The inferno raged with a ferocity beyond Wang Lin’s imaginings. The flames within his eyes dimmed as the bottle-world collapsed, and in that fleeting moment before interdimensional travel became impossible, he retrieved his storage pouch from the black tower, along with the yellow crystal given to him by the enigmatic figure in the grand hall.

He had no time to examine the crystal. The instant it was within the pouch, the raging sea of fire, fueled by the very fabric of the collapsing worlds, surged towards the final boundary of the bottled realm!

The conflagration swept through the remaining ninety-eight realms, gathering their essence and converting it into a wild, untamable force of flame. With a thunderous roar, it slammed against the barrier of the last world.

A cataclysmic sound reverberated through every corner of the trapped dimension, unleashing waves of scorching heat that filled the void. This inferno surpassed even the Celestial Art of Burning Skies conjured by the Nether Sea!

Even Wang Lin, who had absorbed vast quantities of the flame, could only achieve this effect by using his body as a conduit to expel the unusable, spent fire. He could never replicate it again.

Unless, perhaps, another unending fire sea existed, allowing him sufficient time to absorb its power, reach his peak, and unleash it once more.

Now, the crimson hue faded from Wang Lin’s skin, returning him to his normal appearance. However, the lifelike Vermillion Bird totem emblazoned upon his body blazed with blood-red intensity, imbuing him with an ineffable aura.

The Vermillion Bird’s tail feathers, in particular, followed the contours of his back, stopping at his brow, as if they had been woven into his dark hair, resembling violet flames flickering amongst the raven strands.

The Vermillion Bird’s awakening granted Wang Lin not an increase in cultivation, but a transformation of his Yuan energy. The intense heat contained within made all his arcane powers far more dangerous!

His Ancient God physique, constantly adapting to the flames, now allowed him to unleash torrents of fire with every gesture.

Wang Lin’s cultivation remained at the mid-stage of the Soul Transformation realm, but he was now the mightiest amongst his peers! Combined with his Ancient God flesh and the boundless power of flame, even a late-stage Soul Cleansing cultivator would find him a formidable foe, wary of his resilient body and fiery magic.

However, his five-star Ancient God physique still limited his potential, and reaching the strength of a mid-stage Soul Cleansing cultivator was his limit.

To truly challenge the might of a late-stage Soul Cleansing cultivator, Wang Lin’s own cultivation needed to reach at least that level.

After all, the gulf between each minor realm in the second step of cultivation was vast. Though his Ancient God body aided him, some chasms could not be easily bridged, such as the difference between the mid and late Soul Cleansing stages!

Blood Ancestor’s long stagnation within the mid-stage Soul Cleansing realm was a testament to its difficulty.

In truth, unless blessed with immense fortune, reaching the late or perfect stages of Soul Cleansing was exceedingly difficult. It not only required profound insights into the Intents, but also the mastery of the very fabric of worldly rules.

Late-stage Soul Cleansing demanded the fusion of Intents and rules, culminating in a peak during the perfect Soul Cleansing stage, the gateway to the dream realm of most cultivators: Shattered Nirvana, the highest known plane of existence!

Within the collapsing bottle-world, the sea of fire roared, continuously battering the final realm. With each impact, the entire trapped dimension shuddered.

The boundless inferno, unleashed like a raging beast, tore through the final world with deafening cracks, shattering it utterly!

The sky ripped open, crumbling like shattered parchment, swirling and folding in upon itself. Beyond the wreckage, the Ancient Fiend Bellow materialized in the heart of the collapsing world!

In his right hand, he clutched a grey scroll, exuding a potent aura of Immortality that assaulted Bellow’s body. As if alive, the scroll resisted the Fiend’s control, struggling to break free.

Bellow’s cold gaze pierced the shattered realm, sweeping across all below before settling upon Wang Lin in the deepest reaches.

The scroll in his grasp pulsed with even greater Immortal energy, accompanied by muffled roars. Bellow sneered, crushing it within his grip. The seven Fiend Stars upon his right eye blazed, unleashing torrents of Fiend power that surged into the scroll.

Soft cracks echoed, as if shattering every lock and seal upon the scroll. A roar of defiance erupted, quickly smothered as the grey parchment was engulfed in a flash of verdant light.

The roar ceased, and the potent Immortal energy vanished, replaced by boundless Fiend essence.

Its color shifted from ashen to green!

All of this occurred in the blink of an eye. The entire sky dissolved, the ninety-nine worlds collapsing in an instant. It was as if the heavens were reborn, chaos reigniting, shrouded in mist.

