The affairs of the Celestial Domain of Luo Tian had reached their inevitable conclusion. Leaving the star of Ran Yun without pause, Wang Lin surged into the void, ripples of power trailing his feet as his form melded with the very fabric of the heavens. This final task, he vowed, would be his.

Within the Domain of Luo Tian lay a forsaken place, a desolate expanse shrouded in impenetrable mists. Any who dared to trespass risked losing their way, forever trapped within its ethereal embrace—Luo Tian’s forbidden realm!

Few cultivators ever ventured near, choosing instead to skirt its edges, wary of its unseen dangers.

Hidden within the swirling fog dwelled strange and savage beasts, akin to the denizens of the Cloud Sea. Though few in number, they reigned supreme within this misty pocket dimension.

Divine sense was rendered feeble here, the mists neutralizing its reach.

With a ripple in the fabric of space, Wang Lin materialized at the border of this shrouded land. His eyes gleamed with purpose as he gazed into the swirling darkness. He had been drawn here once before, flung from the Realm of Thunderous Immortals. He remembered the fleeting glimpse he had caught as he escaped the belly of that strange beast, the colossal whale-like entity known as You Ming!

And now, Wang Lin’s final act in Luo Tian was to hunt You Ming!

You Ming, a creature of immense size and formidable power, possessed a temperament most peculiar: a crippling timidity. It would flee from any perceived threat, its cowardly nature a stark contrast to its immense form. Yet, despite its fear, few dared to provoke the beast. Even the venerable Lufuzi, knowing of its presence, harbored no desire to hunt it. If Lufuzi, a master of profound skill, showed such apprehension, how terrifying must You Ming truly be! Had its nature been more malevolent, Luo Tian would have surely faced utter annihilation.

Even Wang Yue, whose form dwarfed You Ming, dared not provoke it.

The beast possessed two unique abilities. The first, the Shift of the Mustard Seed, allowed it to compress its immense form into nothingness, becoming utterly undetectable, even to those standing in its very shadow. Coupled with its timidity, this made it exceedingly difficult to find. Its second ability, however, inspired terror in even Wang Yue and Lufuzi.

You Ming was a world unto itself, a universe contained within a beast. Its sole, defining power was Devour!

When cornered, You Ming would open its maw, and with a single gulp, the very stars would tremble. Treasures, beasts, powerful cultivators, even entire planets and stellar regions, would be drawn into its gullet, imprisoned within its internal world.

“You Ming opens its maw once a millennium, and the years cascade forth!”

It was said that within You Ming’s belly, time flowed at a terrifying rate. A single instant could stretch into millennia, a relentless torrent of temporal erosion. It could not slow the passage of time; it could only accelerate it to an unimaginable degree.

Legends spoke of an ancient You Ming, pushed to its limits, that devoured a swathe of the cosmos. Within its gullet, countless millennia passed in the blink of an eye, reducing the stars to dust and the souls of its enemies to forgotten echoes.

Few truly understood You Ming, knowing only fragments gleaned from ancient lore. The beast did not always unleash the torrent of time with each gulp, as if such an act placed a tremendous strain upon it. Still, few dared to risk testing the beast’s limits.

Wang Lin’s knowledge of You Ming came from the countless Immortal Arts he had devoured beyond the realms, absorbing the memories of the slain. With each soul consumed, a clearer picture of You Ming began to form within his mind. It was this knowledge, combined with his fascination with the beast, that drove him to this final act in Luo Tian.

“What I cannot fathom,” he murmured, his gaze fixed upon the mists, “is how the mere Immortal King of the Realm of Thunderous Immortals managed to bend You Ming to his will.” If Wang Lin had not witnessed it himself, sensed the unimaginable power that radiated from the beast, he would have dismissed it as a mere brute of immense size.

“That Immortal King was a master of cunning,” Wang Lin mused, his brow furrowed in thought. “Perhaps he possessed a unique method, a subtle means to manipulate the beast.” With a determined expression, Wang Lin stepped forward, transforming into a streak of white light that plunged into the fog.

