The stone statue’s eyes faded, and in that final instant, a bolt of lightning from within the array surged forth, as if rending the veil of nothingness, cleaving through stars and time itself, to strike Wang Lin directly in his right eye!

A thunderous roar echoed within Wang Lin’s mind, and he stumbled back dozens of paces, his gaze fixated on the vanishing image within the statue’s eyes, a look of fierce anger etched upon his face. The statue crumbled, collapsing into a heap of rubble, kicking up a cloud of dust… “The Outer Realm…” For reasons unknown, the sight within the stone eyes ignited a fire within Wang Lin’s blood.

He had witnessed the war between Luo Tian and the Alliance, the countless deaths of cultivators, the deadly strife over treasures, and the constant infighting amongst the Alliance factions, yet none of it had stirred him like this.

But now, seeing the fallen ancestors within and around that array, a surge of righteous fury coursed through him. The dying cries of those immortals resonated in his ears! “We shall not yield!! Never shall we yield!!! One day, our descendants will shatter this array, and your Outer Realm scum will face utter annihilation!! Your blood will flow like rivers!”

Wang Lin stared at the ruined statue, the lightning mark in his right eye pulsed incessantly. Finally, he turned and flew towards the mountain veiled in the Mists of Ages.

As Wang Lin absorbed the statue’s lightning, far away within the swirling mists, one of three youths from the Outer Realm, he who bore a lightning sigil on his brow, paled and trembled.

He distinctly sensed a battle of lightning unfolding ahead. One side seemed to possess a kindred lightning power, while the other, though also wielding lightning, emanated a force that shook him to his core, threatening to overwhelm his own.

His companions were less sensitive. The youth with the crescent moon mark remained withdrawn, his face clouded with thought. As for the one with the flame tattoo, his eyes gleamed with undisguised avarice, drawn to the fire power he had sensed when Wang Lin’s mind brushed against him.

At long last, the trio arrived at the site of the shattered statue. The youth with the lightning sigil grew even paler, his anger now tinged with fear. He recognized the statue as a likeness of his ancestor, though he knew not why it stood here. He knew, with chilling certainty, that the ancestor’s remnant lightning essence had been forcibly taken! But his anger was overshadowed by a growing unease. “What do we do?” he asked his companions.

“If we were to unseal our power, we could borrow a single incense stick’s worth of our full strength,” the youth with the flame tattoo replied slowly. “It is not impossible to slay him.”

“Perhaps we should leave,” the lightning sigil youth countered, hesitation in his voice. “Report this rift in space to the elders and let them decide… I have a foreboding feeling.”

“Fortune favors the bold!” the youth with the crescent moon mark declared, resolve hardening his features.

The lightning sigil youth hesitated, then his eyes hardened with resolve. Without another word, he followed the trails of lightning ahead, the others close behind, vanishing into the mists.

Wang Lin flew with lightning speed through the fog, soon arriving at the place where he and Cang Songzi had fought for the jade bottle. He gazed at the Veil of Ages before him, his eyes gleaming. If the barrier were intact, unbroken for ages, his task would be immensely difficult, requiring the destruction of his own treasures.

But the barrier had been breached only months before. He remembered, despite his disorientation at the time, a faint, invisible fissure upon its surface – the mark left by Cang Songzi and the blue-robed crone.

“If I can but reopen that tear, it shall not be so difficult!” Wang Lin formed hand seals, and Destruction Runes materialized, engulfing the barrier. He watched intently as the barrier rippled and pulsed. At last, his eyes narrowed; he had found the weakened point!

Though the fissure had healed, the mark of the Ages held only faintly there. Unless countless years passed, the flaw would remain – a weakness inherent to its nature.

Having found the tear, Wang Lin summoned the Crystal Sword. With a flourish, he unleashed a wave of sword light, imbued with the aura of a nascent Void Nirvana cultivator. The world flared with sudden brilliance as a searing blade of light hurtled towards the fissure.

