Trials of the Abyss-Chapter 542: Catastrophe

The Frost Crystal God wore a rare look of bitter helplessness on her face.

Ying Yue was one of her only friends among the Gods.

She would never have confided her problems if not for the desire to team up with Ying Yue to hunt the Star Devourer.

The Frost Crystal God had left her domain and ventured into the desolate starry skies near the Abyss not because she sought a share of the spoils but to escape the high-ranking God pressuring her.

After all, mighty Demon Gods like He Motian and Tian Wei were present, along with the high-ranking God of the Ghost Race, Zi Mo. She naturally knew her limits and dared not be greedy.

However, the Gods were gathering above the Abyss, and the high-ranking God harassing her dared not enter this region to act against her.

Even Outer Gods had to abide by certain principles and hierarchies. That God would hesitate to act recklessly in the face of figures like He Motian and Zi Mo.

"I've never heard you speak of this before," Ying Yue said gravely. "Who is this god? And what exactly does he want from you?"

"I won't say his name." The Frost Crystal God sighed bitterly. After hesitating briefly, she continued, "He offered me some assistance when I was trying to ascend from a low-ranking God to a mid-ranking God.

"Back then, I was still too naive to understand that there's no such thing as a free gift. It turned out that the Dao of Cold I comprehended could aid in strengthening his power.

"I lacked the ability to help him when I was still a low-ranking God, but once I ascended to a mid-ranking God, he sought me out, expressing his desire for a 'divine union.'

"He's a high-ranking God, while I'm only a mid-ranking one. Such a union would result in him endlessly draining my divine power to further his own ascension.

"I have few friends and no powerful backer, so I had no choice but to flee my domain and take refuge here to avoid him. But once this great calamity of the Abyss ends, all the Gods will leave and I'll be forced to return to my domain.

"When that happens, I'll have no choice but to face him again."

The Frost Crystal Goddess smiled helplessly, staring at the illusory altar before her.

"If I could just obtain a piece of the Star Devourer or some rare artifact from within the bizarre mist, I could secure the favor of a powerful ally. I could then have a chance to break free from him."

For the Frost Crystal God, ascending to the rank of a high-ranking God in a short time was nearly impossible. Such a feat would require an earth-shattering opportunity, and even then, it would only grant her a sliver of hope.

She planned to use some extraordinary treasures to win the favor of another powerful God and buy herself more time.

Although painfully aware that this plan could lead her from one peril into another, the Frost Crystal God felt she had little choice in the matter.

"I'll help you!" Ying Yue volunteered. As a fellow female God, she naturally empathized with the situation. "If you can get the inhabitants of that world to set up an altar, I'll take the risk and join you in this venture!"

***

In the Shadow Abyss, the eight detached limbs of the Star Devourer did not return to its main body after failing to capture Pang Jian, instead hovering above the remaining intact continents.

Five of the serpentine limbs then descended toward the continent where the most powerful beings of the Shadow Abyss were gathered.

Roar!

The Star Devourer let out an ear-piercing screech from within the grayish-yellow star in the sky.

The five limbs struck out, piercing into a mountain, plunging into a lake, vanishing into a deep pit, breaching a city, and stretching across a forest.

Each of the five limbs had locked onto Three Rank Nine warriors of the Shadow Spirit Race, one Rank Nine warrior of the Dark Shadow Race, and one Rank Nine warrior of the Sea Race.

Disaster descended on the continent.

The five Rank Nine warriors suddenly felt the world spin around them as their souls were wrenched from their bodies and absorbed into the detached limbs.

On three other continents, Rank Nine warriors from the Mountain Spirit Race, the Geospirit Race, and the Dark Shadow Race, suffered the same fate, with their souls mercilessly devoured.

The eight remaining Rank Nine warriors in the Shadow Abyss had all been killed in the blink of an eye.

Wails of despair echoed across the Shadow Abyss.

Families gathered around the soulless corpses of the Rank Nine warriors as they mourned. Young sons and daughters wept in grief and anguish.

The younger generation raised their tear-streaked faces, eyes burning with hatred as they stared at the eight retreating limbs of the Star Devourer.

There were only eight Rank Nine warriors in the Shadow Abyss.

The Star Devourer had also detached exactly eight limbs in pursuit of Pang Jian.

From the very beginning, it had planned to use the souls of these Rank Nine powerhouses to make up for its losses. The eight Rank Nine warriors had been doomed to die the moment the limbs separated from its main body, regardless of whether it caught Pang Jian.

An unexpected intruder had interrupted its feast. That single alone was enough to provoke its wrath, which it mercilessly unleashed upon the inhabitants of the Shadow Abyss.

The Star Devourer viewed the inhabitants of the Shadow Abyss as nothing more than livestock, with their souls carefully cultivated as food. When and how to consume them was entirely at its discretion.

If not for Pang Jian's intrusion, it would have waited several more years for those Rank Nine warriors to grow stronger, with their souls accumulating more power over time.

After all, stronger souls made for a more delectable meal.

Unfortunately, Pang Jian's arrival triggered a sense of crisis in the Star Devourer, forcing it to conduct a premature harvest. It would rather consume its food early than risk losing it altogether.

