Chapter 562: A Single Sword Strike Shatters the Stars

The Star Devourer's second wave of limbs sliced through the air toward the approaching Moon God with a piercing screech.

Enigmatic patterns flashed across amorphous limbs of gold and silver as they struck the Moon God.

Ying Yue let out a muffled groan and coughed up fresh blood. Despite her efforts to refine the Dark Shadow Race woman's body, it was still far inferior to her true form.

The clash with the Star Devourer's limbs almost turned the woman into a mist of blood on the spot. Hastily composing herself, the Moon God circulated divine power through her body before casting her divine arts.

"Lunar Shade!"

Crescent moons materialized in front of the advancing Star Devourer's limbs.

The divine artifact in Ying Yue's hand transformed into thousands upon thousands of crescent moons, each radiating a sacred brilliance.

These crescent moons weaved together a matrix of divine power in the sky above the grayish-yellow star. Ying Yue darted gracefully among the crescent moons in her Rank Nine Dark Shadow Race puppet vessel, wielding her divine artifact to strike at the Star Devourer's limbs.

Screech! Screech! Screech!

The limbs radiated a terrifying sharpness. The vast metal energy within these limbs rendered them extraordinarily solid and unyielding, impervious to any weapon.

Each strike of Ying Yue's divine artifact only resulted in bursts of sparks, with the limbs themselves remaining completely unscathed.

"It doesn't matter how high your rank is in the starry skies. You cannot harm me without your true form," the Star Devourer mocked through its illusory face of the Shadow Spirit Race. Staring at Pang Jian, it added with arrogant disdain, "You are called Pang Jian, a True God of the human race.

"I overheard your conversation with them. Your human race and their faction are natural enemies. Surely their lives are of no concern to you.

"Why not let me eliminate these two first, and we can discuss other matters after? Oh, wait!"

The Star Devourer's projection grinned wickedly.

"Pang Jian, I have a proposal you'll find worth considering.

"When those two descended, they brought two divine artifacts with them. I can gift you these artifacts after I kill them and claim their divine consciousnesses.

"That's what you entered the Shadow Abyss for, right? Both the frost-attribute and crescent moon artifact would be immensely useful to you with your unique Heavenly Daos.

"Why risk your life in a grueling battle when you can effortlessly obtain two divine artifacts? Isn't this a far better deal?"

Although the Aberrant Spirit lacked a flesh-and-blood body, it still had an intelligence on par with any advanced race. It was naturally also capable of discerning its opponents' strengths and weaknesses.

The Star Devourer had immediately recognized the difference in Pang Jian the moment he stepped into the Shadow Abyss with his Abyssal Demon Sword.

He was obviously well-prepared for a fight. Moreover, he had also entered the Shadow Abyss with his true body, meaning he was significantly more powerful than before.

This was why the Star Devourer chose to manifest a soul projection and converse with Pang Jian.

"Pang Jian!" Frost Crystal God Han Yi cried desperately as she soared up from her Frigid Nether Mountain. "We're here in the Shadow Abyss because of your earlier battle with the Star Devourer.

"You gave us hope! I chose to trust you!

"I understand, I truly do. We, the Outer Gods, share an irreconcilable conflict with the human race.

"But there's no such enmity between you and me!

"Does the inherent discord between other Outer Gods and the human race truly have to sever all possibilities between us? If this barrier of opposition is impenetrably deep, why did our divine sense resonate with such profound harmony when they first made contact?" Han Yi persuaded as she urgently cast her divine arts.

The thousand-li region around the Frigid Nether Mountain gradually froze over.

Pang Jian, the person they had rested their hopes on, had not lifted a finger to assist when the Star Devourer attacked her and Ying Yue.

The icy despair that froze Han Yi's heart awakened the millennia of power stored within the Frigid Nether Mountain, unleashing a furious eruption of frosty mist that spread outward with wild abandon.

Han Yi's Dao of Cold manifested within the bone-white mist.

Snowy mountains rose abruptly from the barren star, profound Dao Seals radiating an ancient aura etched deeply into their icy peaks.

Nine crystalline rivers of icy light wound through these mountains.

Amid these interwoven rivers stood a lonely girl, abandoned from childhood. Her pristine white princess dress only highlighted her exquisite beauty. It was as if the heavens themselves had sculpted her.

The girl's head was bowed, weeping forlornly as she pleaded with the gods for answers.

