The unimaginable power washed over me, leaving me adrift in a sea of disorientation. I believed it a fleeting moment, a mere blink in eternity, but the truth was far crueler – a full three moons vanished! When I finally awoke, clarity returning like the first ray of dawn after a long night, the Immortal Realm was teetering on the precipice of collapse…

The newly crowned Azure Dragon Emperor, headstrong and deaf to my warnings, ventured forth to ascertain the ruin for himself. He sought the heart of the devastation, but he never returned. The Void claimed him, swallowed him whole into its gaping maw.

Centuries drifted by, each marked by the deepening wounds inflicted by the Immortal Realm’s demise. From the festering chaos, a festering wound of its own: the Alliance of Cultivators. Whispers spoke of its masters within the Kun Void Realm, their tendrils slithering into mortal affairs.

This so-called Alliance, through methods most foul and inscrutable, seized the lion’s share of the Rain Realm’s ancient lore. My heart cried for answers, for the whereabouts of the lost Azure Dragon Emperor. But fate, ever cruel, had other designs. The dreaded Third Heavenly Tribulation descended upon me, demanding my attention. As I retreated to seclusion, seeking to weather the storm, the Alliance unleashed its fury upon the Four Divine Sects…

The Black Tortoise Emperor, corrupted by shadows, betrayed us. Though I struck him down, leaving him grievously wounded, my weakened state, burdened by the tribulation, prevented me from delivering the final blow. The Serpent’s treachery would be repaid later…or so I wished.

The White Tiger Emperor, valiant to the last, fell in battle. His body, a sacred relic of power and honor, was stolen away, defiled by the grasping hands of the Alliance. It was a devastating blow; we were losing ground fast.

The irony stung like venom. The Alliance, blind to the true stakes, suffered grievous losses, yet remained convinced that this conflict was merely a struggle for dominance over the Kun Void Starfield. Fools!

They knew not that this war, born of betrayal and shadowed secrets, was not about power. The Kun Void Realm, through methods I dare not fathom, had twisted the Black Tortoise Emperor to their will, worming its way into the secrets held by the Four Divine Sects. The Realm coveted what was not theirs.

But the Kun Void Realm, for all its cunning, possessed only a fragment of the truth. The location of the hidden Cultivation Star remained a mystery. The Kun Void Starfield, vast and boundless, concealed countless worlds. To pinpoint one, especially one veiled by the ancient enchantments of the First Generation Four Divine Emperors, seemed an impossible task.

And so the Alliance attacked. For by the ancient covenant forged by the First Generation Emperors, only the successive incarnations of the Vermilion Bird Emperor held the key to the Cultivation Star’s precise location. This was the prize the Alliance coveted, the truth they would drown the galaxy in blood to attain! Desperate, I invoked an ancient pact, brandishing a Sacred Treasure of immense power. But my strength, pitted against the tides of war and the ambitions of the Alliance, proved insufficient. The secret threatened to slip through my fingers, endangering not only the Four Divine Sects, but the fate of our people.

In a moment of heart-wrenching desperation, I revealed what they sought – one fragment of the truth, a single piece of the puzzle. The Kun Void Realm, wary of the remaining Sacred Treasures and unsure of the veracity of my words, hesitated. The war ground to a halt, a temporary respite bought with sacrifice. I, wounded in body and spirit, led the remnants of the Four Divine Sects into hiding, vanished into the depths of the cosmos. But death, which would guarantee the Sect’s end, remained an unwelcome specter. For should I perish, the Sect would splinter, its secrets lost to the ages. And I, the Vermilion Bird Emperor, had not yet found a worthy successor…

Using forbidden arts, I clung to life, enduring the agonizing torments of the unyielding Third Heavenly Tribulation for countless millennia. I had to protect the truth; I had to find a successor! Now, finally, the end draws near…

The middle-aged man’s form faded, growing more distant, yet his voice echoed within Wang Lin’s mind, refusing to be silenced.

“Wang Lin, heed my words, for I impart to you the deepest secret of the Four Divine Sects. I know not why the First Generation Emperors held it in such reverence, but I sense it holds importance. Commit it to memory; pass it down through the ages…”

“We of the Four Divine Sects hail from a primeval world. Imagine it as a Gateway… This Gateway, in ancient times, was sundered into four fragments by the First Generation Four Divine Emperors, each shard concealed within a Cultivation Star… scattered across the cosmos. Then, the Ancient Immortal Domain shattered, the Four Immortal Realms cleaved apart into disparate realms. These four locations now lie within separate Immortal Starfields…”

“The location I yielded to the Kun Void Realm was merely one – your birthplace, the Vermilion Bird Star. The other three… I know not if they have changed, nor what names they bear now. Commit these three star charts to memory…” As the middle-aged man’s divine will poured forth, three ancient star charts blossomed within Wang Lin’s mind.

Wang Lin was shaken to his core. He had never imagined such a secret resided within the Four Divine Sects. Never had he suspected that his home, the Vermilion Bird Star, was the crux of the ancient war, the prize fought over by the Kun Void Realm, the Alliance, and the Four Divine Sects!

“No wonder one of the Old Emperor’s incarnations maintained a constant presence on the Vermilion Bird Star… No wonder Mo Zhi’s master urged him to seek out that world. His master must have been no ordinary being, sensing some hint of the truth…”

“No wonder Liu Mei… appeared on the Vermilion Bird Star… and the Rune Clan as well!” In the preceding three years, Wang Lin had gradually gleaned the truth about the Yellow Dragon being an incarnation of the Old Emperor. The picture was becoming clearer.

