Closest to the Grand Dynasty lay the Five Auxiliary Cities, each named for an element: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. They encircled the capital, a sprawling ten-thousand leagues away, where legions of soldiers stood vigil. With a single stride, Wang Lin arrived at the Golden City. Smaller than the Grand Capital, it nonetheless pulsed with a decadent luxury. Yet, even from afar, he could sense that its prosperity was but a veneer masking a deep-seated resentment.

This palpable怨qi, the spirit of bitterness and wrong, congealed in the city’s upper air, like a malevolent flame, writhing and unstable.

Nearing the city walls, Wang Lin unleashed his divine sense, a force that encompassed all within its bounds. Scanning every inch, his eyes flashed with an icy light, and a cold snort escaped his lips.

That single, chilling sound reverberated through the city, instantly triggering three calamitous events. Within the City Lord’s mansion, a strategist named Sun, deep in meditative repose, suddenly shuddered, his body erupting in a crimson explosion of blood and gore.

In two other locations, similar fates unfolded.

Wang Lin’s expression remained frigid as he turned and departed. His speed was such that the hidden agents of the Corpse Sect had no chance to react. A mere flicker, and his divine sense swept over the remaining four cities. Within Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, the echo of shattering flesh resounded.

His grim task completed in these satellite cities, Wang Lin pressed on. His divine sense now blanketed every settlement within the Grand Dynasty. On the outskirts, Corpse Sect disciples, their faces etched with panic, scattered like startled birds, desperate to flee.

But no sooner had they taken to the skies than a frigid snort echoed in their ears, their bodies seized by a violent tremor, their mortal forms crushed by the sheer power of a nascent-Void cultivator’s divine sense!

A cacophony of sickening thuds filled the Grand Dynasty as Corpse Sect disciples coughed up blood, their bodies unraveling, their very souls imploding into raw spirit energy, to be absorbed into the soil, nourishment for the Vermillion Bird.

These sudden and inexplicable events threw the populace of the Grand Dynasty into a state of utter chaos, fear rippling through the streets as they speculated on the cause.

As Wang Lin’s divine sense cleansed the Grand Dynasty’s cities, and with each death of a Corpse Sect disciple, his expression grew darker. From the memories of the star-maiden of Phoenix Plume, he knew that these lands had been infested. The Corpse Sect was harvesting the 怨qi, erecting altars dedicated to the cultivation of wraiths in almost every city.

This was not merely an issue on Vermillion Bird Star, but across the Star Alliance; every branch of the Corpse Sect was engaged in this insidious practice.

While the woman from Phoenix Plume held the position of Great Elder, Vermillion Bird Star was of such minor consequence that she would normally never have been deployed here. Yet, in a strange turn of events, the Corpse Sect’s headquarters within the Star Alliance had specifically assigned her, a Void-Fulfilling cultivator, to the role.

However, these details were of little concern to Wang Lin. What truly troubled him was a cryptic command, a secret order she had received from the Corpse Sect headquarters upon her arrival on Vermillion Bird Star!

No matter how he delved into her memories, he could not unearth a single trace of it. This could only mean that the skill used to transmit the order exceeded his current cultivation level.

Still, piecing together fragments, a sliver of understanding began to form in his mind. First, a woman of her status and cultivation would never stoop to becoming a concubine.

Why then was she in the Imperial City? Even if she sought control, her power afforded her countless methods; there was no logical reason for her to personally reside within the Imperial Palace.

Furthermore, she had arrived on Vermillion Bird Star less than a century ago, yet she had entered the Imperial City a decade past!

In her memories, the decade-old event was shrouded in blankness, as if excised by a skilled hand. Despite this, Wang Lin could sense, through other fragments, that she had sought refuge in the Imperial City to escape something.

For the past ten years, she had been cautious and discreet within the Imperial City, concealing her cultivation.

“What occurred a decade ago that forced her to flee to the human-filled Imperial City to hide… And moreover, did she truly believe she would remain undetected there?”

Wang Lin furrowed his brow, lost in thought for a moment, before dismissing the matter. Instead, he expanded his divine sense, no longer focusing on the cities, but seeking out the Corpse Sect’s havens in every cultivation nation of Vermillion Bird Star.

The Corpse Sect was a vast organization. Even on Vermillion Bird Star alone, he recalled countless branches. Almost every cultivation nation harbored a hidden presence of the Corpse Sect.

Yet, through the memories of the woman from Phoenix Plume, he knew that the Sect had undergone a significant reorganization after her arrival. All of the branches had been consolidated into a single headquarters on Vermillion Bird Star.

Intriguingly, this new headquarters was located in Zhao, at the very site of the old Corpse Sect of Zhao!

Having purged the cities of the Corpse Sect’s agents, Wang Lin, his face an unreadable mask, set off towards the Corpse Sect headquarters in Zhao. His pace was swift, and before long, he was streaking across the sky like a comet, arriving at the designated location!

Centuries had passed since he had last been here. As he gazed upon the plains and marshes below, a glint of ice formed in his eyes. “Interesting,” he murmured quietly. “There are quite a few new restrictive formations.”