***

A young and handsome Shadow Spirit Race warrior collapsed onto the deck of the shuttle-shaped ship, knees buckling as if drained of strength.

"Father!" he cried, voice hoarse and choked with anguish.

His father had been the strongest warrior of the Shadow Spirit Race of this era and would have long since ascended to Rank Nine if not for the Star Devourer.

Deliberately suppressing his breakthrough, his father had patiently honed his Rank Eight bloodline as he waited for an opportunity to present itself. His ultimate goal had been to find the perfect window to ascend directly to Rank Ten in a single leap and pierce through the barrier of the Shadow Abyss.

Their High Priest had assured everyone that the Star Devourer would be too preoccupied to notice anything else while feasting on the grayish-yellow star.

This period of supposed distraction had been the opportunity his father believed he had been waiting for.

In hindsight, it was evident that the Star Devourer maintained an iron grip over the Shadow Abyss even while feasting.

The idea that it would be too distracted to notice was likely nothing more than a beautifully crafted lie. A deception that the Star Devourer outwardly presented to give the inhabitants of the Shadow Abyss a sliver of false hope.

The inhabitants of the Shadow Abyss would only strengthen their bloodlines for as long as they held hope in their hearts. A slim possibility of a better future gave them the courage to push their bloodlines to Rank Nine and risk everything in pursuit of greatness.

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In slaughtering the eight Rank Nine warriors, the Star Devourer had extinguished the last vestiges of hope in the Shadow Abyss.

The High Priest of the Shadow Spirit Race would no longer hold onto any lingering illusions. No warrior would dare to refine their bloodline, let alone advance to Rank Nine.

After all, there was no point.

They never had the faintest chance of succeeding in the first place.

***

Above the bizarre mist at the lowest point of the Dark Abyss, Pang Jian submerged his Immortal Divine Soul into the Star Devourer's detached limb, greedily absorbing the boundless energies contained within.

He paid little attention to the anomalies occurring on the six continents above, nor did he bother with the Star Devourer's subsequent actions.

His instincts would alert him the instant the Star Devourer's limbs appeared, allowing him to retreat into the bizarre mist where the Star Devourer was unwilling to pursue him.

In other words, he had secured an invincible position.

Pang Jian eventually drained the massive limb, and his Immortal Divine Soul appeared more dazzling than before.

Absorbing the energies within the limb had changed his Immortal Divine Soul. It was no longer a pure golden hue. Instead, it radiated a spectrum of colors.

From afar, Pang Jian's enlarged Immortal Divine Soul resembled a divine creation forged from celestial rainbows. Its splendor was beyond mortal comprehension.

Pang Jian could feel his Immortal Divine Soul growing stronger.

The Dao Seals etched into his bones had become more intricate and his comprehension of the Heavenly Daos governing wood, earth, stars, ice, and other phenomena had also deepened.

He could not help but envision the power he could unleash once he returned to his physical body and reunited with the Abyssal Demon Sword.

Could I face a True God in battle? Or stand toe-to-toe against the Rank Ten foreign race warriors? he wondered.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

One flying vessel after another descended from the sky and landed before Pang Jian.

The High Priest of the Shadow Spirit Race led the elders of the Dark Shadow Race, the Mountain Spirit Race, the Sea Race, and the Geospirit Race to prostrate themselves on the decks of their flying vessels.

Their foreheads were pressed to the deck in the highest form of respect their races could display to a superior being.

"Lord, please deliver the Shadow Abyss from its suffering and slay the Star Devourer," the High Priest of the Shadow Spirit Race begged, tone heavy with grief and hatred.

He repeatedly struck his head against the deck with resounding thuds as he sobbed.

"You're our only hope! We cannot kill or drive it away with our strength alone. If the Star Devourer is not eliminated, the Shadow Abyss will remain engulfed in eternal darkness. There will be no path forward for any of us."

Elders of the Mountain Spirit Race, the Sea Race, the Dark Shadow Race, and the Geospirit Race joined in, pleading for Pang Jian, an outsider, to make the Star Devourer pay. They were willing to risk the Star Devourer detecting their actions for this and had already prepared themselves for death.

The Geospirit Race and the Dark Shadow Race...

Pang Jian's expression turned complex.

These two races also existed in the Fifth World of the Abyss and had participated in the fight against the human race under the orders of the Outer Gods.

Meanwhile, in the Shadow Abyss—a world that the Outer Gods largely ignored—they were nothing more than helpless lambs awaiting slaughter.

Pang Jian was a God of the human race, and aiding the foreign races of the Shadow Abyss in killing the Star Devourer seemed to contradict the strategic principles of the True Gods.

Still, he was their only hope, and True Gods could not enter the Shadow Abyss anyway.

"I'll try again, but not for your sake. It's only because the Star Devourer is far too valuable," Pang Jian said before vanishing into the bizarre mist.

The gathered elders of the Shadow Abyss stared in stunned silence at his sudden departure.

All hope drained from their faces.

They could not help but feel as though they had just lost their last lifeline.