Having entrusted all, the middle-aged man’s form faltered, pausing before vanishing entirely. He turned back to gaze upon Wang Lin, a gentle smile gracing his face. “If the burden grows too heavy, if the Four Divine Sects can never rise again, if fate itself decrees our demise… then do not force yourself. Let the Flame die.” With these final words, the middle-aged man strode away, his form melting into the infinite stars.

Left alone beneath the endless sky, Wang Lin stood, lost in shock, dumbfounded by the weight of what he had learned. The implications staggered him, leaving him unable to think for what felt like an eternity.

Meanwhile, far away, in the Alliance-dominated western reaches of the Roaming Heavens, a long comet howled toward the colossal palace of the Thunder Immortal Hall, a palace adrift in the star. A figure resided within the comet’s heart – a Nascent Soul, almost transparent, crisscrossed by countless crimson threads.

A macabre smile played across the Nascent Soul’s features, as if savoring a most exquisite pleasure. Yet its eyes betrayed a profound fear and chaos. “Yan Lei Zi, save me!!” As it neared the Thunder Immortal Hall, the Nascent Soul’s shrill cry ripped through the heavens, echoing through the starfield like a death knell.

Instantly, figures flashed from within the palace, led by a man wreathed in flames. It was Yan Lei Zi, his hair as white as winter’s first snow.

With a single step, he reached the tormented Nascent Soul, his eyes narrowing with dread. He grasped the Soul in his hand and pulled the being to his side, just as the enemy arrived.
With swiftness born of desperation, the immortal’s left hand danced upon the faltering spirit, each touch channeling a torrent of celestial energy into the weakened form. Within the essence of the fallen warrior, a crimson thread writhed, constricted with each influx of power, yet stubbornly refusing to be purged from his ethereal flesh.

The celestial tide momentarily cleared the encroaching darkness from the warrior’s mind, and he gasped, “On my return, ambushed by the foul sorcerers of the Shadow Syndicate…” But before the words could fully form, the crimson thread, writhing under the pressure of the celestial energy, constricted once more, twisting his features into a grotesque parody of a smile, veiling his eyes with a disquieting mist.

Though his words were unfinished, their meaning pierced the hallowed halls of the Thunder Citadel, reaching the ears of the assembled elders standing guard without. Their faces darkened, their countenances grim. “The Shadow Syndicate!” boomed the Elder of Flame and Thunder, his hand striking the warrior’s brow with lightning-infused force. The warrior’s spirit shuddered, and lucidity briefly returned. “Tell us plainly, warrior. Why did the Shadow Syndicate assault you?”

“The Vermillion Emperor… he is Wang Lin. He charged me to deliver an enchanted scroll. Upon my return, I was set upon, poisoned by the ‘Ecstasy’s Embrace’…” The warrior’s words were tinged with madness, the venom clouding his thoughts. Though his cultivation surpassed even the legendary Situ Nan, he lacked the latter’s genius, the natural talent to contain the encroaching toxin. Bereft of a mortal vessel, the poison now raged unchecked within his spirit.

With a trembling hand, he clawed at the air before him, tearing a rift in the fabric of reality. From the void, a single jade scroll emerged, floating ethereally before them.

His task completed, the warrior could bear no more. He coughed forth a cloud of spiritual essence and plunged into a merciful oblivion.

The Elder of Flame and Thunder seized the scroll, his gaze piercing its arcane script. As he read, his face paled, his eyes blazing with an unholy light.

“This… this… this knowledge…”

The Elder stood as if struck by lightning, his mind reeling. He cast his senses upon the scroll again and again, until he could no longer deny the truth of its words. The other elders watched, their eyes burning with anticipation.

With a flick of his wrist, the Elder passed the scroll to his neighbor. The elder accepted it with solemnity and scanned it. His face grew ashen.

Soon, the scroll had passed through the hands of all those assembled. And with each reading, their countenances transformed, reflecting the weight of the dread revelation. “Can this be believed?” one of the elders murmured after a long silence.

“Such a being, were he to escape his bonds, would surely plunge the starfields of the Alliance into unending calamity. While such a disaster holds little concern for us, if the visions etched within this scroll are true, then the realm of Luo Tian will surely lose all that it possesses within this starfield. We would be forced to retreat behind our borders, fortifying them with utmost vigilance… should this entity breach the defenses of Luo Tian…” The elder trembled, his eyes reflecting an ancient fear.

“Nonsense! Such a being cannot exist! The scroll speaks of a power beyond comprehension, claiming that even we, who have attained Nirvana, would fall before his touch. It is madness!” scoffed another elder.

“Do you not recall the Moon Beast?” the Elder of Flame and Thunder suddenly interjected. The others paused, their minds turning to that ancient horror.

“However, let us not become consumed by fear,” the Elder of Flame and Thunder continued, pausing suddenly, his face transforming into an expression of profound reverence, as if listening to a voice beyond their perception.

The other elders did not question this strange behavior; instead, they too bowed their heads in deference.

After a moment, the Elder’s face changed once more. He turned toward the west and bowed. “As you command!” He then turned to the others, his gaze heavy. “Halt all aggression against the Alliance. Summon all those who have surpassed the threshold of Void Glimpse. Upon my return from the Four Saints Sect, you shall heed my orders.”

An identical scene played out within the halls of the Shadow Syndicate. But in this instance, the scroll carried by Li Yingzhi ignited a frenzy, driving the sorcerers of the Syndicate to the very precipice of madness.