Trials of the Abyss

Although the fog shrouding the altar was dense enough to obscure it from view, the mist surrounding the Heart of Winter within was thin and faint.

The Grand Elder had successfully persuaded the other six elders, and their longing for the outside world made them set aside their shared faith with Pang Jian.

"Don't blame me. Your ability to break through the restriction of the Frozen Land is just too tempting," the Grand Elder's soul said as it hovered within Pang Jian's sea of consciousness. "I don't have much time left. I'll die of old age if I can't leave this fragmented land.

"My ancestors could not escape this predetermined fate, but your arrival gave me a glimmer of hope. How could I not seize it?"

The crystalline Tears of Winter, each containing a lingering soul set ablaze, arranged themselves in Pang Jian's sea of consciousness to form five strange arcane characters.

The five characters glimmered with an icy light, hiding within them the profound truths of the cold as if embodying the Ice Demon's deep understanding of the universal laws.

"Ice, Soul, Demon, Divine, Scripture." A sharp voice read the five characters with a slow pointedness.

The Grand Elder's expression changed and he searched Pang Jian's vast sea of consciousness for the owner of the voice.

"Ice Soul Demon Divine Scripture!" Pang Jian's voice echoed, growing from a faint whisper to a booming roar that reverberated from the distant horizon of his sea of consciousness.

Blinding bolts of golden lightning flashed and shattered many of the Tears of Winter with the force of a thunderstorm.

"You're still conscious?!" The Grand Elder was shocked.

The shadowy form of the Grand Elder's soul stood with one foot on the "Ice" and "Soul" characters respectively.

Igniting the divine power within the Tears of Winter, he bellowed, "Soul-Freezing Extreme Cold!"

The "Ice" and "Demon" characters beneath the Grand Elder's feet flared with an extreme cold capable of freezing one's soul, comparable to the bone-piercing chill Pang Jian had once felt on the altar in Spirit Offering.

The Grand Elder's soul essence intertwined with the bone-chilling cold and surged toward Pang Jian's golden divine sense, aiming to freeze and shatter them.

"I have a Rank Six bloodline, a soul far more powerful than yours, and the divine artifact, Heart of Winter, on my side.

"You're powerless to resist me, Outsider. Just surrender and let me unearth the deepest secrets of your soul."

The terrifying cold spread out, first enveloping Pang Jian's ordinary gray divine sense before pursuing his golden divine sense.

Roaring frost dragons, soaring ice phoenixes, and strange frost-beasts manifested from the Grand Elder's bone-chilling soul essence. The five arcane characters circled the creatures, exuding a fearsome aura capable of annihilating souls and eroding divine consciousness.

Whoosh!

Pang Jian's golden divine senses darted through his sea of consciousness with lightning speed, distancing themselves from the Grand Elder's Soul-Freezing Extreme Cold in the blink of an eye.

As they dodged wave after wave of freezing soul essence, they continued to destroy more and more droplets of the Tears of Winter.

Pang Jian appeared completely at ease.

The Bee Sovereign's soul suddenly manifested in Pang Jian's sea of consciousness, taking on the form of a human face with a bee body.

"Master, he's courting death by daring to enter your sea of consciousness," the Bee Sovereign sneered.

The souls of twelve golden bees also appeared within Pang Jian's sea of consciousness, eyes gleaming with greed at the sight of the Tears of Winter.

"My body and these little ones are fragile. Our physical bodies can't withstand much and are easily destroyed outside the pendant. Once our bodies are destroyed, our souls will die with it.

"We're called Spirit Bees because our physical bodies are fragile and we excel only in soul combat.

"But if he insists on entering your sea of consciousness to sift your memories through your soul…" The Bee Sovereign smirked mockingly. "We have nothing to fear when it comes to soul combat."

"Go!"

With that, the golden bees started tearing into the crystalline Tears of Winter and devoured the burning souls within.

The five arcane characters, "Ice Soul Demon Divine Scripture," collapsed like a crumbling city under their relentless assault, and the Grand Elder's Soul-Freezing Extreme Cold was effortlessly countered.

"Master, the divine consciousness of an Outer God ignited the flames in those teardrops," the Bee Sovereign informed with a cold expression.

Crack! Crack!

Pang Jian seized the opportunity to shatter the icy restraints on his ordinary strands of divine sense with his golden ones, allowing all his divine sense to flow freely once again.

Divine Manifestation.

He merged his golden divine sense with his ordinary divine sense, forming a vague outline of a golden head and hazy, indistinct body in his sea of consciousness.

A mental breakdown threatened to overcome the Grand Elder as he gaped at Pang Jian's ethereal body and the Bee Sovereign's soul form—which greatly resembled Pang Jian.

