Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 315: The Fallen God

"I'm not interested."

With that, Pang Jian vanished.

The Observer fixed its many eyes on where Pang Jian had disappeared. It then used its divine power to scan the area but found nothing.

"He can teleport," muttered the Observer.

The different consciousnesses within it quietly conversed among themselves.

"The one who guided us in Spirit Offering has already prepared a vessel capable of receiving part of its power. It seems to have known since long ago that the Abyss would open and that this great upheaval, which occurs once every hundred thousand years, was about to unfold."

"He must be in the fragmented land where the Fire God perished."

"The lightning in the Forbidden Land of the Thunder God would've annihilated the Nether Abyss Spirit Bees, but the boy refuses to take the bait."

"If the Nether Abyss Spirit Bees aren't destroyed, we, the Outer Gods will easily become its food."

"This is truly troublesome."

Disjointed ramblings rang out from the different consciousnesses within the banner. It was like multiple versions of the Observer were simply thinking aloud, unconcerned about whether the others were listening.

***

Whoosh!

Pang Jian appeared above the fiery fragmented land next to a golden bee.

Volcanoes spewing magma and fire were scattered across the fragmented land

The ground was a deep crimson, crisscrossed with winding ravines of flowing magma.

A strange sensation filled Pang Jian as if the laws of heaven and earth had been altered to disrupt the flow of time and space.

Pang Jian knew what he saw before him was an illusion, as he had already experienced a similar phenomenon at the Frozen Land and Forbidden Land of the Thunder God.

Gathering his golden divine sense into his eyes, he attempted to pierce through the illusion and see the true nature of the fragmented land below.

Clusters of flames flickered in the deep crimson sky, obstructing his view.

A faint but overwhelming divine aura seemingly capable of destroying all things radiated from the flames, causing Pang Jian's eyes to ache and his golden divine sense to drain rapidly.

I'll get a better look if I just go in. Pang Jian sighed, retracting his golden divine sense.

Summoning earthflame energy from his fiery pool, he infused it into his crimson protective shield before diving down with his Startling Slaughter Spear.

Another unfamiliar world unveiled itself before his eyes.

Pang Jian briefly glanced around and decisively teleported back out when he could not make anything out.

Whoosh!

He appeared by the golden bee outside the blazing fragmented land again.

Realizing there were no restrictions like the Frozen Land, his tension eased and he ventured back in.

Unlike before, he did not leave immediately and instead started to observe the fragmented land from above.

The sky was a burning crimson curtain adorned with clusters of brilliant flaming clouds.

Volcanoes spewed raging flames and winding rivers of molten magma snaked across the red land below.

The scorched, arid land had no spiritual qi nor any other energy Pang Jian was familiar with.

It was a land of pure fire energy!

The fragmented land was the complete opposite of the Frozen Land. Heat swelled in the air and flames blazed through the sky, making it nearly impossible for an ordinary person to endure.

Whoosh!

Jets of magma and fire erupted from the volcanoes, shooting into the sky before raining back down in a shower of fiery meteors.

The entire world was an eternal downpour of molten magma.

"Kill!"

"Annihilate the Flame Race and seize the divine artifacts created from the body of the deceased Fire God!"

Thunderous battle cries echoed from the east.

A brutal battle erupted with renewed intensity.

Pang Jian turned around and saw an enormous, dark-red body lying on its back, eyes closed and bathed in molten magma.

The body was tens of thousands of zhang long and covered in deep red scales.

Its limbs and body had smashed deep craters into the earth, filled with magma from the volcanoes.

The colossal body emanated an aura of terrifying destruction. Its mere existence warped the entire fragmented land, forcibly replacing the natural laws with those of the Dao of Fire.

Peculiar trees grew in abundance around the massive body.

The trunks of those trees seemed to be made from a mixture of gold, iron, or gems, and their red fruits appeared to contain the essence of fiery divine power.

Whoosh!

Small, translucent crystals, like the solidified blood diluted with the molten magma, occasionally surfaced in the molten lava around the body.

The fiery red Flame Race warriors wielded different weapons and fought fiercely against the invading foreign races.

Among these invading forces were the Ghost Race, the Carapace Race, the Earth Scorpion Race, and the Wood Race Pang Jian had encountered in Absolute Heaven, along with other foreign races Pang Jian had never seen.

The foreign races all sought the red fruits and fiery translucent crystals around the body.

It's a fallen God—its soul is gone, but its body remains, the Bee Sovereign explained.

A God?!

Startled, Pang Jian raised his guard and carefully observed the fallen God.

Every God he had encountered so far merely inhabited a puppet body that the foreign races worshiping them crafted in their likeness.

None were genuine manifestations.

