Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 254: As You Wish!

The high-ranking Outer God possessing Luo Hongyan's body gazed at Pang Jian with a complex expression.

Her indifferent gaze flickered with nostalgia.

She looked at Pang Jian as if reminiscing about past memories that remained vivid even after becoming an Outer God.

"Luo—" Pang Jian cut himself off, shaken to his core.

He locked eyes with Luo Hongyan. Their gazes cut through layers of divine abilities to bind them closely together.

Scenes played out in the depths of her eerie crimson eyes.

Pang Jian saw multiple versions of himself within them!

"What's your real name?" he saw himself earnestly asking her in Eight Trigrams City.

There was him repeatedly standing in front of her, protecting her. He caught a glimpse of his own broad back through Luo Hongyan's eyes.

In the cave in Misty Swamp, he placed the bronze pendant on the ground and entered the copper chest.

Vivid memories flashed through Luo Hongyan's eerie crimson eyes one after another.

Her cold, indifferent gaze revealed more and more humanity with every memory that flickered past.

The being in the sky no longer seemed like a lofty Outer God, but the "Sister Luo" who had accompanied Pang Jian through thick and thin.

Unlike before, there was now...emotion in Luo Hongyan's eyes.

Just as Li Yuqing prepared to retreat with Pang Jian, and as he was about to use Earth Dive to burrow underground and secretly evacuate Zhou Qingchen and the others—Luo Hongyan abruptly reverted from an Outer God back to a human!

Pang Jian stared blankly at her, watching as a subtle light flickered in her eyes and a faint smile tugged at her lips.

After a moment of hesitation, Pang Jian retrieved three heads wrapped in cloth from his spatial bracelet.

He unwrapped the first one, revealing Lou Yunming's head, and held it high.

"This person was from the Sinister Soul Temple. He told Old Monster Cao you were the person sealed in the paper fan. He's why the dwarf Cao Mang dared to target you! I took his head in the Primordial Wilderness!" Pang Jian declared resolutely.

The crowd looked at him in confusion. Powerful cultivators like Ling Meiyu and Han Zhiyuan wore expressions of bewilderment.

"It's useless. She's not Luo Hongyan anymore. She won't listen," Li Yuqing said with a gentle shake of her head.

A strange glimmer appeared in Luo Hongyan's eerie crimson eyes.

Pang Jian then unveiled the second head.

"This is Jiu Yuan! Jiu Yuan gave the order that led to the deaths of Zhao Ling and the other members of the Shadow Specter Sect. His interference also prevented me from saving you with a million spirit stones.

"I killed him in the Primordial Wilderness and took his head too," Pang Jian's voice rang out with conviction.

This statement caused the strange glimmer in Luo Hongyan's eyes to intensify.

Li Yuqing was stunned. The overwhelming pressure bearing down on them was weakening.

"Impossible! Is he really awakening that woman's self-awareness? No, that doesn't make sense!" The young girl from the Li Family was utterly perplexed.

Pang Jian lifted the third head, revealing the dwarf Cao Mang's face.

"This is Cao Mang!" He locked eyes with Luo Hongyan's massive divine form through the crimson crystalline sky and shouted, "I took his head too! I avenged you!"

"It's pointless. A high-ranking Outer God has already possessed her. Her human consciousness is long gone, and what you're doing is meaningless." The Alliance Leader of the Star River Alliance, Ling Meiyu, shook her head.

Pang Jian ignored her. He continued to hold Cao Mang's head high, making sure Luo Hongyan could see it clearly from the sky.

He had a strong intuition that the Luo Hongyan he knew was slowly returning!

After what felt like an eternity, Luo Hongyan's bright red lips moved and she spoke for the first time since appearing.

"Pang Jian."

Pang Jian felt his very soul tremble!

An Outer God could never utter his name with such emotion and familiarity!

"What?!" Li Yuqing covered her mouth in shock as she stared at the Outer God in the sky.

The unshakable truths her father, the great figures allied with the Li Family, and she herself believed about the Outer Gods were shattered with two simple words!

The self-awareness of a human possessed by a high-ranking Outer God could be restored!

"How could this be?" Ling Meiyu and Han Zhiyuan were in disbelief and felt like they were in a dream.

"Pang Jian," Luo Hongyan softly uttered once again from where she hovered high in the sky.

