Chapter 608: The Sword Cuts Down the Nine-Headed Bird!

Pang Jian let out a long breath of relief, his tense nerves relaxing briefly after his vigilant guard of his master's ascension outside the Sacred Soul Continent.

The knowledge that his master's Heavenly Dao was intertwined with the barrier convinced him that his master's newfound strength as a True God would be enough to overturn the dire fate looming over the human race.

Moreover, as his master had already ascended, Pang Jian no longer had to worry about the Primordial Demon's corruption and possession.

In other words, he was no longer burdened with concerns and could act boldly on his own!

After a brief contemplation, Pang Jian bowed to the tranquil-looking Sect Master of the Pure Land Sect and said, "Senior Su, I wish to descend to the lower worlds to settle a personal grievance. Would that be a problem on your end?"

"Go if you must."

Su Wanrou appeared at ease despite the Fey God Rock Bear and the one-eyed giant, Ah Man, surrounding her.

Raising her brows with an air of confidence, she added, "Now that your master has become a True God, all True Gods can receive his aid. Don't worry. The more troublesome one is that ancient Thunder Dragon. I can handle these two by myself."

"Understood."

With that, Pang Jian rode his sword down.

The spiritual qi of heaven and earth turned to murky energy as he crossed from the Second World into the Third World.

His Immortal Divine Soul, formed from the fusion of his divine soul and Fortune, experienced a subtle suppression when he entered the Third World, weakening a portion of his divine power.

The surrounding murky energy also constantly eroded at him, further diminishing his strength.

In the past, when he descended into contaminated areas, he would simply expel all his spiritual power and fill his dantian with murky energy to prevent conflict between the two energies.

This allowed his body to adapt seamlessly to the harsh environment of the lower worlds, just like the foreign races in the Fifth World.

However, much had changed since then.

Ascending as an Immortal Realm God and forming his Immortal Divine Soul meant his unique body now clashed with murky energy.

Fortune was a mysterious force born from the human race's absorption of spiritual qi. Fusing with it meant blending it with their flesh, soul, vitality, and spiritual power.

As long as Pang Jian bore Fortune, his Immortal Divine Soul would inevitably be incompatible with murky energy.

Even in the Third World, where the murky energy was relatively thin, he could already sense its corrosive and suppressive effects. The deeper he descended, the stronger those effects would become.

He now understood why the foreign races from the Fifth World always attacked with the rising tide of murky energy, and why most True Gods of the human race were reluctant to descend into the Fifth World of the Abyss.

The stronger a True God, the more severe the murky energy's corruption.

Fighting the strongest of the foreign races in the Fifth World would be like fighting with shackles.

Does the spiritual qi of heaven and earth similarly suppress Rank Ten powerhouses like Li Bai when they ascend?

Pang Jian wondered.

If so, waging prolonged battles in the upper worlds would only put the foreign races at a greater disadvantage over time.

Father!

Pang Ling urgently called from deep within Misty Swamp.

Her colossal body, towering over a thousand zhang, pierced the disintegrating Dharma Idol of the True God Li Chu with emerald-like branches, greedily siphoning his wood-attribute divine power.

Dense, wood-attribute divine power surged like a flowing river, coursing through her branches and into the massive tree.

Pang Ling's true form grew stronger with every passing moment.

Despite this, her refined spirit form was filled with unease.

A three-headed bird was gliding through the dim skies outside Misty Swamp, quickly closing in on the World Tree.

The Nine-Headed Bird had suffered a devastating defeat at Pang Jian's hands, losing six of its heads in the battle outside the Sacred Soul Continent.

Thus, it had set its sights on the flourishing World Tree, intending to use Li Chu's corpse and Pang Ling's vast life energy to regenerate its six lost heads.

I descended to the lower world just for it! I'm coming! Wait for me!

A dazzling multicolored radiance streaked through the night sky like a falling meteor, shooting down from the heights of the Third World toward the Fourth World.

***

"Pang Jian!"

Wu Yuan rose from a dilapidated altar in the depths of Spirit Offering on the Dark Abyss Continent.

A third eye materialized on his forehead.

It was the Purple Demon Eye, except its purple had since been replaced with a green-black hue.

