Chapter 857: A Younger Sister's Plea

The Thunder Abyss had become no more than a speck of land to Pang Lin at her level of power.

She could cross tens of millions of li in a single breath. A mere thought was all it took for her to effortlessly traverse the vast distances of the starry skies above and the abysses below.

Her bright eyes settled on Pang Jian's face, her smile sweet and sincere as she said, "Brother, there's a big difference between an abyss and a realm."

Pang Jian stared at the radiant Pang Lin before him, knowing full well she was no longer his innocent sister of the past. Not after awakening the memories of the Black Empyrean Phoenix. "Yes, the world below is called the Ruin Realm."

The rise of ancient Fey Gods beyond the bounds of natural law and the unrelenting rise of the murky energy in the Abyss pointed to her efforts, strategizing for the resurgence of the Fey Race. Her pressure was also the reason Li Wang and the others were forced to seriously consider retreating from the Abyss.

She clearly planned to restore the Fey Race to dominance within the Abyss, a goal that ran counter to the interests of the human race.

Pang Jian knew that, but this was Pang Lin.

This was his sister.

"I stumbled upon the Ruin Realm when I was running from the God of Wisdom, Fu Ya," Pang Jian said with a sigh, soaking in the soft smile on her face. "It's a drifting realm hidden deep within the bizarre mist. It seems to have come into contact with the Thunder Abyss."

"Fu Ya..." Pang Lin gently pursed her lips.

The lightning dancing behind her flickered, revealing glimpses of countless worlds. Darkness and light were the themes of those worlds, with the former always lingering, and the latter only ever flashing briefly. Darkness was the essence, and light a fleeting complement, just like the Daos she once wielded.

"Brother, can I ask you for a favor?" Pang Lin asked, her eyes shimmering with deep grievance, and sorrow clouding her delicate face. "Fu Ya, Sovereign Luo, and the God of Space conspired together to kill me. Gravely wounded and on the brink of death, I had no choice but to dive into the bizarre mist.

"Brother, do you think you could lend me your strength in the days to come? I just want to live this life as your sister. I don't want to die again.

"Will you help me, Brother? Will you stay with me, just like you did back in Northern Qi? In the Solitary Mountain Range?"

Though she was one of the strongest beings in the bizarre mist, she deliberately held back her strength before Pang Jian, wearing a look of fragile innocence as if still a little girl in need of her brother's protection.

Pang Jian stared at her for a moment, then gently nodded. "Alright."

Fu Ya, Sovereign Luo, and the God of Space were all distant figures to him, with little connection beyond being potential enemies. Meanwhile, Pang Lin, though once the Black Empyrean Phoenix of the Fey Race, was his sister in this life.

It was clear where his priorities lay.

"I knew it! I just knew it!" Pang Lin celebrated, her face glowing with joy. "I'll have a look at the Ruin Realm now."

A mysterious blue sea churned deep in her mind. Dozens of strands of divine sense slithered out with a relentless will to uncover all secrets, piercing through the boundary wall at the bottom of the Thunder Abyss.

"Soulsense Sweep."

A soft, ghostly glow bloomed from her forehead. It was as if an all-seeing eye had manifested there.

Yuan Yi, in his elderly human form, lowered his head, not daring to peek at the glow on her brow. Fearing she would sense the slightest hostile thought born from Pang Jian's presence, he even withdrew his aura, not letting a trace of his blood essence or his will leak out.

After all, he knew full well how ruthless she could be.

Seeing her truly treat Pang Jian as her brother, Yuan Yi knew he could no longer harbor thoughts of vengeance, regardless of how hard those dark impulses were to control.

Still, whenever he thought about how Pang Jian had ruined his grand scheme for the Nether Abyss, a surge of rage would swell uncontrollably within him.

Pang Jian's sudden appearance had prevented him from seizing control of the Nether Abyss, claiming the mysterious Soulstream, and ascending to become a Sovereign. That failure gnawed persistently at him, and he struggled to suppress his growing fury.

Despite that, all he could do was fight hard to restrain his simmering resentment and frustration.