“Ta Shan,” Wang Lin said calmly, “Tear this place open.”

Ta Shan, his expression impassive, took several steps forward. Without even glancing at the swamp below, he clenched his right fist and drove it downwards. A deafening boom erupted as the earth itself seemed to convulse, shaking violently.

The marshland, once a part of the flat expanse, was torn from the ground, erupting into the air in a geyser of mud and water. The very earth seemed to have been rent asunder.

Countless restrictive formations flickered into existence, their light piercing the gloom. But while such formations might prove fatal to nascent-Soul cultivators, they were of no consequence to Ta Shan.

With a single strike, the formations shattered, their light fading into nothingness. The land, still trembling, split open, revealing a hidden passage within.
Wang Lin strode forward, entering the secret passage with a measured pace. Ta Shan lumbered along behind him, while the large-headed boy, his curiosity piqued, gazed about with a childlike wonder, bringing up the rear.

As he traversed the narrow corridor, a wave of reminiscence washed over Wang Lin. Centuries had passed since he last trod this path, twice venturing here with the utmost caution. Now, however, his return was drastically different.

With each step, Wang Lin unleashed his divine sense, saturating the entire Corpse Yin Sect, sealing off every avenue of escape. He had come seeking the heart of this vile sect. Then, as now, Wang Lin felt nothing but contempt for the Corpse Yin Sect, especially their abhorrent practice of using descendants of his own Wang family to cultivate vengeful spirits.

Though these distant relatives, separated by generations, stirred no deep affection within him, the Wang blood still flowed in their veins. To see them so cruelly used ignited a simmering rage within him.

Along the way, any Corpse Yin Sect cultivator caught within the reach of his divine sense instantly crumbled to dust. Many such practitioners dwelled within these halls, their faces contorted in a macabre mixture of fear and malice as they desperately sought to flee. But Wang Lin’s divine barrier was absolute; none could hope to escape his wrath.

Suddenly, a blinding flash of sword-light erupted from the darkness ahead, hurtling directly towards Wang Lin.

The sword-light thrummed with potent energy, betraying the wielder’s cultivation at the Soul Transformation stage. Its passage through the narrow tunnel created a howling wind.

Wang Lin’s expression remained impassive. With a casual flick of his right finger, he channeled a fraction of his vast spiritual power. A ripple bloomed in the air before him, expanding outwards to meet the oncoming blade. The sword-light shattered instantly.

A muffled grunt of surprise echoed through the tunnel, but the rippling energy emanating from Wang Lin’s fingertip surged forward, swallowing the sound. With a series of popping noises, the assailant, undeterred, pressed on with even greater speed. His hands danced through a series of arcane hand seals as he launched himself towards Wang Lin.

Wang Lin had already noted the attacker’s appearance. He was withered and emaciated, resembling a walking corpse. His body was covered in a grotesque tapestry of runes, and a nauseating stench emanated from him. His eyes were dim and lifeless, as if devoid of all sentience.

As he studied the approaching figure, Wang Lin recognized a flicker of familiarity within the creature’s face. A wave of sorrow washed over him. He remained silent as the desiccated corpse closed the distance.

With a sigh, Wang Lin shifted his weight and lashed out with his right foot. A thunderous boom echoed through the tunnel. The force of the kick struck the corpse full on. The creature shuddered violently, and its body began to disintegrate from the legs upwards. The disintegration spread rapidly, consuming the entire figure in an instant, leaving only a cloud of dust.

In the final moment of its destruction, the creature’s eyes flickered with a brief flash of lucidity. It looked upon Wang Lin with an expression of bewildered recognition before its form vanished completely.

“To think, the once proud Ye Zizai has become another’s puppet…” Wang Lin sighed, resuming his advance. He moved deliberately, knowing that further ambushes awaited him. Each, however, met the same swift and utter destruction.

Each attacker was a corpse puppet, nothing more.

Following the twisting passage, Wang Lin arrived at the heart of the Corpse Yin Sect – a vast subterranean cavern. As he entered, his eyes turned as cold as winter ice. He stared intently into the distance, his gaze piercing the darkness, reaching beyond the confines of the cavern to focus on eight colossal teleportation arrays. Upon each array, a teeming mass of Corpse Yin Sect cultivators stood, their forms slowly fading as the arrays activated.

“You will not escape,” Wang Lin murmured, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. He swept his divine sense across the arrays, and with a surge of power, each array began to buckle and crack. In a matter of moments, three of the arrays exploded in a cataclysmic burst, tearing open rifts in space and swallowing the fleeing disciples whole, banishing them to oblivion.

The remaining five arrays followed suit in quick succession. In the end, not a single Corpse Yin Sect disciple managed to escape.

For a Nirvana Exalt, one who had stepped into the second realm of cultivation, to destroy a mere sect required no bloodshed. A single thought, a flicker of will, was enough to bring about its utter ruin.

Not even those at the Yin-Yang stage, potent though they might be, possessed such power. For the Yin-Yang stage was merely a transitional realm, a stepping stone on the path to Nirvana Exaltation, a true ascension into the second realm of power.