The face was a roadmap of ages, a stark testament to the relentless march of time. Wrinkles, deep as ravines, carved paths across its surface, each one a silent year etched in flesh, exuding an aura of ancient sorrow.

Upon the center of his brow, a brand seared itself into the flesh. It resembled a crude scar, as if centuries past, a cruel hand had pressed a sigil into his very being. The mark’s shape was blurred and indistinct, lost to the ravages of time.

Though ancient, his visage was unnaturally smooth, devoid of any hint of beard or mustache. It was as if his face were forever denied the dignity of flowing whiskers, or perhaps, such a triviality was never meant to grace his presence.

“Grandmaster… the Seal Keeper!”

His complexion pallid as death, he fixed his gaze upon the wizened warrior, Zhan Laogui, eyes burning with a hatred that could scorch the heavens. Yet, fear held his tongue, and he retreated, seizing his foremost disciple, fleeing with desperate haste.

The nebulous figure moved with sudden speed towards the bow that drifted in the starlit void. His hand reached out, intent on claiming the weapon, but as his fingers neared, a soft murmur escaped his lips.

He seemed taken aback, but did not hesitate. He increased his speed, grabbing at the bow, even faster!

In that instant, the bowstring, once taut as a drawn breath, shimmered with a fleeting rainbow sheen at its end. As the colors pulsed, the string snapped with a discordant twang!

“So, the Sevenfold Light persists!” the nebulous elder exclaimed, his eyes gleaming.

With a resonant hum, the severed string emitted a chorus of mournful wails. Encircled by the sevenfold radiance, it whipped away, forming a sweeping arc in the darkness!

The string, once of modest length, now extended without limit, carving the very fabric of space within its path!

The elder’s eyes flashed with a cold fury. With a grunt, he seized the bow’s body and flung it towards the Realm, retreating as the broken string lashed out. Normally, he would not have taken heed of this broken bowstring, but this bowstring was shimmering with sevenfold radiance. He raised his right hand, inscribing seven characters of war into the air!

No sooner had they materialized than the string shattered them with a deafening roar. The elder, his expression grave, spat a cloud of white mist. With a flourish, the mist coalesced into a single character of war, pale as bone!

As the string struck the character, it faltered for a heartbeat. Seizing the opportunity, the blurred figure retreated into the protective embrace of the Realm’s Seal Array.

“Sevenfold Daoist, you finally show your hand! This is your third and final chance! The Million Spirit Seal… since you seek to shatter it, I shall await you!”

As he crossed the threshold into the Seal Array, the bone-white character dissolved. The impossibly long bowstring, still lashing out, struck the great barrier.

The Array shuddered, its guardian spirits unable to coalesce before a vast fissure snaked across its surface. With a deafening crack, the string punched a slender gap in the Seal, piercing through and entering the Realm.

Within the Realm, closest to the Seal Array, were not the cultivators of Zhao He or Luo Tian, but the tens of thousands of extraplanar invaders, imprisoned by Wang Lin’s ancient leaf magic.

The string, thrust into the Realm, struck the ancient seal. With a howl of broken magic, it sliced through the leaf barrier. In an instant, the remaining extraplanar invaders were engulfed in a whirlwind of sevenfold light. There were no screams of agony, only a swift and complete annihilation. Their bodies, unable to withstand the bowstring’s edge, were simply cleaved apart.

The blurred form of Zhan Laogui, sped away from the destruction. As the bowstring flailed, he laughed, dissolving into nothingness.

He had arrived as abruptly as he departed, as if he had only wished to witness a certain event and deliver the bow. He left without so much as a glance at the weapon itself.

Nor did he spare a thought for the mortals gathered there, Wang Lin included. To him, they were mere ants, insignificant and inconsequential.

“If this bow recognizes a master, it becomes a treasure beyond measure. Alas, none can claim it. Driven by life force, it is easily destroyed! Whoever fancies it, may take it and play…” His echoing words faded into the void.

All of this transpired in an instant. The bowstring lashed, the seal shattered, the invaders were annihilated, and the bow, propelled by the power of the ancient warrior, hurtled into the Realm, arcing towards none other than Wang Lin!

Was it fate? Or mere chance?

To take it, or to refuse it?

The questions flashed through Wang Lin’s mind in an instant. The bow hurtled closer, and its string continued to whip about, shattering starlight in its wake.

“This bow… I shall claim it!” Wang Lin roared, his eyes burning with resolve. He darted forward, reaching out to seize the weapon!

He caught it!

