Trials of the Abyss

Chapter 208: Shifting the Blame

"Cao Mang!" Jiu Yuan bellowed.

His immediate assumption was that Old Monster Cao had reactivated the array to ambush him within the small world under the umbrella.

Slash!

The Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array shredded the crimson cloak beneath his feet, destroying his precious spirit artifact.

"Damn it! That bastard Cao Mang really is colluding with the foreign races!" Jiu Yuan was utterly distraught.

After all, Cao Mang was the only one who could control the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array.

Jiu Yuan suspected Cao Mang and the foreign races were deliberately putting on a show and toying with everyone.

Cao Mang's combat prowess increases dramatically with the help of the array. Since he dares to attack me, the array may kill me if I stay on the First Peak!

Grabbing his Blood Reversal Blade, he channeled his blood essence and spiritual power into it.

"Absorb!" Jiu Yuan roared.

With that, the longsword absorbed all the blood that had flowed out from Jiu Yuan's shredded crimson cloak.

Grabbing the largest scrap of the shredded cloak, he slashed at the light curtain separating him and Pang Jian from the outside world, creating a small opening.

Jiu Yuan escaped from beneath the umbrella.

Once he put some distance between himself and the Star Crushing Umbrella, Jiu Yuan glared at Old Monster Cao with bloodshot eyes filled with deep hatred.

"Cao Mang!" he shouted angrily. "You dared to secretly collude with the foreign races. The high-ups will never let you go!"

Jiu Yuan was now convinced that Cao Mang was behind everything.

"To think I trust you so much! Cao Mang, you'll pay for what you have done today!"

Cao Mang was still engaged in fierce combat with Yu Gu when he heard Jiu Yuan's yell.

Stunned, he was baffled as to why Jiu Yuan was once again accusing him of colluding with the foreign races.

“Cao Mang, that bastard, could freely control the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array." Pang Jian's cold voice rang out from under the Star Crushing Umbrella. "He intentionally dispelled the array to let the foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts enter the summit. It's clear he intended for everyone to die here.”

Seeing that Jiu Yuan believed the former owner of the Primordial Wilderness had ambushed him, Pang Jian decided to play along and follow up on Jiu Yuan's accusations.

"Cao Mang plans to kill both the human cultivators and the invading foreign races. He wants to seize the treasures from both sides!" Pang Jian accused.

"Pang Jian!"

"You little scoundrel!"

Cao Mang and Lady Hua screamed in rage.

"Be careful of Cao Mang!" Jiu Yuan warned.

Shaking the torn fragment of his crimson cloak, he summoned a blood-colored cloud. He then stepped onto the cloud, flew away, and became the first to escape from the summit of the First Peak.

The other cultivators were left bewildered and unsure of what to believe.

"Pang Jian!" Cao Mang rushed toward Pang Jian on the Black Iron Mountain.

The Black Iron Mountain smashed into a frenzied Demon Armor Beast along the way, killing it instantly as its bones were crushed.

Cao Mang was determined to eliminate the eyesore that was Pang Jian.

No one in the entire Primordial Wilderness was more angry and aggrieved than Cao Mang. He had fought desperately on the summit of the First Peak to clear his name and had even deployed his treasured Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array to fend off wave after wave of attacks from the invading forces from the Fifth World.

He even asked sect elders such as Jiu Yuan, Wei Wenhan, and Lou Yunming to use sound transmission talismans to inform others in the Primordial Wilderness that he had no ties with the foreign races.

From beginning to end, he did all he could to avoid any association with the foreign races!

As a result, even the Spirit Slaughtering Astral Array, which he had spent over a century creating, malfunctioned.

Despite this, scoundrels like Jiu Yuan and Pang Jian continued to slander him, maliciously accusing him of conspiring with the Fifth World to kill everyone.

Spurt!

Cao Mang was so enraged he vomited blood.

Meanwhile, Pang Jian chased after the fleeing Jiu Yuan with a shrunken Star Crushing Umbrella in hand. Before he got far, Pang Jian said frostily, "I'll kill Jiu Yuan first. I'll come back for you after, you treacherous scum."

"Me, a treacherous scum? You little scoundrel! You—" Cao Mang leaped from the Black Iron Mountain, ready to kill Pang Jian.

Yu Gu flapped his broken wings and forcefully pulled him back down, taking the opportunity to angrily rebuke, "Cao Mang, you're so vicious and deceitful! You used us to kill your own kin and now you want to silence us as well. The human race is truly despicable to the extreme!"

Cao Mang's small frame trembled with fury as he jumped up and down on the Black Iron Mountain. Baring his teeth, he cursed, "I-I'll kill you!"

Never in his whole life had he been subjected to such slander!

Despite having done nothing wrong, both sides had branded him as treacherous scum. The endless accusations and condemnations drove him to the brink of mental collapse.

Lady Hua desperately tried to reach Cao Mang, but several withered branches impaled her before she could get close to him. Sharp ice claws tore apart her multicolored carpet.

