Chapter 1000: The Origin of Life

Pang Lin's might surged endlessly, and her aura spread outward like a tidal sea.

Her aura was complex and ever-shifting. Insights into destruction, ruin, thunderous storms, soul fluctuations, darkness, light, corrosion, and toxins mingled within her aura, driving her cultivation realm ever higher. At the core of it all were the profound truths of life.

Innumerable life seeds, appearing as radiant motes of life or in the form of blood essence, were born and extinguished within her aura.

These motes of light and drops of blood essence quietly condensed, transforming into ferocious members of the Fey Race—azure dragons, Qilins, phoenixes, colossal turtles, and more. At times, they morphed into members of the Celestial Race, Demon Races, Spirit Race, Thunder Race, Ice Race, Flame Race, and Radiant Race.

Both those long vanished and those still alive were rendered vividly alive once more.

The art of creation of the supreme wills was mysterious and unfathomable. Yet, in the realm of life, they seemed a step inferior to Pang Lin!

The domain of life. This is the ultimate domain of Life!

Pang Jian was shaken to his core, his eyes burning as he gazed at Pang Lin.

This has to be the answer, the final shore of the Dao of Life!

For Pang Lin to resurrect Luo Hongyan with the ease that she had, her comprehension of the Dao of Life had to have reached the level of Ling Yun.

Regret flickered in Pang Lin's eyes.

Ah, the Creator Realm, the brand-new cultivation realm. How unfortunate...

She had failed to leap from the Transcendent God Realm to the Creator Realm. A pang of loss and emptiness hit her.

This isn't right. I should've become the second Creator with ease.

Her astonishingly abrupt ascension into the Exalted God Realm had left both Pang Jian and the supreme will of the starry skies in shock.

Even Pang Jian had to sacrifice and absorb his physical body to raise his Immortal Divine Soul from the Transcendent God Realm to the Exalted God Realm, and this was with the traces of the Dao Sources pushing him past the boundary of breakthrough.

Pang Lin, on the other hand, had not only broken through to the Exalted God Realm but even attempted to enter the Creator Realm in one fell swoop.

Despite this unprecedented swiftness, she remained unsatisfied.

I just need a little more. What am I lacking?

Pang Lin knitted her brows, glancing down at her body as she discerned the changes within her Immortal Divine Soul.

"Mm..." Luo Hongyan slowly opened her eyes.

Taking in the familiar yet strange replica starry region around her, she confusedly glanced at Pang Jian and asked, "My body perished, so why then do I walk the world once more?"

A wisp of her divine soul had survived, allowing her to clearly recall everything that transpired during her battle with Yi Hao.

Yi Hao's divine power had suddenly risen to an unfathomable height.

In that battle, her Divine Persona had, for a fleeting moment, fallen under the control of a foreign will. That brief loss of focus had left her grievously wounded, causing the death of her body.

She had instantly known that the supreme will of the starry skies had descended into Yi Hao. That was the only thing that could have brought on her sudden defeat.

Her dire wounds were nearly impossible to heal, and she had resigned herself to the deathly silence that had saturated her body. She had never expected to be brought back to life!

"Who?" Her piercing eyes and divine consciousness swept over Yi Hao, Pang Jian, and finally Pang Lin.

Within Pang Lin was the aura of the purest vitality!

A look of dawning comprehension flashed across Yi Hao's face.

"The Dao Source of Life! It's you! I never imagined that you would precede all Dao Sources in forging a body of your own!" the supreme will of the starry skies exclaimed through Yi Hao.

Pang Jian's heart trembled.

His sister, born of the same father and mother, was not only the mighty Black Empyrean Phoenix, but also the incarnation of the Dao Source of Life!

Wasn't the Dao Source of Life shattered and scattered throughout the starry skies in the form of Life Crystals?

How could it exist in the form of the Black Empyrean Phoenix and Pang Lin?

"I have the power of nirvanic rebirth. I can resurrect without limit, never truly perishing," Pang Lin said with a faint smile. "My blood essence can restore the fallen. I even brought forth the Fey Race and the other races within the Abyss. Naturally, I have my own safeguard."

Her smile dropped as she stared at the silver eyes suspended above Yi Hao.

"Did you think we were blind to your schemes?" she asked frostily. "You sought to refine the Dao Sources through your creations, paving the path for them to ascend as Sovereigns and God Kings.

"When it comes to the rise of the living and the birth of the Gods, I undeniably contributed the most. I discovered the truth of your schemes long ago. Did you think I would leave no backup plan for myself?

"We Dao Sources are a fusion of will, laws, orders, and tangible energies. All I had to do was sever my will; abandon my laws, orders, and corporeal form; let my body shatter into countless Life Crystals and feign my fall.

"The being you know as the Black Empyrean Phoenix was born after the shattering of my true body, thus innately bearing the bloodline ability of endless nirvanic rebirth. Endless rebirth—is this not precisely the essence of the Dao of Life?

"Still, I never sought to ascend to Sovereignhood or beyond using the Dao of Life because I feared you would uncover my true origins. All this time, I've manifested only as the Black Empyrean Phoenix, using it to project my will.

"I delved into the profound truths of destruction, ruin, corrosion, toxin, and darkness, ascending many times to Sovereignhood through different heavenly Daos, all for the singular purpose of comprehending the mysteries left behind by other Dao Sources.

"For Dao Sources to forge a fleshly body and achieve godhood is not without precedent. The Dao Source of Soul was not an anomaly. But I was the first. I am the origin of life itself. I already had the power to shape a worthy vessel for myself.

"Every living creature of flesh and blood, be they born in the bizarre mist or the starry skies, carries my imprints. I can draw out their vitality and claim it for myself as I please, for I am the final shore of the Dao of Life."

Pang Lin fixed her cold attention upon the silver eye, the outward calmness of her demeanor betraying a seething hatred beneath.

Both she and the Dao Source of Soul were the first to acknowledge the supreme will of the starry skies. They had aided it in the creation of life, allowing the laws and orders it wove to pervade the starry regions and gradually amass power surpassing all else.

Still, it was not content. When the supreme will of the starry skies realized that it could devour Dao Sources through Sovereigns and God Kings, it tacitly allowed, and even encouraged, their actions.

It had orchestrated the fall of the Dao Sources from the shadows. The Dao Sources that learned of the scheme either hid themselves away or tried to resist, but that did not stop them from being hunted down and refined into nothingness.

The Dao Source of Soul eventually fled into the bizarre mist, forging an alliance with the other will akin to the supreme will of the starry skies.

The Dao Source of Life, on the other hand, chose to weave a meticulous deception, shattering her true body into Life Crystals as a way to preserve her consciousness.

It appeared as though she had fallen, but in actuality, she still existed in the form of the Black Empyrean Phoenix. Her core bloodline mystery was the endless cycle of nirvanic rebirth, yet she never relied on this path to advance. Instead, she sought out the mysteries of various other Daos, repeatedly becoming a Sovereign across her many lives.

This was what it meant to be the Dao Source of Life!