Chapter 921: Shock Ripples Through the Sovereigns

Pang Jian sat in silent meditation within the grand Sanctum of Godly and Demonic Genesis, deep in the heart of the Ruin Realm.

While his physical body was motionless like a stone, his divine sense drifted in the Bewildering Dustlands, watching the battlefield unfold through the World Tree.

He saw everything that happened there with perfect clarity, from Pang Lin's appearance to the massacre of the Outer Gods.

Not a single True God of the human race had fallen since Pang Lin stepped out of the spatial tunnel.

The sweeping darkness left him in awe. This was the first time he had truly witnessed his sister's power.

Pang Lin...

Her words and divine abilities had also left him shaken. It had never occurred to him that Pang Lin's existence could stretch so far back in history, ancient beyond imagining.

Even the ancient God of Life could do nothing against her, made to dance in the palm of her hand.

It was humbling to realize that this transcendent being was actually his sister, and that she had continued to embrace that identity even after regaining her memories.

Pang Jian's thoughts drifted, lost in a quiet daze.

What lies ahead?

Although she once stood at the top of the starry skies, Fu Ya, Luo Hongyan, and the other Sovereigns still managed to strike her down.

The bizarre mist has chosen me, the World God Paragon of this era, as its vanguard. Can I truly contend against those four Sovereigns? Can I really help the bizarre mist achieve its ambition?

What fate awaits me if I fail?

The two supreme existences were extraordinary anomalies, the incarnations of two separate realms and the embodiments of their respective wills. They were bereft of the emotions that ordinary beings possessed.

In their eyes, beings like me, Ling Yun, and even Pang Lin are nothing more than pawns.

Even a being as mighty as God King Yan Hao was reduced to a skull.

If that's the fate of a God King, then even Sovereigns have no chance of breaking free from their invisible shackles. They will likely fall in the next struggle.

How, then, can I escape all this? How can I take control of my own fate?

These thoughts raced through Pang Jian's mind, even while he sorted through the chaotic imprints within the skull.

Perhaps it was due to this very contemplation that he abruptly pieced together several fragmented and unusual imprints, allowing him to discover Yan Hao's true pursuit.

The disappearance and fall of the God Kings was their attempt to escape the control of those wills!

The thought surged unbidden into Pang Jian's mind.

After reaching the pinnacle, God Kings like Yan Hao sought true freedom, a severance from the control of the wills. Unfortunately, none had ever succeeded.

The rise of a God King and all that they possessed was intrinsically bound to the will of the bizarre mist or the starry skies.

Those daring to break free were swiftly punished by the same wills that birthed them, be it through a premature death or complete erasure.

The wills were cold and merciless. Existences like them permitted no deviations.

Pang Jian could not help but recall the silver eye that once appeared at the Fallen God Ruins. He could still vividly remember the immense pressure it exuded.

There was one such presence in the starry skies and another in the bizarre mist.

Their silent struggle involved everyone, engulfed worlds and abysses, and extended through countless ages.

Gods, Sovereigns, and even God Kings were nothing more than pieces on the board in their eyes.

The weak served as pawns and the strong as generals, but in the end, all were ultimately enslaved pieces.

They regard the starry skies and the bizarre mist themselves as nothing more than a game board. These supreme entities existed beyond laws and order.

The abysses within the bizarre mist were cages. The bizarre mist itself was one too. Even the boundless starry skies were cages, with the only difference being size.

One can only attain true liberation and ultimate freedom by breaking free from their control,

Pang Jian realized.

In the end, every God King in history had made the same choice. All sought to break free from their cages, cast off the shackles of the supreme wills, and follow their hearts.

***

Fu Ya stood calmly in the flickering light and lightning within the Hall of Gods, gazing at the pyramids that housed the Outer Gods. Her eyes swept across the divine seats where the Demon Gods sat.

The Demon Gods' bodies had become withered and frail. Their demonic souls and divine power had been mostly depleted, and their auras were fading fast.

The low-ranking and mid-ranking Demon Gods had already lost their clarity of mind, no longer aware of where they were. Meanwhile, Great Demon Gods like Luan Ji and He Motian still had defiance blazing in their eyes, unyielding even in the face of death.

"Still the same as ever. Did you really believe the Demon Races ever had a chance?" Fu Ya asked with a faint smile.

At that moment, her figure quivered ever so slightly, and her expression changed. She had just sensed the collapse of one of the Spirit Race's Spirit-Nurturing Hollows.

The projections of the Gods in the Spirit Race pyramid started to flicker out like candles.

"Something's wrong!"

Fu Ya's mind was thrown into chaos at the realization that her forces in the Bewildering Dustlands were dying off at an alarming rate.

Each time a God of the Spirit Race fell, their projection on their divine seat in the Hall of Gods would flicker out.

"Even those loyal to Sovereign Luo are vanishing. What in the world is happening in the Bewildering Dustlands? How could so many Gods have perished?" Fu Ya could no longer remain calm.

The few deaths earlier had not fazed her. Those, she had expected.

After all, the surviving True Gods in the starry skies were by no means weak.

She had been prepared to accept a few losses for the sake of exterminating the human remnants. Loss was unavoidable, but not to this extent.

Luo Hongyan's flawless figure appeared in the Hall of Gods, her expression cold. "An unreasonable number of my subordinates are dying. Something major has happened in the Bewildering Dustlands."

"I know," Fu Ya replied, raising her hand to point at a streak of brilliant lightning. "Tian Yu, you need to head to the Bewildering Dustlands. We're suffering heavy losses."

The lightning twisted, opening a spatial rift from which the frowning God of Space emerged.

"I've lost contact with Zi Wu," he said grimly. "Something is preventing me from tearing through space and stepping into the Bewildering Dustlands."

Fu Ya was startled. "That region shouldn't be able to issue for you."

"There are very few things in existence that could stop you from going there," Luo Hongyan added.

"Only a handful," Tian Yu muttered, attempting another connection.

The fabric of space around the Bewildering Dustlands remained as firm and unshakable as steel.

"The Illusory Void Realm!" he exclaimed as realization dawned. "Our race's lost artifact has to be in the Bewildering Dustlands. There's no other explanation."

"The Illusory Void Realm?!" Fu Ya and Luo Hongyan paled.

"I've long suspected it to be in the hands of the Black Empyrean Phoenix, though I could never confirm it. If the Illusory Void Realm has revealed itself, that means she's descended upon the Bewildering Dustlands and is interfering with the battle there," Tian Yu said gravely. "I'll reroute to a nearby region at once."

With that, he disappeared, and the spatial rift closed behind him.