Chapter 718: Shedding Light on an Enigma

A blue sea hovered between Pang Lin and the golden bee. The crystalline specks within it floated like stars, rising and falling with the waves.

This sea was dreamlike, like the final resting place of all souls, a sacred land that practitioners of soul-related techniques longed to comprehend the mysteries of.

The Rock Devourer mentioned that the Nether Abyss held a Soulstream—the birthplace of the Nether Race.

That envoy from the Nether Abyss was possessing Pan Di's skeleton with his divine soul, the flickering flames of which also radiated a blue hue.

Pang Jian could not help but overanalyze the significance of Pang Lin's divine soul taking the form of a blue sea.

Lei Ying of the Thunder Race once said that the Nether Race and the human race were the only two unique races among the abysses.

These two races only existed within the abysses of the bizarre mist. There was nowhere else in the vast starry skies that one could find them.

Before the human race rose to prominence in the Abyss, the Nether Abyss was the most powerful of the abysses.

The rise of the human race, the emergence of many True Gods from the Abyss, and the subsequent destruction of the Halls of Gods caused the Abyss to surpass the Nether Abyss in status.

At its peak, the Nether Abyss pursued the conquest of other abysses, and at one point, managed to bring all of them under its control except for the Thunder Abyss and the Abyss.

Abysses such as the Ghost Abyss, the Demon Abyss, the Shadow Abyss, and the Celestial Abyss were all once vassal territories of the Nether Abyss.

All signs pointed to the fact that the warriors of the Nether Race were absurdly powerful.

If their mother was indeed of the Nether Race, then the peculiar nature of both his and Pang Lin's divine souls made sense.

Did the fallen Celestial Phoenix sense that Pang Lin was unique when it chose her? Did it already know her soul was different from others?

How could a single piece of the Celestial Phoenix's bone contain such a far-reaching trove of secrets? One that even extends to darkness, destruction, devastation, toxins, and the bloodlines of the ancient Fey Race?

Did the Celestial Phoenix already awaken to its true origins when it chose my sister?

What did it intend when it decided to fuse all its inherited insights into Pang Lin's divine soul?

Pang Jian was worried about his sister's future. He feared the Sovereign of the Fey Race would come to see Pang Lin as a critical piece in its grand design.

Will that Sovereign one day seize my sister's body?

The longer he thought about it, the more uneasy Pang Jian became. The compound eyes of the golden bee darkened with concern.

The Rock Bear wishes to see you,

the black turtle said mentally.

"Is it about Long Xiao?" the golden bee asked out loud.

"Yes." The black turtle stood at the mouth of the valley alongside the Rock Bear, both in their human forms, gazing at the golden bee that hovered beside Pang Lin.

The blue sea retracted back into the space between Pang Lin's brows. Sticking her tongue out, she said, "Looks like you guys have serious business to discuss, Big Brother."

Atop the Nine Heavens Thunder Divine Tree, the near-dead azure dragon slowly opened its tightly shut eyes to glance vacantly at the black turtle and Rock Bear below.

The ancient Thunder Dragon let out a weary sigh.

A strange river infused with the soul-related techniques of the Ghost and Demon Races coiled around its divine soul, binding it in a state of torment. Its thoughts grew more disordered with every passing moment.

The auras of the black turtle and the Rock Bear had stirred the ancient Thunder Dragon, awakening a faint glimmer of hope within it.

"How did the Celestial Phoenix die?" Pang Jian asked through the golden bee.

Curiosity lit up in Pang Lin's eyes. The black turtle was stunned, seemingly unable to recall the full details of the past, while Rock Bear stood there in bewilderment.

The Celestial Phoenix's death had always been an enigma. The common belief among the human race was that the Celestial Phoenix had gone mad during cultivation. It was executed with Long Xiao's approval to prevent a catastrophe.

However, the version told among the Fey Race was that the human race had broken their oath and committed a despicable act of dismantling the bridge after crossing the river.[1]

Long Xiao claimed that the human race turned their attention to subjugating the Fey Race after the Celestial Phoenix aided them in forging the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars. The Celestial Phoenix was killed because it opposed these plans.

Seeing Long Xiao's attention was on them, Pang Jian lifted the seal on his divine soul.

"The seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars not only served to suppress the strongest in the Fifth World, hindering their ascent to the upper worlds, they were later imbued with a secondary function to restrict the bloodlines of the Fey Race!" the Thunder Dragon immediately roared. "The human race fed the Celestial Phoenix slanderous lies!

"It had no idea that those scheming True Gods had secretly etched hidden arrays into the pillars when it agreed to help forge the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars!

"When the foreign races could no longer ascend to the upper worlds, the human race used their stolen knowledge of the Fey Race's Bloodline Repository to craft countermeasures targeting our bloodline.

"It's why the Fey Race saw fewer and fewer Rank Eight Great Feys and Rank Nine Fey Kings in the years that followed.

"As a result, the number of Fey Gods steadily declined. There simply weren't enough Fey Kings capable of ascending to godhood.

"When the Celestial Phoenix realized the True Gods' betrayal, it confronted them repeatedly."

Long Xiao paused. A flicker of dread surfaced in his eyes.

"At first, it only demanded that the True Gods remove the arrays suppressing the Fey Race's bloodlines, but then its temperament started to change. One day, it suddenly struck down a True God from the Eastern Land, killing them instantly.

"The Celestial Phoenix became someone I could barely recognize. It wanted to destroy all seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars.

"The death of a single True God was not enough for the human race to decide to eliminate it. However, when it tried to destroy the pillars, they could no longer tolerate its existence.

"That's right, I was one of those involved. I took part in its death!

"By then, the Celestial Phoenix had already gone mad. I felt fear every time I saw it. I truly believed the Fey Race was marching straight toward extinction under its leadership!

"Zhu Ji, Gui Mu, Li Wang, Jiang Fan, Liu Fu and I were all involved in its death.

"The shackles on the Dragon Race's bloodline were lifted as a reward for my participation, and I became the new leader of the Fey Race. I have no regrets."

Long Xiao lowered his head to glance at the black turtle and the Rock Bear.

"If the Celestial Phoenix had continued making rational decisions and guiding the Fey Race down the right path, I would've followed without question. But I couldn't allow it to drag the entire Fey Race to its doom!"

The ancient Thunder Dragon showed no remorse. In his eyes, the Celestial Phoenix only had itself to blame for its demise.

***

In the Fifth World, Pang Jian verified Long Xiao's account with Li Wang.

After some thought, Li Wang said, "You're saying that the Celestial Phoenix was created from the blood essence of that fallen Sovereign of the Fey Race?"

Pang Jian nodded.

"The seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars were built to maintain the integrity of the continents, which suppresses the Black Empyrean Phoenix in the Seventh World..." Li Wang muttered. "Toward the end, the Celestial Phoenix was either awakening to its true origin or was already under the influence of the Black Empyrean Phoenix.

"That's the only explanation for why it was so determined to destroy the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars.

"The Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars were forged at the request of the ancient True Gods in the starry skies. How could we have allowed it to destroy them?

"Long Xiao wasn't lying. A few of us joined forces to strike it down together.

"It was far more powerful than Long Xiao. Had it not died, those seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars would have long since been destroyed."

Li Wang paused, his brows knitting tightly in thought.

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Even the scattering of its bones later on seemed to undermine the structural integrity of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars. If not for that, the surge of murky energy this time would not have allowed the foreign races to ascend so easily."

1. "过河拆桥" is a Chinese idiom about betraying or abandoning someone after benefiting from their help. It describes an act of ingratitude and treachery, of tearing down the bridge after crossing the river, with no regard for those who once offered their support. ☜