In the blink of an eye, as the Mark-Carriers materialized, their arrival heralded by resonating echoes of Daoist scriptures, the colossal stone stele morphed, its essence merging with the Ethereal Soul.

Upon it, crimson characters pulsed with a frenzied will, driving the Mark-Carriers into a maddened frenzy. Their unified screams pierced the air as they, seemingly possessed, spun into a whirling vortex.

This maelstrom churned with destructive power, unleashing devastating waves in all directions. Wang Lin, pushed back three steps by the force, steeled himself to advance when, from the stele, all the scarlet Daoist inscriptions detached, transforming into runes hurtling toward him!

With a chilling shriek, the Daoist runes closed the distance. Having once traversed the Seven-Colored Realm, Wang Lin knew well their dreadful might. As the countless sigils descended, he faintly perceived a spectral murmur, a recital of the very essence of the Daoist scripture!

*Mark the will, imprison the path to heavens!*

The swirling vortex amplified the maddening intent, scattering it with iridescent light. In that instant, two more starlight remnants faded upon the Ethereal Soul, leaving only two aglow.

Simultaneously, the Ethereal Soul began to fuse with the Corporeal Beast, its colossal form shrinking as the vortex swept through. The Ethereal Beast, fear etched in its eyes, recoiled with surprising speed.

It was afraid!

Though the Seven-Colored Realm may have altered its temperament, its primal nature remained. Faced with Wang Lin, and with the lingering vestiges of a soul-shackling seal, it felt a gnawing terror.

As the Daoist scriptures barraged Wang Lin, forcing him back, the gargantuan Ethereal Beast invoked its other dread power:

The Void-Weaving Seed!

Its corporeal form blurred with alarming speed, vanishing from the star-strewn expanse after retreating a mere hundred fathoms. Vanishing with it were the Mark-Carriers, now a whirling vortex, and the Daoist runes ceaselessly assaulting Wang Lin!

In that instant, all within the starry sphere blinked out of existence, swept away by the Ethereal Beast.

A crimson fury coursed through Wang Lin’s eyes, and he roared to the heavens. The fates of Ling Dong, Zhou Jin, Wang Yue, and Gu Xi Ye rested within the Ethereal Beast’s belly. Should it escape, the cost would be unbearable!

This Ethereal Hunt had taken a drastic turn with the Beast’s absorption of a fragment of the Seven-Colored Realm. Despite his meticulous planning, Wang Lin had not foreseen such an anomaly!

A piece of the Seven-Colored Realm, unearthed within the Mist Domain and devoured by this Beast!

“I will not let it escape!” Wang Lin’s eyes burned with obsession. He surged forward, appearing upon the starry dais, his right hand sweeping downwards with crushing force!

Instantly, a thunderous tattoo flashed in his right eye, expanding to encompass a thousand fathoms. Nine lightning rings, crackling with energy, spun around its perimeter.

The heavens trembled as countless bolts erupted, coalescing into a thunderous domain!

“Expand! Expand! EXPAND!” Wang Lin roared, his voice laced with celestial rage. The essence of thunder surged from his core, bolstering the thousand-fathom tattoo and causing it to erupt in size!

A thousand fathoms, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million!!

In the blink of an eye, the thunderous domain swelled, engulfing a million fathoms. Wang Lin, possessed by a furious madness, reached toward his brow, and ancient Godly power poured forth.

“EXPAND FURTHER!”

A million fathoms, three million, five million, TEN MILLION!!

As Wang Lin’s roar echoed through the heavens, the First Star within his brow manifested as the Celestial Emperor Furnace, merging with the lightning-infused tapestry with a flick of his sleeve.

“EXPAND!!”

With deafening crashes, the already colossal ten million-fathom domain surged outward.

Twenty million fathoms, thirty million, fifty million, until it reached EIGHTY MILLION!!

The boundless starry sea fell under the dominion of the lightning tapestry. A symphony of thunderous discharges transformed eighty million fathoms of space into a tempestuous lightning mire!

“Devourer of the Seven-Colored Realm, you shall become my lifebound Beast!! You flee with your Void-Weaving Seed, but though I cannot find you, I will refine these eighty million fathoms! Even if I must reduce this realm to a mote of dust, I will force you out!”

