Chapter 979: I'm Still Me!

The Bee Sovereign raised his head to see lightning vortexes and spheres bearing down upon him.

"The Duke of Thunder!" he exclaimed as he sank deeper into the bizarre mist.

Even the power emanating from the lightning sent all into trembling despair. The inhabitants of the abysses could see the dazzling Divine Court of Thunder and the storm of lightning spheres descending like a divine judgment.

Lightning seemed to scorch the bizarre mist itself as tens of thousands of blinding bolts burst forth with a baleful will.

"Kill!" roared the azure Thunder Dragon, unleashing more cascades of lightning from the Thunder Pool.

Each bolt transformed into a weapon of annihilation under the Duke of Thunder's command.

The Duke of Thunder had recovered the extreme Dao of Lightning he had comprehended in his past life! His eyes burned with killing intent and absolute hatred. It was as though he had become a demon, a fiend born of extremity.

He had once sworn to hunt the Ghost Race and the Demon Races into extinction. This, in turn, provoked the united wrath of the Demon Gods and Gods of the Ghost Race. They conspired against him, corrupting loyal Thunder Gods and prematurely ending his path to Sovereignhood.

After his resurrection, the Duke of Thunder's ambitions were no longer as fanatically extreme, and he sought to tread a new path to Sovereignhood.

The supreme will of the starry skies cared not for his desires. It forcibly dragged him back onto the fanatical path of his past life, simply because it enabled him to wield greater, more terrible power.

Avalanches of lightning crashed down onto the newly reconstructed Hall of Gods, seeking to tear into its depths, extinguish the nascent "divine bees," and sever the reach of the Bee Sovereign.

The Hall of Gods had only just been restored, and its structure had yet to fully stabilize. Some small cracks and fissures were still healing over. The relentless bombardment of lightning threatened to take advantage of these vulnerabilities to tear the palace apart.

"I'm only a single step away from Sovereignhood, just one step!" cried the Bee Sovereign.

As long as he could merge with the Soulstream and the other Bee Sovereign forming within it, he could become a Sovereign, or perhaps even a fabled God King.

Once he ascended, he could fight on equal footing with the other Sovereigns.

Unfortunately, the Duke of Thunder's fierce assault had come at the worst time. His Dao of Lightning struck at the Bee Sovereign's weakness, leaving him helpless to resist.

The Bee Sovereign's wings fluttered.

"Soul Convergence!"

Waves of cerulean soul essence formed barriers, seeking to withstand the onslaught of lightning.

However, as these barriers were made from soul essence with no true substance, they shattered instantly.

In the depths of the Soulstream, which was ascending through the Nether Abyss, a whirlpool swirled open like a cavernous maw. Currents of ashen-black, deep violet, and viridian corruption seethed within the whirlpool, formed from the resentment, fear, wrath, and despair of those perished in the starry skies.

These baleful currents were tonics for the Demon Races, but poison for the Dao Source of Soul.

The proliferation of these malignant currents caused the whirlpools in the Soulstream to swell ever larger, taking over the once-luminous blue waters. The Duke of Thunder's assault battered the other Bee Sovereign in the Soulstream. He was now truly beset on all sides.

"Bai Zi!" he cried, trying desperately to sever the connection between himself and Bai Zi.

It was too late. Their connection was already saturated with baleful currents. No matter how he tried, he could not break their link.

The fallen Sovereign of Wisdom, Fu Ya, had schemed for tens of thousands of years against him. It seemed the supreme will of the starry skies had bestowed upon Bai Zi those profound Daos, allowing her to strike him with devastating precision.

"I was too reckless! Why was I so impatient?" Bitter remorse washed over the Bee Sovereign.

Immaturely exposing himself had led to him catching Yi Hao's attention. He could well be snuffed out before even the Dao Source of Metal.

Suddenly, a colossal bronze shield materialized above the Bee Sovereign. Fine strands of the Heavenly Daos flickered like lightning on its surface, intertwining with layers of Dao Seals.

