A phantasmal palace, shimmering above the Demon Spirit Land, solidified with the arrival of the Flower Consort, as though plucked from Wang Lin’s very dwelling.

In the instant she stepped forth, the palace, now undeniably real, along with the swirling, kaleidoscopic blooms that danced around it, shrunk. In the blink of an eye, they diminished to the size of a palm, a miniature masterpiece steeped in floral aroma, resting upon the Consort’s hand.

Her jade fingers closed, and the tiny spectacle dissolved, merging into her very being.

She lifted a head that could stir the heart, her gaze, serene yet tinged with melancholy and longing, met the eyes of the ancient demon, Taggia. Aeons had passed since their separation, a gulf that, though seemingly near, stretched like an impassable chasm. Their reunion was but a mirage, a reflection in the water, the soul of what once was forever lost.

It was as gazing from the riverbank, where verdant waters mirrored emerald hills. To cross the river was to find something essential missing. The hills and water remained, but the soul was gone.

Taggia’s eyes blazed crimson as he beheld the Flower Consort, lust and avarice warring within him. He roared with laughter, “I have long heard of Qing Lin’s legendary fortune with women, his eight consorts famed for their peerless beauty, the Flower Consort chief among them! Said to hail from the Wind Immortal Realm, sister to the Celestial Emperor Lan Yun! I was denied a glimpse in the past, but now I see the tales were true!

Your Qing Lin may be dead, but his body remains! Submit to me, and be a flower vase cauldron for my pleasure!” With a stride, Taggia lunged, his hand reaching, grasping.

Despite his brash laughter, Taggia’s mind was steeped in caution. He feared not the Consort herself, but the lingering dread of Qing Lin. According to her words, Qing Lin had foreseen his own demise, weaving intricate safeguards even before Taggia’s usurpation. The Flower Consort’s appearance was undoubtedly one of those ploys.

“Qing Lin achieved the zenith of Celestial Emperors, even we denizens of the Outer Realm know his name. Beyond his formidable power, he possessed a calculating mind that could unravel the very fabric of fate!”

As Taggia moved, the Demon Spirit Land shuddered. Swirling black mists erupted in the sky, engulfing all. As Taggia’s hand lunged, these dark vapors churned, coalescing into a colossal, ebony arm that descended from the heavens, aimed squarely at the Flower Consort.

Simultaneously, the humanoid figure beside Taggia fixed its cold gaze upon Wang Lin. With a blur, it hurtled toward him, a howling wind preceding its approach.

Void Shatterer was a wretched sight. He stood, yet his gasps for air were ragged and desperate, audible even at a distance.

It was the sound of a beast, not a man.

Worse, saliva drooled from his lips, pooling upon the ground, a viscous fluid that stretched into shimmering strands, a nauseating spectacle.

His eyes bulged, bloodshot and crazed, his ancient face a grotesque mask of madness.

He too stared fixedly at Wang Lin, the remnants of his memory clinging to the hatred and thirst for vengeance. With a roar, Void Shatterer followed in the wake of the humanoid figure, rushing towards Wang Lin.

Celestial Sovereign Tian Yun remained serene, an air of omniscience about him, as though the events unfolding in the Immortal Emperor’s cavern were all within his grasp, never deviating from his carefully laid plans.

Lord Ling Tian kept his head bowed, his face a battlefield of struggle, complexity, confusion, and regret. The approach of the inhuman figure and Void Shatterer was met by Wang Wei and Hu Juan, yet the Cloud Immortal couple, weakened from previous battles, found themselves pushed back by the inhuman figure’s strange powers.

Void Shatterer, with his raspy breaths, intensified the madness in his eyes as Wang Wei and Hu Juan moved to intercept him. He only sought Wang Lin; anyone who stood in his path would be trampled upon without regard.

As he neared Wang Wei, Void Shatterer emitted a bestial growl, and his flesh began to writhe with an unnatural vigor. Wang Wei, her face tightening, retreated without hesitation.

