Chapter 465: There Were Once Two Moons

Deep underground, Pang Jian tried to carry himself with the poise of a scholar. Although he did not engage further with the white-robed woman's divine sense, he could not deny the subtle longing that lingered in his heart.

Master wasn't lying. The long path of cultivation truly offers unconventional and indescribable experiences along the way.

He found himself savoring the memory of the encounter, unable to shake its allure.

His divine sense soared upward, but the journey became increasingly arduous as it neared the surface.

It seemed significant restrictions were imposed on the movement of his divine sense when he was deep underground.

After a moment of thought, he ascended from five hundred zhang underground to three hundred, intending to check on the situation in Star Moon Valley. He also secretly hoped to catch another glimpse of the white-robed woman.

At three hundred zhang deep, he could easily peer into Star Moon Valley with his divine sense.

It was another deep night. The moon was a silver disk and the stars shimmered like precious diamonds.

The white-robed woman named Ying Yue stood out strikingly in the chaos surrounding her.

Rubble and bones lay scattered around her.

Her lunar energy had crushed the heretical cultivators—already dead at the hands of the Demon Sect—in a second wave of destruction.

Ying Yue stood in the wreckage of the broken stone building with a frosty expression.

With her cultivation realm and mastery of divine abilities, she could discern faint specks of golden light emanating from the ground.

What's he planning now?

Ying Yue growled inwardly.

She steadied her emotions, not daring to release even a strand of divine sense in fear of giving the lurking bastard underground an opportunity to act.

Even before ascending to godhood, she had never had to endure such a humiliating disgrace.

Her hatred for the man below seeped into her very bones but she was powerless against him in this vessel.

The faint specks of golden light lingered, and she knew he was silently watching her.

The longer he observed, the more she felt the golden light carried an indescribable lecherous aura.

She inwardly cursed the man below before feigning ignorance and leaping into a rocky cave on one of the mountains flanking Star Moon Valley.

At the mouth of the cave, she invoked her divine abilities, establishing a connection with her true body on the moon above.

A concentrated beam of moonlight descended and merged with her vessel.

Although she knew this risky act could draw the attention of powerful human cultivators, she found she no longer cared.

She just wanted to strengthen her vessel's divine soul and cultivation realm. Once her vessel ascended to the Nirvana Realm, she could drag the bastard hiding deep underground out and torture him to death.

"The lowly human race should be erased from the starry skies," she muttered, redirecting her hatred for the man below to all humans in the Abyss.

***

She's channeling pure lunar radiance directly into a mortal body...

This Ying Yue is likely a former disciple of the Star Moon Sect—one with ties to an Outer God.

Pang Jian retracted his divine sense and put aside his conjectures to focus on himself once more.

The Stellar-Lunar Veins had been drained of lunar energy and only a quarter of their original amount of stellar energy remained.

He resolved to quicken his efforts and absorbed the remaining stellar energy within the Stellar-Lunar Veins beneath Star Moon Valley.

Several days later, a magnificent spectacle unfolded as the final threads of stellar energy merged into the stars above the fragmented land in Pang Jian's dantian.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

A new region appeared in the starry skies above the fragmented land in Pang Jian's dantian, and new stars emerged with radiant brilliance.

These new stars were no larger than grains of rice and were mere illusory lights scattered far beyond the tangible stars. While faint and distant, their numbers were astonishingly vast.

A quick scan told Pang Jian that the new stars numbered in the hundreds. The sight was not unlike the starry skies beyond the Abyss.

Thirty-six solid stars hung suspended within his dantian, each with a solid core of pure stellar energy.

In contrast, the hundreds of new stars held only minuscule traces of stellar energy and seemed to function as an expansion of the boundaries of the starry skies above the fragmented land.

One sun, two moons—one crescent, one full—and thirty-six stars, all of which are nearly tangible and hold immense power.

Does this peculiar sky correspond to the starry skies beyond the Abyss?

Pang Jian wondered.

It seems unlikely. After all, there's only one moon above the Abyss.

Scratching his head, he instinctively established a connection with the black turtle.

You've lived the longest. How many moons were above the Abyss in your memories?

he asked.

The black turtle fell silent as he sifted through his ancient memories.

After a long pause, it replied,

There used to be two moons above the Abyss. One of them was destroyed. Its destruction wasn't natural—it seemed a war caused it.

As for the specifics...I'll need to recover all my memories to be certain. Also...

The black turtle hesitated briefly.

There was a time when the Abyss experienced an era of eternal night. Back then, only the stars and moons were in the sky. There was no sun to light the sky up and thus no daytime.

Pang Jian was stunned.

What do you mean?

The sun above the Abyss now is not the original. The previous sun likely exploded or disappeared, plunging the Abyss into darkness for a time. I'm sorry, my memory is incomplete, so I can't give you a definitive answer.

Pang Jian was speechless.

Regardless of how unbelievable, the black turtle was highly credible, leaving Pang Jian with no choice but to accept his words.

