The plan to propel the Primordial Demon to a Sovereign was an ambitious undertaking designed to combine the strengths of all the Demon Gods into a single, supreme existence. Becoming a Sovereign was merely the first step. He Motian's plan, advanced through the combined efforts of five Great Demon Gods, aimed to elevate the Demon Races above all other races. The ultimate goal was to elevate the Primordial Demon to the rank of a God King. The Demon Gods gave everything they had to bring the Primordial Demon into existence. They did not hesitate to hurl the treasured Demon Lair into the Abyss, nor to seize the artifact that Sovereign Demonheaven left behind. This unprecedented entity, known as the Primordial Demon, was rooted in the evil thoughts of living beings, making it nearly impossible to ever truly eradicate. He was the king of all demons and the source of all evil. So long as sentient beings harbored wicked thoughts or any soul sought to comprehend the Dao of Demon, he could never be truly killed. As the culmination of all the Demon Gods' cunning and will, he was virtually immortal. At best, his strength could only be diminished. "You claim to know me?" The Primordial Demon emerged from the demonic stone between Wu Yuan's brows, taking the form of a strikingly handsome man with an uncanny resemblance to the Abyssal Demon. Nine Demon Realms shifted in and out of existence behind, their rise and destruction at his whims. Each time a Demon Realm collapsed, a new one was born, with each new realm resonating even more deeply with the Dao of Demon. One could faintly make out the silhouettes of nine demonic figures within the nine illusory and ever-shifting Demon Realms, like nine Primordial Demons. "Pang Jian, do you really believe that helping him hunt down and absorb each of my fragments across the Demon Realms will allow him to resist me?" The Primordial Demon asked with a carefree smile. "He was mine to begin with, merely one of my many fragments. His power stems from me. I grow stronger as he does. "You could manipulate the Demon Gods through that cloak from Demonheaven and their name inscribed upon it. Do you think I cannot do the same?" The Primordial Demon burst into wild laughter. Suddenly, the nine Demon Realms merged into one, a single infernal dominion wreathed in unending flames. Crimson clouds burned in the sky of this blazing hellscape. Fiery meteors tore across the sky, and rivers of molten fire slithered across the ground like dragons. The Abyssal Demon and Yuan Hui were locked in a desperate battle of life and death in that searing Demon Realm. Behind the Abyssal Demon, a swirling vortex of molten magma and searing flame, formed using the Primeval Demon Fusion Art, drew in every volatile force within the Demon Realm. It also pulled in Yuan Hui's insights into the Dao of Demon. "All the power he absorbs is mine to command," the Primordial Demon said calmly. "Even Yuan Hui's Dao of Oblivion can be turned to my will and used upon Wu Yuan to make him forget everything but me. In the end, Wu Yuan's identity will be overwritten by my own." In the depths of Wu Yuan's sea of consciousness, the boundless shadow that was the Primordial Demon burned with sinister flames, steadily infiltrating Wu Yuan's divine consciousness. The Primordial Demon's soul fragments writhed within Wu Yuan's divine soul like devils gnawing away at the remnants of his memories. "I've known that you care for this brat's life for a long time," the Primordial Demon said with a faint smile. "I, on the other hand, couldn't care less. I care not for him, He Motian, Fa Ji, and even the Abyssal Demon and Yuan Hui. It doesn't matter if all other demons perish, so long as I remain alive. I alone am the key to the rise of the Dao of Demon. I am its origin and its ultimate end." Demonic flames continued to burn within Wu Yuan's body. "Pang Jian, since I first became self-aware, I knew I was eternal. My growth cannot be stopped. Not by Sovereign Luo nor any of the other Sovereigns. I am destined to become the fifth Sovereign, and perhaps even surpass the other four, to behold the vistas of the God King!" The Primordial Demon's consciousness slowly infested Wu Yuan's divine soul. "You're right, I do care whether he lives or dies. It's best if I can preserve his divine soul. But if I can't, I'll choose the most rational path." Pang Jian said with a hint of helplessness. With that, he pressed the Thunder Pool in his palm against the demonic stone on Wu Yuan's forehead. Endless lightning and thunder, charged with the power to annihilate all things, poured deep into the heart of the Demon Lair. The Duke of Thunder's will sought to purge the world of the Ghost Race, the Demon Races, and all the twisted wills of every Ghost and Demon God. Each lightning bolt exploded with purifying force, turning the world within the Demon Lair into a hellish field of slaughter. The blazing Demon Realm formed through the fusion of the nine Demon Realms was instantly reduced to ashes. The Abyssal Demon, Yuan Hui, and the vortex formed with the Primeval Demon Fusion Art vanished without a trace. Pang Jian! The Primordial Demon's power tainted me just now! I was looking for Yuan Hui, and there was a moment when I wasn't myself! The Abyssal Demon's voice rang out in Pang Jian's mind from a Demon Realm where three suns hung suspended in the sky. That Demon Realm was blazing hot, but unlike the one the Primordial Demon had shown Pang Jian, the clouds in this one did not burn, no flaming meteors streaked across the sky, and the ground was not laced with molten rivers of magma. Everything Pang Jian had seen before was an illusion. Realizing the truth, Pang Jian wasted no time going on the offensive. Though the odds were grim, he decisively unleashed the Thunder Pool, shattering the false world in one sweeping strike. World-annihilating lightning surged through the world within the Demon Lair and pierced into Wu Yuan's sea of consciousness, where it transformed into dragons and serpents, rampaging through the green-black expanse. The lightning tore the Primordial Demon's demonic form asunder with a thunderous blast. More bolts of lightning descended like silver-white waterfalls, rapidly closing in on Wu Yuan's divine soul. "I can't kill you, but I can seriously wound you. I'll erase all the demonic souls you've fused into Wu Yuan's divine soul. Wu Yuan could die, but you'll suffer grave injuries as well." Dozens of massive lightning bolts cascaded toward Wu Yuan's divine soul, locked onto the demonic souls infesting it. Those hundreds upon thousands of gray-green demonic souls were shards of the Primordial Demon's true essence, each branded with the insights that the other Demon Gods had once offered. These insights would be utterly erased if the lightning struck them. To recover them afterward would cost the Primordial Demon immense time and effort. "You don't actually care whether he lives or dies." The Primordial Demon scoffed, still maintaining his composed demeanor. His shadowy figure within the demonic stone faded, taking with it the essence embedded in Wu Yuan's divine soul. All signs of the Primordial Demon within the demonic stone and Wu Yuan's sea of consciousness vanished before the cascades of lightning could strike. The Primordial Demon had been forced to withdraw from Wu Yuan's body. It hid its power, insights, and the scattered fragments of its consciousness through secret means, sealing them within the evil thoughts buried deep in the hearts of the living in the Abyss. As long as those beings endured, so would it. "So it's been here all along," Wu Yuan whispered, watching as the lightning cascades came to a stop. As Pang Jian withdrew from his sea of consciousness, he asked softly, "Will I ever be free of it?" "Not unless you master the Dao of Lightning or attain a deeper mastery of the soul than he does," Pang Jian replied as he retrieved the Thunder Pool.