Yan Hao was deeply puzzled. Though much of his memory had yet to awaken, he instinctively sensed that this realm belonged to him. The stars, the continents, and even every blade of grass only existed because of him. He resonated effortlessly with this realm. It was the embodiment of his Dao and vice versa. Buried deep within his soul was an imprint that guided him to absorb solar energy and reconstruct his body. It was an instinctive urge that drove him toward complete awakening. However, this stranger before him had intercepted the solar energy he had been refining, disrupting the perfect course of his resurrection. "I am Pang Jian, from the Abyss," the man said calmly. "I'm on the verge of ascending to Sovereignhood." Pang Jian, catching the character for "Strike" in his palm, unfurled his divine sense to probe Yan Hao's condition. "Senior, you've long since passed on. The supreme will of the bizarre mist has chosen me as its World God Paragon. Your era is over. It's time you rest in peace." As Pang Jian spoke, he continued to catch the ancient characters descending from the sky, refining them through the Primeval Demon Fusion Art. Once refined, they transformed into insights into the Heavenly Daos, merging with Pang Jian's Divine Persona and becoming part of his very being. With every character he absorbed, his connection with the Ruin Realm gradually returned. "The supreme will of the bizarre mist?" Flames of fury distorted Yan Hao's rugged, masculine face. "It deceived me! Beings like it and the one above have no emotion whatsoever! You cannot escape from it!" The source of this content ɪs 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 Yan Hao's body grew at a terrifying rate. Solar energy and fire energy from within the Ruin Realm rushed into him like a raging tide. In the blink of an eye, he became a vast sea of fire, within which nine blazing suns drifted, each more scorching and brilliant than the last. "Nine Suns Strike the Heavens!" Pang Jian exclaimed in shock. He had not expected the newly reborn God King, still far from his peak, to already be able to manifest a divine domain. "My skull, this Ruin Realm...they're both a prison!" The sea of flames and nine suns wrapped around Yan Hao's body before surging straight toward the bizarre mist, attempting to break free from the Ruin Realm. As Yan Hao started to recover fragments of his memory, an overwhelming fear of his own skull seized him. He was filled with an unrelenting desperation to escape the Ruin Realm—to flee from the control of the supreme wills. "...What?" Pang Jian stood stunned. Even the heavily wounded Mu Duo was startled, staring blankly as Yan Hao, engulfed in a blazing sea of fire, charged toward the Ruin Realm's boundary wall. The Ruin Realm was showered in a rain of light and flame. Yan Hao and his blazing sea of fire had both been obliterated upon colliding with the boundary wall. Many of the ancient characters that Yan Hao had refined earlier reappeared with the destruction of his body. Pang Jian seized the opportunity to absorb them, turning them into nourishment for his breakthrough to Sovereignhood. "Yan Hao died just like that? By crashing into the boundary wall of the Ruin Realm?" Mu Duo was in shock. "Wasn't this realm formed from his skull? He came back to life, only to die again in his own skull?" Among the rain of light and flames, Yan Hao's life seed dropped onto a continent, boring a crater straight through the ground. The power of creation flowed into the crater alongside the solar and fire energies of the Ruin Realm, merging with the life seed. Soon after, a brand-new infant appeared, once again bearing Yan Hao's likeness! The muddled Yan Hao emerged from the crater, wreathed in flames, instinctively refining the solar energies from beyond the Ruin Realm as before. A torrent of characters poured into Yan Hao from above. This time, Pang Jian did not interfere. He allowed the ancient characters to sink into Yan Hao uninterrupted, letting him grow without obstruction. From a boy to a young man, then to a middle-aged one, Yan Hao's appearance changed with every passing second, each indicating a leap in strength. Once he had become a stout middle-aged man with a short beard, he finally seemed to register Pang Jian's presence. Stepping forward, he asked, "Who are you? And...who am I?" "I am Pang Jian, from the Abyss," Pang Jian replied gently. "The will of the bizarre mist chose me as the World God Paragon. Senior, you died long ago. You—" "The will of the bizarre mist?" Yan Hao interrupted. "Don't trust it!" He unleashed his divine domain as before, with nine blazing suns churning within the sea of fire. "Heavenly Strike!" he roared, hurling himself toward the Ruin Realm's boundary wall again. A cataclysmic explosion followed. Ancient characters burst apart into blazing rain, scattering across the sky for Pang Jian to absorb, feeding his path toward Sovereignhood. The second incarnation of Yan Hao had also failed to escape, and once again, his life seed fell, this time landing in the marshes on one of the stars. History repeated itself. The Ruin Realm's power of creation, solar energy, and fire energy surged into that life seed, nurturing it once more. A third Yan Hao was born. His youth, adulthood, and old age flashed by as he drew solar energy from the starry skies. He refined these ancient characters of solar flames into his body in an endless effort to grow stronger and escape from the Ruin Realm. "Who are you? And who am I?" The aged Yan Hao wore a look of bewilderment as he approached Pang Jian. "I can feel traces of my aura and divine power on you. It's as if you're plundering everything that belongs to me. "Something is clouding my mind, keeping me from ever truly awakening. Is it you?" Unlike the youthful and middle-aged incarnations of Yan Hao before, this elderly version looked exhausted, drained to the point of no longer having the will or fighting spirit to fight. "It's not me," Pang Jian replied, expression turning strange. "Pang Jian!" Mu Duo called. "Don't mention that one in the bizarre mist! If you bring it up, Yan Hao will—" "Yan Hao? I...am Yan Hao? The one in the bizarre mist?" Yan Hao's wrinkled face twisted sharply. "Liar!" His all-too-familiar divine domain appeared, though the nine suns were more massive than before. A ruby-like Divine Persona emerged from between his thinning brows, proof that he had returned to godhood this time and was stronger than either of his previous incarnations. He charged toward the boundary wall once again. "Nine Suns Strike the Heavens!" he bellowed. Despite the clear increase in strength, the result remained unchanged. Both he and his divine domain were shattered to pieces once more. The Ruin Realm belonged to him—formed from his skull. Despite this, he tried to flee from it again and again, only to die each time against the wall of his own skull. Pang Jian and Mu Duo stood frozen, an uneasy dread creeping into their hearts as they processed this third succession of this bizarre cycle. "Even mighty beings like Ling Yun and Yan Hao did not meet a good ending," Mu Duo muttered in quiet horror. "There's likely no bright future for mere World Gods like us either."