Within the abyss, the humanoid horror pursued relentlessly, its twin, glacial orbs fixed upon Wang Lin, hurtling upwards like a banshee’s wail made flesh.

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed, and without hesitation, he raised his right hand, pointing it downwards.

Instantly, the five fiery black dragons that coiled around him roared, their forms a swirling vortex of infernal energy. They plunged from his side and into the pit, a scene reminiscent of a volcanic eruption where the very fabric of reality had been inverted, drawing the erupting flames back into the earth.

Waves of intense heat blasted outwards. With deafening roars, the fiery black dragons plummeted into the chasm, seeking to devour and obliterate the rising, inhuman figure.

*BOOM!*

A cataclysmic sound echoed throughout the cavern, shaking the very foundations of the earth. The five dragons, like five bolts of heavenly wrath, detonated upon contact with the humanoid thing, creating an unimaginable concussive force.

The thunderous roar mingled with the resonating echoes, creating a soundscape of utter annihilation that enveloped the surroundings.

Within the pit, great swathes of rock crumbled and fell, as though the abyss itself were collapsing. Fiery light pulsed amidst the devastation, punctuated by enraged, guttural cries.

Without pausing to assess the damage, Wang Lin, having unleashed the Winds of Fury, once more raised his right hand. With a guttural incantation, he summoned the Rains of Binding. In that instant, countless crystalline droplets materialized around him, a shimmering, ethereal halo that seemed to capture the very essence of beauty.

These countless raindrops blanketed the cavern, an endless, shimmering expanse that instantly saturated the air with a heavy, clinging humidity. More significantly, as they formed, they subtly siphoned a sliver of celestial power from the very fabric of the cavern, infusing each drop with unimaginable potency.

All this occurred in the blink of an eye. Mere moments after the fiery dragons plunged into the pit, Wang Lin clenched his hands into a signet, and with a ferocious downward thrust, unleashed the deluge. The rain, now like a storm of countless, deadly comets, hurtled towards the collapsing abyss.

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

The cacophony reached a fever pitch as the Rains of Binding neared their target. Each raindrop throbbed with Wang Lin’s arcane energy, and a searing, infernal heat. Upon striking the stone, they turned solid rock into red-hot ash in an instant.

The already crumbling pit was relentlessly bombarded, each impact eliciting a piercing hiss as the droplets pierced the stone, filling the air with acrid smoke. Yet, this was but a glimpse of the power that Wang Lin now wielded at the pinnacle of the Insightful Void stage. In his earlier years, during the Ascendant stage, his control over the Winds and Rains had possessed a certain potency; now, having reached Insightful Void Perfection, he could truly begin to wield the full potential of the arts that Bai Fan himself had so skillfully mastered.

As the Rains of Binding fell like a torrential downpour into the abyss, the collapse reached its apex. With thunderous roars, the pit surrendered to oblivion as countless tons of rock and earth cascaded downwards, threatening to fill the chasm completely.

Combined with the earlier Winds of Fury, these two spells of Bai Fan took on a new, sinister synergy. Without a moment to study the phenomenon, Wang Lin surged forward, setting his sights on the maze of forbidden pavilions.

He had meticulously memorized the map from the jade scroll, a chart that not only depicted the cavern’s intricate pathways but also precisely marked the locations of various forbidden zones.

Ahead lay a bamboo forest, verdant and vibrant from a distance. The map warned, however, that this grove concealed tens of thousands of layered enchantments. Triggering even a single one would instantly unleash a chain reaction, obliterating any who dared trespass within.

Wang Lin moved like lightning, directly toward the forest. He neared its edge in a matter of breaths, plunging into its depths. The instant he did, a titanic explosion erupted behind him from the abyss.

A furious roar, primal and untamed, ripped through the air. The humanoid abomination, having survived Wang Lin’s onslaught, tore its way out of the collapsing pit.

Though still translucent, much of the crimson webbing that encased its form had been shattered, leaving it visibly battered. Wang Lin’s onslaught had clearly taken its toll.

Escaping the abyss, it fixed its gaze upon Wang Lin, who had now reached the edge of the bamboo forest. An icy, murderous intent blazed in its eyes.

*ROAR!*

The reverberations of its cry shook the very heavens. Nearby enchantments sputtered to life, but before they could unleash their power, they crumbled under the force of the sonic assault.

The ground itself fissured and cracked, spider-webbing with countless fractures as a gale-force wind screamed upwards toward the heavens.

