Trials of the Abyss-Chapter 975: Losing Control

Deep blue seas churned violently in the Bee Sovereign's compound eyes.

A soul fragment of the Bee Sovereign stirred in the Soulstream at the bottom of the Nether Abyss. Opening its mouth, it devoured the azure lightning dancing along the surface of the Soulstream, its spectral body swiftly condensing into tangible reality.

At the same time, the bronze continent in the Seventh World of the Abyss crackled with golden lightning. Twisting bolts darted about in a frenzy before converging to forge a strange body.

The two Dao Sources at the bottom of their respective abysses stirred, their powers gathering and surging.

Meanwhile, the bizarre mist continued to rise ever upward. The inhabitants of the abysses watched as the rising bizarre mist shrouded the starry skies beyond. No longer could they glimpse the suns and moons, nor behold those majestically terrifying divine beings.

An earth-shaking change had struck the starry region, but their fates were yet to be determined.

***

In the starry region, the Bee Sovereign's divine consciousness continued to wander through the gray mist that filled Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul. He sought any trace of the will of the bizarre mist, wishing to know if it had truly descended into Pang Jian.

How are there so many traces of Dao Sources in Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul? The Bee Sovereign grew increasingly unsettled. It's almost more peculiar that I can't sense any trace of its will.

"So what if you've stepped into the Exalted God Realm?" Yi Hao sneered. "What sets you apart from Tian Yu or Fu Ya? In the end, you're nothing more than a puppet in its hand. Once it wrings you dry, you'll share the fate of the other Sovereigns born of the bizarre mist, either slain in battle or swallowed whole by the bizarre mist itself. That's how it's always been, and always will be!"

Yi Hao's words betrayed a depth of knowledge he refused to openly reveal. Every syllable was intended to incite Pang Jian against the will of the bizarre mist. If Pang Jian rebelled as Luo Hongyan had, its descent would falter, forced to erase Pang Jian's sense of self before it could take hold.

Pang Jian's heart quivered. Did I only break free because the will of the bizarre mist corrupted me?

Luo Hongyan's warning and Yi Hao's grim insistence all pointed to the same conclusion—the will of the bizarre mist had tainted him, and the power that had not shattered the temporal seal had not been his own.

That seed of doubt gnawed at him. He could not help but wonder if that will had infiltrated his Immortal Divine Soul after he ascended to the Exalted God Realm.

Pang Jian's will burst into countless strands of multicolored lightning and raced through his body. They delved into his five viscera, darted across the stars, suns, and moons, and threaded through the gray mist. However, no matter how he searched, he found no trace of a will that was not his own.

Meanwhile, the rising bizarre mist quickened its pace, swallowing more and more of the starry region. The stars closest to the bizarre mist soon disappeared into a sea of gray.

The bizarre mist swiftly corroded Luo Hongyan's aura of light and darkness, as well as Yi Hao's radiance of fate. The Heavenly Daos within their techniques vanished in the blink of an eye.

Luo Hongyan's and Yi Hao's expressions both darkened. The Primordial Chaos Starry Region had changed.

Yi Hao's Dao of Fate and divine techniques faltered in the bizarre mist. A foreign force unraveled his River of Fate, severing the threads of fate that bound him to beings beyond and stripping him of the power he would have drawn from distant starry regions.

"Its power is spilling across the starry skies!" Yi Hao exclaimed in horror, his towering body shooting upward in an attempt to escape the encroaching bizarre mist.

Luo Hongyan, hovering beside Pang Jian, warily eyed the churning bizarre mist.

"Pang Jian, we need to guard against the will of the starry skies," she warned, "but you, especially, have to guard against the will within the bizarre mist. Those two wills are the same at their core. You have to hold fast to your own will. Only then can you survive an—"

A sharp whistle of energy cut her words short. Luo Hongyan shot skyward.

"It's there, in the bizarre mist itself!" she cried.

The Primordial Chaos Starry Region was rapidly being drowned in gray mist. The stars, suns, and moons dimmed under the smothering of the creeping mist.

Then, from within that hazy pall, came a glow.

The God King's skull spilled light and flame as it emerged, drifting toward Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul. Pang Jian's physical body stood tall upon the massive skull like a supreme being enthroned upon his divine platform.

Moments later, the bizarre mist swallowed Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul and Pang Lin, still perched on his shoulder. The siblings were immersed in gray.

"Brother," Pang Lin called softly.

"I'm here."

Even enshrouded in the bizarre mist, Pang Jian still could not sense a trace of that supreme will. Unease sat heavy in his stomach.

"Can you feel it?" he quietly asked Pang Lin, uncertainty causing his voice to waver. "Is it in my body or this gray mist? Why can't I perceive it at all?"

Luo Hongyan and Yi Hao's abrupt departures made it clear that the will of the bizarre mist was indeed present in the bizarre mist.

The bizarre mist had swallowed his physical body and seeped into his Immortal Divine Soul, yet he could not sense it at all.

That dissonance gnawed at him.

"Don't waste time wondering where it's hiding," Pang Lin solemnly advised. "What you need to do now is strike down Yi Hao. Remove that threat first."

Pang Jian inclined his head in concession. "You're right."

Thunder rumbled with fury. The Divine Court of Thunder charged forth from the gray mist below, wreathed in blinding bolts of lightning as the Duke of Thunder used it to break through the barrier of the Abyss.

The scales of the Thunder Dragon's massive azure body gleamed with divine radiance. His eyes burned with a will to slaughter—a clear sign he had lost his sense of self. His mind had been corrupted, reduced to nothing more than a weapon in another's grasp.

In the Duke of Thunder's wake came Bai Zi, Xing Huan, the Black Dragon King, the black turtle, Yuan Qi, and the Ice Armor Eel Dragon, each piercing through the barrier of the Abyss one after another.

They were all mighty high-ranking Gods, yet all of them had been stripped of reason, their gazes wild with bloodlust.

"They've gone insane!" Lin Baixiang shouted in horror from within the Abyss.

Su Wanrou's shocked voice cried out, "Li Yuqing!"

All eyes turned sharply toward Li Yuqing.

A phantom River of Fate circled the young girl. It was nearly identical to the one Yi Hao had unveiled before.

The foreign breath of fate radiated from it, unraveling the will of the Fey Race and foreign races, driving them into frenzy.

"It's Yi Hao!" Li Zhaotian realized. "He's unleashing his divine technique through Li Yuqing!"