scute guarding his heart, and reduced the Leaves of Life to nothingness.

The Abyssal Demon had unleashed incredible power while using Hong Qiming's body to wield the Demon God Lamp and the Abyssal Demon Sword.

If not for his protective items, the backlash from the Abyssal Demon's power would likely have torn Pang Jian apart.

Even with them, the injuries he suffered were terrifying.

Unable to establish a connection with the black turtle and the little tree in Misty Swamp, Pang Jian made do with a Soul Enriching Pill and a Great Blood Enhancing Pill.

Eradicating the Abyssal Demon had drained a great deal of his divine sense, which required the Soul Enriching Pill to recover.

Without the healing power of life energy, he could only rely on the Great Blood Enhancing Pill to heal his physical injuries.

Pang Jian lowered his head to meditate, circulating his energy to accelerate the pill's absorption before moving to thaw his frozen spiritual sea.

"Did you truly destroy the Abyssal Demon Sword's soul?" Wu Yuan asked, approaching slowly, still wary of any deceit. "Even though your protective shield has vanished, the bizarre mist doesn't seem to be harming you."

"I don't feel anything strange," Pang Jian replied.

When Ling Yimo of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect entered the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis with her divine soul, her physical body had been reduced to bones as her flesh corroded away.

The same thing happened to Cao Jingbai as well.

However, despite being heavily injured and with no protective shield, Pang Jian found himself unharmed.

He secretly checked his body to investigate the possible cause.

The Gate of the Abyss had enveloped him in a protective aura.

This aura emanated from the bizarre mist within the bronze pendant and appeared to have the same origin as the bizarre mist around them.

After a moment of thought, he corrected his response, "I'll be fine for a short while."

Whoosh!

Pang Jian resummoned his green protective shield and picked up the now masterless oil lamp while Wu Yuan looked on in amazement.

Holding the oil lamp in one hand and the purged demonic sword in the other, he remarked, "Wu Yuan, the Demon Race in the outer worlds is extraordinarily sinister and each one is fiercely unyielding. Did the Abyssal Demon attempt to influence you as well?"

"Yes." Wu Yuan mulled it over before honestly recounting the situation.

"Anyone who holds this demonic sword will find the Abyssal Demon quickly seizing control, turning them into its slave," Pang Jian said with lingering fear.

He had truly witnessed the terror of the Abyssal Demon.

The Abyssal Demon would likely have killed him if not for the black turtle scute, the Leaves of Life, his tempered body, and the powerful lightning within the Thunder Pool.

Had that happened, the Abyssal Demon would have killed Wu Yuan, seized the Purple Demon Eye, and absorbed the divine image of the Great Demon God He Motian.

One could only imagine how powerful the Abyssal Demon would have become if that were to happen.

Pang Jian frowned. "By the way, the Abyssal Demon said it knew He Motian."

Wu Yuan was silent for a beat.

"The He Motian within the Purple Demon Eye lacks self-awareness and can't communicate," he explained. "Ancestors of the Demon Sect developed methods to suppress and refine the Demon Race from the outer worlds over many generations.

"However, refining them usually eliminates their intelligence, leaving them in this state."

Wu Yuan gestured to the towering demonic figure with four heads, four faces, and four arms within the Purple Demon Eye above his head. Without opponents to fight, it had entered a semi-dormant state, becoming statue-like and lifeless.

It seemed only the presence of an enemy would awaken it to battle.

Wu Yuan continued, "The Abyssal Demon was an exception."

"I almost died from that exception's backlash." Pang Jian sighed.

With a thought, the extinguished oil lamp and the purged Abyssal Demon Sword disappeared into his spatial bracelet. The Abyssal Demon's death meant the Abyssal Demon Sword could now be stored within a spatial storage artifact.

"I'll report Hong Qiming's death and account for his remaining belongings once I return to the Demon Sect," Wu Yuan said, feeling more assured that Pang Jian was indeed Pang Jian. Approaching Hong Qiming's body, he removed a ring from it and asked, "Pang Jian, should I say that I killed Hong Qiming, or that you did?"

"Just say you did it."

"Alright."

Both men then meditated to recover.

While meditating, Pang Jian sent out his divine sense to survey the battle near Liu Youyu.

It appeared Zhou Yi of the Nine Tribes Sect had disappeared at some point, and Liu Youyu, Hu Yuanfei, and Fan Chen were each leading a team to search for him.

The Nine Tribes Sect has some tricks up its sleeve.

Pang Jian used his divine sense to scan the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis.