A thunderous boom echoed as the barrier rippled violently. A hairline crack appeared, widened under the relentless assault of the Crystal Sword. Wang Lin, controlling its movements, unleashed an endless torrent of sword energy, tearing the crack ever wider!

Leaping into the air, Wang Lin grasped the Trident of Destruction, its obsidian surface pulsing with dark energy. He plunged towards the fissure like a falling star.

He reached it in an instant, and with a deafening crash, the trident pierced the barrier. A wave of force slammed into Wang Lin, but he merely snorted and channeled his ancient god strength, thrusting with all his might. With a crack and a tear, the months-old fissure was rent open, becoming a gash of several feet! Wang Lin recalled the Crystal Sword and darted through the opening, towards the mountain’s west side.

He spared a glance at the lightning-sealed cave halfway up the peak, then quickly looked away.

Soon, he reached the summit. He swept the trident before him, and a spatial rift flickered into existence in the air, a place known from the memories of Cang Songzi, his own observations, and the brief sweep of his divine sense.

Without hesitation, Wang Lin strode into the rift. As he disappeared, the three Outer Realm youths approached the mountain barrier. They exchanged a look, then, steeling their nerves, plunged through the crack Wang Lin had torn.

Entering the strange space beyond, Wang Lin’s gaze fell upon the colossal stone tablet! He approached, his eyes following its surface down to its base, where a half-skeleton was pinned with seven-colored nails!

A faint, dark energy flowed within the bones, and the inscriptions upon them seemed to emanate a maddening allure.

Wang Lin approached the skeleton, wary of its power. He kept his mind guarded, his gaze averted from the inscriptions. He stepped back, recovering his composure.

He opened his storage ring, and the golden, ethereal War Glyph floated free. At its appearance, golden light erupted from the skeleton. Flecks of gold emerged from within the bones, and the skeleton flickered between gold and black.

The golden light coalesced and shot towards the War Glyph, merging with it. In that instant, the entire space was bathed in golden radiance.

The War Glyph surged towards Wang Lin, embedding itself in his forehead. A shockwave blasted through his mind.

“I am Zhan Xingye. Knowing that the Palm Sovereign would come, seeking to force me into submission, I, a Luo Tian cultivator, would rather embrace oblivion than consort with Outer Realm scum! He who inherits my legacy, comprehend the will to fight. Should you achieve success, slay Outer Realm beings to honor my soul…”

An overwhelming will to battle filled Wang Lin’s mind. He experienced fragments of Zhan Xingye’s struggles against the heavens, his entire life flashing before his eyes. He gained a profound understanding of the essence of war, and his own inner state rose, merging with the warrior’s spirit, undergoing a wondrous transformation.

As Wang Lin comprehended this legacy, the space around him began to twist. The three Outer Realm youths had arrived. The flame sigil youth stared greedily at Wang Lin, sensing the potent fire energy emanating from him. “If I devour him, I will ascend!”

The lightning sigil youth was shaken, fixating on Wang Lin. He sensed not only the lightning energy, but also that Wang Lin was in a strange, vulnerable state. “A gift from the heavens!”

But the crescent moon youth, seeing Wang Lin’s back, felt his mind reel and his pupils constrict. A memory resurfaced.

“It is him!!”

The three surged forward, consumed by murderous intent. As they charged, they simultaneously formed hand seals and struck their foreheads.

Three muffled thuds echoed as their bodies underwent a grotesque transformation. The lightning sigil youth bloated into a towering giant of crackling electricity.

Wings of fire erupted from the back of the flame sigil youth. A horn sprouted from his forehead, his body engulfed in flames.

The crescent moon youth was the strangest. His skin became luminescent, reflecting the golden light.

But as they surged forward, about to strike, Wang Lin spun around. His eyes snapped open, filled with a chilling clarity and a hint of scorn, like the Outer Realm beings who looked down on the cultivators of the Inner Realm. “To live as a hero, or die a warrior’s death! What cultivator fears a battle!” He heard, in his mind, Zhan Xingye’s final words before facing the Palm Sovereign.