On a dimly glowing star within the starry skies beyond the Abyss, Mou Qi let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "You two have finally arrived."
Within a palace Mou Qi had forcibly claimed, nine mid-ranking Gods of the Spirit Race bowed deeply in unison to the pair approaching from afar.
The nine Gods of the Spirit Race arrived earlier than the pair but still wore expressions of sincere reverence. Their salute was carried out with impeccable precision.
Cang Feng had a huge stature and exuded a bold and unrestrained aura. He had a full beard and moved with a rugged bravado. Striding forward clad in radiant silver armor, he clasped Mou Qi on the shoulder and let out a deep laugh. "What's this? You couldn't handle a nobody like Han Yi?"
Mou Qi forced a wry smile. "She's not a nobody anymore."
Cang Feng sneered. "She was on her own for years before Sovereign Luo took notice of her, and you still couldn't make her yours?" Grinning, he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at a woman in black robes. "Mu Ya here is a high-ranking God. Her status far surpasses Han Yi's, but she still follows my lead without question."
Mu Ya, her porcelain skin glowing almost unnaturally bright, shot him an exasperated glare. "If you hadn't happened to save me while I was exploring a restricted area, I wouldn't have given you the time of day."
"Haha!" Cang Feng let out a hearty, self-satisfied laugh, his voice echoing across the star. "Doesn't matter how it happened. The point stands, she is my woman now!"
"Yes, yes, you're amazing. Happy?" Mou Qi grunted vaguely. After a pause, he added, "Are you two planning to pay Sovereign Luo a visit?"
"No need." Cang Feng shook his head, frowning slightly. "I don't serve her. There's no reason for me to go see her the moment I arrive. Besides..."
He dragged the words out on purpose, letting Mou Qi stew in anticipation before finally dropping the news."Our lord will be descending in this region soon... With her true body, no less."
The moment those words left his mouth, Mou Qi and the nine mid-ranking Gods behind him could not hide their surprise. In unison, they cried out, "With her true body?!"
Mou Qi was overjoyed. "Our Lord values my situation that much?!"
Cang Feng blinked, then laughed. "Mou Qi, you're really overthinking it. Your little drama with Han Yi is barely a footnote. You think our Lord would show up just for that?"
"Then what for?" Mou Qi straightened, his tone turning solemn.
"For the Nether Abyss in the bizarre mist. More precisely, for the Soulstream that lies within it." Some of the mirth cooled from Cang Feng's voice as he continued, "Our Lord, the God of Wisdom, has coveted the Soulstream for a long time. Neither the previous World God of the Nether Abyss nor the current one ever gave her what she wanted.
"This grand event, the one that comes once every hundred thousand years, may be the only chance she'll get to approach the Soulstream directly. She's not going to let this chance slip by."
His brow furrowed, and he added, "On my way here, I also heard that the ancient ape tried to rally the World Gods and the divine beings born within the bizarre mist to invade the Nether Abyss. Did that plan really end up failing?"
Mu Ya seemed poised for action and cut in softly, "That Long Di, is he really that powerful within the Nether Abyss?"
"That's not quite it," Mou Qi interjected. Having remained in this starry region all along, he had observed how the invasion had fallen apart. "A young human named Pang Jian ascended to the Transcendent God Realm within the Nether Abyss. He seized the demonic cloak left behind by Sovereign Demonheaven and used the might of numerous Demon Gods to deal a grievous blow to that ancient ape."
"A human? Pang Jian?" Cang Feng and Mu Ya exchanged surprised glances.
Mou Qi nodded, then delivered yet another bombshell. "It was this same Pang Jian who, within the Abyss, destroyed Sovereign Luo's vessel and forced Yan Lie to withdraw.
"He thwarted Sovereign Luo's long-laid plans for the Abyss. His name has begun to spread through the bizarre mist below and in the starry skies above as well."
Cang Feng and Mu Ya listened incredulously to Mou Qi's short recount. That name, Pang Jian, was now engraved within their minds.
Elsewhere beneath the same starry skies, upon a celestial body He Motian had claimed, a colossal archway stood tall and its core swirled with chaotic spatial energy.
Great Demon Gods Tian Wei and Qi Ling emerged one after another from the archway, stepping through the void.
Tian Wei, of the Dark Demon Race, and Qi Ling, of the Heavenly Demon Race, cast their gazes at the two other Great Demon Gods the moment they arrived.
Qi Ling's frame was as gaunt as a metal rod, his body cold and unyielding as forged iron. His dark, abyssal eyes radiated a soul-chilling menace, making any being who met his gaze shudder in dread.
"No word from Lord Primordial Demon yet?" Qi Ling asked coldly.
He Motian, originally from the Titan Race that was known for its three heads and six arms, adjusted his form in the presence of the other three so that he had a single head and two arms. With a sigh, He Motian admitted his failure and gave a brief summary of what had happened within the Abyss. "It was my fault. The half-divine body I forged in the Abyss was destroyed before it could serve any real purpose. I also lost the Demon Lair.
"After Sovereign Luo's vessel was destroyed by Pang Jian, Lord Primordial Demon fell silent within the Seventh World of the Abyss. I have no idea what happened after that."
"Sovereign Luo was defeated in the Abyss?" Qi Ling exclaimed in disbelief. "Could Pang Jian have truly bested her, or was someone else involved?"
"I'm not sure. It's not my place to directly ask Sovereign Luo." He Motian replied with a furrowed brow. "When we met her, she was clearly in no mood to talk. She offered no details, and none of us dared press the matter.
"But she did say that it was the eighteen Demon Gods, those whose names are inscribed into the demonic cloak, who helped suppress Yan Lie. Their interference led to the collapse of her plans. She now demands an explanation from us."
He Motian let out a long sigh. "With the Thunder Pool in his hands and that demonic cloak enabling him to strike anyone named upon it, Pang Jian has become incredibly hard to deal with. I nearly fell to him. What chance did those eighteen have?"
He finally turned to Fa Ji, who had departed the Nether Abyss and the bizarre mist after failing there. "You agree, don't you, Fa Ji?
Fa Ji's expression twisted, his face twitched as he replied grimly, "His Immortal Divine Soul in the Nether Abyss has reached the realm of the Transcendent God Realm. With combat strength on par with ours and the Thunder Pool capable of restraining us, what exactly was I supposed to do?"
"I'm not blaming you," He Motian said, "I just think it's time we all came up with a plan for how to deal with Pang Jian." Even now, the thought of how Pang Jian had corrupted his mind, making him mistake his enemy to be Sovereign Demonheaven, still sent a chill down his spine.
"Is this Pang Jian really that dangerous?" Tian Wei mulled it over, then said, "Forget about what Sovereign Luo or the God of Wisdom are after for now. Our priority is dealing with this thorny issue, Pang Jian, and finding where Lord Primordial Demon has gone."
"The God of Wisdom?" He Motian raised an eyebrow. "What does she have to do with us?"
"I've received word that she's on her way," Tian Wei sneered. "She's after the Soulstream in the Nether Abyss."
"Sovereign Luo has set her sights on the Abyss. Good thing they're not after the same thing, or this whole section of the starry skies would collapse under the weight of their ambitions."