Chapter 828: Mutual Benefit

Engraved words appeared on the smooth surface of the bronze continent.

I...

I'll help you temper your body and refine your bones.

You...help me elevate my sentience.

The Dao Source of Metal wrote out its intentions in clear and unmistakable human script. It seemed eager, impatient even, to start!

Golden light, silver radiance, refined black iron essence, and copper threads suddenly shot up from the bronze expanse.

Streams of pure metal energy rushed toward Pang Jian, merging into his flesh and bones. It did not bother to ask about Pang Jian's needs or wait for his consent. It simply surged straight into his body.

Beams of light in every color fused into Pang Jian's bones. A fiery pain burned through him as they grew heavier and tougher.

Every bone in his physical body then started to resonate with the golden fragmented land within his dantian.

The Dao of Metal also encompasses the quarrying of stone, the extraction of ore, and the refinement of artifacts.

Countless insights touching upon the profound truths of the Dao of Metal surged into Pang Jian's mind all at once, etching themselves into his golden Divine Persona and elevating it to new heights.

As a member of the human race, Pang Jian had no special bloodline. Though his cultivation of the Grand Providence Sacred Body and formation of the Providence Mystic Reservoir Acupoint allowed his physical body to surpass that of an ordinary human cultivator, it still paled in comparison to the monstrous physiques of the Fey Race.

Bathed in the power and insights of the Dao Source of Metal, however, he could feel that his body's toughness had reached parity with a Fey God of the same level!

The Dao of Metal and life energy are empowering my body...

Pang Jian's soul essence stirred in his Divine Persona, forming resonance with the Soulstream.

One insight led to another. The Heavenly Dao resonated, and clarity soon followed.

The fragments he had seized from Sovereign Luo's Divine Persona of Life abruptly flared within him.

Life energy can spark growth, resurrect the fallen, and kindle the flames of nirvanic rebirth. Those rich in life energy have boundless vitality and unwaning strength.

On the fragmented lands in his dantian, verdant leaf after verdant leaf appeared alongside drops of crimson blood essence.

Etched into the veins of the leaves were the profound truths of the Dao of Verdure, capable of turning deserts into lush oases, nourishing all forms of flora, and forming spiritual elixirs worth more than cities.

Faint arcs of life lightning wove themselves into crystal bloodline chains within the drops of crimson blood essence, carrying with them the hidden truths of ancestral inheritance.

A race's prosperity was intricately linked to the might of the paragons among its forebears.

The insights that these ancient paragons awakened could be passed down to their descendants in the form of crystal bloodline chains.

Whether a race flourished with infinite potential or declined and faced extinction was intricately bound to the might of its forebears.

The essence of vegetation and the vitality of flesh and blood together formed the tapestry of the Dao of Life.

Pang Jian immersed himself in his enlightenment.

Meanwhile, the sound of crashing waves gradually rose from within his golden Divine Persona.

Through his attunement to the Soulstream, he drew upon its profound insight to make sense of the wonders rising within his being.

His thoughts, insights, and understanding of the Dao of Metal and the Dao of Life sparked radiantly.

This, in turn, helped the Dao Source of Metal to evolve.

So long as he remained upon this bronze expanse, comprehending the mysteries of the Dao of Metal, he was also aiding in the growth of the Dao Source of Metal.

No one else, not even those of higher cultivation realms, could do what Pang Jian was doing. Without the traces of the Soulstream imprinted into their Divine Persona, their insights alone could not elevate the Dao Source of Metal.

Mutual growth, mutual benefit,

Pang Jian thought with a faint smile.

His connection with the Soulstream allowed him to effortlessly divide his focus.

Bai Zi.

As the name crossed his mind, Pang Jian caught sight of World God Bai Zi.

She stood with Long Di beneath the barrier of the Nether Abyss, both silently gazing up at the distant starry skies with deep frowns.

"Bai Zi," Pang Jian's physical body called softly through the World God Pendant.

Ripples of light shimmered in Bai Zi's beautiful eyes. Startled, she took out the pendant resting beneath her pale neck and clutched it in her palm. "Pang Jian? Is that you? Where are you?"

"At the very bottom of the Abyss," Pang Jian answered with a faint smile. "All the World God Pendants were forged from the Dao Source of Metal down here. That same Dao Source lies beneath my feet and is responding to me."

"Your Immortal Divine Soul has left the Nether Abyss. We haven't figured out how to deal with the God of Wisdom since its departure."

"There's no need to worry," Pang Jian assured with quiet confidence. "So long as she doesn't arrive too soon, I'll find a way to handle it."

As his physical body underwent tempering through the Dao Source of Metal, his comprehension of its mysteries deepened, and with it, his understanding of the Dao of Life grew ever clearer.

His physical body, already in mid-ranking godhood, was on the verge of another breakthrough.

His Immortal Divine Soul had already reached the Transcendent God Realm, which was comparable to a high-ranking Outer God.

Once his physical body caught up, perhaps he could stand his ground against the Sovereigns using the united force of his Immortal Divine Soul and physical body, alongside the will of the Nether Abyss or the Abyss.

"I was merely testing the World God Pendant." Pang Jian chuckled. "I wanted to see what other wonders it held."

With a slight pulse of his will, he sensed an innate teleportation ability he could use as long as he wielded the pendant.

Every World God Pendant had become a teleportation array for him!

Be it Fa Ji, Bai Zi, or Yuan Yi, he could teleport to any World God, regardless of which of the abysses they wandered!

The laws of the Abyss no longer bound him now that the Black Empyrean Phoenix's essence had been expunged from his body.

As the World God of the Abyss, and with a World God Pendant in hand, he had free passage in and out of the Abyss.

It did not matter if he was in the bizarre mist or the starry skies. As long as he willed it, he could return to the Dao Source of Metal in the Abyss through his World God Pendant!

The bronze expanse at the bottom of the Abyss was the foundation of his pendant. No matter where he was, he could instantly retreat here at any time.

How marvelous!

Pang Jian was in high spirits.

At that moment, he sensed a surge of immense life energy pouring out from the Black Empyrean Phoenix's remains.

Crimson torrents of life energy cascaded down toward him like waterfalls.

With a thought, Pang Jian shifted his attention to Yuan Yi. The towering ape in the endless darkness roared furiously as his explosive physique shrank, furious bellows doing nothing to stop his boundless vitality from being drained away.

Pang Lin even seized the blood-colored world on the surface of his World God Pendant and the sea of blood he stood in. He was truly being stripped bare of what made him the strongest divine being in the Dao of Life.

The Black Empyrean Phoenix's power of darkness could flow freely into Pang Lin because Pang Jian had stopped the Heaven Ascension Tribulation Array, and Pang Jian was receiving a portion of that surging life energy in return.

Its arrival triggered a chain reaction within him, pushing him toward the threshold of high-ranking godhood.