The moment his hand closed on the bow, a surge of raw power flooded his arm, pulverizing his flesh and shattering bone. The bow slipped from his grasp, about to fly away, but Wang Lin, driven by a desperate madness, reached out with his left hand, seizing the bow once more!

His left arm shook and bled, but it held firm. Yet, at that very moment, the bowstring, fueled by the raw power of the bow, lashed out, slicing clean through Wang Lin’s waist!

Agony, a tidal wave, crashed over him. Even Wang Lin cried out, his body splitting at the waist, severed in two!

His body was torn asunder by the bowstring!

His lower half dissolved into a bloody mist, and Wang Lin was flung backwards.

His vision blurred, the price for claiming this bow too steep. As his body was tossed about, Wang Lin felt a powerful force within the weapon, a fierce rejection. It was as if the bow recognized no soul save its own.

To wield this bow required a sacrifice, a plea born of one’s very life force. Otherwise, it would remain nothing more than a useless piece of wood.
Cast amidst the maelstrom, as the spirit within the bow resisted his claim, a rending agony tore through Wang Lin. He spat crimson, his body a ruin, cleaved nearly in twain – a wound unseen since the ancient Daoic tombs.

But then, from within him, the slumbering Nether Beast, intertwined with Wang Lin’s very soul, stirred. The shared torment pierced its dreams, shattering its rest. With a sudden jolt, the beast awoke!

A spectral glimmer erupted from Wang Lin’s ravaged form. Dim at first, it swelled with impossible speed, transforming into the colossal bulk of the Nether Beast, now manifest amidst the chaotic, collapsing stars!

Driven beyond fear by the echoing pain in its soul, the beast unleashed a primal roar that shook the heavens. Its maw opened, not in hunger, but in desperate release. A torrent of golden light, like a contained sun, spewed forth in concert with its bellow!

The Golden Tempest!

The untamed storm, swallowed whole but yet undigested, was vomited back into existence. The void was consumed, swallowed by a blinding expanse of gold. A relentless surge, driven by the beast’s expulsion, hurtled towards the great Boundary Formation.

The strength of the Golden Tempest was such that it could shatter a constellation. Few could withstand its wrath. Even the Overseer outside the Boundary Array blanched at the sight of the storm, his eyes widening in a mix of shock and terror as he gazed upon the resurrected Nether Beast!

A deafening roar echoed as the golden tempest crashed against the Boundary Array, detonating outwards in a cataclysm of raw power. The very fabric of reality seemed to buckle and fray under the assault.

Within the Boundary, tens of thousands of cultivators from Zhao He, Luo Tian, and Yun Hai paled, their faces ashen. Scarlet Spruce and others, eyes bloodshot with dread, fell back, invoking ancient spells to tear their forces from the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, the crowded warzone stood empty, devoid of any cultivator from within the Boundary!

Scarlet Spruce and his companions snatched away their allies, fleeing themselves as swiftly as possible.

Though they yearned to save Wang Lin, he stood at the epicenter of the Golden Tempest’s eruption. The devastation there defied all approach.

The Spiritual Sageling and Zhou Jin were also forced to abandon their comrade, retreating before the unleashed fury of the Golden Tempest!

As the golden chaos spread, the Boundary Formation crumbled, its structure utterly compromised. Within it, the Jade Pendant of Ensealment flickered, then dissolved, its fractured light vanishing into the aether. With the pendant’s departure, the Lord of the Celestial Punishment Hall was freed, but his newfound liberty was fleeting. He was instantly consumed by the raging tempest, his screams unheard, his body, spirit, and very essence snuffed out.

The primordial stars beyond the Boundary were likewise caught in the tempest’s wake, collapsing in a chain reaction of cosmic annihilation. Finally, with a deafening cataclysm, the battlefield and the Boundary Array were consumed by the all-encompassing Golden Tempest.

Within its expanding reach, the Boundary Array shattered, the outer realms dissolved, and the inner starfield collapsed.

Having reached the zenith of its expansion, the Golden Tempest detonated with a thunder that shook the very foundations of both inner and outer realms!

When the storm abated, the first battleground had become a gargantuan void – a black hole sprawling across the cosmos, severing the path into the Boundary.

The Nether Beast, having unleashed the Golden Tempest, opened its maw one last time amidst the encroaching annihilation, swallowing both Wang Lin and the ancient bow. With a final flicker, its form dispersed, shrinking into the size of a mote of dust, vanishing from sight.

Echoes of the cataclysmic roar reverberated within the vast, swirling darkness – the chasm that had consumed the battlefield and severed the Boundary. These echoes would persist for decades, centuries, millennia, perhaps eternally – a testament to the destruction wrought.

The first battle had ended in this strange, unsettling fashion…