Chapter 996: Furious Ascent

"I know."

Pang Jian charged skyward with unwavering resolve through the storm of argent blades.

Multicolored beams erupted from his crown, blazing like rainbows that sought to pierce the heavens. At the same time, concentric halos of dark-gold radiance burst from his body, spreading madly as he soared upward.

Those halos pulsed with not only the boundless might of the eight abysses but also the profound divine techniques born of the Dao Source of Metal. Each halo carried a razor-sharp edge that could slash through all tangible existence. The blades born of the sundered silver canopy were swiftly swept away beneath the surging halos.

Pang Jian's divine sense rippled outward like a vast tide, unfurling into a sea of gray mist.

Stars, suns, and moons condensed within that ethereal sea alongside fundamental laws. Bolts of lightning and traces of the Heavenly Dao also emerged unbidden.

A blue Soulstream, a bronze expanse of metal, a blazing sphere of fire, a rippling sea, and a forest brimming with life revealed themselves within the sea of gray mist.

"I have glimpsed a realm beyond the Exalted God Realm, a domain of wonders where I, too, can shape all things. I can bring stars, moons, suns, worlds, myriad living beings, and even Gods to life."

Buried knowledge and power poured forth from the depths of his sea of consciousness, rising with Pang Jian's furious ascent and lifting him to a new height of existence.

"The accumulated wisdom and insight of the Soulstream has already merged into me." Pang Jian's eyes sharpened with unyielding resolve as he fixed his gaze upon the supreme will inhabiting Yi Hao's body. "If you require a God King's body to wield your might, then I shall simply slay Yi Hao!"

Eight strange worlds formed within the sea of gray mist. Some were shaped like a well, others like vast rings, and others still like towering spires. These wondrous manifestations corresponded to each of the eight abysses!

In that moment, Pang Jian felt a will within the sea of gray mist quietly answering him, flooding him with the full might of the bizarre mist. He seemed to be the incarnation of the supreme will of the bizarre mist itself!

Has the supreme will of the bizarre mist descended upon me

? Pang Jian wondered.

His divine sense formed a dense sea of mist that rose alongside him like a tide as he guided the twelve divine artifacts into the lofty firmament where Yi Hao stood.

Boundless waves of silver radiance crashed against Pang Jian's sea of gray.

At the same time, myriad divine techniques, the foundations of the fallen Dao Sources, and the path to godhood of the Outer Gods rushed into Pang Jian in a single overwhelming tide.

Scenes flashed wildly within Pang Jian's mind. He heard the wails of the myriad beings in the starry skies, the roars of fallen Gods, and beheld the civilizations shaped by the supreme will of the starry skies. Their elaborate path to godhood was laid bare before his eyes.

The crying wails were steeped in foreign forces that gnawed at the heart and twisted the soul. Arcs of Dao-infused lightning flared forth from the roars of the Gods, seeking to tear apart his sea of mist, formed from divine sense, and drown his lucid spirit.

Ancient civilizations blossomed across his sea of consciousness and his Immortal Divine Soul, taking root as though attempting to anchor themselves within his very being. Worlds, stars, mortals, and Gods all seemed intent on staking their claim inside him.

"Brother!" Pang Lin's desperate cry rang out once more.

"Pang Jian!" The four Fey Gods, Pang Ling, the host of Great Demon Gods, Han Yi, and Ying Yue, all cried out from within the Ruin Realm, hoping to rouse him from danger.

When Pang Jian charged upward with terrifying momentum, his expression had gone slack, just as the Bee Sovereign's had before.

Naturally, they assumed Pang Jian had fallen into peril. His awe-inspiring Immortal Divine Soul, wreathed in rings of dark-golden halos, sank into the sea of argent light as if immersed in corrosive primordial ichor. Even the sea of gray mist that was his divine sense dispersed within the sea of argent light.

"You're truly not that will. How strange and utterly inconceivable. If you're not it, then what exactly are you, Pang Jian?" Incredulity flickered through the supreme will of the starry skies.

As Pang Jian sank into the sea of argent light, it had parsed every hidden secret within him, but could not find a trace of the supreme will of the bizarre mist anywhere.

The Dao Source of Soul had placed its hopes on Pang Jian. The Black Empyrean Phoenix had also called him their salvation. Even Luo Hongyan had entrusted her fate to him.

But Pang Jian was not what the supreme will had believed at all.

It had endured for eons, devouring Dao Sources through Sovereigns and God Kings, and had long styled itself the greatest wonder beneath the heavens. Naturally, it believed itself omnipotent—flawless in calculation and boundless in might.

The sea of argent light was its origin. Within it, it was the absolute arbiter. Nothing could elude its gaze. Even the supreme will of the bizarre mist could be refined and devoured within this argent sea.

It had been certain that its counterpart would choose to descend upon Pang Jian and face it in a final, decisive clash. In its calculations, this was the only way Pang Jian could wield enough power to resist it.

However, even after scouring every hidden corner of Pang Jian's Immortal Divine Soul, it had found no trace of the supreme will of the bizarre mist, not even a flicker or a shadow. The discovery left it shaken with disbelief.

It had carefully schemed to drive Pang Jian into this furious ascent, even sparing Luo Hongyan a thread of life, all for the purpose of luring its counterpart into this sea of argent light.

Uncharacteristic astonishment cracked through its typical emotionlessness.

"Who are you?"

It had summoned the sea of argent light, also known as the Sea of Creation among other things, in an attempt to unravel Pang Jian's secrets.

"The endless gray mist can't be in you without reason. You—"

Yi Hao's features hardened into a solemn frown.

The Dao Sources imprinted upon Pang Jian's five viscera were not mere traces but the real things!

Countless Dao Sources it had never managed to obtain had long since become part of Pang Jian.

With so many Dao Sources fused into his being, Pang Jian ought to have ascended long ago, be it as a God King or something beyond.

Only one other existence was capable of such fusion—its peer, the supreme will of the bizarre mist!

"Who exactly are you?" it demanded once more.

Pang Lin's obsidian eyes flickered with doubt as well. Gazing quietly at Pang Jian through the halos of multicolored radiance, she muttered, "Brother, you...?"