A deafening roar echoed through the chamber as lightning danced across the ancient runes. Each collision of the ethereal bolts sent tremors through the glyphs, their intricate patterns dissolving with alarming speed. The seal, once impenetrable, crumbled layer by layer.

Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed with a chilling resolve. He raised his right hand, and from it materialized the formidable Child-Mother Dao Bone. The ancient beast bone radiated a spectral light, and a palpable aura of malice filled the air.

Suddenly, the collapsing runes shuddered, a gray pallor spreading across their surface as they began to calcify. In that fleeting moment, Ta Shan surged forward, his fist a thunderous weapon!

A cataclysmic impact reverberated through the sixteenth level, shattering the remaining runes. Lightning surged wildly, then dissipated into a shower of black, crystalline motes that faded into the shadows.

Where the pool had been, a teleportation array shimmered into existence, its light casting an eerie glow.

At that instant, far away on Vermillion Bird Star, an aged Daoist who bore a striking resemblance to a yellow dragon paused his jovial conversation with junior disciples. His gaze drifted towards the unseen depths.

After a long silence, he turned away, a knowing look in his eyes. “Seventeenth level… there is nothing there that needs to remain hidden. The boy’s cultivation has reached a point where he can understand certain truths. But even so, the seventeenth level is his limit. He will never breach the eighteenth.”

Back within the Xianyizhu ruins, Ta Shan stepped into the teleportation array and vanished. Wang Lin waited a moment, confirming it was safe, and then followed. The Great-Headed Boy, Lei Ji, and Yun Quezi surged forward, their forms dissolving into the light as the array winked out of existence.

The seventeenth level was a void of utter darkness, a suffocating realm permeated by the stench of death. In its center, the teleportation array flickered to life.

For a fleeting moment, the chamber was bathed in ethereal light, revealing its horrifying truth.

It was a circular space, barely a hundred paces across, crisscrossed by countless iron chains. From each intersection hung a corpse. These were no ordinary dead, for emanating from their bodies was the unmistakable aura of immortality… celestial energy!

These were the bodies of immortals. But the energy within them was stagnant, devoid of life, as though these souls had hung here for eons.

As quickly as it had appeared, the light vanished, leaving the newcomers in absolute darkness.

Ta Shan was the first to arrive, his keen eyes immediately surveying the scene. Despite his stoic nature, he could not suppress a gasp of horror.

Though the darkness was absolute, it could not hide the truth from their spiritual senses. Wang Lin scanned the chamber and recoiled, his face darkening with a grim understanding.

The Great-Headed Boy, too, felt the full weight of the horror. He had entered the Ascension Pool, shed his mortal shell, and become an immortal. The sight before him was a devastating blow.

Even more alarming, his hard-won celestial energy began to waver, as though crushed by an alien force. He could hear whispers, screams, and the air around him began to grow thick with a foreboding stench. The boy staggered back, a torrent of blood erupting from his lips.

Wang Lin, sensing his companion’s distress, acted quickly. He placed a hand on the boy’s back, flooding him with his own powerful Yuan energy. The Great-Headed Boy gasped, his eyes now filled with a deep reverence.

Yun Quezi, however, reacted in a completely different manner. The moment he arrived, he felt a familiar energy wash over him. The black sigils that covered his body began to writhe and shrink, seemingly reverting to an earlier, simpler form.

Like water, the runes flowed across his skin, driven by an invisible force towards his chest.

Even more disturbingly, the awe and respect he felt for the Great-Headed Boy began to diminish, stifled by an unknown power.

Even Wang Lin felt its influence. The Celestial Bean given to him by Qing Shui seemed to sink into a mire, its power diminished.

An eerie silence hung in the air. Though darkness reigned, they could still see. Chains descended from the walls, trapping the skeletal remains.

Most of the corpses had been impaled through the pelvis. Others were suspended by chains that pierced their shoulder blades.

There were hundreds of them.

Each bone bore the marks of countless lashings, evidence of unimaginable torture.

Runes flickered across their withered flesh, and with each pulse, the celestial energy within grew stronger.

Their *Nascent Souls* had been imprisoned within their dead bodies by some cruel magic.

With their bodies dead and filled with death energies, all their Yuan Shin can do is look around with a dead body.

The cruelty spoke of a deep, festering hatred for immortals. A hate with no end in sight.

“This…” Yun Quezi stammered, his voice barely audible.

“These… these are immortals. Each of them, in life, was stronger than me,” the Great-Headed Boy whispered, a sense of dread washing over him.
Just then, a cacophony of clanking chains shattered the silence. Before them, the shriveled husk of a long-dead warrior stirred. The arcane runes etched upon its withered flesh flared with an unholy light, pulsed like dying embers, then pierced through the decaying frame, sinking into its very *essence*.