In that moment, Void Shatterer opened his jaws and spewed forth a torrent of black blood. The ichor reeked of decay, and with each expulsion, his body shuddered convulsively, as if draining itself of life.

The gushing blood, as if imbued with malevolent intelligence, solidified into a web that streaked towards Wang Wei. As she pulled away, Wang Wei incanted an enchantment and with a deafening boom, a gargantuan iceberg materialized!

The iceberg appeared so abruptly that the torrent of blood was blocked, but the blackened liquid possessed an uncanny heat, rapidly melting the ice and staining it black.

“Wang Lin, that is the Flesh Decay, the first of the Five Declines of Heaven and Man faced by a Nirvana Shatterer! His flesh will rot away until he crumbles into oblivion!” Wang Wei exclaimed, her voice strained with urgency. She wished to stand in Void Shatterer’s path, but Hu Juan was being pushed back from the inhumoid creature.

With haste, Wang Wei summoned more ice barriers before Wang Lin and then teleported to aid Hu Juan.

With no one left to block him, Void Shatterer advanced on Wang Lin, the black blood and drool running down his chin. His madness swelled, and he was no longer the dignified elder of the Alliance, but a hideous animal.

Beholding Void Shatterer, Wang Lin was shaken. But not from fear, but from the Heavenly Decrees, a topic he had come to know from his previous battles.

“So this is the first of the Heavenly Decrees…”

After reaching the second step in cultivation, one would find that they no longer face the limitation of mortality, and instead, they would be able to tap into the essence of the world to rejuvenate and heal themselves, but even still, the Heavens would not let any being live forever, and for the Nirvana Shatters, there were the Five Declines!

It’s not to say those who don’t possess a level of power as high as a Nirvana Shatterer are safe and don’t need to worry about this either, in fact, a much more painful fate awaits them…

Void Shatterer stumbled through what was left of the ice, he opens his mouth once again, and this time, with no more blood to spit, he expels his rotting guts.

As the Black Hand summoned by the Old Demon Taggia approached, the Flower Consort rose her jade fingers, and upon her finger, a sphere appeared.

That Sphere was filled with qi and had countless illusory sights within, and with a strong scent of flowers, it rose to the sky, and upon clashing with the black hand, it bursted, creating a shockwave and reversing the Dark Energy.

The Old Demon Taggia’s eyes shrunk and he rushed towards the Flower Consort, and with a series of quick hand signs, he changed the sky. With the dark gas swarming in, the gas started to gather and condense.

“This magic, you must be familiar with it!” The Old Demon Tagia grins as he grabs at the sky, “Burial Star!”

Upon his words, the dark qi turned and changed even faster, creating black orbs that shined with starlight.

The night sky now was alight with light from these stars, and it looked as if it was day.

“My husband’s Sun, Moon, and Stars magic, the Burial Star…” The Flower Consort said softly, “But you can’t reach its full potential.”

Tagia scoffed, and the orbs shined even brighter and morphed into a connection of light. Then the lights started to shower down upon the Flower Consort.

It looked like Tagia was trying to bury her with stars!

“If my husband cast the Burial Star, he would have been able to use the power of the stars to create a massive spell that covers the whole star system, whether fighting 10,000 people or 100,000, if he had to fight only one, then he would have this one to use all the power of the Star System!” The Flower Consort scoffed and with a series of hand signs, she exhaled an aroma, that created nine orbs that surrounded her!

These orbs contained the elemental powers and surrounded the Flower Consort, creating a formation that blocked the light, creating the most shining spot under the night sky!

At the same time, outside of the Demon Spirit Lands, the Vermillion Bird Saints were beating against the barrier, and with a boom, the barrier started to break.

Along with the barrier, the sky itself also broke, as if the sky was the barrier, and with starlight, it broke.

The Vermillion Bird Saints are here!