Trials of the Abyss-Chapter 994: The Shattering of the Silver Canopy

Through the ages, the clash between the supreme will of the starry skies and the supreme will of the bizarre mist had almost always ended in the shattering of an abyss and the silent death of its inhabitants.

On rare occasions, the supreme will of the bizarre mist seized fleeting victories, such as when the True Gods of the human race brought down the Hall of Gods.

Still, even that triumph was only made possible with the secret aid of the Black Empyrean Phoenix. Once the Sovereigns realized what had happened, the True Gods were swiftly crushed, hunted across the starry skies like vermin, despised and slaughtered without mercy.

Even Sovereigns born of the bizarre mist, such as Ling Yun and Demonheaven, had never managed to bring the Hall of Gods to heel.

In short, the war between the two supreme wills had always ended in absolute victory for the supreme will of the starry skies. However, on this day, the tides of that ancient struggle were about to turn!

The Bee Sovereign, or rather, the Dao Source of Soul, rose in defiance. Starry regions fell dark with every strike against the silver canopy. The life wrought by the supreme will of the starry skies was being wiped away at terrifying speed.

It was equivalent to the previous campaigns waged against the bizarre mist, where abysses were destroyed, leaving the supreme will of the bizarre mist grievously weakened.

Though the supreme will of the bizarre mist had yet to reveal itself, it had secured a resounding victory through the Dao Source of Soul, forcing the supreme will of the starry skies to extinguish stars and slaughter its creations to blunt the Bee Sovereign's assault.

The traces of those fallen Dao Sources that vanished from within me have greatly fueled its ascent. It has truly transcended, Pang Jian thought as he observed the fight above.

Turbulent shockwaves rippled out from the violent clashing of Heavenly Daos.

Meanwhile, Pang Jian's cultivation realm continued to ascend.

Manifestations of the Dao Sources that had vanished before appeared once more in his sea of consciousness, flickering like sparks.

Pang Jian grasped at those fleeting manifestations.

Strangely, he felt as though a great hammer was pounding upon his very soul each time the Bee Sovereign struck the silver canopy. He was like metal being forged on an anvil.

***

"I, too, can be as cold and merciless as you." The beastly Bee Sovereign wielded the vast inkstone, battering the silver canopy without pause.

A chilling disdain for all life rippled from the dazzling Divine Persona between its brows.

It knew that the supreme will's inexhaustible strength was linked to life in the starry skies. That was the true foundation of its might.

The two blazing suns, after repeatedly crashing against the silver canopy, finally crumbled into ruin. The desolate Primordial Chaos Starry Region lay in tatters, riddled with fissures and holes, from which streams of foreign light seeped through.

A magnetic force from the cracks pulled the energies of the bizarre mist into the starry region. Foreign energies filled the Primordial Chaos Starry Region, seeping into its very fabric of space, yet the unyielding silver canopy held firm, only halting its descent.

The Bee Sovereign threw back its head and roared savagely, as though truly becoming a primordial behemoth. Then, the frenzy slowly bled away, and the roar deepened into something mournful.

Long ago, a host of such mighty behemoths, creatures of unparalleled strength, stood tall upon the peak of creation.

The supreme will of the starry skies and the Dao Sources of Life and Soul had created them together.

Unfortunately, for all their peerless might, they lacked intelligence and could not be tamed. Thus, the supreme will of the starry skies mercilessly cast them aside. The tide of extinction swallowed the behemoths whole. Though unwilling, they were powerless to resist.

The Bee Sovereign's roar gave voice to that helplessness. Every strike of the inkstone against the silver canopy reverberated with their wrath and grief. As the blows fell, visions of primordial behemoths burst forth one after another.

A silver-white turtle with a single horn upon its forehead exhaled torrents of crystalline frost that hammered against the silver canopy.

A massive avian spread its blackish-green wings. The corpses of lesser beasts were piled upon its feathers. Its flesh and bone emitted a fetid aura of decay, converging into waves of deathly force that unraveled entire worlds.