Lian Feng and Yang Rui had been standing nearby and originally planned to rescue her. However, with Jiu Yuan's accusations, they chose to stand by and do nothing.

This caused her to suffer severe injuries.

Her once beautiful face was filled with bitter resentment as she glared at the retreating Pang Jian.

"Pang, Pang Jian..."

On the Second Peak, Huang Qi was left speechless as he watched the chaotic situation on the First Peak.

He saw how Pang Jian used the Star Crushing Umbrella to trap and kill the elder of the Sinister Soul Temple, Lou Yunming, before using the same technique to trap Jiu Yuan from the Blood Moon Sect.

Although Jiu Yuan had escaped from the Star Crushing Umbrella alive, he appeared to have lost his mind as he vehemently accused Cao Mang of colluding with the foreign races.

Jiu Yuan then became the first to flee from the First Peak.

Pang Jian now chased after Jiu Yuan with the umbrella in one hand and his silver spear in the other!

The sight was beyond anything Huang Qi could have imagined.

"Pang Jian!" Xie Xiwen, Shen Lei, and Fang Boxuan exclaimed in astonishment.

Their faces were full of disbelief.

From where they were stationed at the foot of the mountain, they could not see what was happening at the summit of the First Peak and did not know what had transpired.

They watched as Jiu Yuan's blurry figure flew away on a blood-colored cloud. His pursuer was armed with the Star Crushing Umbrella and a silver spear.

This could only be Pang Jian.

"That's impossible!" Xie Xiwen gritted her teeth and retrieved her star disk from her waist. Channeling her stellar energy into her eyes, she stared intently into the sky with her Star Eyes.

The blurry figure of the pursuer became clear.

Pang Jian held the Star Crushing Umbrella and his silver spear, unleashing dazzling shooting stars, Lunar Edges, and ice shards at a cursing Jiu Yuan.

“It-it's really him! How's that possible?” Xie Xiwen's bright starry eyes were filled with confusion.

She could not fathom why someone like Pang Jian would recklessly kill his own kin during a critical moment in the struggle against the foreign races.

"Even if you have deep grudges against them, you could've waited until the foreign races were defeated to settle them. How could you act like this?" Xie Xiwen murmured helplessly.

She had never met someone as brazen and reckless as Pang Jian. Although she faulted Pang Jian for his actions, she could not help but also feel a twinge of excitement.

"He lost in the drawing of lots back then. Seeing Jiu Yuan's gloating expression must have made him furious. Jiu Yuan must be someone Pang Jian feels he needs to eliminate in his lifetime. The invasion comes after Jiu Yuan's death.

"How thrilling it must be for someone like him to act this way." Xie Xiwen bit her lip and her eyes lit up.

"As expected, you really made your move." Fang Boxuan sighed with a bitter smile. Pang Jian's actions did not surprise him at all. "But I'm curious about why you chose to act while the battle against the invading foreign races is still ongoing."

Fang Boxuan had witnessed Pang Jian kill Liang Ying with his own eyes and knew Jiu Yuan of the Blood Moon Sect would be Pang Jian's primary target when he saw Pang Jian climb the First Peak.

The sight before him had proved his judgment correct.

However, the foreign race warriors and Vicious Beasts were still fighting with the human cultivators on the summit of the First Peak. Thus, he could not help but wonder why Pang Jian would choose this moment to kill Jiu Yuan.

"He's a madman. He's crazier than Dong Tianze!" Fang Boxuan concluded.

At the same time, a few Spirit Condensation Realm rogue cultivators focused their gazes and successfully identified the two figures flying away from the summit of the First Peak.

"The one on the blood-colored cloud is the elder of the Blood Moon Sect, Jiu Yuan."

"As for the one holding the umbrella and chasing after the cloud...that's Pang Jian! Pang Jian is chasing after Jiu Yuan!"

Human cultivators gathered in the valleys, at the foot of the mountains, on the protruding cliffs, and atop towering trees, all stared at the two figures in the sky.

Their minds were filled with questions.

Where did Pang Jian find the courage to chase after Jiu Yuan? Has he always possessed such strength?

And why is Jiu Yuan fleeing from the First Peak?

***

"Gravity Shift!" Pang Jian murmured.

Jiu Yuan was riding the blood-colored cloud, enveloped in a protective shield, when he noticed a shift in the gravitational pull.

His blood-colored cloud plummeted from over a thousand zhang high.

Jiu Yuan paled with fright, instinctively steering the blood-colored cloud according to his blood talisman.

"Fang Boxuan is also a member of the Blood Moon Sect. There should be some Blood Moon Sect members with him."

The wobbling blood-colored cloud headed straight toward Fang Boxuan.

Pang Jian brandished his spear as he gave chase.

Lunar Edges engulfed Jiu Yuan like a sea of sharp knives, slashing at his protective shield and causing blood-colored light to scatter in all directions.

Pang Jian could see that the spiritual power in Jiu Yuan's unimpressive spiritual sea was nearly depleted from fighting against the foreign races.

He attacked relentlessly, aiming to deplete Jiu Yuan's spiritual power so he could no longer resist.