Chapter 781: Goodbye, Sister Luo

Luo Hongyan was the supreme leader of the Celestial Race, one of the four Sovereigns, wisdom, and power united in a single being.

After gravely wounding the Black Dragon King and crushing the lingering will of the Black Empyrean Phoenix, she left the Seventh World, with Yan Lie, Sha Jia, Lie Yang, and Ah Man following closely behind.

In her mind, the struggle against the Sovereign of the Fey Race was over.

Of course, she was aware that the Black Empyrean Phoenix had yet to be truly defeated. Some remnant force still clung to its body, guarding it even now.

However, once she drew more Fortune and completed her Divine Personas, she believed she would be able to dispel the Black Empyrean Phoenix's lingering will and claim everything it once pursued. No one in Abyss would be capable of opposing her after that.

Not even the combined might of the True Gods and Fey Gods could stand a chance against her, Yan Lie, and the three newly ascended mid-ranking Gods.

She never once considered that her path to victory would falter.

Unlike the initial three clusters of Fortune, obtained from the Imperial Dominion, Wanderer Tian Di, and Li Yuanli, this fourth cluster had proven comparatively difficult to get her hands on.

Now, this cluster of Fortune was unraveling.

When Pang Jian struck with his strange soul-related techniques, her Divine Persona of Life suddenly collapsed due to the instability within that cluster of Fortune. The resulting backlash severely damaged her three other Divine Personas.

A tremor ran through her mind and soul.

The Black Empyrean Phoenix had struck back, and its counterattack was so ruthless that it had overturned the entire situation in an instant.

Her remaining three Divine Personas all shattered.

Meanwhile, Pang Jian's spectral ferry drifted silently through the luminous expanse of her sea of consciousness. As the four crystalline glaciers cracked, a gleaming blade appeared.

Ghostflare struck when Luo Hongyan was at her weakest.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Blinding arcs of sword light slashed through Luo Hongyan's sea of consciousness. Each streak carried the soul-annihilating techniques Pang Jian comprehended from the Soulstream of the Nether Abyss. They corroded her will, unraveled her soul essence, and extinguished the final embers of her resistance.

Fragments from the four translucent crystalline glaciers were sent scattering. The pieces that fell upon the black-sailed ferry were drawn into the cabin and sealed within.

Insights into the Heavenly Daos flashed through Pang Jian's consciousness like lightning across a dark sky.

Pang Jian's mind trembled.

He sensed profound insights into the Dao of Light, caught the chilling breath of the Dao of Death, perceived a Dao of Cold that far surpassed anything the Ice Demon had wielded, and glimpsed the mysteries of the Dao of Life.

Every fragment of Luo Hongyan's shattered Divine Personas carried profound insights into the Heavenly Daos that seemed rooted in an entirely different plane of existence.

This is an extremely precious treasure!

Pang Jian focused his divine sense.

Recklessly burning through his soul essence to steer the black-sailed ferry, he gathered as many fragments as possible while still unleashing a barrage of offensive techniques upon the shattered Divine Personas.

At that moment, an alluring figure clad in crimson appeared between the collapsing glaciers. Her red lips were impossibly tempting, and her beautiful eyes filled with tender emotion.

"Pang Jian..." she murmured wistfully, a long-unseen smile curving across her face. "You've changed. You're much stronger than I ever thought possible.

"I could only break free to see you once her Divine Personas were destroyed.

"But I won't last long. I'm nothing more than the sliver of human emotion she had in the Abyss before she fully awakened. To her, human emotion is worthless. Worse than that, it's a flaw, a demon of the heart she longs to erase.

"Pang Jian, I swear I never meant to hurt you. I was never in control. I could never truly become a part of her. Even just one Divine Persona is enough for her to suppress me."

The real Luo Hongyan that Pang Jian knew had returned. A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she lamented her helplessness, her voice filled with grief and resignation.

A faint silhouette shimmered across Ghostflare's blade within Luo Hongyan's luminous sea of consciousness,

It was Pang Jian's soul projection.

He gazed at Luo Hongyan's elegant form, eyes filled with emotion. He never thought he would see her again. Even now, he could not be sure it was truly her. For all he knew, this could be a trick, a mere shadow born from memory.

"I..."

Pang Jian did not know what to say.

Having witnessed firsthand the power of this Sovereign, he knew, without question, that she surpassed him in every way.

This strange collapse she faced was not something he caused. It came from another force altogether. At most, all he did was add fuel to the fire and strike while she was down.

Given the circumstances, Luo Hongyan could have deliberately released this memory of herself to weaken his resolve.

He did not know what to say. He dared not gamble with the future of the human race.

"You don't need to speak. I'm not asking for your thoughts or your stance. I only want you to listen."

Clad in crimson, Luo Hongyan looked just as she had atop the Celestial Phoenix's bone all those years ago, breathtaking beyond compare. Unlike the distant Sovereign Luo, this version of her carried the warmth of human emotion, touched by the fleeting breath and rhythm of mortal life.

The emotion in her eyes burned so bright that Pang Jian found it hard to meet her gaze. It was too warm, too real, too alive. Sovereign Luo would never wear such an expression. She was always cold. Always distant.

"These last traces of my humanity will disappear with me when this vessel fades from the Abyss."

Her smile was one of bitter longing as she gazed at Pang Jian.

"I don't have much time left. Tell me, do you hate me now? Did you ever love me? Even if only briefly, even if it barely counted, I would still like to know."

A quiet desperation seemed to fill her, her eyes wide with hope.

"I never once hated the part of you that still held humanity," Pang Jian said from within the blade. "Not even a little. I don't know what it means to truly love someone, but I often thought about you and everything we went through together when you weren't here.

"Those memories have become a part of me. They'll never fade.

"I'm sorry. I can't gamble with the fate of the human race. I can't tell if this is really you.

"Goodbye, Sister Luo."

Pang Jian closed his eyes as Ghostflare swung down toward Luo Hongyan.

She smiled gently, seemingly content with his answer.

"Goodbye, my little Pang Jian."

Ghostflare cleaved her in half.

Her soul faded into nothingness.