His passage caused the mists to churn and roil, and a chorus of distant roars echoed through the void, a chilling cacophony that sent shivers down the spine. The same mists that had once filled him with trepidation, through which he had navigated only by luck and the guidance of his true form, now held no fear for him. He pressed onward, his divine sense expanding to encompass all within a radius of thousands of leagues. He hesitated to enlist the aid of Lingdong and Zhou Jin, for he knew that the intrusion of their divine senses would frighten the timid You Ming, causing it to flee and conceal itself within its mustard-seed form, making the hunt immeasurably more difficult. He did not seek to slay the beast, but to bind it as his own ancestral god-beast!

As he ventured deeper, Wang Lin’s expression remained grim. He moved with incredible speed, a constant flicker of movement within the fog. Each stride carried him tens of thousands of feet, searching every inch for the elusive beast.

Time passed, but Wang Lin felt no weariness. He was the hunter, patiently stalking his prey. Strange and savage beasts appeared within his divine sense, but even the fiercest of them were struck dumb, frozen in place by his overwhelming presence.

Like a wraith, Wang Lin traversed vast distances. He searched almost a quarter of the starry region covered in mist.

There was no sign of You Ming. It seemed to have vanished, leaving only a memory of its fleeting appearance. Wang Lin remained resolute, his search continuing in silence.

With each passing moment, Wang Lin pressed deeper into the heart of the misty expanse, his search encompassing nearly half of the region.

Still, there was no trace, no hint of You Ming. It was as if the beast had abandoned this place altogether.

A slight frown creased Wang Lin’s brow. He hesitated, then abandoned the idea of enlisting Lingdong and Zhou Jin. Instead, he steeled his resolve and surged forward, focusing his divine sense with even greater precision.

As time continued to slip away, the area he had searched expanded, gradually covering nearly eighty percent of the misty region. Then, suddenly, Wang Lin paused, his eyes snapping open, his divine sense locking onto something within the mists. Three thousand feet before him, nestled within the fog, was a cluster of rocks, each piece roughly a hundred feet in size. The rocks drifted slowly, a silent island in the swirling vapor.

Wang Lin’s gaze pierced the mists, focusing intently on the cluster. In an instant, he surged forward, traversing the three thousand feet with lightning speed, materializing before the floating rocks. Up close, he saw that the rocks were multicolored, like precious gems bound together by some unseen force.

Landing on one of the hundred-foot fragments, Wang Lin lowered his hand and tapped its surface. A series of hollow sounds echoed from within. After a moment of contemplation, Wang Lin clenched his hand, shattering a piece from the rock.

Examining the fragment closely, a strange light sparked in his eyes.

The stone emanated a sense of ancient history, saturated with an astonishingly dense concentration of spiritual energy. A single hundred-foot fragment held more energy than an entire derelict cultivation planet!

Yet, despite its power, the energy felt lifeless, devoid of vitality.

“Never have I heard of such a spiritual stone,” Wang Lin muttered. Even the finest spirit stones paled in comparison. In the cultivation world, a hundred-foot fragment would command an unimaginable fortune!

“Yet, there are signs of the passage of time upon it. It seems to have aged for tens of thousands of years,” Wang Lin mused, his thoughts interrupted as his eyes widened. He stared intently at the stone in his hand.

“Signs of time… the stains of time…” A realization dawned within him, his divine sense sweeping across the cluster of rocks, analyzing the lingering aura of time. A sudden light blazed in his eyes.

“The excrement of You Ming!!” Wang Lin exclaimed, his expression shifting to one of surprise. “It makes sense! You Ming must have devoured several cultivation planets, and within its internal world, the relentless flow of time destroyed them. Their stellar souls were extinguished, but the energy remained, condensed by the torrent of time. This is why the stones are so saturated with energy, yet utterly devoid of life, steeped in the aura of years…”

“To hunt You Ming, one must first seal it, both externally and internally, due to its immense size,” Wang Lin muttered, a calculating glint in his eyes. He had come prepared. “External sealing and a lightning strike, that can be accomplished! The true challenge lies in the internal sealing, the sealing of its soul!”