Chapter 892: Assuming Control of the Skull

On the cold moon above the bizarre mist sat a crystalline divine platform where the exquisite Han Yi sat motionless as a statue.

She stared down at the bizarre mist below, lost in thought. Beside her, the Moon God glanced around, watching as the surviving Outer Gods departed one by one.

The skull housing the Ruin Realm had since returned to the bizarre mist. The four Great Demon Gods had also been imprisoned in the Hall of Gods.

Meanwhile, the surviving Outer Gods, having suffered heavy losses, were in a state of deep fear.

Except for those serving Sovereign Luo and Fu Ya, most of the Outer Gods had already withdrawn from this starry region.

Thus, this starry region, its otherworldly energy thin and weak after the skull's devouring, once again fell into desolate stillness.

"Pang Jian..." Ying Yue knitted her brows, her pale lips curling into a meaningful smile as she murmured, "So fast."

Han Yi's clear eyes seemed to reflect her heart as she replied, "I feel like I'm becoming more and more distant from him."

"Once the Hall of Gods completes its ritual and finishes imprisoning all the Demon Gods, those two Sovereigns will probably summon their elite forces to launch an invasion of the bizarre mist." Ying Yue sighed, her face clouded with worry. "Since we've been singled out by them and treated as a valued part of their forces, we'll likely end up accompanying them deep into the bizarre mist to fight.

"Han Yi, you have to remember where we stand. Don't keep treating Pang Jian as an ally. Our Lord will not tolerate you maintaining secret ties with Pang Jian or helping an outsider oppose her."

Ying Yue was aware that Han Yi had used the Ice Race's altar to relay certain secrets from the starry skies to the Abyss and had always felt uneasy about it, afraid that Sovereign Luo would hold them accountable if she found out.

Though she still did not understand why Sovereign Luo favored them both, she did not question it. All she knew was that the Sovereign of the Celestial Race was notoriously ruthless and could slaughter them on a whim if she took offense.

"My accumulation is just about enough. I'm preparing to advance to high-ranking godhood," Han Yi abruptly said.

Ying Yue arched an eyebrow in surprise. "What's the hurry?"

"It's a bit risky, but I've no choice," Han Yi replied bitterly. Straightening her posture, making her chest rise noticeably, she added, "The future is uncertain. Since we're destined to go down into the bizarre mist anyway, we might as well aim for the highest cultivation realm we can."

Ying Yue fixed her with an unblinking stare. "I'm always afraid you'll do something foolish."

"Perhaps," Han Yi said, the corners of her mouth tugging into a half-smile. "But I don't have the right to do foolish things with my cultivation realm."

Ying Yue fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "In that case, I'll try to break through to high-ranking godhood as well."

Han Yi's eyes lit up.

After swearing loyalty to Sovereign Luo, she bestowed upon them many profound insights and helped them refine the mysteries of their bloodlines.

While Sovereign Luo's Heavenly Daos centered mainly on the Dao of Light, they also encompassed the Daos of Cold, Death, Life, and even Darkness.

Han Yi had received enough insights into the Dao of Cold for her to complete her advancement into high-ranking godhood.

As for Ying Yue, the Dao of Moon she studied shared deep compatibility with Sovereign Luo's Dao of Light, allowing her to gain great benefit and glimpse the opportunity for her own breakthrough.

The materials and rare treasures the two women needed had mostly been gathered through Sovereign Luo's efforts as well.

In these dire times, when low-ranking, mid-ranking, and even high-ranking Gods could die at any time, they were both willing to take a leap of faith and attempt a breakthrough.

***

Luo Hongyan's tall, graceful figure descended into the Hall of Gods, which shone like a brilliant starry expanse, to stand beside the God of Wisdom, Fu Ya.

All around them, rows of pyramid-shaped platforms, each corresponding to a different race, floated in the air like mountains.

"It's still not quite enough," Fu Ya said solemnly, her long hands moving absentmindedly to push the pyramid-shaped platforms farther away.

Streams of jade-like light flowed to the edges of this otherworldly space, sealing many fine cracks. Despite that, there were still a few sections that were obviously of different material from the rest, later additions that clashed with the Hall of Gods' original design.

"The Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars in the Fifth World of the Abyss," Luo Hongyan said, eyes narrowing. "The moment I entered the Fifth World, I knew the main materials used to construct those Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars came from this very hall."

Fu Ya's expression turned cold. "I was surprised at the destructive power those people unleashed back then."

"Behind those True Gods of the human race was the will of the bizarre mist," said Luo Hongyan. "They could never have shaken the Hall of Gods without it.

