Trials of the Abyss-Chapter 993: Apocalypse

"Finally, a God King."

The Bee Sovereign stood tall upon the summit of the Hall of Gods and peered up at the descending silver canopy.

The vast storm of ice shards had since disappeared, reduced to mere fuel for not only his ascension, but also the divine beings within the Hall of Gods itself.

"At last, the time has come," he muttered, voice soft yet carrying weight beyond measure. His uncharacteristically gentle gaze fell upon Pang Jian, joy softening his striking features. "So this is what it feels like to be a being of flesh and blood. How wonderful."

His towering frame morphed. Gleaming scales, bright as tempered steel, overtook his bare skin. At the same time, a Divine Persona also crystallized between his brows.

Unlike other God Kings, this Divine Persona held only a boundless blue sea of fathomless mysteries. This Divine Persona also functioned as a third eye, allowing him to glimpse the most hidden intricacies of heaven and earth.

Pang Jian. A soft voice rang within the depths of Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul. You have to be ready to take in everything I leave behind if I fail.

I don't know everything. I cannot be certain of my success. I only pray that you are not the incarnation of the supreme will of the bizarre mist, though I have little choice but to entrust you with this regardless.

If I cannot break through this canopy, you will have to do it in my stead.

Watch me. Feel the force of my strike. And, for my sake, steel yourself.

The Bee Sovereign's words left Pang Jian's mind racing with questions, but there was no time to seek answers.

His enduring connection with the Bee Sovereign meant that the latter's breakthrough had benefited him as well.

The divine sense diffused throughout his five viscera, acupoints, bones, stars, moons, lightning vortexes, and glaciers was continuously refined.

It was a transformation that reached into the very roots of his soul, a progression of both soul and divine sense. His cultivation realm surged ever upward.

Pang Jian was advancing toward a realm beyond the Exalted God Realm—a height never before proven to exist.

***

Arcs of lightning burst from the Bee Sovereign's frame and wove themselves into his robes.

"I can condense all the bloodline mysteries of the Fey Race within myself," he said, shooting a faint smile at Pang Lin.

Letting out a low, guttural roar, the Bee Sovereign's human form swelled and warped until it became a colossal, savage-looking beast.

It bore the head of a dragon and the body of a turtle, with vast golden wings that could rend the heavens. Its talons were sharp enough to pierce reality itself, its fangs gleamed with a chilling light, and its scales shone with vivid brilliance.

This was a beast that had never been seen before, savage beyond all reckoning. Within the Bee Sovereign churned a confluence of bloodline mysteries, as though the ferocity of the Fey Gods had been condensed into a single vessel.

He was the King of Beasts, the King of the Fey Race.

"You—" Pang Lin's expression darkened.

"Are you surprised?" The monstrous beast's eyes were shadowed with dominion over heaven and earth. Its voice was calm, yet its words resounded with authority. "Both I and the Dao Source of Life shaped the first ever beings. What they lacked was not strength but wisdom.

"The Fey Race was born from their lineage, the product of repeated cycles of refinement, evolution, and metamorphosis. Yet, despite the strength of the Fey Race, they still cannot compare to those primal beings of the earliest age.

"I was among their creators. Naturally, once I comprehended the profound truths of the Dao Source of Life, I could easily gather their strengths and embody them within myself."

The Bee Sovereign's beastly form grew larger as he spoke, swelling larger than even the suns. Even the towering Hall of Gods looked like a toy in his clawed hand.

Inclining his head toward Pang Jian, he added, "Let me be the one to break this silver canopy."

Clutching the Hall of Gods in his clawed hand, he soared skyward.

Torrents of divine power rolled forth without end. The Hall of Gods transformed into a vast inkstone upon which divine beings flickered into view, and entire Divine Kingdoms rose across its surface. [1]

"Shatter!"

A world-rending force erupted from the glowing azure inkstone. The fabric of space between the Bee Sovereign and the silver canopy chipped open into a gaping chasm as though struck by a chisel.

The Primordial Chaos Starry Region, already stripped of its stars and moons, fractured violently.

In the distance, the two blazing suns surged upward as one and hammered against the silver canopy with devastating force, sparking a cascade of scattered light.

For the first time, the silver canopy's descent came to a halt. The Bee Sovereign gripped the Hall of Gods—turned into an inkstone—in his claws and repeatedly struck the silver canopy.

The silver canopy ignited into flames, and a torrential rain of blazing light poured down.

Shockwaves strong enough to slay Gods in an instant rippled outward, tearing open even more fissures across the fractured starry region.

The silver canopy crumbled, and the fabric of space was torn apart. Clusters of radiance hidden within the seams of space were ground to dust beneath world-ending shockwaves. An aura that carried the power to annihilate all things seeped from the widening fissures.

Starry regions throughout the vast starry skies beyond became webbed with inexplicable cracks. Auras steeped in the profound truths of the myriad Dao Sources bled from these ruptures in the form of embers, raging storms, and waves of glacial cold.

Cataclysms swept across the starry skies. Stars dimmed and died one after another. Mortals and Gods alike perished with their worlds.

"You truly are a cold, heartless thing." The Bee Sovereign's voice resounded across the starry skies, carried upon the embers, storms, and glacial cold. "I strike your silver canopy, and you divert the force to the thriving starry regions, letting the very beings you once fashioned bear its ruin.

"You feel no love or pity for your own creations. What makes you think I would show them mercy either?"

One starry region after another fell silent. The Bee Sovereign's voice echoed across the starry skies, but the dying could not grasp its meaning. They would never truly know why they perished.

In a frozen Demon Realm, the Abyssal Demon stared blankly as searing fires spilled forth from the cracks in space, consuming the stars and annihilating the members of the Demon Races.

"Worlds are collapsing and Demon Realms are shattering, yet I'm powerless to do anything."

1. An inkstone is a traditional Chinese scholar's tool used for grinding and holding ink. It's usually a flat, carved stone basin or slab. ☜