The swirling mist mingled with the sea of fire, transforming the inferno, igniting it into a more powerful force, surging forth to batter the realm beyond the ninety-nine worlds!

The boundless fire, fused with the mist, generated waves of intense heat. The entire world trembled and shook, rocketing toward the nothingness above!

Upon the wooden bridge within the Immortal Emperor’s Cave, the white jade bottle before the man shrouded in mist glowed crimson, radiating intense heat. The wooden stopper quivered violently, as if a force from within threatened to burst it open.

The mist-shrouded figure, his eyes gleaming with a frigid light, raised his withered right hand and pointed towards the stopper. A wave of Demonic Qi roared forth, plunging into the wooden plug.

But as the Demonic Qi was about to seep into the white jade bottle, a heaven-shattering boom erupted within the Immortal Emperor’s Cave!

In that instant, the stopper on the white jade bottle shattered, splintering into countless fragments that sprayed upwards like a fountain.

The force of the eruption was so immense that it manifested into gale-force winds, peeling away the mist surrounding the figure, revealing a hint of his true form.

Visible now was black armor, inlaid with complex patterns, radiating a sinister Demonic Qi that saturated the heavens.

His gnarled fingers were thrown back as the stopper exploded, and two baleful eyes gleamed from the helmet, fixed on the white jade bottle.

As the wooden stopper disintegrated, a crimson geyser of flame spewed from the bottle’s mouth, releasing unimaginable heat!

It was a sight beyond comprehension, as if the white jade bottle had transformed into a volcano, now erupting in a torrent of fiery destruction!

The heat was so intense that the wooden bridge beneath the mist-shrouded figure was immediately engulfed in flames, even the river beneath boiling away into a cloud of steam. The riverbed, now exposed, cracked and withered, while the monstrous beasts within screamed as their bodies were reduced to bloody mist.

The bridge, in that instant, was consumed, leaving only ash in its wake!

The mist-shrouded figure stood within a courtyard, surrounded by pavilions and gardens. A bamboo grove swayed nearby.

Once a tranquil paradise, now a landscape of demonic energy, warped and twisted. The pavilions were now sinister, the bamboo jet black, and even the grass bore a twisted form!

But regardless of whether this was once a paradise or now a demonic domain, it was all instantly consumed by the eruption, reduced to ashes!

The mist-shrouded figure was also struck by the sudden onslaught, the mist surrounding him ripped away for dozens of feet, revealing his true form!

Beneath the purplish-black armor, long white hair flowed. In the instant the fire engulfed his position, he shot into the air, his eyes blazing with a malevolent light.

From within the blazing white jade bottle emerged a bald man, holding a green scroll in his right hand: the Ancient Fiend Bellow.

A smile played on his lips as he gazed upon the armored figure, shaking his head. “One of the Immortal Emperor’s Four Guardians, the Fallen Blade, now a Dissipating Devil refined by the Ancient Demons! How tragic!”

Behind Bellow appeared the Celestial Sovereign, Ling Tianhou, Void Sky, Situ Nan, and the comely village woman!

The gourd-bearing elder, the black-clad man bearing the Black Dragon imprint, the Dust Taoist Trinity and Great Head also flew from the bottle’s maw. Also present were the woman shrouded in demonic energy and the Sun Clan elder with his Star-Marked Mink.

Everyone who had entered the Immortal’s Cave was now present, save for the Cloud Immortal Couple and Wang Lin!

With the flames of the white jade bottle finally exhausted, another wave of heat blasted forth, and Wang Lin soared into the air, his gaze blazing like the inferno itself as he surveyed his surroundings.

The instant he appeared, he felt the weight of countless gazes upon him, like bolts of lightning.

Void Sky’s face remained unchanged, but a silent killing intent welled up within him at the sight of Wang Lin. Ling Tianhou’s expression was complex. The more he learned of Wang Lin, the more he realized the need not to underestimate the younger man.

The Celestial Sovereign’s brow furrowed slightly, before relaxing.

As for the others, their expressions varied. The village woman and her disciples, the black-clad man, all looked upon Wang Lin with different intentions.

Even the Dispersing Devil in armor cast Wang Lin a frigid glance.

All present knew the origins of the mind-shattering inferno! This Wang Lin, whom they had once considered insignificant, was now etched into their minds.

The sea of fire still raged, threatening to reduce all to ash. A bloodthirsty smile spread across the Dispersing Devil’s face, and his arms opened wide. A surge of Demonic Qi erupted from his armor,

forming two black vortexes that spiraled into the sky.