Chapter 833: Rule-Breaker

Yuan Yi's body, slumped atop the World God Pendant, suddenly flared with brilliant light.

The blinding radiance came from his heart, illuminating his organs, bones, blood, and flesh in a divine glow.

Within his heart sat a crystalline figure, no larger than a fingertip. This figure gazed coldly ahead, their eyes sharp and unblinking.

Yuan Yi's body then burst into flame. The miniature figure within his heart roused the slumbering wills of powerful ancient Fey Gods in each drop of his blood. Deafening roars echoed throughout his body as their wills awoke.

"Sovereign Luo!" Yuan Yi shrieked, baring his fangs.

A bizarre, blood-red world unfurled behind the ancient ape. In his vast sea of consciousness, which resembled an ocean of blood, mountains and rivers alike were drenched in blinding radiance. That dazzling light completely overwhelmed his Divine Persona.

Pang Jian had gravely wounded the fierce ancient ape, and Pang Lin had drained him of much of his blood essence after. The already weakened Yuan Yi could not hold out against Sovereign Luo's assault for long, and she soon managed to seize his body from afar.

"A human body," murmured the crystalline figure within the ancient ape's heart, voice cold and arrogant. "You've taken residence in the body of a human?"

"It's been a while since we last met," Pang Lin replied with narrowed eyes.

Boundless darkness surged into the resplendent domain radiating from Yuan Yi's body.

After so many years, light and darkness collided once more.

From within the darkness came the piercing cry of a phoenix. An aura of destruction, ruin, corruption, and toxicity, all elevated to the level of a high-ranking God, manifested as terrifying beasts and birds, each exuding a malevolent aura.

The beasts were clad in armored scales. The birds beat their wings, flinging toxin into the light with shrill cries.

Divine kingdoms emerged in succession within the brilliant domain of light. Sovereign Luo called forth many powerful divine beings, each having comprehended the mysteries of the sun, moon, stars, and other forms of light.

These towering divine beings hovered above the divine kingdoms, gazing calmly upon the encroaching darkness, the swarms of monstrous beasts, and the flocks of birds, all steeped in the aura of decay and death.

"Surely you aren't choosing the human race as your path of nirvanic rebirth?"

The crystalline figure within the ancient ape's heart took note of the terrifying beasts and birds conjured from Pang Lin's divine power, sensing within them the unmistakable presence of soul essence.

Blood essence and soul essence, the essential foundations of life, were fully embodied within the beasts and birds.

"Why don't you take a guess?" Pang Lin replied with a carefree smile.

Behind her, the Nine Heavens Thunder Divine Tree shrank a millionfold, reduced to the size of a potted plant. Gripping it in her hand, she swung it toward Yuan Yi.

Lightning spheres and bolts, infused with Pang Lin's divine consciousness, merged into a sea of lightning that seemed to pulse with blood and soul essences.

The radiant domain collapsed. The divine kingdom and divine beings within it were annihilated in a single breath. Even the tiny crystalline figure in Yuan Yi's heart was destroyed.

Pang Lin's conjured beasts and birds swept into Yuan Yi's sea of consciousness, purging all traces of Sovereign Luo's divine power.

Yuan Yi immediately regained clarity.

"Take me to the Thunder Abyss. Now," Pang Lin ordered.

Having narrowly escaped a disaster, Yuan Yi realized that his carelessness had nearly brought harm to Pang Lin.

Without a word, he used the World God Pendant to locate the Thunder Abyss, then carried Pang Lin with him as he flew straight toward it.

***

In the starry skies, after sending Luan Ji away, Sovereign Luo invoked her command over darkness to conceal herself within its shadows.

That sea of lightning...

A solemn expression appeared on her otherwise flawless face. What had shattered her domain of light this time was not the expected tide of darkness, but a sea of lightning infused with both blood essence and soul essence.

The Nether Gods of the Nether Abyss and the Thunder Gods of the Thunder Abyss had always stood at opposite extremes.

Even at their peak, the Nether Race rarely dared to set foot in the Thunder Abyss, for fear of the Thunder Gods.

The existence of the Thunder Abyss seemed to act as a counterbalance to the Nether Race, the Ghost Race, and the Demon Races. The strongest embodiment of this was the Duke of Thunder, the first and strongest Thunder God.

None of the Nether Gods could cultivate the Dao of Lightning, let alone fuse it into their divine soul. Such a thing ran counter to one of the fundamental laws of the bizarre mist.

Unexpectedly, Sovereign Luo's long-time rival now resided in the body of a young woman bearing not only the Nether Race's strange divine soul but also a lightning vortex within her, fusing lightning and divine soul into one.

A divine soul bearing a lightning vortex was an impossibility Sovereign Luo had never even conceived of.

The Thunder Race's divine soul is weak, while the Nether Race fears lightning. However, if their strengths and weaknesses could be made to complement one another...

Sovereign Luo felt a sense of unease. After years of silence in the Abyss, her old adversary had finally emerged after carving out an unconventional Dao. The earlier demonstration proved that the power of this unique Dao was anything but trivial.

Transforming into a speck of black light, no larger than a grain of rice, Sovereign Luo dove into the bizarre mist, intent on capturing Pang Lin.

***

Also in the bizarre mist, Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul, reduced to human size, darted between streaks of flowing light, dodging the attacks of the three high-ranking Gods.

Those streaks of light were Cang Feng's arrows, each imbued with his insights into his four Heavenly Daos. Within the arrows surged miniature worlds of wind, lightning, cloud, and rain, all seeking to ensnare Pang Jian.

"Fourfold Divine Domain!"

Cang Feng drew his bow and infused the streaking lights with his divine power.

Each world within the streaking lights pulsed with vibrant life, its denizens calling out Pang Jian's name. Their cries sent ripples through his Immortal Divine Soul.

"Mirror!" Mu Ya shouted as she formed seals with her hands.

As Pang Jian fled, the air around him shattered like a broken mirror.

This female Outer God was well-versed in spatial laws. Coordinating with Cang Feng's streaks of light, she wove spatial blades to cut off Pang Jian's path of escape.

The River of Wisdom continued to flow up ahead, with the white-clad Mou Qi standing at the heart of it.

His expression was solemn and reverent. Cradling a crystal-clear orb in his hands, he pressed it to his chest and channeled his blood to awaken the power sealed within.

"Soul Erasure."

Shadowy figures slowly rose within the orb as Mou Qi recited sacred scripture.

Spectral entities from the Demon Races, the Ghost Race, the Radiant Race, the Fey Race, and the Bright Moon Race were aligned in a formation inside the orb, working together to power an array designed to extinguish soul essence.

The River of Wisdom still restricted Pang Jian, keeping him cut off from his physical body and the Soulstream. Although his strength was restrained, he continued to probe his surroundings with relentless focus.

However, the divine sense that he used to probe his surroundings was drawn toward the orb the moment it activated.

Hundreds of strands of divine sense, imperceptible to the naked eye, extended between Pang Jian and the orb in Mou Qi's hand. One end of each strand clung to Pang Jian, while the other was anchored within the orb.

Mou Qi gently rotated the orb, and strands of Pang Jian's divine sense were pulled inward, causing Pang Jian's divine sense and soul essence to pour out uncontrollably.