The last trace of Luo Hongyan's humanity faded silently like a wisp of smoke in the wind. Pang Jian had personally struck the finishing blow. The serene smile she wore in her final breath etched itself deep into his soul. "I'm sorry..." His voice echoed through her sea of consciousness, filled with a lingering sorrow and helplessness. Ghostflare released blinding streaks of sword light, further accelerating the collapse of her Divine Personas. Fragments of the Divine Personas rained down like ice crystals. The black-sailed ferry sped through the radiant sea of consciousness, tirelessly gathering every last piece. Profound insights into the Dao of Light, Death, Life, and Cold flowed as streams of memory through the black-sailed ferry and into Pang Jian's mind. These insights imprinted themselves upon him, becoming indelible marks in his soul. At the same time, Luo Hongyan's presence gradually faded. Pang Jian could no longer tell whether the lingering fragments of her will belonged to her true body or the sliver of humanity she had in the Abyss. Goodbye, little Pang Jian. Her final words echoed repeatedly in his mind, leaving the real Pang Jian frozen in place in the outside world. He stood unmoving for a long time, his expression pained as he stared at her body. "I'm sorry. I simply can't afford to gamble with the fate of the human race," he finally said, summoning the Thunder Pool to enshroud her body. Lightning bolts, fine as strands of hair, surged like serpentine currents into Luo Hongyan's body. Despite this, not a single arc of lightning touched her sea of consciousness. Four streaks of crystalline radiance burst from the crown of Luo Hongyan's head, shooting straight toward the barrier above the First World. Three shone like resplendent rainbows, each carrying a lofty, mysterious aura. The fourth, however, had a core that was pure black. Pang Jian had only seen such absolute blackness in the Seventh World. It was not merely a matter of color, but of essence. The blackness had rewritten the fundamental nature of this Fortune. The image of the fallen Sovereign of the Fey Race, the Black Empyrean Phoenix, immediately came to mind. Pang Jian could almost picture that mysterious phoenix letting out a soul-shaking cry as it soared through the starry skies. An all-consuming darkness swallowed brilliant stars as it passed by. Anything the phoenix touched transformed into its dominion of darkness. The Black Empyrean Phoenix was the final answer to the Dao of Darkness, the distant shore at the end of the Heavenly Dao. A jolt of realization sparked within Pang Jian's trembling heart. The reason for Luo Hongyan's inexplicable defeat became clear at that moment. Evidently, the Sovereign of the Fey Race had tampered with the fourth cluster of Fortune he had so desperately attempted to stop! The fourth cluster of Fortune had become a terrifying weapon to strike at Luo Hongyan. Having defeated the Black Dragon King, she was already envisioning the final triumph, certain that nothing could stop her ascent. She believed victory was in her grasp, not knowing that the fourth cluster of Fortune would be her undoing. So that's what it was... Pang Jian's expression suddenly shifted in alarm as a chilling realization struck him. Glancing around sharply, he spread his divine sense outward. The murky energy across the entire Fifth World was laced with traces of the Black Empyrean Phoenix's presence! At that moment, the fourth cluster of Fortune abruptly veered off its course toward the barrier, instead rushing toward the Sacred Soul Continent in the Second World. For reasons he could not explain, Pang Jian instinctively felt that this cluster of Fortune with the black core was inextricably tied to his sister. He burned with the urge to abandon everything and chase after it, to follow its path to the Sacred Soul Continent and see what was happening firsthand. However, the fragments of Luo Hongyan's shattered Divine Personas were still scattered throughout her sea of consciousness, each an invaluable treasure. Moreover, he was still unsure if Luo Hongyan was truly dead. If he left now and she somehow survived, it would spell disaster, not just for him, but for the entire human race. Your sister is fine, the black turtle said quietly in his mind. Keep your eyes on Sovereign Luo. Get as much from the fragments of her Divine Personas as you can. They'll be a source of your growth. You have to seize this opportunity. Incredibly, the black turtle had already ascended to a mid-ranking Fey God in the short time he had been in the Sixth World and had since descended into the Seventh World, where the Black Empyrean Phoenix's remains floated. "Primordial Demon!" the black turtle roared in the Seventh World. An unfathomable force was emanating from the continent-like wings of the Black Empyrean Phoenix. Dense murky energy surged forth, steeped in destruction, decay, corrosion, and toxins, pouring relentlessly into the severed limbs and body of the Black Dragon King. Dozens of soul