Worlds seemed to be born and destroyed in the depths of her crimson eyes and the strange creatures on the lotus leaves in the sky behind her vanished like bubbles in water.

The chanting gradually faded and the world went quiet.

"What's going on?"

"Who was I singing praises to?"

"Wh-Why am I kneeling?"

Those kneeling in worship looked around in confusion as Luo Hongyan withdrew her divine might, completely unaware of what had just transpired.

They then noticed Pang Jian holding a severed head up toward Luo Hongyan.

Pang Jian shook his head gently, eyes still fixed on Luo Hongyan. "Don't."

Li Yuqing let out a sigh of relief.

The overwhelming divine might pressing down on them had halted the moment Luo Hongyan uttered Pang Jian's name.

The sea of silvery sword light, which had been on the verge of collapsing under the pressure of Luo Hongyan's divine might, had not shattered.

"How's this possible?" Li Yuqing still could not believe what was happening.

A woman possessed by an Outer God would never stop at such a critical moment. She would never halt her assault on this world, and she definitely wouldn't call out Pang Jian's name.

"Don't kill everyone here," Pang Jian requested.

He was certain the Luo Hongyan hovering in the sky, wielding boundless divine might, was still the person he knew!

Throughout his exploration of Spirit Offering, every Outer God he had encountered had looked at him with cold apathy, devoid of any emotion.

However, Luo Hongyan was different.

There was a suppressed emotion beneath her cold, indifferent gaze. Li Yuqing was wrong—a high-ranking Outer God had not erased Luo Hongyan's consciousness!

She was still Luo Hongyan!

"You..." Luo Hongyan's brows knitted

Screeech!

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Hiss! Hiss!"

The Outer Gods let out displeased cries.

Luo Hongyan's expression turned frosty.

The lotuses filling the sky behind her descended upon the two most vocal low-ranking Outer Gods.

The descending lotuses engulfed the two low-ranking Outer Gods with three heads and six arms.

Grrrk! Grrrk! Grrrk!

The lotuses rotated like grinding wheels.

The two discontent Outer Gods were subjected to brutal dismemberment. Small fragments of their stone bodies were flung out from the heart of the lotuses.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After killing the two Outer Gods, the lotuses floated back into the air behind Luo Hongyan.

The arachnid Outer God; the enormous wooden figure; the many-eyed banner; and the black bat went silent, no longer daring to make a sound.

"You haven't changed." Luo Hongyan looked at Pang Jian with a shake of her head.

Pang Jian's heart surged with emotion.

Li Yuqing's judgment was indeed wrong. Luo Hongyan had retained her self-awareness and was far from being an emotionless Outer God!

"No, this isn't right." Li Yuqing's expression shifted.

Her expression grew increasingly uneasy and grave.

Whoosh!

Luo Hongyan retracted the massive crimson crystalline hand, causing the blood-red radiance shrouding the sky to instantly vanish.

The stele and massive well floated to either side of her colossal divine form.

Pang Jian opened his mouth, wanting to ask what was happening.

Before he could speak, Luo Hongyan shook her head, cold eyes sweeping over the people below as she said, "Pang Jian, as you wish."

She then slowly withdrew her divine might from throughout Spirit Offering.

The suffocating force suppressing the crowd disappeared in an instant.

Casting a glance at the remaining Outer Gods, Luo Hongyan let out a strange cry and shot toward the sky to shatter an invisible barrier.

She then morphed into a streak of crimson light and shot toward a distant location in the Second World.

In a single breath, she traveled tens of thousands of lis and vanished from sight.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The remaining Outer Gods reluctantly followed her lead and ascended into the skies to disappear from Spirit Offering one after another.

Thump!

Jiang Li collapsed onto the ground with shattered kneecaps, looked in the direction of where Luo Hongyan had disappeared, and muttered, "Sister-Sister Luo, what's going on?"

"She's not an Outer God. She still has self-awareness. She still has humanity," Pang Jian said as he stared at Li Yuqing.

Unexpectedly, despite the crisis in Spirit Offering being resolved, Li Yuqing did not appear relieved. Instead, her expression grew increasingly solemn.

After a long silence, Li Yuqing said helplessly, "You're right, but not entirely. An Outer God didn't possess or inhabit her. She is an Outer God!"

Pang Jian was taken aback. "She's an Outer God?"