Another behemoth, vast as a star, had piercing eyes that blazed with malice toward all creation. Its hulking frame was wreathed in a lightning vortex, and it radiated power that seemed intent on annihilating all it beheld.

There was also a mantis-like abomination that looked as though it were cast from cold steel. Its body bristled with razor-edged spines as it launched itself toward the silver canopy.

These feral monstrosities of the earliest era were not Gods, yet even the Great Demon Gods and high-ranking Gods hiding in the Ruin Realm felt their souls tremble.

"Were all those earliest beings this powerful?" the Duke of Thunder muttered in terror.

The turtle-like beast alone held a thunderous might no weaker than the lightning tribulation he could unleash after ascending to Sovereignhood. That marked it as a Sovereign-level existence.

Moreover, every single primordial behemoth that the Bee Sovereign summoned forth radiated such magnitude and dominion. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

These creatures had no Divine Persona or cultivation path to empower them. They relied purely on the tempering of their flesh and blood. Yet, somehow, these titans wielded power equal to Sovereigns.

"If the Fey Race were derived from these beings, then it's no wonder that they stand supreme over the other races!" Great Demon God Fa Ji exclaimed in awe.

"No wonder the Dao Source of Soul chose the Fey Race!" Pang Ling cried out in astonishment. "Their roots lie in these primeval monstrosities, savage and inconceivable!"

Back when the Black Empyrean Phoenix still led the Fey Race in the starry skies, she had ranked higher than the other Sovereigns in the Hall of Gods.

In those days, the Fey Race stood unrivaled as the most powerful race in both the starry skies and the bizarre mist. Even the Spirit Race, the Celestial Race, the Demon Races, and the Star Race had no right to contend against them.

Despite this, the Fey Race was often looked down upon for their lack of intellect and the limitations of their souls. This was the same flaw of those primeval behemoths.

The Dao Source of Soul, buried at the bottom of the Nether Abyss, had chosen to create the Nether Abyss Spirit Bees, ultimately fostering the Bee Sovereign as its vessel.

Both the Bee Sovereign and the Nether Abyss Spirit Bees specialized in the soul, yet at the same time, they traced their lineage to the same roots as the Fey Race.

This union of soul and body allowed the Soulstream to bridge that weakness. Once it comprehended the truths of the Dao Source of Life, it could not only reproduce these mighty beasts of the past, but also take advantage of its unique nature to mend their fatal weaknesses.

One primordial behemoth after another came forth from the colossal inkstone.

Suddenly, Divine Personas manifested between their brows.

Each Divine Persona flickered the vague silhouette of a God, and upon closer inspection, those Gods were none other than the bees-turned-divine-beings in the Hall of Gods.

The Bee Sovereign had transfigured the Hall of Gods into a massive inkstone, and the divine beings within it had resurrected into the primordial behemoths. Every bee was a fragment of the Bee Sovereign, a part of the Dao Source of Soul itself.

Those primordial behemoths slammed against the silver canopy with earth-shaking roars, the Bee Sovereign's will guiding their every action.

The silver canopy, steeped in the energies from myriad starry regions and imbued with the profound truths of countless Dao Sources, could no longer withstand the onslaught.

Cracks webbed across the canopy.

"It worked!" Pang Lin exclaimed in excitement. Turning to Pang Jian, she smiled. "Brother, I never thought the Dao Source of Soul could bring forth those ancient behemoths, nor that it would wield such might. It shattered both that storm and this canopy. It seems this time we—"

A gaping hole split open upon the silver canopy. Then another. And another.

The silver canopy started to collapse and break apart.

Those below could finally glimpse beyond the canopy through those widening holes.

The worlds of mingled light and darkness that once filled the region above were no more. In their place was a dense brilliance of silver.

A silver eye loomed like a colossal moon, its gaze steeped in a cold indifference that scorned all. Beneath that eye hovered God King Yi Hao. The River of Fate coiled around him, his expression tranquil as he gazed down upon them.

Not far from him was God King Luo Hongyan. The wings upon her back were stripped bare of feathers, no longer radiating the aura of light and darkness, seemingly broken in the clash with Yi Hao.