When the Great Demon God He Motian's half-divine body was destroyed, the Purple Demon Eye, lacking an array core, lost the symbolic purple that represented the Outer God.

This new green-black demon eye had been refined into Wu Yuan's forehead to become his third eye.

He saw the prismatic radiance that was Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul descend from the sky through this demon eye.

Why is he descending in the middle of the fiercest attack from the foreign races? What is he planning?

Wu Yuan frowned in deep thought.

As he pondered, strands of soul within the demon eye in his forehead writhed like a swarm of frenzied demons, as if Demon Gods had dissolved into Wu Yuan's scattered thoughts.

Wu Yuan's divine soul in his sea of consciousness had since transformed into something resembling the demonic stone.

After the Demon Lair—the demonic stone that once housed the Primordial Demon—acknowledged him, he was granted the right to cultivate the Demon Stone Art.

In other words, the Primordial Demon within the Demon Lair had chosen Wu Yuan, believing him to be a natural-born demon, destined to rule the Abyss and all its demonic sects, including the Demon Races!

The Demon Scale Race, the Horned Demon Race, and the Demon Bull Race could all be classified as part of the Demon Races.

Wu Yuan was meant to rule the Abyss as the King of All Demons, ascending as a Demon God to bear the body of a human and the soul of a human-born demon.

You, too, can attempt to ascend to godhood and harness the Fortune of the Abyss.

You're just as unique as Pang Jian. Your divine soul also carries the divine consciousness of many Gods. Whatever you lack, I can compensate for you.

Wu Yuan, you will be the second miracle after Pang Jian in this era of the Abyss.

A voice echoed from the new demon eye, resonating deep within Wu Yuan's divine soul.

Ascend to godhood! Become the King of All Demons in the Abyss and rule over the Demon Races!

Wu Yuan's body rose to the sky alongside the dilapidated altar beneath him.

Pang Jian descended to the lower worlds. Meanwhile, an unseen force propelled the prodigy of the defected Demon Sect toward the Second World.

***

"The Sovereign promised the body of True God Li Chu to me," Pang Ling said, having manifested in her spirit form above the branches of the World Tree. "Did you receive Lord Sovereign's permission before coming to seize this corpse? Do you understand the consequences of defying Lord Sovereign's command?"

She bit her lower lip, arms swaying as her pure eyes brimmed with urgency.

The flowers, grasses, and trees across the vast expanse of Misty Swamp resonated in response to her.

Brilliant streaks of vibrant green light burst forth from the tallest trees, surging skyward like artillery shells.

In the annexed cities beyond Misty Swamp, nearly a thousand Wood Race warriors sat in meditation.

Each of their souls was linked to Pang Ling. The will, soul, and blood essence of these Wood Race powerhouses all converged into a single force, becoming a source of power for Pang Ling.

After being revitalized to her youthful prime, Mu Yuan had become the strongest Rank Nine warrior of the Wood Race. Her hair whipped wildly as she sat atop an ancient tree deep in the forest.

Mu Yuan bled from all seven orifices as massive beams of emerald light surged toward the rampaging Nine-Headed Bird. Her radiant face rapidly withered into old age once more.

"Great One, please, you have to hold on!" Mu Yuan cried out in despair.

The Wood Race had been among the lowest-ranked in the Fifth World, but under Pang Ling's guidance, their race had climbed up from their insignificant state, even becoming worthy of catching the attention of the Sovereign.

Mu Yuan had been at the brink of death when she first encountered Pang Ling through the Giant Abyssal Serpent. Since then, she had continuously broken through her bloodline limits, her life prolonged time and again.

This was all thanks to their faith in the World Tree!

As the World Tree grew stronger, so did the Wood Race. The might of the World Tree reflected the brightness of the future.

Thus, when the wounded Nine-Headed Bird went berserk and launched an assault on the World Tree, every Wood Race warrior was called to arms.

They swore to defend the World Tree to the death, refusing to let the Nine-Headed Bird bring harm upon it.

"You lot are like mantises trying to stop a chariot. Stop overestimating yourself.[1]

"Do you think I don't know how you came to be? I, too, hail from Northern Qi. I know the previous World Gods all too well. You're nothing more than an anomaly. If I don't devour you, others surely will!