A chill suddenly ran down his spine!

The ghostly figure of Ling Yimo from the Ghost Sacrifice Sect no longer drifted aimlessly in the grand yet illusory floating city.

She stood by a window, gazing at everyone from what seemed like another world.

Her eyes darted about, landing on Liu Youyu's Flying Fish Boat, Fan Chen, Hu Yuanfei, Zhou Qingchen, and Lu Yanshu.

As though sensing Pang Jian's gaze, her roaming eyes locked onto his face.

Their eyes met.

Whoosh!

A sinister force struck the golden divine soul within Pang Jian's sea of consciousness, causing it to radiate a brilliant golden light.

The wails of deceased souls and malevolent spirits echoed from Ling Yimo's ghostly figure within the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis.

It was as though the souls of advanced intelligent races from different worlds were crying out.

Millions of ghostly wails converged into a vast sonic wave, transforming into a terrifying soul-crushing force aimed directly at Pang Jian's golden divine soul.

Space lost all sense of boundary as Pang Jian and Ling Yimo seemed to once again exist on the same plane.

Although the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis, the bizarre mist, and Pang Jian's physical body separated them, Ling Yimo still directly penetrated his sea of consciousness.

Sizzle!

Golden sparks shot out of Pang Jian's nostrils, eyes, and ears.

Wu Yuan jumped back in shock. "Pang Jian!"

"Pang Jian!" Liu Youyu's voice rang out as the Flying Fish Boat approached.

Shining the Celestial Profound Mirror on Pang Jian, Liu Youyu saw eerie threads tightly wrapped around his reflection.

"Netherworld Specter Karma Thread!" Liu Youyu's expression turned serious as she quickly activated the Celestial Profound Mirror.

The mirror emitted strands of divine light and sword light, severing the threads densely wrapped around Pang Jian's body.

"Netherworld Specter Karma Threads!" Wu Yuan gasped in horror.

Although neither his eyes nor his divine sense could detect these terrifying threads, he had seen them in Liu Youyu's Celestial Profound Mirror.

The Netherworld Specter Karma Art was a secret technique of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect, accessible only to the Sect Master and their chosen disciple.

It was an incredibly sinister art, rumored to be able to alter one's fate through the mysterious Netherworld Specter Karma Threads.

These threads were imbued with the Dao of Karma and could alter one's lifespan, past, present, and future if wrapped around them.

Gui Mu commanded the fear and respect of all beings in the Abyss precisely because she had fully mastered the Netherworld Ghost Karma Art.

"Little Junior Brother!" Hu Yuanfei arrived on her Rocfish Sword, like riding on the back of a great Rocfish.

She, too, had seen the Netherworld Specter Karma Threads wrapped around Pang Jian and could not help but curse, "That little witch from the Ghost Sacrifice Rites Sect dares to cast her technique from the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis even though her physical body has corroded away!"

"It's alright, I've cut them off." Liu Youyu sighed with relief. Wiping sweat from her brow, she turned around and looked back at the Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis.

Ling Yimo drifted around like a ghost inside the illusory city that seemed to exist in another world, acting like she had never stopped moving and had done nothing to harm him.

Pang Jian could still be seen in the Celestial Profound Mirror, but no threads were around him anymore.

Haah! Haah!

Pang Jian was drenched in cold sweat.

That brief eye contact had shrunk Pang Jian's golden divine soul within his sea of consciousness by half.

Although unaware he did not know what Netherworld Specter Karma Threads were, he could sense the icy threads on his body through his divine soul.

It felt like slimy, cold snakes were about to burrow into his flesh, slither through his meridians, and swim into his dantian and spiritual sea, intent on altering his fate and destiny.

His divine soul had been thoroughly occupied with resisting Ling Yimo's malevolent power, leaving him unable to deal with the Netherworld Specter Karma Threads plaguing his physical body.

If Liu Youyu had not arrived with the Celestial Profound Mirror in time, he shuddered to think of what could have happened.

The backlash from the Abyssal Demon, combined with Ling Yimo's attack, could have easily killed him.

A chill ran through Pang Jian's heart and his expression turned grim.

He was starting to realize that his exceptional abilities were nothing special among these prodigies of the Abyss.

Here, he was neither unique nor the one with the most hidden cards.

"You two are something else. You guys even managed to take down Hong Qiming."

Fan Chen arrived late and missed seeing the Netherworld Specter Karma Threads.

Instead, the first thing he saw was a pile of bones. It was the remains of Hong Qiming after his flesh had been corroded.

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