Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 332: The Right to a Share of the Loot

Lu Jie truly could not tell who was right and who was wrong.

Next to her, Fu Wangchen knitted his brows and appeared lost in thought.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Streams of radiant light flowed into the survivors' seas of consciousness, restoring their memories and making clear the sights they had seen while their consciousnesses were hazy.

The image of Pang Jian battling the Outer God on the Thunder Pool stood out vividly in their minds.

"Pang Jian..." Chen Lushi softly murmured as the light returned to her eyes.

His lofty, imposing figure filled her with endless shame and regret.

The survivors were still covered in the Ice Armor Eel Dragon's sticky saliva as they scrambled out of the pit on all fours, eager to escape to safety.

They feared the Ice Armor Eel Dragon would decide to swallow them again and subject them to more torment on its dark, foul-smelling tongue.

However, the Ice Armor Eel Dragon paid them no mind as it gazed up at the sky motionlessly.

"I need to return to Absolute Heaven to heal my wounds," the Ice Armor Eel Dragon hinted, eyeing Pang Jian uneasily.

With his divine artifact and command of the nine glaciers, Pang Jian established himself as an extraordinarily fearsome presence.

When he did not respond, it quietly reminded, "I saved you when you were being chased."

Pang Jian was taken aback.

"The Golden-Winged Giant Roc, that warship!" The Ice Armor Eel Dragon growled.

Pang Jian nodded. "You're right, that did happen."

Sensing a strange aura growing in the depths of Fu Wangchen's mind, he frowned.

The Ice Armor Eel Dragon panicked at the sight.

"I have something for you!"

Crash!

It spat out a series of broken stone statues, wooden carvings, bone vessels, and ruined altars of Outer Gods.

"These strange objects contain a peculiar energy. I don't know how to absorb or refine it, but I wiped clean the evil consciousness within that tried to infect my soul.

"It's yours, all of it! I saw your people scavenging for these things everywhere. Maybe they'll be useful to you," the Ice Armor Eel Dragon rambled anxiously.

Pang Jian's eyes lit up.

Qi Qingsong, Dong Tianze, and the others had since flown over from the Frozen Land and were also visibly excited.

They, too, sensed that the stone statues, wooden carvings, and broken altars contained pure divine essence.

The Ice Armor Eel Dragon had already purged the will of those Outer Gods.

Lu Jie's eyes also flashed with intense desire.

The Forsaken Expanse Sect had come to Absolute Heaven in search of such objects, only for the Ice Armor Eel Dragon to spit them out like garbage.

Despite this, none of the members of the Forsaken Expanse Sect scrambling out of the pit dared to turn back to retrieve the items piled up behind them.

"Senior Brother Qi! Big Brother Zhou! Dong Tianze" Pang Jian called out.

"We're here!" The three shouted in unison, voices filled with delight.

"Gather them up," Pang Jian commanded.

He then used the Heart of Winter to summon one of the three-thousand-zhang-tall glaciers.

"Kid! I've given you everything I have and you still won't let me go? We have no grudges! I even saved your life! Don't repay kindness with cruelty!" The Ice Armor Eel Dragon growled, causing the pit to tremble and crack as it tried to gather its strength.

Unfortunately, its severely wounded state meant its futile efforts only caused its large scales to burst open.

It cried in anguish, "You despicable wretch! You—"

At that moment, the Ice Armor Eel Dragon realized the glaciers were not actually locked onto him but a human cultivator.

Whoosh!

A flash of cold light streaked through the air like a sharp blade toward a rogue cultivator pretending to be dead at the bottom of the pit.

The cold light pierced through his chest before freezing him solid.

"That's Ling He," Pang Jian said, glancing at Dong Tianze.

Dong Tianze shuddered. Hastily moving over to Ling He's frozen body, he revealed the brilliant Celestial Phoenix Imprint on his forehead.

Whoosh!

A shining Celestial Phoenix Imprint floated from Ling He's forehead for Dong Tianze to absorb.

Dong Tianze's aura skyrocketed and his heart pounded wildly.

The hidden Divine Guard that had kept him constantly on guard had finally perished, and Pang Jian was responsible for this breath of relief.

Pang Jian—the person he had once seen as his subordinate, a mere Hall Master.

Dong Tianze's expression grew peculiar. "I need to focus and consolidate my energy"

Pang Jian nodded.

"I..." A slightly embarrassed Dong Tianze stared at the stone statues and wooden carvings containing pure divine essence, pointedly avoiding Pang Jian's gaze as he added sheepishly, "I also want to absorb more divine essence."

Pang Jian nodded again.

"Go ahead.

"Senior Brother Qi, Big Brother Zhou, please distribute the items containing divine essence to him, her, her"—Pang Jian pointed to Dong Tianze, Zhuang Yuyan, and Zhao Yuanqi, and after a brief hesitation, Wu Yuan from the Demon Sect—" and him, I suppose.

"They all qualify for a share."