These puppet bodies carried only the tiniest fragments of the Gods' divine consciousness, which was why Pang Jian had been able to rely on the unique abilities of the golden bees to fight against them.

He was well aware that these puppet bodies did not possess even a fraction of the power of a true God.

"Flame Race? There's a Flame Race in the Fifth World of the Abyss too."

Like the Ice Race, the Flame Race warriors also had human-like limbs and facial features. The main difference was that their bodies were bright red and their blood was like molten magma.

The heavily injured Flame Race warriors would consume the red fruits from the trees or jump into the magma surrounding the Fire God's body, healing their injuries so they could resume fighting once more.

It was similar to the effects of the Ice Race's Heart of Winter.

It's here too, said the Bee Sovereign.

Pang Jian had been focusing on the God of Fire's body in the east, and the Bee Sovereign's words had him shifting his gaze to a familiar Outer God Puppet.

The Outer God with the face of a human and the body of a spider floated above a burning lake of fire, inhabiting a statue made of some kind of bone.

Its eerie, beautiful face was as exquisite as before.

The fiery red glow of the fragmented land illuminated the flush of blood and eerie vitality on its beautiful face.

It commanded its loyal followers to attack the Flame Race warriors from where it hovered in mid-air.

Occasionally, it would elegantly brush its bone-like spider legs against its forehead, flicking its hair back with poise.

The Outer God had not noticed Pang Jian's presence until his gaze landed on it.

It glanced in his direction.

The cold fury burned in its eyes and one of its spider legs pointed directly at Pang Jian.

In response to its pointing, a silver warship flew straight toward Pang Jian and the Outer God's loyal followers targeted him.

Pang Jian's expression turned serious.

It remembers me!

He had destroyed one of the arachnid Outer God's stone statues in the Resolute Expanse with the help of the black turtle.

After its defeat, the black turtle had absorbed its divine power and the golden bees had devoured its divine consciousness, allowing Pang Jian to refine several strands of golden divine sense as well.

Unexpectedly, the connection between the Outer God's puppet body and its true body seemed to have been constantly active, allowing it to be fully aware of what had transpired despite the puppet body being destroyed in the Resolute Expanse.

When enemies meet, their hatred burns all the more fiercely.

Unlike on the Resolute Expanse, the Outer God now had many loyal foreign race warriors under its command.

Concluding that it would be difficult to do anything with the Outer God targeting him, Pang Jian swiftly escaped.

As soon as he left the fiery fragmented land, Pang Jian teleported to a golden bee near the Frozen Land.

The silver warship chased Pang Jian out of the volcanic fragmented land, passing through the fiery clouds and into the outside world.

The foreign race warriors on board looked around but could not find any trace of Pang Jian, and they were eventually forced to return to report their failure.

In the fiery fragmented land, the soul projection of the cloaked Outer God the Ghost Race worshiped shrank to a thousandth of its size and drifted toward the arachnid Outer God.

"Yang Luo, you know that human from the Abyss?" asked the soul projection of the Outer God.

"He destroyed my puppet body in the Abyss," replied Yang Luo, the arachnid Outer God. Coldly eyeing the uninvited guest, she added, "You Kui, are you also interested in him?"

"He killed Ka Zi of the Wood Race in the forest of Absolute Heaven," said You Kui, face hidden beneath his dark cloak. "I just find it strange. The human race from the Abyss lacks faith and should not have any Outer Gods descending upon them.

"How could he have killed Ka Zi with his strength? He even erased the consciousness of the Outer God in Ka Zi's mind!

"How could he destroy one of your puppet bodies in the Abyss? How did he do it?"

Yang Luo glanced at the sky before she coldly responded, "You'll understand once you face him."

"Yang Luo, with your strength, you could've invaded his mind with your divine consciousness, killing him instantly. Why didn't you?"

Pain flashed in Yang Luo's eyes as she recalled how the golden bees in Pang Jian's sea of consciousness had devoured her divine consciousness.

Outer Gods like Yang Luo could only infuse a tiny fraction of their divine power and divine consciousness into their puppet bodies.

Killing through divine consciousness was their typical method of choice.

Yang Luo had never failed in such an attempt until Pang Jian.

Her true body had experienced the agony of Nether Abyss Spirit Bees devouring her divine consciousness.

"You'll understand once you face him," Yang Luo repeated, coldly shaking her head, pointedly not revealing the existence of Pang Jian's Nether Abyss Spirit Bees."Even the Lord herself changed her mind because of him."

Yang Luo dared not disrespect Luo Hongyan and continued reverently referring to her as "Lord."

"If not for that, we would've already taken over Spirit Offering and perhaps even refined some of the living beings of the Dark Abyss Continent in the Abyss," she added.