Chapter 968: The Exalted God Realm

The dantian in Pang Jian's physical body went through an upheaval.

The radiance from the new sun and moons brought the blossoming of their counterparts in his dantian! A luminous moon also coalesced in the chest of his Immortal Divine Soul.

Pang Jian's physical body and Immortal Divine Soul transformed alongside the Primordial Chaos Starry Region. His bond with the vast starry region tightened to a degree never before attained.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

His Immortal Divine Soul blazed brilliantly, and his understanding of the Exalted God Realm advanced at a staggering pace.

The Exalted God Realm!

The meteoric rise in Pang Jian's cultivation realm uplifted the beings bound to him as well. The Rank Thirteen World Tree, the Black Dragon King, the black turtle, the Bee Sovereign, Yuan Qi, and the Ice Armor Eel Dragon—reborn through the Gate of the Abyss—all found themselves bathed in profound truths.

For some, it was the mysteries of life. For others, the ultimate darkness, the depths of the earth, the essence of cold, or the eternal laws of lightning.

"Pang Jian!" they cried, staring up at the Primordial Chaos Starry Region.

Two suns, three moons, and countless stars shone resplendently, but none blazed brighter than Pang Jian.

His brilliance eclipsed all creation, becoming the singular focus of every gaze.

"Pang Jian is breaking through to the Exalted God Realm!" Lin Baixiang trembled with excited fervor in the Abyss. "We're about to witness the rise of an Exalted God!"

"Heaven hasn't forsaken the Abyss!"

"The human race will stand taller than ever amidst the starry skies!"

"Pang Jian!"

Everyone across the many abysses shouted his name, their hearts alight with fervent hope. They yearned for someone capable of facing the Outer Gods without faltering, a supreme protector to defend the denizens of the bizarre mist.

Their rolling tide of Faith poured unceasingly into Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul, allowing his divine sense to spread until it encompassed every corner of the Primordial Chaos Starry Region.

"Is it finally happening?" the Bee Sovereign whispered in the Ruin Realm. His golden compound eyes shimmered with hope, and a faint smile tugged at his face. "We've failed so many times. Every campaign against the starry skies has ended in failure. Will the tide at last turn on this day?"

Yi Hao's eyes locked onto Pang Jian, hovering above the God King's skull.

Pang Lin had abandoned her phoenix body, paving the way for Luo Hongyan's unprecedented union of light and darkness, achieving a feat no Sovereign or God King could hope to match.

Now, her elder brother, Pang Jian, was advancing to the Exalted God Realm.

All of this lay far beyond Yi Hao's designs. For the first time, the future derailed from his script, spinning out of his control.

Yi Hao's temples throbbed violently.

"He needs to be stopped!"

The supreme will of the bizarre mist would be able to descend into Pang Jian if he broke through.

If Luo Hongyan successfully resisted his master's descent while Pang Jian became the vessel for the will of the bizarre mist...

The Sovereign of Fate planted his foot down upon the silver eye and flew straight toward Pang Jian as though riding on a divine platform.

Yi Hao opened the Tome of Fate in his hands.

"Reversing Fate!"

Strange characters burst forth like stars, blazing around his body.

A dazzling River of Fate streamed from the silver halo known as the Wheel of Fate. The radiant characters from the Tome of Fate descended into the River of Fate, merging with the phantom lightning.

The ancient Gods sealed within the tome manifested with earth-shaking roars.

Their bellowing cries shook the Primordial Chaos Starry Region. An apocalyptic tide twisted the starry region, tearing it asunder with billions of crackling arcs of lightning.

The restored starry region was torn apart yet again under Yi Hao's divine technique.

Explosions erupted all around Pang Jian.

Torrents of searing flames and lightning also struck the God King's skull. A deluge of blazing meteors pierced the golden boundary wall of the skull, cascading down into the Ruin Realm, setting the sky alight.

"The sky of the Ruin Realm is burning!"

"Even the Dao Source of Metal cannot withstand this onslaught!"

"Yi Hao intends to destroy the Ruin Realm and sever Pang Jian's greatest pillar of strength!"

"The Ruin Realm won't truly be destroyed, will it?"

The five Great Demon Gods stared at the collapsing sky with growing dread. This was a battle unlike anything they had ever endured!

Impossibly powerful beings broke through one after another. Two supreme wills clashed head-on.

The collapsing Primordial Chaos Starry Region was restored only to be ruined again. In this battle, high-ranking Gods were nothing more than withered leaves in a flood, tossed about with the current.