In that single, terrible moment, the corpse’s eyes snapped open. Within their depths lay no spark of life, only an abyssal emptiness. But from that void erupted a torrent of unimaginable hatred and murderous intent.

“The Immortals…DIE!” a guttural roar echoed through the chamber. The chains that bound the creature flickered, becoming translucent, then vanished entirely. Freed from their spectral grip, the desiccated figure lunged forward, a storm of malevolent energy swirling about it, heading straight for the Big-Headed Child.

The Big-Headed Child paled, his face a mask of fear. He stumbled back, eyes blazing with desperate fury. Muttering incantations, he frantically channeled his Celestial Essence, preparing to unleash a potent spell!

But then, a horrifying phenomenon unfolded.

The Celestial Essence, meant to fuel his magic, instead drained from him, leaking away with alarming speed. Faster, far faster, than the Big-Headed Child could comprehend.

His spell choked and died before it could be cast, his celestial power vanishing like smoke in the wind. The sight nearly shattered his sanity.

Seeing the corpse closing in, Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with cold determination. He stepped forward, his hand a blur as he slammed it down, an invisible force rippling through the air. With a deafening boom, the undead monstrosity was hurled back a dozen paces.

Faster than thought, Tarsan surged forward, his fist a blur of motion. As it struck, a glowing rune blazed upon his knuckles. The undead warrior, upon seeing the mark, recoiled in abject terror, retreating as though burned by holy fire.

Yun Quezi, his eyes darting back and forth, struggled to comprehend the scene. A long-forgotten legend, whispered amongst his people, flashed across his mind.

“This…this is the Hall of Judgement of the Immortal Forsaken Clan!” he gasped. “Legend speaks of a hidden layer, built by our most ancient ancestors when they first came to Suzaku Star, a place for judgement. Any outsider who dared enter would be met with swift and absolute annihilation! I never believed it…but it’s true!”

As the words left Yun Quezi’s lips, the symphony of clanging chains erupted once more. In that single, terrifying instant, every chained corpse within the seventeenth level snapped awake.

Malevolent glares pierced the gloom. Growls of primal rage reverberated through the chamber. The spectral chains dissolved, granting the undead hordes their freedom. Like ravenous beasts, they surged forward, a tide of withered limbs and deathly intent, heading straight for Wang Lin, the Big-Headed Child, and Lei Ji!

Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed. With a cold snarl, he raised his hand, forming a series of intricate seals. He spoke a single word, heavy with power: “Call the Winds!”

Immediately, a vortex of black wind erupted from his palm, expanding with impossible speed, filling the entire seventeenth level. It became a raging tempest, a swirling vortex of darkness, tearing through the chamber.

From within the howling gale, two spectral black dragons materialized, their roars echoing like thunder. The dark wind swept outwards from Wang Lin, a maelstrom of power engulfing all before it.

The advancing corpses faltered, halting in their tracks. Though powerful in life, they were now puppets, animated by some unnatural force, shadows of their former selves.

But there were *so many*. Their sheer numbers posed a formidable threat.

As the black wind howled, runes blazed upon the decaying flesh of the corpses. They lit up in unison, forming a network of arcane symbols, a seal of immense power that pressed down upon the chamber.

Wang Lin recognized the sensation. He had faced such a seal before, during his battle with the Yao Clan, and it had nearly been his undoing. Realization dawned, and his face hardened. He took a single step forward, a ripple distorting the air beneath his feet. In an instant, he vanished.

The black wind howled, the spectral dragons roaring, tearing through the horde of corpses, flinging them about like rag dolls in a storm.

Some, unable to withstand the force, simply imploded, their withered bodies collapsing into dust!

Wang Lin reappeared beside a particularly grotesque corpse, his eyes devoid of emotion. The power of Heavenly Thunder crackled between his fingers, condensing into an incandescent point of pure energy. In a flash, he plunged his fingers into the skull of the undead warrior!

The corpse convulsed violently. For a fleeting moment, lucidity flickered in its empty eyes, a glimmer of release. Then, with a final shudder, it disintegrated, dissolving into nothingness.

But as it faded, a wisp of Celestial Essence emerged from its remains, flowing directly into Wang Lin, merging with the Celestial Bean of Qing Shui within his dantian. Wang Lin’s eyes widened in surprise, then erupted with elation. The Celestial Essence, rather than harming him, was being absorbed, becoming part of his own power!

A discovery that filled Wang Lin with unrestrained joy.