The massive shield stretched like a firmament, intercepting every bolt of lightning from the Duke of Thunder. It was vast enough to blot out the gray bizarre mist and the Divine Court of Thunder above.

"Pang Jian!" the Bee Sovereign exclaimed in disbelief.

He had previously assumed that Pang Jian had become nothing more than a vessel for the supreme will of the bizarre mist. Thus, he had not expected his aid.

Has the will of the bizarre mist not descended into Pang Jian? Or is it just different from the will of the starry skies?

I thought Pang Jian would hunt down every Dao Source after becoming its vessel. Why didn't he just watch from the sidelines as the Duke of Thunder struck me down before I could ascend?

Why?

The Bee Sovereign's mind reeled with confusion.

***

Pang Jian's physical body stood towering atop the colossal World God Pendant above the Bee Sovereign.

"Rise!" Pang Jian shouted with a sweep of his arm.

Beams of golden light shot up like titanic pillars piercing the sky. They slammed into the massive lightning spheres, shattering them before they could even make impact.

The massive shield-like World God Pendant absorbed the scattered arcs of lightning and light from the spheres. The lightning threatening to ravage the Bee Sovereign and his swarm of bees could not even stir a ripple on this shield, forged from the Dao Source of Metal.

"Why would you aid me?" the Bee Sovereign cried out in disbelief, voice piercing through the drone of his vibrating wings.

Pang Jian's response rang out firm and resolute.

"It doesn't matter what happens after this. What matters is that right now, I'm still Pang Jian, and not that will of the bizarre mist. How could I stand idle and watch as the Duke of Thunder ended you?

*As long as I remain Pang Jian, as long as I'm still alive, I will never permit anyone to tear you asunder before me."

Pang Jian paused, then added with quiet finality, "I don't care who you are or what you choose to do in the future. You've been by my side for years and have aided me greatly in that time. That alone is reason enough."

With that, Pang Jian roused the Primordial Chaos Spiritual Sea in his Sovereign body. The stars, suns, and moons flared.

Subjugate!

A surge of soul essence, visible even to the naked eye, burst from between Pang Jian's brows and swept across billions of li in the blink of an eye. His vast divine sense poured into the stars within the Primordial Chaos Starry Region, clashing violently against the Dao of Star that Xing Huan had released earlier.

Pang Jian then established a connection with the Soulstream in the Nether Abyss.

Whatever corruption you cannot bear or devour, I'll claim in your stead!

An invisible passage emerged between them, transcending distance itself. This connection extended from the heart of the ever-expanding whirlpool of corruption to the bizarre mist in the Primordial Chaos Starry Region.

It was as though Pang Jian had become the incarnation of the supreme will of the bizarre mist, able to command the abysses within and weave passages at will, drawing forth anything he desired.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Demonic Tide!"

The abyssal sea formed from the Dao of Demon manifested from the depths of his Primordial Chaos Spiritual Sea. A shadowed passage formed on the abyssal sea, and malignant currents of corruption poured forth from it.

This poison for the Dao Source of Soul was merely another form of energy to Pang Jian's Dao of Demon and Primeval Demon Fusion Art.

"Bridge!"

Invisible passages became linked to the myriad stars above the bizarre mist.

Weaving together the torrents of evil currents, Pang Jian launched them toward the stars under Xing Huan's control, tainting the latter's divine consciousness.

Xing Huan's anguished roar erupted from the radiant stars. "A transcendent Dao of Demon!"

This hastily elevated Sovereign could feel his divine consciousness drowning beneath waves of terror, malice, hatred, death, and despair.

His sea of consciousness and Divine Persona turned murky. Profound truths he had barely begun to grasp unraveled into chaos, and his newly-mastered divine techniques slipped from his memory like smoke.

"Luan Ji's Dao of Oblivion!" Xing Huan cried out in horrified realization.