"What kind of monster are you?" the Grand Elder muttered in disbelief.

Never could he have imagined he would come across such a bizarre sight within Pang Jian's sea of consciousness.

"You want to pry into my memories and thoughts?" Pang Jian's ethereal body watched coldly as the bees devoured the Tears of Winter. "Even the Outer Gods are not safe from my Nether Abyss Spirit Bees. What chance do you have?"

The Grand Elder tried to flee from Pang Jian's sea of consciousness in a panic.

Whoosh!

The Bee Sovereign shot forward like lightning, slicing the Grand Elder's soul into pieces with his transparent wings.

"Such a filthy soul—it's not even worthy of being eaten by me," the Bee Sovereign said disdainfully. Looking back at Pang Jian's ethereal body, he added, "Master, I've acquired the Ice Soul Demon Divine Scripture."

Knowledge of the secret technique surfaced in Pang Jian's mind.

A soul technique!

Pang Jian immediately grasped the intricacies within and memories related to the Ice Soul Demon Divine Scripture. It involved combining soul essence with cold energy.

At the altar, the Grand Elder's face twisted in pain as his soul was gravely injured. Hurriedly releasing his grip from both the Heart of Winter and Pang Jian's shoulder, he pointed at Pang Jian.

"Kill him! Quickly, kill him! He's an enemy!" he shouted as blood trickled from his eyes.

Although the six other elders were taken aback at the Grand Elder's sudden panic, none blindly followed his orders to strike Pang Jian down.

"Hurry! If you don't act now, it'll be too late!" the Grand Elder roared, face covered in blood.

He wanted to gather his strength to kill Pang Jian himself, but the Bee Sovereign had destroyed his refined soul, leaving him without enough soul essence to wield his strength effectively.

His soul and body were now in a state of partial disconnect.

"What happened?"

"Grand Elder, did you discover anything from the depths of his soul?"

"If he dies, we'll lose our only hope of leaving the Frozen Land!"

"This man must not be killed!"

The six other Ice Race elders were uncharacteristically unified in their stance of not killing Pang Jian.

Even if Pang Jian turned the Frozen Land upside down, they could only silently endure as they could not afford to lose their slim chance of escape.

Meanwhile, Pang Jian was exploring his newfound soul technique.

The Ice Soul Demon Divine Scripture...

Segments of the secret technique, which detailed how to use one's soul to control cold energy, had imprinted themselves deeply in Pang Jian's mind like immutable laws of the universe.

The Ice Soul Demon Divine Scripture included a secret technique of sealing and unsealing.

Pang Jian focused his consciousness on the ice pool within his still-frozen spiritual sea.

Moments later, the strands of golden divine sense within Pang Jian's sea of consciousness appeared within his frozen spiritual sea and inscribed ancient, mystical characters.

A single golden character appeared—"Unseal!"

His frozen spiritual sea instantly thawed.

The ice pool within his restored spiritual sea started absorbing the cold energy in his body at an astonishing rate.

The cold energy that froze his flesh and sealed off his Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint, black turtle scute, and the Leaves of Life rapidly streamed into the ice pool, which expanded several times in size within moments.

Crack!

The ice encasing Pang Jian shattered as he clenched his fist around the scepter. Another light squeeze caused more ice to fall away from his body.

Pang Jian raised the scepter with a cold snort and stabbed it forward.

"Let's talk this through!" one of the Ice Race elders cried, grabbing the scepter. "His actions don't represent all of us!"

"I'll kill only him." Pang Jian pulled at the scepter several times, but when it did not come free, he simply let it go and prepared to attack the Grand Elder with his spear instead.

"Stop him!" the Grand Elder screamed in horror, voice echoing throughout the ice fortress.

The Ice Race warriors gathered outside exchanged fearful glances of uncertainty.

Stronger Ice Race warriors like Bing Ji and Bing Yun attempted to charge toward the altar shrouded in thick cold fog.

"All members of the Ice Race, stay away from the altar!" An elderly Ice Race woman emerged from the pale white mist and stood at the edge of the altar. "Our Grand Elder and the guest from distant lands have some disagreements, but we are handling it.

"All of you, wait for further instructions."

With that, she disappeared back into the mist surrounding the altar.

She then removed an ice crystal pendant shaped like a crescent moon from around her neck and, with a flick, drew a line of icy light between Pang Jian and the Grand Elder.

A thick wall of ice appeared.

Crack! Crack!

Pang Jian's silver spear shattered the ice wall, only for more layers of ice walls to form one after another.

When the six other elders saw Pang Jian about to kill the Grand Elder, they erected endless ice walls using their cold-attribute spirit artifacts to block him.

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