Having mastered the very essence of sound, he shattered the Gates of Void and Twilight, ascending to the Third Step of power. Then, he refined the Sea of a Thousand Ancient Stars, where, by chance, he stumbled upon a grand fortune, leading to the fruition of the Source of Water. Though not a perfect mastery, the union of these two Sources possessed a power capable of shaking the Heavens themselves! This was the Melody Dao Sovereign, one of the Five Ancient Venerables!

Now, the purple scales that had adorned his body shattered and fell away, revealing raw flesh, his visage contorted in a terrifying grimace. As he stumbled backward, a soul-shaking wail tore from his throat.

This was a killing game, a moment of life-or-death crisis for the Melody Dao Sovereign!

“Old Poison of the Great Desolation, your Oath-Seal is in my grasp! See how you face the Vow of Incense!” Retreating, the Melody Dao Sovereign waved his hand, revealing the very rune forged from the Great Desolation Lord’s Oath of Incense.

Grasping the rune, the Melody Dao Sovereign crushed it with a savage grip. With a resounding boom, the rune crumbled into a myriad of crystalline sparks, scattering into the void.

Within the approaching, inky palm print, the Great Desolation Lord’s face paled, a mouthful of blood erupting from his lips. Yet, no hint of weakness appeared in his eyes. He advanced, his face twisted in a cruel sneer. “The art I cultivate is unlike yours, seizing the creation of Heaven and Earth! A mere Oath-Seal of Incense cannot grievously wound me! A mouthful of blood is a small price!”

As the blood sprayed from the Great Desolation Lord’s lips, upon an archaic star in the vast stellar sea outside the Ancient Tomb, the Great Desolation Lord’s true body sat cross-legged. He, too, coughed forth a mouthful of blood, but in that instant, every living being on that desolate star, even its very spirit, withered and decayed, turning to dust and ruins. The barbaric star itself aged immeasurably, becoming a lifeless husk.

Within the sealed grounds of the ancient tomb, the Great Desolation Lord waved his hand, unleashing a tempest of black wind. The gigantic palm print hurtled towards the Melody Dao Sovereign, and in a fleeting moment, the five fingers of the hand transformed.

The index finger became a hundred-foot-long, jet-black centipede, its antennae impossibly long, its segmented body writhing in a terrifying display. It unleashed a heart-stopping hiss upon its arrival.

The remaining four fingers flashed with light, each morphing into a different vile creature: a hundred-foot-long black serpent with a single horn, a massive black spider, and a colossal scorpion, its stinger twitching as if to pierce the very fabric of reality.

The thumb transformed into a horrifying toad, its back covered in grotesque pustules, each oozing unimaginable poison!

The Five Venoms emerged in a sudden burst, bringing with them a stench of decay and piercing shrieks as they converged upon the Melody Dao Sovereign. In their midst stood the Great Desolation Lord, his hands forming incantations as he exhaled a plume of toxic gas. Instead of attacking the Melody Dao Sovereign, the gas swirled back and fused with the Desolation Lord’s face. In the blink of an eye, the appearance of the Desolation Lord’s spirit avatar was drastically altered!

The sallow, blackened face seemed to rot from within, emitting a foul stench as it writhed with unnatural movement. In mere moments, it had transformed into the visage of the Lord’s true form!

A face marred by scars, lips pierced by three iron needles, wild hair framing eyes that burned with endless malice!

“Forty thousand years ago, I refined the Three Immortals of the Great Desolation into needle seals for my lips! Today, as I slay you, you shall understand why I was forced to seal my own mouth! Three Immortals, Unseal!” A guttural roar issued from within the Great Desolation Lord as the needles pierced their way through his transformed lips, hurtling towards the Melody Dao Sovereign as streaks of black light! And with that, the Desolation Lord’s true mouth gaped slightly open.

The Melody Dao Sovereign, retreating, waved his hands before him. A resounding thunder filled the air, growing in intensity until it drowned out all other sound in the heavens and earth.

Around him coalesced an ocean of violet energy, its waves crashing with tremendous force!

