Chapter 817: The Ancient Ape Walks Straight into a Trap

It's gone!

In the Fourth World of the Abyss, the projection of a Demon God, formed from Luan Ji's name, stared at Dong Tianze through the demonic cloak wrapped around his figure.

The blood-red Celestial Phoenix Imprint on Dong Tianze's forehead had vanished. In its place was a throbbing mass of blood-colored light, pulsing like a heart brimming with surging vitality.

Hair-thin blood vessels streamed out from that mass of light, spreading through Dong Tianze's entire body, concentrating especially in his heart.

Luan Ji observed Dong Tianze and soon noticed crystal bloodline chains emerging within his heart.

Though Dong Tianze was human, he now carried the crystal bloodline chains characteristic of the foreign races and the Fey Race.

As Luan Ji examined him further, he glimpsed one ancient Fey God after another stirring from their slumber in a haze of chaos deep within Dong Tianze's heart.

It was a Blood Vault!

A deeply shaken Luan Ji quickly concealed his presence and communicated privately with Pang Jian.

Pang Jian, he's fine now.

This boy is no ordinary one. I have a feeling that, given the opportunity, he could transform into a terrifying Fey God. His body has been specially altered to hide all sorts of wondrous bloodline mysteries. Within his heart lies a remarkable Blood Vault.

One or more Sovereigns have left special imprints in him,

Luan Ji said in a hushed voice.

The demonic cloak flew off from Dong Tianze, and his previously gaunt frame quietly filled out once more.

Pang Jian's golden eyes remained fixed on Dong Tianze's chest, even as the cloak settled back into his hands. What he saw went far beyond what Luan Ji had perceived.

Dong Tianze's heart held not only traces of ancient Fey Gods but also foreign races' powerhouses that once lived in the Fifth World of the Abyss.

The Blood Vault that Liu Fu guarded and that was lost following his death is actually in Dong Tianze!

And the one who killed Liu Fu, plundered the Blood Vault, and gave it to Dong Tianze wasn't the Black Empyrean Phoenix. It appears to have been Sovereign Luo!

Sovereign Luo and the Black Empyrean Phoenix were using Dong Tianze as another battlefield!

But why Dong Tianze of all people?

Pang Jian pondered silently.

***

Yuan Yi stood atop a World God Pendant deep within the bizarre mist. A slight sense of relief filled him after purging the last trace of radiance from his body.

A strange light flickered in his eyes as he glanced up, as though piercing through the bizarre mist to glimpse the distant stars.

"Sovereign Luo probably can't track my location anymore, right?" Still somewhat shaken, the ancient ape licked the corner of his mouth and muttered, "As long as I can enter the Abyss and reach the Black Empyrean Phoenix's remains in the Seventh World, I can refine the remnants of her divine power and essence.

"Perhaps I was destined to fail in the Nether Abyss, only to rise anew in the Abyss. Not to mention, the Abyss also has the World Tree!"

A fiery greed burned in the ancient ape's chest.

The only reason he had chosen the Nether Abyss before was because he had been unable to breach the Abyss's boundary wall, even with the help of a World God Pendant.

After learning about the Black Empyrean Phoenix's remains in the Seventh World and the emergence of a new World Tree, he suddenly felt that the Abyss was the better choice after all.

"Soon," Yuan Yi murmured as he charged through the bizarre mist like a storm.

When he encountered the occasional low-ranking Outer Gods loyal to He Motian or Zi Mo, he would simply swing his warhammer with a sneer.

Torrents of blood-red light erupted with each swing of the Celestial Fey Warhammer, instantly engulfing the Outer Gods of the Demon and Ghost Races, crushing their divine domains, bodies, and even their divine platforms.

Once they were dealt with, Yuan Yi, in his towering ape form, would open his mouth and inhale. The flesh, bones, and blood essence of those perished Outer Gods would then be drawn into his maw.

The battles in the Nether Abyss against Long Di and Pang Jian, his second clash with Pang Jian during his retreat, and the sneak attacks from Luan Ji and Sovereign Luo had left wounds that had yet to heal.

As he flew onward, he slaughtered Outer Gods, using them as fuel to replenish what he had lost. Soon, he had managed to recover sixty to seventy percent of his strength.

"Still the same as ever. Your bloodthirst hasn't changed a bit. You'll stop at nothing to recover when wounded. Even your own kin aren't spared from the slaughter."

A towering Nine Heavens Thunder Divine Tree drifted into Yuan Yi's field of view.

The massive tree gradually came to a stop in the gray bizarre mist. An elegant young girl stood gracefully on its branches, gazing at Yuan Yi.

She looked harmless at a glance, eyes bright and countenance poised.

"Yuan Yi, long time no see."

The young girl's lips curled into a faint smile. Deep within her eyes, a pair of phoenixes, one black and one white, silently emerged. A patch of deep blue sea shimmered across her forehead.

"Congratulations. After all these years, you've finally ascended to the rank of a high-level Fey God."

She then waved casually at Yuan Yi, motioning for him to come over for a chat. Her bearing was that of a supreme being, looking down upon all living beings as she beckoned to a warrior under her command.

"You—" The fierce ancient ape looked like he had seen a ghost. "Impossible! You, you, you—"

The old ape stammered uncontrollably, unable to form a single complete sentence.

"There's no rush. I'll let you have a good look for yourself," the young girl said, her smile easy and unconcerned. After a moment of thought, she snapped her fingers. "Darkness."

Pure darkness swallowed everything within a ten thousand li radius. A single word from her lips was enough to cast the dim gray of the bizarre mist into darkness.

This utterance was a supreme divine technique, one that bent the foundations of reality itself to her will.

"You—how can you possibly be her? You have the body of a human! You walk the path of a Nether God! You're not even a member of the Fey Race. You don't have crystal bloodline chains in you!"

Yuan Yi felt as though he was teetering on the edge of mental collapse.

He knew this darkness all too well. It had once imprisoned him for years, cut off from the passage of time, deprived of light, and stripped of any sensation beyond his own existence.

In the moments when he longed for death, he would catch a glimpse of a towering phoenix, staring mockingly down at him.

Eventually, he surrendered, obediently offering up his blood essence and acknowledging that being as his master.

That darkness haunted his nightmares—a stain of humiliation he could never erase. He had thought that he would never have to suffer it again, only for it to return.

"Yuan Yi, I've been waiting for you in the Abyss, hoping you'd find a way in sooner. You know I need someone like you: a high-ranking Fey God ascended through the Dao of Life.

"I want that vast, surging vitality within you. You kept me waiting for so long that I came out to find you myself.

"Yuan Yi, you've truly disappointed me."