Pang Jian had peered beyond the Abyss through the Heaven-Earth Cosmos Chest and the Gate of the Abyss. Having witnessed the true forms of the Outer Gods, he could not deny that the most powerful Outer Gods likely did possess the ability to destroy the sun and moon.

It was possible they could even relocate them to wherever they wished.

If the sun and moon were to one day disappear, what would become of the Abyss?

The human race, the foreign races that worship the Outer Gods, and the ancient Fey Race—how many would survive?

Pang Jian's heart trembled with unease. The Outer Gods could abandon their worshipers entirely if the human race became too strong and unmanageable.

They could simply remove the sun and moon, implementing an extinction plan to wipe out all life in the Abyss.

The black turtle interrupted Pang Jian's terrifying train of thought.

Little Rock Bear failed to ascend to the rank of Fey God after defeating the Rank Nine Ice Crystal Beast. He'll have to fight the Four-Eyed Spirit Fox. I have a feeling a new Fey God will be born after this next battle.

The more tumultuous the era, the higher the probability of a Fey God being born,

the black turtle said excitedly.

Given the current chaos in the Abyss, it's almost certain that a Fey God will emerge.

That ancient Thunder Dragon has yet to return to the Dragon Lair Sect. Its conversation with the Fey Race in Northern Qi should have concluded long ago.

Remind Fan Ao to be cautious and avoid exposing his whereabouts. That ancient Thunder Dragon is audacious enough to kill Fan Ao outright.

The black turtle's shocking statements left Pang Jian stunned.

***

Pang Jian suspected the starry skies above his fragmented land mirrored the original starry skies beyond the Abyss, back when both moons were intact and the original sun still shone.

My unique Primordial Chaos Spiritual Sea is likely connected with the ancient starry skies.

Having fully absorbed the lunar and stellar energies in the Stellar-Lunar Veins, Pang Jian prepared to retreat.

A violent tremor rumbled from the surface just as he was about to leave,

He extended his divine sense up and quickly discerned the situation.

Wu Yuan of the Demon Sect was wielding the Purple Demon Eye to hunt down Ying Yue within Star Moon Valley.

The divine power of the Great Demon God He Motian within the Purple Demon Eye shattered Ying Yue's painstakingly conjured lunar light barriers, massive moon shields, and enigmatic techniques.

Wu Yuan seemed like a Demon God incarnate with his late-stage Soul Wandering Realm cultivation and divine artifact.

***

Ying Yue's vessel had an inferior cultivation realm, an unrefined physical body, an unpolished divine soul, and even lacked divine-grade artifacts to rely on. Naturally, she was no match for the prodigy of the Demon Sect.

She also sensed the presence of other Demon Sect powerhouses scattered in the outer regions of Star Moon Valley.

This confirmed her suspicions that the Demon Sect squad had never retreated far from Star Moon Valley.

Damn it, another human with a divine soul imbued with divine consciousness. I can't shatter his sea of consciousness or destroy his divine soul!

Ying Yue fumed.

The combination of the divine image of He Motian within the Purple Demon Eye and Wu Yuan's secret soul techniques either crushed or blocked her most prized soul techniques.

Wu Yuan's divine soul was imbued with divine consciousness, which enabled him to detect and counter Ying Yue's covert attacks.

Forget it. That despicable bastard hiding underground already ruined all my plans here. If not for his meddling, I would've already merged the Stellar-Lunar Veins into my vessel and left Star Moon Valley long ago.

Ying Yue let out a resigned sigh as she decided to abandon her vessel.

As she prepared to withdraw her divine consciousness to her true body, a tall, lean young man with a sallow complexion walked into the valley from the outskirts.

He was dressed in blue with a sword token hanging from his waist and a sheathed black-gold sword on his back.

The young man stood at the entrance to Star Moon Valley, looked up at Wu Yuan with a cold expression, and asked, "Wu Yuan, why are you trying to kill her?"

Wu Yuan, standing in the boundless demonic qi swirling beneath the Purple Demon Eye, turned his detached gaze toward the newcomer.

Glancing over, he noticed the black-gold sword on the young man's back.

The Abyssal Demon Sword's composition had changed, but Wu Yuan still immediately recognized the newcomer.

"You know her?" Wu Yuan asked in surprise.

The young man shook his head. "I don't."

"So, do you want me to let her live? Or can I kill her?" Wu Yuan pressed.

The young man hesitated briefly, recalling the pleasant entanglement of their divine senses. "Let her live."

"Oh." Wu Yuan grabbed the Purple Demon Eye, retracted the boundless demonic qi, and turned to the young man. "Let's catch up outside."

"Alright." The sallow-faced young man turned and started walking away.

Ying Yue bit her crystalline lips in anger.

"It's you, isn't it?" she called out coldly.

The young man stopped, turned his head, and stared blankly at her. "What?"

Ying Yue ground her teeth, her eyes blazing with frosty fire as she growled, "You're the one hiding underground, weren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the young man replied innocently.

Wu Yuan arrived next to the young man and the pair walked out of Star Moon Valley together.

"Too afraid to admit it? I know it's you!"