Chapter 819: Peering into the Starry Skies

While inside the Heaven-Earth Cosmos Chest, Pang Jian's vitality was locked in place and barely showed any fluctuations.

He calculated that, so long as he remained within the chest before becoming a True God, his lifespan would remain completely unchanged.

Long Di and Bai Zi's theory was indeed plausible. If he and Pang Lin had been sealed away from time and placed in a dormant state during their childhood, their lifespan would have effectively been frozen. Five thousand years could have passed just like that.

Pang Jian fell into deep thought.

Father was worried we couldn't survive on our own, so he locked us inside and only came back to open the chest after he resolved some issues. How and why was he delayed for nearly five thousand years?

Another thought came to Pang Jian abruptly. He realized that, even though he was in the chest, he could no longer sense the Bee Sovereign, Pang Ling, or the black turtle with his current cultivation.

Nevertheless, he could faintly sense the other six artifacts serving as array cores through the World God Pendant; each positioned at a different Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillar.

"I was once able to peer into the starry skies from within this chest, but what about now?"

Pang Jian's thoughts churned restlessly, and all of a sudden, he focused his mind and fixed his attention on the starry sky above.

The radiance of the sun, moon, and stars poured down, and in an instant, it fell into Pang Jian's dantian.

Above his unique dantian, the celestial bodies that mirrored starry skies flared dazzlingly.

Across the various continents, the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars began to shine in response, radiating emerald light that startled the world. The various foreign race powerhouses let out cries of shock.

A knife, a sword, a hammer, a spear, a mirror, and a flag hovered high in the sky of the White Bone City, the Blackwood Village, the Blood Prison Village, the Death Spirit Town, the Sinister Soul Town, and the Ghost Spirit Town.

These six array core artifacts had expanded dozens of times and shone brilliantly atop their respective Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars.

The glowing pillars and radiant artifacts drew the attention of many.

"The Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars!"

"The path of ascension!"

"Ascension!"

Foreign race warriors, along with many members of the Fey Race in the Fourth and Third Worlds, were drawn toward the radiance of the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars in the Fifth World.

"It's Pang Jian!"

"Somehow, he must have triggered the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars!"

"Who else could it be but Pang Jian?"

Now that the Fifth World was no longer covered by a curtain of darkness, the powerful beings in the worlds above could clearly observe the strange changes below. Various techniques and secret methods honed in on the brilliant Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars.

Li Zhaotian, Li Wang, Su Wanrou, and the others were on their way toward the First World. Just as they entered the Second World, they caught sight of the changes in the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars and immediately came to a halt.

"Aren't the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars meant to suppress the foreign races and the Fey Race? Is there some deeper secret to them?" Su Wanrou asked Li Wang.

Li Wang frowned. "We were only responsible for forging them. As for the deeper mysteries behind them... I don't know much."

***

From another corner of the Second World, the black turtle took the form of a robust human and soared up from the Sacred Soul Continent. Hovering in the sky of the Second World, he gazed at the light emanating from the world below.

The Black Dragon King, Yuan Qi, the Ice Armor Eel Dragon, and the Rock Bear soon followed, rising from the continent one after another. Shortly after them, Rank Nine Fey Kings emerged from the fragmented lands of the Fourth and Third Worlds, drifting up into the void.

All the Fey Race had been stirred by the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars in the Fifth World.

In the Abyss, anyone who could see the glow of the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars was deeply curious about what was happening.

Pang Jian's heart trembled. "With the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars and the Heaven-Earth Cosmos Chest, one may peer into the starry skies!"

Suddenly, he felt a deeper resonance between himself, the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars, and the six artifacts acting as their array cores. Within his sea of consciousness, his Divine Persona shone as brilliantly as the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars.

In the next instant, the starry sky within his dantian flared to life as he felt his consciousness detach from his physical body as if it were drifting through the starry skies.

Pang Jian's thoughts drifted to a luminous pearl in the starry skies.

The moon,

he thought absently

.

Instantly, he saw the members of the Bright Moon Race who served Ying Yue, and even her Lunar Divine Palace.

He could clearly see Ying Yue and Han Yi seated quietly upon their respective divine platform, fully absorbed in the comprehension of divine techniques.

The two women did not speak. Ying Yue's beautiful face was calm and serene. Han Yi, on the other hand, occasionally furrowed her brows, as though weighed down by thoughts she could not set aside.

Great Demon Gods

, his thoughts changed, and his gaze shifted again, landing on He Motian's towering form that was accompanied by the familiar figures of Fa Ji, Tian Wei, and Luan Ji.

The five Great Demon Gods had gathered together, and Luan Ji voiced his stance. He declared that from now on, Pang Jian was to be regarded as one of their own. He even said he would personally go speak with Sovereign Luo about it.

Inside the Heaven-Earth Cosmos Chest, Pang Jian watched their discussion as if they were only separated by a thin pane of glass. He was able to see and hear every word spoken by the five Great Demon Gods.

None of them had the slightest idea that the very person they were discussing was silently observing them from the shadows.

With the Heaven-Earth Cosmos Chest in hand, can I now spy on every move those Outer Gods make? Their next steps, their strategies, I might be able to see it all,

Pang Jian realized with some astonishment.

His attention shifted, traversing from one star to another. Soon, he settled on a star where the Gods of the Spirit Race had gathered. He saw Mou Qi, who was joined by two newly arrived high-ranking Gods of the Spirit Race.

The God of Wisdom, Fu Ya, was about to descend in person?

Mou Qi still hasn't given up on Han Yi. Wait. Han Yi and Ying Yue have both been taken under the wing of Sovereign Luo?

Stunned, Pang Jian tried to process the recent developments.

His attention drifted restlessly across the starry skies, observing the Outer Gods of all ranks, each discussing the recent upheavals in Abyss and the Nether Abyss. He was the hottest topic, spoken of time and again by the Outer Gods.

I didn't expect that after the events in the Abyss and the Nether Abyss, I would be this famous among the Outer Gods.

Rubbing his chin, Pang Jian turned his gaze to a star in the starry skies, one that blazed with extraordinary brilliance. Its radiance was second only to the sun itself, making it stand out above all the others.

As Pang Jian turned his attention to that star, he saw a familiar figure within it—Luo Hongyan, or rather, Sovereign Luo.

Her body was wrapped in layer upon layer of radiant light, making it impossible to look at her directly. Bathed in brilliance, her figure was blurred and indistinct, impossible to make out clearly.

Yan Lie had shrunk down his towering body and seemed to be reporting something as he knelt before her.

When Pang Jian focused his senses, trying his best to listen in.

"Pang Jian." Nestled within layers upon layers of radiant light, Sovereign Luo gently pressed her lips together and spoke coldly, "Are you using that chest to spy on me? What is it you're trying to learn? What did you hope to uncover?"

Yan Lie's expression changed drastically. "What? Pang Jian?"

Sovereign Luo unleashed a blinding burst. From her body and the star she stood upon, endless beams of light slashed out like divine swords cutting through the surrounding darkness.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

That brilliance disregarded the vast distance to attack Pang Jian!

Within the Heaven-Earth Cosmos Chest, Pang Jian saw one of the stars shine a hundred times brighter. In the next moment, body and mind were instantly flooded with overwhelming light, overshadowing the starry skies!

The cold, indifferent voice of Sovereign Luo echoed from the brightest star within the chest.

"

Did you think I was unaware of the secrets of that chest? I once wielded it myself and only left it in Eight Trigrams City for a reason—I knew that, one day, you would crawl into it and peer through starry skies.

"And now, you've done exactly that."