A gnarled elder, vessel to a sliver of the Great Desolate Sage, wove a sinister wind with a flick of his withered hand. The scent of burnt offerings clung to him, a profane halo against the ethereal grace of the Melodious Voice Ascendant.

Both were beings of formidable power, though shackled to the limitations of the Empty Nirvana realm within this prison. Still, their clash resonated with a primal fury, shaking the very foundations of the sealed land.

The Great Desolate Sage’s countenance was etched with bitterness. He had been the first to discover this forsaken place, the first to unravel the ancient wards. He had almost grasped the prize: a Fourth Grade Wooden Dao Spirit, locked away within. But in the very instant of triumph, the Melodious Voice Ascendant had appeared, a viper in silk robes, stealing the spirit and igniting this bitter feud.

True to his foe’s taunts, the Desolate Sage’s presence here was merely a fragment of his true self. The borrowed flesh lacked the strength, the instinctive grace to wield his full power. Even the flow of sacrificial energies was hampered, diminished by this foreign vessel.

Against a lesser Ascended, these weaknesses might be negligible. But against a peer, a rival whose name echoed across the ages, they were potentially fatal. Moreover, the Great Desolate Sage was a solitary being, his character as twisted and untamed as the blasted lands he claimed as his own. Here, within the ancient tomb, he stood alone, a solitary wolf among carrion birds. Thus, he could only offer a snarl in response to the Ascendant’s mocking words.

In the span of heartbeats, they had exchanged a hundred blows. Behind each loomed a platform of obsidian darkness, each four thousand fathoms across, exuding an oppressive weight. The thunder of their colliding energies echoed through the sealed domain, shaking the resolve of the mortals who dared to trespass below.

Beyond the boundaries of the seal, a deep violet platform of the Third Order sliced through the swirling mists. Upon it stood Wang Lin, his eyes like chips of ice, surrounded by a cloud of thousands of ravenous Mosquito Beasts. Guided by the map etched in his mind, he pressed onward with relentless speed.

The mists howled around him, the sealed domain growing ever closer. Hours bled away, until Wang Lin’s eyes snapped into focus, piercing the veil before him. The mists writhed and twisted, betraying the presence of a hidden reality, a world folded within the folds of another.

“A sealed domain, as the map foretold,” Wang Lin murmured, his voice lost in the wind. “A bearing north from here will lead me from the outer reaches to the deeper heart of the tomb!” Ten thousand fathoms from the warped veil of the seal, Wang Lin’s grave platform shuddered to a halt. He stared ahead, his brow furrowed in thought.

“The Feng Extermination Clan woman is within…but what power dwells in this domain? Are there Ascended Ones imprisoned here? Caution is paramount.” He raised a hand, and from the swarm beside him, a single Mosquito Beast shot forth, its mandibles clicking with anticipation. Wang Lin divided a sliver of his spirit, weaving it into the beast’s very essence. The creature, now empowered, lunged towards the shifting mists.

In the blink of an eye, it vanished into the ethereal barrier.

Within the sealed domain, the Melodious Voice Ascendant and the Great Desolate Sage continued their thunderous battle. A vortex of raw power churned around them, obscuring the savagery within, yet its winds lashed out across the land, an awe-inspiring spectacle of destruction.

Suddenly, a single feather of obsidian light shot from the churning vortex, piercing the sky with terrifying speed. It struck the Mosquito Beast like a bolt from the heavens, annihilating its physical form. Wang Lin’s sliver of consciousness, trapped within, was similarly extinguished.

“This land brooks no intruders! Begone, mortal!” The Melodious Voice Ascendant’s shout echoed with divine power.

Outside the seal, Wang Lin’s face paled for a fleeting moment, then hardened. His eyes narrowed with cold fury.

“The Melodious Voice Ascendant…and the other, wreathed in rancid toxins…another Ascended One. The glimpse was too fleeting to discern his identity!” Wang Lin’s gaze flicked downward, to the figure of the Feng Extermination Clan woman, caught in the melee of mortals.

“There is something strange about the Ascendant’s power…it seems diminished, like Si Mozi’s. And his opponent…the same affliction.” Wang Lin had noted this weakness in the white-robed woman when he first entered the tomb. Now, seeing the Ascendant similarly weakened, his suspicion solidified. “A calculated gamble…” Wang Lin muttered, his brow furrowed.

If his intuition proved false, entering this sealed domain would be suicidal. The names of the Five Primeval Sovereigns were spoken with fear, and Wang Lin was not yet powerful enough to stand against them.

After a moment of contemplation, Wang Lin’s eyes blazed with resolve. Without hesitation, he steered his thousands of Mosquito Beasts towards the shimmering distortions. “Their power is suppressed within this tomb! That is why they struck to drive me away, rather than obliterating me. An Primeval Sovereign has nothing to fear from a mortal trespasser. They are protecting something! The Feng Extermination Clan woman is a servant, but her fate is now intertwined with mine. I will claim her!”

With a roar, Wang Lin plunged into the warping veil, followed by his ravenous swarm, disappearing without a trace.

