Chapter 863: The Resurgence of the Thunder Dragon

"Pang Jian!"

The World Gods scattered across the Ruin Realm let out cries of surprise as they gazed at Pang Jian's radiant figure.

Bai Zi and the others had sensed the moment Pang Jian's divine sense slipped into the stars and the continents.

In the blink of an eye, the Life Drain spreading across the twenty-four continents was broken. Another force even guided their lost vitality back into their bodies.

The World Gods were left in shock as Yuan Yi's killing strike, the Ancient Fey Sky-Rending Art, stalled amid the dense downpour of thunderous lightning.

Pang Jian still managed to intercept the ancient ape's lethal blow, even after the demonic cloak had been pierced! He was truly qualified to confront that ancient ape head-on!

Is the human race really as formidable as the legends claim?

Mu Duo wondered as he emerged from the crater, his body wreathed in layers of life energy.

Looking up, he watched as Pang Jian's brilliant starry expanse charged toward the blood-colored "barrier" overhead.

His heart trembled violently. As a long-lived, high-ranking God himself, he had naturally heard of the glorious feats of the human race. Unfortunately, this once-proud human race had rapidly fallen into decline after the three Sovereigns unified their stance and issued kill orders against the True Gods in the starry skies.

Mu Duo had previously believed that the high regard that others held for the True Gods of the human race had been nothing but exaggerated fabrications.

However, the shock that struck him as he watched Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul confront Yuan Yi far exceeded even the time when Pang Jian's physical body halted Du Ling's attempted resurrection in the Abyss!

Du Ling's attempted resurrection in the Fourth World of the Abyss had merely been the residual will of a fallen God wreaking havoc. That version of Pang Jian had already ascended as a high-ranking God, with a unique Divine Persona and the support of the Abyss. His victory, while startling, was in retrospect understandable.

But this was different.

Yuan Yi was an ancient Fey God born of the Fey Abyss!

He was not a lingering shadow or the scattered aura of the dead. Moreover, he had already embedded his Dao of Life across the Ruin Realm in preparation!

The Fey Gods of the ancient Fey Race had always stood a tier above other races. With Yuan Yi's high-ranking godhood and the groundwork he had laid in advance, even a Sovereign would still be hard-pressed to overcome him!

Despite that, Pang Jian—having ascended to this so-called Transcendent God Realm of the human race's cultivation system—was directly facing Yuan Yi, a God of Life. More shocking was the fact that he was confronting said ape with his own comprehension of the Dao of Life!

What if...

Mu Duo's thoughts raced as he gazed at the sky.

Bai Zi, Xing Huan, and Yu Hang were also staring up at that crimson "barrier" above. They watched as Pang Jian's radiant starry expanse charged fearlessly toward the crimson "barrier" that was suppressing their vitality and bloodline power.

Faint sounds of collapsing Heavenly Daos echoed as the two collided. Profound principles clashed and intertwined with the Dao-of-Life-charged crimson lightning, forming a maelstrom of conflicting Daos.

Pang Jian's Dao of Life clashed violently with Yuan Yi's insights embedded across the stars and continents.

It was a battle between two different Daos of Life.

The confrontation within the blood-colored divine domain was one between myriad energies and an alternate branch of the Dao of Life itself.

"So much for all that preparation." Pang Jian let out a carefree laugh from high above the Divine Court of Thunder. Pointing at the savage ancient ape, he said calmly, "Thunderfall."

Lightning surged from the grand palaces and Thunder Pool beneath Pang Jian, arcing straight toward Yuan Yi.

Massive lightning vortexes formed around the ancient ape, their thunderous claps and crackling bursts so violent that even the skies seemed to tremble.

Pang Jian's prismatic Immortal Divine Soul resembled a supreme God of Thunder, exuding a presence that could annihilate all things.

"You little bastard! I never thought you'd grow this powerful after leaving the Nether Abyss!" the ancient ape snarled, baring its fangs.

Wielding the Celestial Fey Warhammer, he stood in the interwoven lightning, smashing apart bolt after bolt with brute force. The lightning vortexes could not stop the swing of his warhammer.

The crashing torrents of lightning, shards of hail, and the radiance of the star and moons were all pulverized into streams of radiant fragments.

Yuan Yi had long since seen through Pang Jian's method of infusing his divine techniques and insights into each bolt of lightning.

Unfazed, the ancient ape continued swinging, each blow harnessing the might of heaven and earth, drawing upon the spiritual qi of the Ruin Realm.

Yuan Yi, infamous across the bizarre mist and beyond, had always been a chosen of this era, destined to rise as the next Sovereign of the Fey Race after the Black Empyrean Phoenix.

If not for Pang Lin's return, not even the God of Wisdom or Sovereign Luo could curb its savage dominance.

"You were nothing like this back in the Nether Abyss. I have to say, you've surprised me."

The ancient ape hurled his hammer once more. Scarlet shadows filled the sky like a shower of blazing meteors, crashing down toward Pang Jian and the Divine Court of Thunder beneath him.

The azure Thunder Dragon in the Thunder Pool stirred. The dullness in its eyes vanished, and its gaze sharpened.

Strange vibrations resounded from the palaces as an ancient will, dormant for millennia, stirred awake.

"Vitality... Life energy..." murmured the azure Thunder Dragon.

A sudden influx of mysterious blood essence surged into its slender form alongside the lightning from the Thunder Pool.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Its horns flared with radiant light, and its scales gleamed like tempered gold. Its tendons, flesh, and bones surged with vigor as it underwent an evolution.

The azure Thunder Dragon shot out from the Thunder Pool, its serpentine form coiling through the sky. Lightning cascaded from its body in torrents and slammed into the storm of blazing shadows.

The awakened Thunder Dragon had blocked more than half of the force in the ancient ape's strike. Pang Jian intercepted the other half himself.

Pang Jian narrowed his eyes at the emerging azure Thunder Dragon. "Long Xiao? Fu Ya? Or perhaps the Duke of Thunder? Regardless of who you are, a shred of divine power and scattered soul remnants won't be enough to change anything."

He had long sensed something was off before entering the Ruin Realm and had already taken note of the Thunder Dragon's awakening intelligence.

Having discussed the Thunder Dragon's abnormality with Pang Lin in the Thunder Abyss, Pang Jian had stayed vigilant, curious to uncover its true origins.

When the ancient ape launched his assault on the Divine Court of Thunder, Pang Jian made no move to stop it, letting the sky fill with a storm of shadows. He wanted to see if the Thunder Dragon would react or stay hidden.

As expected, fearing that the Divine Court of Thunder it coveted would be shattered, the Thunder Dragon revealed itself.

"Fu Ya never had the power to command lightning on this scale," the azure Thunder Dragon said coldly.