"They took away part of the Hall of Gods to forge the seven Heaven Ascension Tribulation Pillars, not only to suppress the remains of the Black Empyrean Phoenix but also to keep the Hall of Gods from ever being fully restored?"

Luo Hongyan nodded. "Which is why we still need to make a trip to the Abyss."

"You and I have no way of going there in person," Fu Ya mused. "It seems we'll have to summon our strongest subordinates to go to the Abyss and bring those fragments back."

"There's no other way," Luo Hongyan agreed.

***

In the boundless bizarre mist, the hollow eye sockets of the God King's skull lit up with two blazing suns that rolled like giant eyeballs.

A fierce suction emerged from its mouth and nose, as if trying to swallow every scrap of energy from its surroundings. Its transparent boundary wall glowed a deep red, marked with visible, flesh-like textures.

At the same time, the stars, the continents, and the realistic landscapes inside the skull all quietly disappeared.

The skull howled through the bizarre mist, seemingly flying without clear direction, stirring up intense spatial ripples that spread for hundreds of millions of li.

"God Refining," Pang Jian murmured.

As his attunement with the skull deepened, his divine sense and the entrenched laws of the skull gradually fused into one.

This caused him to feel like he was part of the skull itself—the embodiment of the Ruin Realm's soul and will.

Unlike the abysses, the bizarre mist had not split off a fragment of its supreme will to reside here.

The God King's skull contained many peculiarities. It seemed that the supreme will of the bizarre mist wanted this skull to be transformed into a weapon akin to the Hall of Gods.

This Ruin Realm was the bizarre mist's response to the Hall of Gods that the Outer Gods used to invade the bizarre mist. It was a blade meant to strike back at the starry skies, and its God Refining ability was the most basic of its many wonders.

Ling Yun had grasped the secret of God Refining. Using his Dao of Life, spread across the Ruin Realm, he had harvested and refined the bodies, divine powers, and souls of many weaker Gods.

After Ling Yun's departure, Pang Jian let his own divine power spread throughout the skull, attuning himself to the mysteries of this realm. It had taken some time, but he had finally mastered the art of God Refining for himself.

"Spatial Shift."

Powerful spatial ripples erupted from the unclaimed World God Pendants. They lined up in the air like a series of mirrored portals, guiding the realm's direction as it streaked through the bizarre mist.

The endless gray expanse of the bizarre mist offered no resistance, letting it race forward unrestrained.

Before long, the skull approached three abysses.

The Demon Abyss, the Ghost Abyss, and the Celestial Abyss.

So, the abysses aren't actually that far apart from each other when compared to the vastness of the bizarre mist. It seems the supreme will positioned them all in one relatively concentrated region.

The formation of these abysses relies on the immense energies and the stars in the starry skies.

The supreme will collects energies from the starry skies or from nearby stars that collapse and uses them to create the abysses within the bizarre mist. In other words, the beings inside the abysses mostly survive on absorbed remnants from above.

When viewed from that perspective, the will of the bizarre mist seems like the real invader.

As Pang Jian went through fragments of memory within the God King's skull, he slowly formed an entirely new understanding of the truth.

God King Yan Hao had always known about the supreme will of the starry skies.

That supreme will had once wielded him as a blade, driving him to invade the bizarre mist using his nine suns. Unfortunately, that battle had ended with him defeated in the depths of the bizarre mist.

From Yan Hao's lingering memories, Pang Jian discovered that the bizarre mist had seemingly given birth to a supreme will identical to that of the starry skies at some point. After it emerged, it started shaping the wondrous realms known as the abysses.

The twelve abysses, with their living creatures, plants, and tangled energies, were all created from the energies of the starry skies.

The formation of a single abyss usually meant the withering of an entire starry region. The abysses depended on the starry skies, with the landmasses and life within them largely originating from beyond.

Only the catastrophic destruction of a starry region, with its stars shattering and its energies stripped away, would enable a new abyss to form within the bizarre mist.

In other words, the existence of twelve abysses meant twelve starry regions had been destroyed.

Under the orders of the supreme will above, God King Yan Hao had commanded the Sovereigns and the Hall of Gods deep into the bizarre mist, aiming to destroy the abysses and weaken its influence.

The two supreme wills could only direct the intelligent races they had created to fight on their behalf, as they themselves could not take part directly.

God King.

Pang Jian glanced up in the direction of the starry skies as he processed this influx of information.

Based on what he had learned, the world-shaking events unfolding indicated that a new God King would be born soon.