Trials of the Abyss-Chapter 952: The Strange Movements of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars
News of the earth-shaking events above the bizarre mist spread across the starry skies.
"The Hall of Gods was destroyed."
"My connection to the Hall of Gods just vanished. What happened?"
"The Hall of Gods was destroyed in the starry region above the Abyss!"
"Who? Who has the strength to destroy our Hall of Gods?!"
Those not yet summoned into the Hall of Gods to join the battle were steeped in trepidation. When they realized the Hall of Gods lay in ruins, they sank into an even deeper fear.
The Hall of Gods embodied divine authority. Under the control of the Sovereigns, it was also the supreme weapon in the war against the bizarre mist.
What does its destruction mean for the rest of us?
Outer Gods across the starry skies despaired.
***
Tian Yu's radiant figure remained hidden in a spatial rift, his inscrutable gaze fixed upon the starry region known as the Primordial Chaos Starry Region.
The space behind him was webbed with cracks, interwoven like shattered pieces of glimmering glass.
Within one such crack was a drifting fragmented land, upon which stood Tian Yu's Void Temple.
The Hall of Gods has been destroyed again...
A faint sense of loss stirred within Tian Yu. Falling into deep disquiet, he quietly weighed whether to step beyond the spatial rift.
The shattered starry region had been pulled into the Primordial Chaos Starry Region, and the Illusory Void Realm dragged along with it. As the Sovereign of Space, Tian Yu could easily withdraw from the battlefield and return to his Void Temple.
However, if he were to withdraw, Fu Ya and Sovereign Luo would undoubtedly be in dire straits.
Can they prevail against those monstrous siblings, Pang Lin and Pang Jian? Not to mention, there's still the Rank Thirteen World Tree and the host of high-ranking Fey Gods.
If they fall, it would only become harder for me to stand against such foes in the future. No egg remains intact when the nest is overturned. [1]
After mulling it over, Tian Yu made his choice. He exited his spatial rift and entered the perilous starry region.
His shadowed eyes swept over the graceful figure of the Black Empyrean Phoenix, then shifted toward the two Pang Jians.
"The human race has birthed a dazzling prodigy with the help of the bizarre mist," Tian Yu muttered, eyes settling on Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul. "Fortunately, you ascended as a Sovereign and not otherwise."
These last words were aimed at Fu Ya and Luo Hongyan. Both Sovereigns, though still troubled, felt a glimmer of relief at his implication.
Meanwhile, debris from the ruined Hall of Gods continued to fall into the bizarre mist.
The mightiest beings in the bizarre mist stirred in excitement, already moving to hunt down and seize the fragments.
Each piece of the Hall of Gods bore the imprints of the Heavenly Daos. Every shard was a treasure of peerless quality that could be used to forge divine artifacts worth mountains of spirit jade.
Suddenly, the seven colossal Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars in the Fifth World of the Abyss shuddered and tore themselves free from the continents they resided on.
The inhabitants of the Abyss watched, dumbstruck, as the pillars breached the boundary wall of the Abyss. Once in the boundless bizarre mist, they rearranged themselves into the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Array!
These pillars unleashed a powerful pull that seemed to draw in even the bizarre mist itself.
The pieces of the Hall of Gods in the bizarre mist veered toward the array long before any others could find them, drawn irresistibly into the pillars' grasp.
A colossal beehive, similarly torn free from the Abyss, streaked toward the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars. At its crown stood the humanoid Bee Sovereign, his features bearing a close resemblance to Pang Jian.
He commanded the swarming Nether Abyss Spirit Bees toward the center of the array. It was almost as if he were the one to draw the pillars out of the Abyss and into the bizarre mist.
The mysterious Soulstream in the depths of the Nether Abyss stirred with the gentle sound of flowing water. Long Di, stationed beneath the barrier of the Nether Abyss, felt the anomaly.
"The Soulstream's consciousness has reached a new height," he muttered uneasily. "It's becoming harder and harder to fathom."
He knew nothing of the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars tearing free or the Bee Sovereign's beehive streaking away. All he knew was that the Soulstream was quivering from anticipation.
"It's waiting for something."
***
"Tian Yu, the Hall of Gods was destroyed because you failed to arrive in time," Fu Ya rebuked when she noticed Tian Yu. "You miscalculated. You failed to annihilate the Black Empyrean Phoenix's human form."
When the Hall of Gods crumbled, she had been even more unsettled than Luo Hongyan, but after hearing Tian Yu's earlier words, she had regained her composure.
"Still," she said with a soft sigh, "I have to thank you for your reminder."
When Tian Yu said nothing, she added, "We need to act as one if we are to fulfill the will of that one."
The one she was referring to was, of course, the will of the starry skies.
"Mm." Tian Yu nodded. "That's why I'm here."
"We're still missing one," Luo Hongyan interrupted.
Pang Lin's brows knitted as her gaze instinctively turned toward Li Yuqing. "He..."
The Sovereign of Fate! Pang Jian's heart jolted violently. Is he going to take part in this battle as well?
Li Yuqing had previously told Pang Jian that the Sovereign of Fate was unlike the other three Sovereigns. He did not view the human race as an aberration. Otherwise, he would never have gone to such lengths to nurture Li Yuqing.
That reclusive Sovereign also seldom meddled in the affairs of the Outer Gods. However, for Luo Hongyan to bring him up at this time, when the Hall of Gods had been destroyed and the three Sovereigns were on the defensive, had terrible implications.
Could he truly be coming?
Few across the starry skies ever set eyes on the Sovereign of Fate. Fewer still knew his temperament and stance. Not even the Gods of the Star Race knew much about him.
"He-he—" In the Abyss, Xing Huan of the Star Race shuddered at Luo Hongyan's words. "That's right. He's one of the four Sovereigns. His cultivation was shaped under the guidance of the supreme will of the bizarre mist.
"He can ignore trivial matters, but this—this concerns the plan of that supreme will. He has every reason to appear! Old Patriarch...you won't really come, would you?"
An uneasy dread stirred in Xing Huan's heart.
1. No egg remains intact when the nest is overturned is a Chinese idiom used to describe how when a whole group or environment falls, the individuals within it cannot escape harm either. It comes from The Book of Jin (晋书·王沈传), where the line was used to explain that if the larger situation collapses, the smaller parts inevitably suffer too. ☜