The Ethereal Beast, vanishing through its Void-Weaving Seed, fled with unmatched speed, yet Wang Lin’s seal upon its form and spirit persisted. He could sense the creature’s frantic escape, though it remained within the eighty-million-fathom confine.

Wang Lin clearly sensed the dwindling strength of his seal, warning him that it would soon dissolve entirely, severing his connection to the Beast!

Thunder roared, and crimson flames ignited in Wang Lin’s left eye, surging forth to join the ghostly image of the Vermillion Bird. A Vermillion cry echoed as the Bird unleashed the full force of Wang Lin’s fire essence, merging with the hellish flames and hurtling into the eighty-million-fathom expanse.

In a heartbeat, the starry heavens devolved into an inferno! Fire amidst lightning, lightning amidst fire, and the refining power of the Celestial Emperor Furnace began an unrelenting and violent purification of the cosmos.

“Refine! Refine! REFINE!!” Wang Lin’s arms swept outwards, and a fearsome roar ripped from his throat. The eighty-million-fathom realm began to break down with terrifying speed.

To observers far above, it would appear as though this territory was cut off entirely from the outer domain, burning furiously under the combined assaults of lightning and fire.

Driven to madness, Wang Lin chanted and cast a rapid succession of seals. Each seal descended upon the burning void, accelerating the destruction.

Time was precious; delay was unacceptable. Should the seal upon the Ethereal Beast’s body and soul dissolve, all would be lost! There would be no other Wang Yue, Ling Dong, or Zhou Jin to fuel this Ethereal Hunt.

Yet, eighty million fathoms proved too vast for swift conquest. And just then, Wang Lin sensed his connection with the Ethereal Beast weakening once more!

Though unable to perceive it directly, he envisioned the final two stars upon the Beast’s Ethereal Soul dwindling to a solitary point!

In this moment of desperation, Wang Lin’s spirit stilled. He gazed coldly at the vanishing realm, which, in but an instant, had shrunk to a mere seventy million fathoms.

Not a seventy-million-fathom plane, but the entire depth of the stars, from the highest firmament to the lowest abyss!

The gaps left behind revealed the intricately woven network of sealing arrays. Around the perimeter, ever-widening fissures of celestial destruction tore open.

In silence, Wang Lin raised his right hand, conjuring forth hundreds of thousands of seals. His left hand danced in tandem, creating a blur of movement as he cast an infinite stream of restrictions!

Within the burning domain, an ancient umbrella, capable of incinerating worlds, materialized. Its majestic presence radiated throughout the vastness of space.

“Umbra of annihilation, spread the end of worlds!” Wang Lin’s right hand grasped the haft, while his left hand slashed forward!

With a thunderous crash, the ancient umbrella creaked open, revealing a portion of its inner space, unleashing a torrent of unholy fire!

The celestial sphere became an endless ocean of fire, under which the seven-million fathom realm began to shudder. With the torrent of destruction unleashed from the ancient umbrella, Wang Lin set about accelerating the ritual once more.

Seventy million fathoms, burning at an accelerated speed: sixty million, forty million, thirty million, ten million, six million. The infernal heat increased, rapidly consuming the surrounding matter.

The newly cleared space unveiled intricate arrays of celestial seals. Unending destruction followed along the perimeter, leading towards the unending abyss.

“Still, you refuse to emerge?” Wang Lin roared. He felt the faint signature of the Ethereal Beast hiding among the shrinking zone. With a wave of his hand, the Celestial Emperor Furnace materialized within the domain of thunder and flame, and Wang Lin drew forth nine drops of venom, which rapidly mixed with the tempest.

This would not expend the precious fluids, yet it would give Wang Lin all the time he needed to force the hidden Beast from its hole!

The grinding continued, and the realm shrunk once more. The zone, previously six million fathoms in size, now measured a mere three. In that moment, the putrid stench of poison pervaded the air, rapidly spreading everywhere.

It was then that a frantic howl shattered the silence, and the enormous form of the Ethereal Beast appeared within the zone, rapidly about to be consumed by the poisonous miasma.

The moment the Beast appeared, Wang Lin stepped forward, his right hand slamming against its forehead, where the vestiges of the seal had been.

There was a resounding boom as the beast collapsed, an unfinished roar reverberating as its soul finally shattered.