Why was I abandoned? Why did my brothers and sisters unite against me? Why was I cast out of my own kingdom?

Was it because of our father's favoritism? Because he showed me his gentlest side? Did she deserve to be ostracized and loathed by her blood siblings after her death just because of that?

The girl simply could not understand. She sobbed helplessly in the frozen wilderness, abandoned and alone.

Her sorrowful weeping echoed deafeningly through the world. The drifting snowflakes fell faster, and the world became colder, reflecting the deepening chill in her tender heart.

The nine crystalline rivers of icy light stretched outward with her cries, growing to a thousand li, then several thousand li, until they eventually spanned a domain of ten thousand li.

Freezing mist engulfed half of the grayish-yellow star. Hundreds of icy glaciers formed, and solid ice sealed the gaping fissures on the star's surface.

The Star Devourer's limbs, though powerful, could not shatter the ice, restraining its ability to attack.

Then, the weeping little girl in the middle of the nine crystalline rivers of light suddenly merged with Han Yi.

Millennia passed, and the unwanted little girl had risen to the ranks of the Gods. Despite this, the chilling pain of her childhood remained a haunting sorrow.

Only bitter pain and profound suffering could render a heart frozen and lifeless.

Each time Han Yi used her cold energy to draw upon the latent energy of the Frigid Nether Mountain, she was forced to relive the torments of her past anew. With every use of that power, she grew increasingly detached, withdrawing further from others and becoming more solitary.

Her frozen heart yearned to find a trace of warmth, to seek a force that could temper her extreme Dao of Cold.

The Frost Crystal God stood atop the Frigid Nether Mountain.

"Pang Jian..." she breathed as she gazed hopefully at the man in question.

If she unleashed her Dao of Cold fully with the aid of the Frigid Nether Mountain, she could destroy the entire star, but that glimmer of hope seemed to hold her back.

"What a nuisance." Pang Jian snorted impatiently.

A sudden swing of his sword shattered the facial projection of the Star Devourer and its limbs into a rain of light.

The blinding sword light then cut through rock and ice to penetrate the star's core like slicing through tofu.

This dazzling sword light was imbued with Pang Jian's insights of the Dao of Sword and the Dao of Chaos.

Coursing through the underground crevices beneath the ice, it effortlessly severed the Star Devourer's limbs within the star.

Pang Jian had reached a state of flawless mastery in his techniques.

His divine sense, divine power, and sword intent merged seamlessly into a bold manifestation of his Dao of Sword—a sword light that illuminated the vast expanse within the star.

A thunderous boom echoed as the grayish-yellow star was pierced through and torn apart.

The star exploded into a shower of meteors.

The Frost Crystal God's Dao of Cold had frozen half the star, trapping the Star Devourer within and preventing it from escaping. Meanwhile, Pang Jian's sword light destroyed the star from within.

Ying Yue gripped her crescent moon divine artifact, watching the grayish-yellow star disintegrate into frost-covered debris.

Despite being fellow mid-ranking Gods, Ying Yue had always assumed Han Yi was weaker, even with the Frigid Nether Mountain.

This widespread misconception was born from Han Yi's reclusive nature and her rare involvement in conflicts.

Although Ying Yue had occasionally heard of or witnessed Han Yi in action, none had ever left an impression as vivid as today's display.

She was never weak. Even without a stronger divine artifact, she could still become one of the strongest mid-ranking Gods. All she needs to do is continue cultivating steadily. I've been underestimating her this whole time.

The Moon God was both astonished and moved.

One sword was enough to destroy this small star and force the Star Devourer into the open. Han Yi didn't misjudge Pang Jian at all. If anything, her judgment was conservative,

Ying Yue realized with a bitter smile.

Pang Jian's strength surpassed her expectations by a significant margin. Even the renowned True Gods of this era, such as Gui Mu, Li Wang, and Pei Yishan, likely could not claim decisive victory against Pang Jian.

However, unlike those established True Gods, Pang Jian had only just ascended to godhood.

A Sword God of the human race...

Ying Yue's bitter smile deepened.

***

Pang Jian responded to the Frost Crystal God's sorrowful and questioning gaze not with words but with a single strike of his sword.

This single strike conveyed everything.

It was an awe-inspiring sword strike that forced even Moon God Ying Yue to reevaluate Pang Jian.