fragments split off to gnaw away at the Black Dragon King's soul. The Primordial Demon was a haze of flickering shadows, persistently attempting to refine the Black Dragon King's body. "Another Fey God?!" the Primordial Demon cried out in shock upon seeing the black turtle. "What is Sovereign Luo doing?! How could she have allowed the likes of you to slip through?" "That vessel of Sovereign Luo is on the verge of collapse," the black turtle sneered coldly. Mentally, to Pang Jian, the black turtle said, Pang Jian, the previous alliance between the Fey Race and your father came back into effect when my memories returned. The Fey Race and the human race have always stood side by side in the Abyss. This time will be no different. We will stand against the foreign races and Outer Gods together. Keep your eyes on Sovereign Luo and that high-ranking God named Yan Lie. Leave the lower worlds to me. Rest assured, I will bring the Black Dragon King back to life. The black turtle had undergone a profound transformation after not only returning to Rank Ten, but also ascending as a mid-ranking Fey God in the Sixth World like the Black Dragon King once had. Everything he had experienced in his previous life returned to him in full clarity, and it even seemed as though he knew what the future would hold. In the Fifth World, Pang Jian watched as the abnormal cluster of Fortune drifted past the Sacred Soul Continent and into the bizarre mist along the Second World's boundary wall. I want my sister to be safe! Black turtle, you have to promise me that! He had every reason to suspect that the Black Empyrean Phoenix had successfully possessed his sister using the Celestial Phoenix's inheritance. Even the black turtle was probably under its influence as well. Everything the black turtle had asked him to do to Luo Hongyan carried the shadow of the Black Empyrean Phoenix, meaning there was likely some means of communication between them. Pang Jian, I give you my word! In the name of the entire Fey Race, and my own, I swear to you: your sister is safe! She isn't possessed. She's alive and well, and she will remain so! Pang Jian, I promise you. The Fey Race bears no malice toward your sister whatsoever! The black turtle's vastly enlarged and towering body trembled within the darkness, erupting with boundless gray-yellow divine power! Dazzling fragmented lands and continents were birthed from his divine power one after another, becoming wonders within his divine domain. These floating pieces of land enveloped both the Primordial Demon and the severed remains of the Black Dragon King. Very well! Black Turtle, I trust you! With that, Pang Jian focused all his attention on Luo Hongyan, doing everything in his power to suppress even the faintest flicker of her soul that could stir back to life. Zhu Ji had summoned his towering Dharma Idol and was wielding the vast spiritual qi of the Second World in a fierce battle against Sha Jia beside an uninhabited fragmented land. Sha Jia gripped her Staff of Radiance, her eleven pairs of pristine white wings spread out behind her, absorbing the radiance of stars and moons from above. "Let light shine upon the world and its inhabitants, so that they may place their faith in it. The supreme being of our race, Sovereign Luo, stands at the pinnacle of the Dao of Light. All beings who yearn for the light are followers of our exalted one. They bathe in divine radiance and feel the light through their souls," Sha Jia chanted the sacred verses she learned from Sovereign Luo. Beams of light transformed into swords, long blades, raindrops, plants, and stars, surrounding Zhu Ji's Dharma Idol, disintegrating the dense spiritual qi that shielded him. On another battlefield, Li Zhaotian, Li Wang, Li Yuqing, and several other True Gods surrounded Ah Man, the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Mountains. There was nobody in the Ascendant God Realm on their side, so they had no choice but to use sheer numbers in the hopes of suppressing the Rank Eleven Ah Man. "You, Pei Yishan!" A deep red glow flared in Ah Man's single eye as it locked onto Pei Yishan. The True God, steeped in the aura of desolation and attuned to a restricted area of the Forsaken Expanse Sect, felt the suppression of the Dao itself. Everything was out of balance. "Out of my way!" The one-eyed giant of the Titan Race tore through chains of talismans, striking at Dong Shangqing's Dharma Idol. Dong Shangqing's Dharma Idol shattered with a deafening boom. "I really have fallen behind the times," he said with a bitter smile. Li Yuqing swung her divine sword. A mysterious stream materialized, one that encompassed the entire span of Ah Man's life. Li Yuqing's attack halted Ah Man's next strike, allowing Dong Shanqing to narrowly escape death. "I will leave the Abyss after this battle, no matter its outcome," Dong Shangqing murmured bitterly. Li Wang suddenly let out a startled sound, staring in shock as three crystalline radiances emerged from the murky energy of the lower worlds below.