Radiant light erupted at the intersection of the two boundary walls. Each blinding streak was interwoven with the fundamental laws of the world, the stars, and the void, manifestations of the foundation of order and the Heavenly Dao.

These strange streaks of light annihilated Pang Lin's divine sense, disrupting her Daos and repelling her probing from the Ruin Realm.

The lightning of the Thunder Abyss snuffed out the shifting darkness and light behind her, causing them to vanish without a trace.

"I see." She scoffed, lips curling slightly before glancing at Yuan Yi. "I don't have a World God Pendant, nor am I a World God. You go. Enter the Ruin Realm and help my brother uncover its mysteries."

Yuan Yi frowned. "The Ruin Realm rejected you. Am I not in danger as well?"

He had originally intended to explore the Ruin Realm without hesitation, but the violent reaction made him wary that Pang Lin was using him as cannon fodder.

"What danger could there be?" Pang Lin asked coldly. Holding a branch of the Nine Heavens Thunder Divine Tree in her pale jade-like hand, she added, "I have your blood essence. Even if you die in the Ruin Realm, I can resurrect you through Yuan Qi in the Abyss."

Yuan Yi's stomach sank further at her words.

"That's not the same," he muttered uneasily. "It's really not. I want to—"

"There's no difference," Pang Lin cut him impatiently, not wanting to hear any more excuses. Pointing down at the Ruin Realm with the branch, she ordered, "Go. Find out what's going on in the Ruin Realm for me."

Yuan Yi immediately fell silent. Not daring to glance at Pang Jian, he activated the World God Pendant and shot downward.

As expected, being one of the World Gods, he passed through the boundary wall without resistance.

"Brother, he's the oldest among the living World Gods. His understanding of the bizarre mist and the abysses far surpasses yours. He's rarely honest with me, so you'd better stay cautious around him. That ape isn't trustworthy." Pang Lin pouted. "It's a pity I can't enter myself.

"The bizarre mist is the peculiar region known to man. Within it exists a supreme will that gives birth to abysses and lays down countless laws.

"Even Sovereigns struggle to alter the laws this will has established. Only within certain abysses can they override some of these laws.

"The starry skies beyond the bizarre mist follow one set of laws, and the bizarre mist another.

"I view the grand event that strikes once every hundred millennia as nothing more than a clash between these two systems of laws. Either the laws from the starry skies seep into the bizarre mist, or the laws of the bizarre mist spread into the starry skies.

"These laws bind everyone and everything, be it gods or mortals, the stars or the abysses. We'll all be swept along with no say in the matter. Even the Sovereigns may not be exempt."

Having regained some of her memories and power from her past life as a Sovereign, Pang Lin naturally had a deep understanding of the truths that governed the starry skies and the bizarre mist.

***

A World God Pendant descended into the Ruin Realm. Overhead, the ancient ape grinned as he caught sight of the palace-filled expanse that was the Divine Court of Thunder.

"The legendary Ruin Realm, the foundation upon which the abysses were built!"

Crimson light flickered within Yuan Yi's eyes as he took in the thirty-six stars above and the twenty-four continents below.

"The destroyed Fey Abyss, Wood Abyss, Spirit Abyss, and Star Abyss can all be reconstructed through the Ruin Realm!

"Pang Jian is still too naive. He's only just become a World God. He has no idea of the secrets buried here.

"If I can reconstruct the Fey Abyss and serve as its World God, the will of the bizarre mist will look upon me with favor as the one catalyzing its formation. I could have a shot at becoming a Sovereign!"

The ancient ape let out a shrill, chittering laugh as he glanced up at the sky.

Confirming that Pang Jian had yet to return to the Ruin Realm, the ancient ape schemed in silence, pondering how he could set the foundations of a new Fey Abyss.

On the Divine Court of Thunder below, which resembled a landmass filled with grand palaces, a small azure Thunder Dragon lashed its tail in the Thunder Pool.

Barely as thick as a finger, it hid in camouflage, looking like a bolt of azure lightning.

A bloodthirsty greed glinted in the Thunder Dragon's eye as it stared at the posturing ape above.