"We're too weak to participate in a battle of this scale." Great Demon God Fa Ji sighed in despair.

Deep down, he longed to soar from the Ruin Realm and stand against a Sovereign or cross blades with a God King, but he dared not with his strength.

Even the meteors streaking through the Ruin Realm carried a terrifying aura that made his body quiver uncontrollably.

He was truly powerless to do anything.

***

Outside the Ruin Realm, Pang Lin's eyes lingered affectionately on Pang Jian.

"Brother's breakthrough to the Exalted God Realm is finally upon us." Pang Lin smiled. Eyes shifting to Luo Hongyan, she added, "And you finally couldn't hold back any longer."

Her heart was bright as crystal, her mind unclouded. This battle would end in their defeat if Luo Hongyan failed to resist the supreme will of the starry skies.

It would never allow Pang Jian the slightest chance of survival after it descended.

Pang Lin had suffered in the past because of that supreme will. Even her Black Empyrean Phoenix body—if it were still around—would be shaken.

That supreme will could sway the Divine Persona of a Sovereign and even possess a God King.

If that was the case, then the only path left to her was to abandon her Black Empyrean Phoenix body entirely.

In doing so, she also allowed Luo Hongyan to unify light and darkness in an attempt to sever that will's control. An unshackled Luo Hongyan would still retain her humanity, no longer acting as a mere puppet of that will.

Only in that circumstance could Pang Jian seize his chance to step into the Exalted God Realm.

"What will you choose?" She smiled as she watched Luo Hongyan.

Luo Hongyan's aura soared ever higher as she fused the two Heavenly Daos. Her arms spread wide as if welcoming the vast influx of energy.

"I—" Her expression carried no joy or sorrow, only inner turmoil. "I don't know."

She had already ascended to unprecedented heights, surpassing even God King Yan Hao at his peak. Though the will of the starry skies had seeped into her, she could still suppress it, retaining enough control to act on her own.

Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul was occupied with breaking through to the Exalted God Realm.

Luo Hongyan could easily unleash her strength to shatter his attempt.

But she did not. Instead, after a brief hesitation, she made a decision that defied all expectations.

"Yi Hao!" she shouted.

The two characters manifested beside Yi Hao as respective worlds of darkness and light. Strange new beings emerged in these worlds, some bearing bloodlines of pure radiance and others with an innate command of darkness.

Mountains, rivers, lands, and stars formed within the worlds of light and darkness.

These worlds were the respective manifestations of the two Heavenly Daos!

A startling transformation occurred. Radiance illuminated the worlds of darkness, while darkness blanketed the skies in the worlds of light.

No longer were light and darkness the sole themes. Rather, they coexisted within each world!

Such worlds seemed destined for eternity, the embodiment of the natural order of the Heavenly Daos, the primordial face of creation itself.

So, it was meant to be from the beginning,

Luo Hongyan realized.

The tidal wave Yi Hao had unleashed upon Pang Jian and the God King's skull—the arcs of Dao-infused lightning and even the ancient Gods adrift within the River of Fate—were crushed beneath the intertwining might of light and darkness.

Ancient characters flared like stars, only to be annihilated.

Yi Hao strained his fate energy to rewrite Pang Jian's destiny, only to feel his divine power collapsing, cut off at its roots. Not even the Wheel of Fate or the weighty Tome of Fate could withstand the combined might of light and darkness.

"Light and darkness are not absolute opposites," Luo Hongyan murmured. "The two can coexist within the same world. In fact, their harmony is what makes a world truly whole. Only in such a world can living beings endure."

Although Yi Hao could hear Luo Hongyan's words, he could not see her. All he could see were the worlds of light and darkness. Even Pang Jian was beyond his perception.

"You dare commit such blasphemy!" Yi Hao's voice thundered coldly. "It raised you into a Sovereign and endowed you with supreme might! All beings beneath the starry skies, every race, ought to revere it as their parent!

"We are born of it, empowered by it! Our future is bound inseparably to it! To oppose it is to oppose yourself—to betray your own kin and kind!

"Luo Hongyan! Do not persist in this delusion. Do not let the Black Empyrean Phoenix corrupt your mind! Do not forget who you truly are!"

The Sovereign of Fate's fury reverberated throughout the Primordial Chaos Starry Region. He sought to wrench fate back onto its proper course and force Luo Hongyan to turn her might upon Pang Jian, halting his ascent toward the Exalted God Realm.