Trials of the Abyss-Chapter 525: Divine Seats Appear!

Pang Jian's divine soul drifted aimlessly through the eerie realm of flickering flames.

Despite his efforts, he found no path leading back to his physical body. Instead, more and more souls of the dead appeared, wrapped in those chilling flames like silent echoes.

Lin Miaojin's and Huang Qi's souls were also among them.

Pang Jian's divine soul trembled.

Although he had expected Lin Miaojin and Huang Qi to perish, he had not anticipated it happening so soon.

A faint sorrow stirred within him as he recalled his time with Huang Qi in the Primordial Wilderness. However, he knew his priority now was to escape this place, return to his body, and alert the True Gods.

He continued to drift, but no path presented itself. Meanwhile, the strange flames enveloping the dead grew in number.

The extinguished souls of vaguely familiar faces from Imperial Dominion City appeared one after another within the strange realm.

Pang Jian soon realized that Imperial Dominion City had fallen when he saw the number of souls from cultivators in the Nirvana Realm continue to grow.

All the souls wrapped in the eerie flames drifted toward Jiang Cen of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect.

Jiang Cen paid Pang Jian no mind, focusing solely on harnessing the souls cloaked in eerie fire!

Pang Jian's divine soul stopped in its tracks.

Jiang Cen was one of the heretical cultivators vying to ascend to the True God Realm!

A Ghost Sacrifice Sect elder is secretly cultivating forbidden techniques to ascend to the True God Realm. Does Gui Mu know of this? Does Mu Wentao, the other True God, know?

Pang Jian no longer wasted his energy futilely searching for a way back to his physical body, instead pausing to calmly assess the situation.

Jiang Cen passed the Blood God Technique to Dong Tianze and used his position as the Second Elder of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect to order Xing Heng to corner Dong Tianze into cultivating the forbidden technique.

That means that Jiang Cen almost certainly has ties to the Blood Spirit Sect.

Luo Hongyan wielded unmatched divine power back in Absolute Heaven. Based on Pang Ling's words and what I saw there, she's undoubtedly the most powerful God in the Fifth World.

The "Sovereign" that Jiang Cen mentioned earlier is likely her.

If that's true, then Jiang Cen is presumably acting under her command as well.

She's probably the one tampering with the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars and orchestrating this scheme in the Imperial Dominion.

Her goal is clearly to eliminate any True Gods reckless enough to enter the fragmented land. This would solidify her dominance over the Abyss and eliminate any chance of resurgence for the human race.

Jiang Ran is locked in a brutal stalemate with three powerful heretical cultivators in the skies of the Imperial Dominion.

None of the True Gods have shown themselves despite the information I sent. Could they have sensed the danger as well?

The human race has reigned supreme over the Abyss for thirty thousand years, suppressing the foreign races and the Fey Race the whole time.

Such dominance could not be gained or maintained if the True Gods were weak or ignorant.

The True Gods that broke through the barrier into the starry skies even dared to destroy the Hall of Gods.

If True Gods were that easy to fool, there would be no need for a Sovereign like Luo Hongyan to plot meticulously, seizing the once-in-a-hundred-millennia grand event to overthrow the human race's reign.

The one hiding in corpses within Imperial Dominion City is likely also stronger than Jiang Cen of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect.

After all, that person is my master's old friend.

If his combat prowess is high enough, perhaps he could stop Jiang Cen from ascending.

After calmly analyzing the situation, a calm settled over Pang Jian.

He had a gnawing feeling that the upheaval unfolding in the Imperial Dominion was far more complex than he could ever know.

Although his divine soul was still trapped in the strange realm, Pang Jian was not worried about his physical body.

After all, the Abyssal Demon Sword was still with him outside, and the Abyssal Demon could defend him if necessary.

Thus, rather than futilely searching for a way out, he quietly observed Jiang Cen's attempt to ascend.

Pang Jian's divine soul posed little threat to Jiang Cen.

However, the person hiding in the shadows could still intervene at a critical moment.

In that case, Pang Jian could find the opportunity he needed to escape during their confrontation.

***

In the eastern region of the Imperial Dominion, an ethereal figure silently materialized from a ripple in the sky.

Her frail, paper-thin body seemed almost insubstantial, merging seamlessly with the shadows of the night. Every trace of her soul fluctuations, blood essence, and innate divine abilities were carefully concealed.

This was Jing Sha, the Rank Ten warrior of the Dark Shadow Race, adept at stealth and assassination.

"The True Gods should've caught wind of the disturbance and descended into the fragmented land below by now," she muttered, slipping into a hidden Mirror Tunnel to report to the one she faithfully served.

***

A Rank Nine Ghost Ape emerged from a rippling spatial distortion in the southern wasteland.

The Ghost Ape carved a bloody gash across its torso with its sharp claws, effectively tearing open its own chest.