Inside the sealed domain, the echoes of battle were deafening. But then, the very air above began to crackle with a new, terrifying energy. The sky itself twisted and writhed as thousands of monstrous Mosquito Beasts materialized into existence. Their appearance did not go unnoticed by the mortals fighting below.

The swarm was vast, blotting out the sun in a wave of chitinous horror. And behind them, the sky warped and folded again, giving birth to a platform of deep violet, a full three thousand fathoms across! Wang Lin stood upon it, his white hair whipping in the wind, his eyes burning like embers. His sudden arrival sent a ripple of shock through the battlefield. The Feng Extermination Clan woman, upon seeing Wang Lin, paled, but her fear was swiftly replaced by a murderous rage.

“A Third Order Grave Platform! Another great power has arrived!”

“The man is a stranger. Which of the Ascended is he aligned with?”

“Those beasts are monstrous! I have never seen their kind before! Could they be creatures of the tomb itself?” The hundred or so mortals below stared in disbelief at Wang Lin and his horrifying swarm.

Wang Lin did not hesitate. With a single downward gesture, he unleashed his Mosquito Beasts upon the mortals below.

Without so much as a glance at the storm-wreathed duel of the Ascended Ones, Wang Lin stepped from his platform and moved with the speed of lightning towards the Feng Extermination Clan woman, whose face was now contorted with horror.

“Lord, save me!” she screamed, desperately retreating. Dozens of mortals, presumably aligned with the Melodious Voice Ascendant, quickly surrounded her, erecting shields of power to cover her retreat.

As she fled, the woman frantically formed a hand seal, pressing it to her brow. The seal of the Feng Extermination Clan blazed to life between her eyes. She raised a trembling hand towards Wang Lin, her voice rising to a desperate shriek. “Descendant of the Feng Extermination Clan, I offer my soul…”

But Wang Lin was too fast. As he approached, a middle-aged cultivator, discerning that Wang Lin was not an Ascended One, stepped forward with murderous intent, attempting to intercept him.

Wang Lin remained unfazed. As he passed the cultivator, he casually raised a finger. A silent wave of energy crashed over the man, igniting an insatiable fire within his very soul. His murderous rage was consumed by the primal flames.

With a piercing scream, the man stumbled back in abject terror, but the spiritual fire continued to consume him, turning him into a living torch.

Wang Lin did not pause. He moved forward at an impossible speed. Seven or eight cultivators had been rushing towards him, but the sight of their comrade consumed by ethereal flames gave them pause. Their expressions shifted from anger to terror.

Wang Lin showed no emotion. With a flick of his hand, he unleashed another volley of ethereal flames. The seven or eight cultivators were instantly engulfed in a sea of fire, retreating in blind panic, no longer daring to block his path.

“…Call upon the ancient powers of my clan…seal him!” The Feng Extermination Clan woman’s face was deathly pale, her voice distorted by terror.

From the moment Wang Lin entered this sealed domain, only a breath had passed. Now, he stood less than thirty feet from the Feng Extermination Clan woman. Between them stood only the seven or eight cultivators consumed by the ethereal flames, and a dozen or so more, their faces etched with fear. They could only watch Wang Lin approach with overwhelming speed, unable to muster the courage to impede him. This was the only way to describe the scene: *Wherever he tread, all yielded before him.* Thirty feet became twenty, then ten, then three.

“Insolent whelp!” A thunderous roar ripped through the air, originating from the vortex high above. It was the voice of the Melodious Voice Ascendant. A moment later, a long, weary sigh echoed from within the storm, as if in restraint. The vortex churned with renewed fury. Then, with a snort of annoyance, the Ascendant unleashed a bolt of obsidian light, cleaving through space with incredible speed. The bolt contained the power of ten thousand offerings, condensed into a single point. It hurtled towards Wang Lin like a divine sword.

At the same time, the woman’s voice rose to a piercing shriek.

“…Bind this man’s origins!”

Without so much as a glance, Wang Lin focused his power. Thunder crackled around him as a thunderous mural materialized behind him, a swirling vortex of nine thunderous entities. At the same moment, Wang Lin’s left eye ignited with the nine colors of flame. He channeled his power into the thunderous entities, perfectly merging fire and thunder into a single, terrifying source. This was the thunderous mural behind his back, and when the divine sword of the Melodious Voice Ascendant struck it, a cataclysmic roar of power reverberated through the land. Wang Lin grunted, and borrowed strength to leap past 30 feet, his left and right hands like lightning, he landed in the forehead of that Feng Extermination Clan Girl.

The woman could barely make out a scream, her pupils being overtaken by the reflected image of Wang Lin’s fingers. In a flash, Wang Lin’s fingers had landed on her head with a “Puff” sound, her mouth overflowing with blood. His eyes were saturated with countless restrictions; the entire being of the Feng Extermination Clan Girl was immediately sealed shut and casted into the depths of a storage space with a wave of Wang Lin’s sleeve.

Swift, smooth, and clean as the waters flowing down stream, Wang Lin retracted his hands and turned, the wisps of white hair fluttering about his face. He faced skyward, his eyes as hard and cold as the ice.