In front of the abomination, ripples of distorted air materialized. It lunged into these waves, propelling itself forward in a berserk charge towards Wang Lin.

Even now, Wang Lin remained uncertain as to the nature of this being. Though it possessed a vaguely humanoid form, its appearance was undeniably grotesque. Its eyes, in particular, while undeniably sentient, held a look that inspired profound unease. Throughout their chase, Wang Lin had observed that it had not consciously invoked any specific incantations; even the launching of the crimson webbing had appeared to be an unconscious act.

The more Wang Lin observed, the more unnerved he became, particularly by the fact that this entity had been found within the skull of an ancient god! *Had it existed within the god before its death, or had it infested the corpse after? If the latter, then so be it, but if it had existed while the god lived, could it have been involved in the death of the Eight-Star Ancient God? Could it be that this god had not been felled by the nebulous concept of the Heavenly Dao as he had previously assumed?*

Wang Lin realized his previous conjecture was absurd, even for him. The more he considered the humanoid being before him, the more his old theories seemed to crumble.

*What truly occurred? Who slew the Eight-Star Ancient God and severed its head? Why were the immortals able to acquire the skull, and, more perplexing, having obtained it, why had they failed to discover the iron sword within? And, having found the sword, why did they choose to leave it in place?*

The questions raged in Wang Lin’s mind, but he had no time to ponder them now. The abomination’s roar was close behind. Turning, Wang Lin fixed the pursuing entity with a cold stare and took his first step into the bamboo forest.

This had all been meticulously calculated within the depths of the abyss, including the use of the bamboo forest, which he had marked on the jade scroll.

The instant Wang Lin’s foot fell within the bamboo grove, he vanished from sight.

The humanoid being’s roar echoed, and it surged into the forest where Wang Lin had disappeared, only to halt abruptly at the forest’s edge. Its cold eyes narrowed as it cautiously regarded the grove.

This hesitation, however, was short-lived. Concern quickly gave way to rage, and the beast snarled. After pacing the forest’s edge, its crimson webbing flexing, it threw back its head and howled. Without further hesitation, it plunged into the depths of the bamboo.

In a flash of light, the beast was gone.

Moments later, deeper in the forest, a figure emerged from the darkness. It was Wang Lin. He calmly glanced towards the place where the abomination had disappeared, then turned to regard the rest of the grove with thoughtful eyes before carefully stepping aside.

With that step, the world blurred before him, and the next moment, he found himself beyond the bamboo forest.

While deciphering the enchantments here would have been difficult even for Wang Lin’s formidable knowledge of forbidden arts, with the map from the jade scroll, he had been able to navigate it without triggering its defenses.

The bamboo forest was but one such location.

“The enchantments in the forest are potent, but that entity is far more dangerous. These traps will only hold it for so long. I must press onwards into the depths of this cavern,” Wang Lin muttered. He gazed ahead to the dark miasma that clung to the far reaches of the maze of pavilions.

From that distance, a corner of a palace could barely be seen amidst the gloom.

That location marked the center of this cavern, yet Wang Lin knew that it was merely the entrance to the second level. Before obtaining the map from the jade scroll, the Immortal Emperor’s cavern had remained a baffling maze.

Now, however, with the exception of the final layer, its structure was clear in his mind. The cavern consisted of nine distinct layers, each with its own unique architecture and increasingly formidable enchantments.

Already, the enchantments on the first layer were powerful, but Wang Lin knew that as he delved deeper, they would eventually become impossibly lethal.

“This is the true Immortal Emperor’s cavern. Normally, one would enter directly here after being teleported, but that cursed Scatter Demon tampered with the process using his White Jade Bottle, drawing myself and the others into the Bottle Realm! Then, after we escaped, he triggered the Burial Pond, causing the collapse that scattered us all once more. His aim was to ensure that we became utterly lost within the Immortal Emperor’s cavern.” Wang Lin’s eyes glittered. The map that he possessed was not complete; it only depicted the first seven layers. The final two were blurred beyond recognition, as though deliberately erased.

Wang Lin had noticed this when he first acquired the jade scroll. The confirmation of this fact had solidified what he already suspected.

After a moment of silence, Wang Lin set off. Emerging from the forest, he followed a path lined with large slabs of jade that radiated a soft light.

Wang Lin moved cautiously, his eyes fixed on the inky mists that shrouded the heart of the labyrinth as he sped forward.