Wu Yuan stood dumbfounded, taken aback at the unexpected favor.

Chen Lushi's eyes had been on Pang Jian since regaining her memory, and she only noticed her fellow sect member at Pang Jian's gesture.

"Wu Yuan!" she exclaimed in disbelief. "Wu Yuan! You-you actually...

"Why didn't you take me when you escaped the lake? Why didn't you tell me if you knew something was wrong and didn't trust Fu Wangchen?" Chen Lushi's voice was laced with frustration and resentment.

"I mentioned it once out of consideration that we came from the same sect, but you didn't seem to care," Wu Yuan replied coldly. "I only say things once."

Chen Lushi's huffiness deflated.

Zhuang Yuyan, Zhao Yuanqi, and Wu Yuan—the ones Pang Jian deemed eligible—then joined Qi Qingsong and Zhou Qingchen in gathering the objects of worship containing divine essence.

Fang Boxuan could only watch in boundless regret.

Although he had arrived here alongside on the Sword Boat, he had hesitated when it mattered the most.

As a result, he had lost the opportunity for a share in the spoils and had become an outsider to the group.

Pang Jian turned back to the Ice Armor Eel Dragon. "You may go."

The ferocious Spirit Beast did not hesitate to summon its remaining strength to soar into the sky.

"Pang Jian, be wary of the fiery fragmented land. There are still rampant foreign races and Outer God Puppets there," the Ice Armor Eel Dragon warned.

After leaving behind those parting words, it streaked across the void toward Absolute Heaven at lightning speed, seeking to return to its lake as quickly as possible to recover its strength.

"Sir!"

Bing Yuan and Bing Ying approached Pang Jian with a group of Ice Race warriors, bowing respectfully atop their Spirit Avians.

"I need items or materials infused with solar, lunar, stellar, life, and earthflame energy. Get me as much of those as you can—I need to recover my strength," Pang Jian instructed.

"We found some earlier!"

"Sir! I have some stones infused with solar energy!"

The members of the Ice Race eagerly offered their treasures.

"Bring them to me as fast as possible." Pang Jian landed on top of one of the glaciers, sat cross-legged, and took out some spirit jades to refill his spiritual sea.

"We're on it!"

***

The Spider God, Yang Luo, had returned to the fiery fragmented land.

The invading foreign races had since slaughtered all of the Flame Race, and the fire crystals and crimson fruits in the blazing sea of magma had already been plundered clean.

"Yang Luo, did the Thunderveil Godbeast kill that foolish Ice Armor Eel Dragon?" You Kui asked, hovering aboard the Ghost Race's warship. He watched as the Ghost Race warriors carefully placed the fire crystals, crimson fruits, and Scarlet Flame Divine Iron into storage.

These fire-attribute treasures were priceless in the outside world, and the Ghost Race had gained a considerable harvest.

"Take a guess," Yang Luo responded coldly.

Several of the Outer Gods stared at her curiously in their puppet bodies.

"Yang Luo, did something unexpected happen?"

"That Thunderveil Godbeast has coveted the Duke of Thunder's artifact for tens of thousands of years. It's said that he even received help from an Observer. There's no way he couldn't kill a Rank Eight Spirit Beast, right?"

Whoosh!

The massive Ice Armor Eel Dragon flew past the fiery fragmented land.

"Uh..." The deer-like Outer God who had last spoken stared in astonishment as the Ice Armor Eel Dragon flew past the edge of the fiery fragmented land. "Are Spirit Beasts from the Abyss always this terrifying?"

The other Outer Gods were also baffled.

"Impossible!"

"The Thunderveil Godbeast should've been practically invincible with the Duke of Thunder's artifact in that fragmented land! That's why I didn't bother going there to humiliate myself!"

"Me too!"

"It was defeated? That makes no sense!"

The Outer Gods knew they—with their puppet bodies—stood no chance against the Thunderveil Godbeast once it had gained control of the Thunder Pool.

Thus, they avoided the Forbidden Land of the Thunder God.

"A human from the Abyss named Pang Jian seized the Heart of Winter, the divine artifact the Ice Demon sealed in the Frozen Land," Yang Luo explained, suppressing the turmoil in her heart and maintaining her outwardly calm expression. "He then used it to merge the Frozen Land and the Forbidden Land of the Thunder God.

"After the two fragmented lands merged, he became like a reborn Ice Demon. In the end, he cleaved the puppet body of the Thunderveil Godbeast forged from a branch of the Nine Heavens Thunder Divine Tree into two.

"The Thunderveil Godbeast, Lei Meng, was wiped out instantly, and the Ice Armor Eel Dragon escaped.

"Pang Jian now controls the Forbidden Land of the Thunder God and the Frozen Land. Not to mention, the Thunder Pool and the Heart of Winter rest in his hands.

"And you all"—Yang Luo looked at the Outer God Puppets and the foreign races that worshiped them—"want to charge in?"