"The Sovereign is merely raising you like livestock, waiting for you to grow stronger before consuming you!"

The Nine-Headed Bird let out a piercing shriek, clutching an ancient zither, pipa, bronze bells, war drums, flutes, and other instruments in its talons as it unleashed its terrifying divine techniques.

Razor-sharp soundwaves screeched like blades and swords across Misty Swamp.

Twisted trees and monstrous plants were torn apart in an instant, their branches and leaves reduced to dust.

The overwhelming divine power of the Nine-Headed Bird seeped into the cracked ground, transforming into spectral birds that swarmed the motionless meditating Wood Race warriors, pecking at their souls.

These spectral birds sucked out the souls of the Wood Race warriors and devoured them in a single gulp.

Vegetation withered as life energy was siphoned away from the World Tree. Countless souls were torn from the Wood Race's bodies. This surge of energy caused two of the Nine-Headed Bird's severed heads to swiftly regenerate.

The Nine-Headed Bird was a fearsome Rank Ten Fey God.

Those beneath its rank were simply unable to resist as it unleashed its divine techniques and divine power without restraint.

Father!

Pang Ling desperately called out to Pang Jian, her spirit form trembling within the trunk of the World Tree.

The soul-devouring Nine-Headed Bird had already locked onto her with three of its heads.

Its sinister divine power left her unable to move as the force continuously attempted to drag her from the tree. She was about to be devoured as the Wood Race warriors had been.

In the face of impending death, she let out an instinctive cry for help, reaching out to Pang Jian and informing him of her dire situation.

Just as her spirit form was about to be ripped from the World Tree, a reassuring voice resonated with her soul.

I'm already here.

A towering figure descended from the skies above Misty Swamp!

This majestic figure was shrouded in prismatic radiance and wielded a peerless divine sword capable of cleaving the heavens.

An icy, radiant light transformed into a vast river of sword light, slashing straight toward the Nine-Headed Bird's newly regenerated heads.

The river of sword light carried an icy chill that pierced to the bone, and its currents rumbled with the roar of thunder.

Then, a second sword strike materialized.

This new sword light swelled like a boiling sea, with a scorching sun that seemed to rise and set amidst searing magma. It was like a molten furnace capable of refining all things.

A vast demonic might erupted from within the blazing sea of sword light, as if ready to smelt the stars and heavens themselves.

After that came a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sword strike in quick succession.

These subsequent sword strikes embodied the essence of metal, the distilled might of boundless celestial rivers, the will of ancient continents, and the unfathomable depths of an endless chasm.

The divine figure swung at the Nine-Headed Bird with their sword, each strike infused with the power of Heavenly Daos and divine techniques.

As the colossal river of sword light descended, it severed the heads of the ancient Fey God one after another.

Each time a head was severed, the sword light would violently explode, reducing the falling head to a cascading rain of blood.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Soon, blood poured down like a torrential storm!

The World God of the new era had beheaded the ruthless ancient Fey God from Northern Qi.

Its massive, headless body crashed heavily to the ground.

Father!

When Pang Ling regained awareness, she saw the Nine-Headed Bird's headless corpse slamming into the ground with a thunderous boom.

Blood poured from the sky like torrential rain, drenching Misty Swamp and nourishing the fragmented land.

A bizarre, wicked vitality seeped into the damp earth, where Pang Ling absorbed it through the World Tree's and the surrounding vegetation's roots.

With Li Chu's corpse and the remains of the Nine-Headed Bird, her ascension to Rank Ten was inevitable!

"A True God of the human race!"

"That's Pang Jian, the new Sword God of the Sword Pavilion!"

"A Sword God descended from the upper world to aid the Great One, slaying the Nine-Headed Bird and saving us from catastrophe!"

The members of the Wood Race rose to their feet, gazing up at the radiant figure in the sky. His overwhelming power and grandeur left them at a loss for how to react.

1. A mantis trying to stop a chariot (螳臂当车) describes someone overestimating their strength and attempting to stop an unstoppable force, much like a mantis trying to block a chariot. It signifies futile resistance or recklessly challenging something far beyond one's capabilities. ☜