The convergence of Sound and Water Daos formed a vast sea, a roaring torrent of water and sound, an echo amplified countless times to decimate heaven and earth, unleashing a cataclysmic eruption that shattered the very sealed grounds!

Even the hundred or so cultivators on the ground could not escape its wrath, their bodies exploding amid the tumultuous howl.

The sealing grounds crumbled away, shattered into countless fragments, allowing the outside mists to rush in, uniting with the mists of the sea!

Wang Lin, reacting with lightning speed, swept away all of his Mosquito Beasts in a wave of his sleeve. He advanced, stepping forward to stand against the Great Desolation Lord, once more forming a pincer attack!

He strode toward the Melody Dao Sovereign, his body shimmering with protective light, bracing himself against the raging tide of sound. The Burning Lightning Eye, placed before him, dissipated much of the sonic assault.

“Sea of Incense! Open!” The Melody Dao Sovereign roared to the heavens, and in the crumbling void behind him, a massive rift opened, tens of thousands of feet wide!

The rift revealed a starry sky, but instead of celestial bodies, it held a sea of violet energy, teeming with life. All of these beings were the Melody Dao Sovereign’s loyal Inhabitants of Incense!

With a bestial howl, the Melody Dao Sovereign ripped open the tear with his bare hands, until its size stretched to the horizon, to the ends of the sky!

With the tear now rent in two, an endless sea of violet water surged through the rift, rising to unimaginable heights, carrying with it billions of spirits of Incense that crashed down upon the Desolation Lord.

All of this occurred in a flash, and the sea met with the Lord’s Five Venoms in a resounding clash.

With a great howl that shook the world, the Great Desolation Lord was nearly consumed, but in that very instant, a dark purple light shot out of his lips.

It was a tongue, a horrifying appendage unlike anything human. Its color was a sickening purple-black, and the moment it clashed with the sea, a deafening boom echoed throughout the area. The Great Desolation Lord groaned, his body exploding into gore as his soul fled.

As this transpired, the violet water, once so vibrant, began to shift and change with the corruption of the dark tongue until it became a pool of viscous ebony, oozing a nauseating stench. The Five Venoms, originally sent reeling by the impact, now surged to life, transforming into streaks of inky energy that converged upon the Melody Dao Sovereign.

The Melody Dao Sovereign coughed up blood as three needles pierced his brow, plunging halfway into his flesh. Black veins spread outward from the wounds, and five streams of malevolent energy swirled around the ragged wound on his chest, coalescing into the shapes of the Five Venoms, boring into his very being.

Having tainted the Sea of Incense and being poisoned himself, he could only consider the battle a Pyrrhic victory. He had, at least, destroyed his enemy’s physical form, leaving only a soul.

But due to Wang Lin’s presence, a monumental change was about to occur.

Wang Lin, who had been waiting, saw his chance and lunged, closing in on the Melody Dao Sovereign, his eyes burning with a cold light. The distance between them rapidly closed!

Weakened by the attack, the Sovereign coughed up blood and with one final, desperate act, ripped off his arm and tossed it at Wang Lin, detonating it upon impact. This was his one last chance for survival.

“Begone!” the Sovereign roared. Despite being ambushed by Wang Lin earlier, in the Sovereign’s eyes, Wang Lin was a mere ant.

Wang Lin faltered for a brief moment before calling on his Divine Empyrean Furnace.

The Furnace materialized and was instantly hit by the explosion of the Sovereign’s arm. As it did so, a hatch, long forgotten, erupted from the Furnace, releasing a figure that shot directly into the attack.

As the figure appeared, a large, black idol appeared. With a roar, the idol’s arms fell, releasing an attack that the Melody Dao Sovereign had no hope of dodging.

“Lingtong!!!” the Melody Dao Sovereign screamed, disbelief plain upon his face. As he screamed, Lingtong jammed his hand into the Sovereign’s third eye, driving the three needles deeper into his head. They did not, however, fully penetrate the bone.

A cacophony of screams followed as the poison in the Sovereign’s body erupted outward and his soul was driven out.

And with that, the Great Desolation Lord’s body hurtled towards the Melody Dao Sovereign in a final, desperate bid to steal the Sovereign’s body.

But the stage was set. This was the end.