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A ghostly, gaunt man stepped out from the gaping wound and descended to the cold wasteland below.

This man was Wu Bi, the Rank Ten of the Ghost Race.

"Lord You Kui, how are things below?" Wu Bi asked the Outer God underground.

"Everything is proceeding smoothly," Outer God You Kui replied. "She found the Sunken Crypt and has already gone inside."

Wu Bi's green eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Even if her true body cannot descend into the Abyss, she'll be able to face Gui Mu head-on once she refines the Sunken Crypt.

"She also has you, Lord You Kui, and myself at her side.

"When war inevitably breaks out, we'll slay Gui Mu, the one dominating the Dao of Ghost."

You Kui's low, sinister laugh echoed from deep underground. "Don't forget, the other True God of the Ghost Sacrifice Sect has always maintained close ties with our Ghost Race.

"Although Lady Zi Mo was said to be Gui Mu's disciple back when she was still Ling Yimo, he was the one who guided her most of the time.

"Lady Zi Mo's abilities and the years she spent by his side made it truly effortless to persuade him to our side.

"Gui Mu will face certain death once Lady Zi Mo refines the Sunken Crypt."

You Kui was brimming with confidence.

***

In the eastern region, a wooden figure with a deathly aura drifted away from the kneeling Blackwood Sect disciples and descended into a forest of withered trees.

At the heart of the forest lay a dried-up well that descended deep into the ground.

An open black stone coffin rested at the bottom of the well. A pale-skinned woman lay within, her entire body greedily absorbing the lingering aura of death through every pore.

The wooden figure let out an eerie chuckle. "A God of Death in the Abyss!"

A cluster of clouds, symbolizing a divine seat, formed over the eastern region of the Imperial Dominion.

The clouds glowed radiantly in the pitch-black night, releasing a dazzling multi-colored brilliance.

An aura of death and stillness saturated the east. The flowers and grass had all wilted, and the corpses of orthodox rogue cultivators littered the ground.

The radiant clouds appeared glaringly out of place in the desolate forest.

Heaven's will was indifferent to notions of good or evil. Its laws were governed solely by the natural order.

The divine seat made no distinction between righteousness and wickedness.

Heretical cultivators had always had the ability to ascend to the True God Realm, provided a divine seat was available.

The only reason none had ever emerged before this was because the True Gods that governed the Abyss did not allow it.

Heretical cultivators across the Imperial Dominion cheered at the sight of the radiant clouds.

***

Whoosh!

A second cluster of radiant clouds quietly appeared over Imperial Dominion City, illuminating the lifeless bodies below.

Heaven's will did not bend to individual desires, and the divine seat was not exclusively reserved for righteous cultivators.

Not a single living being remained in Imperial Dominion City. A lingering air of despair, resentment, and malice filled every corner.

The divine seat gleamed brightly, uncaring of the gloom that surrounded it.

In an unremarkable corner of the city, Pang Jian's body lay as lifeless as the corpses scattered throughout the city.

Although his mind was empty, his dantian remained vibrant, his blood essence surged, and his body pulsed with undeniable vitality.

Black demonic flames suddenly ignited in his hand, burning the blue cloth wrapping the sheathed demonic sword into ash.

Whoosh!

The black flames shifted to a deep greenish hue, spreading from the sword to engulf Pang Jian's entire body.

Pang Jian! the Abyssal Demon called.

His voice reverberated through Pang Jian's sea of consciousness, dantian, and Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint.

***

The radiant Celestial Gate collapsed with a deafening boom, taking the Dao of Sword into which Jiang Ran had poured his lifelong aspirations with it.

Jiang Ran's sword heart shattered with the gate, and his boundless sword intent dissipated.

After "Shang Xiuchun" repeatedly collided with the gate, his body disintegrated, unable to withstand the strain.

Only a single black speck of light remained from the spray of blood and flesh.

It drifted silently onto Jiang Ran's back, and he froze mid-air, locked in an eerie state of stillness.

Lu Qinghe let out a long sigh of relief. "He's finally dead."

His flesh had been stripped away, leaving behind a tall skeleton with thin strands of blood and sinew just barely clinging to his joints, holding the pale bones together.

Jiang Ran had forced him to reveal his true form, with his body destroyed and reforged five times in relentless succession during the battle.

Lu Qinghe could not help but admire Jiang Ran.

Without the aid of Xie Tong, Mu Weifeng, and another hidden ally, Jiang Ran would have undoubtedly killed him once more.

Fortunately, they emerged victorious in the end.

Lu Qinghe pulled out a fresh robe with his skeletal hand and draped it over his skeletal frame.

His hollow gaze settled on the two vibrant clusters of clouds representing divine seats with a raspy, unsettling laugh.

"If they can ascend to the True God Realm with this, I will have my chance in the future too."

Lu Qinghe could already see the True Gods perishing one after the other, leaving divine seats vacant in their wake.