“Worthless whelps!” boomed a voice thick with ancient power. “Months have passed, and still this star remains untaken? Today, I, in but a fragment of my true being, grace you with my presence. Follow me!” The ancient one, his gaze snapping away from a nascent Void Gate, strode towards the fiery glow of Suzaku, the Vermillion Bird Star.

This elder, his renown echoing even within the realms beyond, was none other than the celestial paragon, the Void Divinity, one of the Five Ancient Venerables!

Around Suzaku, shimmering rings of light pulsed outwards, radiating countless ripples across the starry expanse. For decades, the defenses of Suzaku had been meticulously fortified, a bulwark of formidable strength.

As those waves of energy crashed against the approaching figure, the Void Divinity chuckled, each step causing the defenses to tremble and groan, threatening to shatter before his inexorable advance.

Behind him, the youth in azure robes and the grim-faced Zhou Jin recovered from the awe inspired by the Void Gate, though a tremor still ran through Zhou Jin. He glanced nervously at the cosmic anomaly above, a seed of terror taking root in his heart.

But as he averted his gaze, Zhou Jin’s eyes widened, his body convulsing, frozen in place, his face a mask of renewed shock.

The youth in azure, too, lifted his head, his gaze drawn to the Void Gate. A thunderous roar erupted in his mind, disbelief warring with the impossible.

“The… the sixth Origin!” he gasped. “Can it be? In this era, someone possesses six interwoven threads of Creation?!” The Void Divinity’s eyes narrowed, his countenance darkening as he turned back to the Void Gate.

Within the swirling, chaotic void, Wang Lin’s right hand flashed, drawing forth the fifth Origin, the essence of Illusion and Reality, weaving it into his sixth divine art: the Illusionary Water Seal.

This seal, too, pulsed with untold might!

Having mastered five Origins, Wang Lin’s eyes glinted with cold determination. He rose, his right hand summoning a tear in the fabric of space, from which emerged a blade!

This was no ordinary weapon, but a manifestation of the completed Origin of Slaughter, forged by the Clear Water Daoist. This blade *was* Slaughter itself.

Grasping it tightly, Wang Lin’s gaze blazed with an otherworldly light. With a crushing grip, he shattered the blade, unleashing a torrent of crimson mist that enveloped him.

With each breath, it seemed every pore in his body drank deep, absorbing the mist, claiming it as his sixth Origin!

The sixth Origin: Slaughter!

As the mist dissipated, Wang Lin stood revealed, his face alight with a ferocious, almost unhinged, intensity. A primal wave of annihilation erupted from him.

“Today, Wang Lin will use these six Origins to shatter the Void Gate and ascend to the Third Step of Power!” he roared. He swept his right hand, and the crimson aura swirling around him collapsed.

As it vanished, Wang Lin stored the unconscious Madman away, and with a final flourish, he gathered the collapsing aura, focusing it into a single, potent drop of blood, the very essence that Lord Vastness had once extracted from him!

The crimson vanished, replaced by a dazzling gold, radiating an aura of transcendent divinity. This blood was the totality of the Immortal’s Imperishable Body.

Staring at this treasure, Wang Lin touched it to his brow, but did not merge with it. Instead, it transformed into a golden speck, pulsing with light before fading from view.

“This shall be my ultimate weapon after the Tribulation!” he declared. Wang Lin lifted his gaze, surveying the vast emptiness, the place where he had slumbered for over seventy years. Memories flickered across his face: longing, remembrance, and the vastness of universal truth.

With a soft sigh, Wang Lin stepped forward. The void before him twisted into a gargantuan vortex, spinning with ever-increasing speed, a deafening roar echoing through the ether. With that single step, Wang Lin unleashed a force capable of rending the very fabric of reality, forcing the void to collapse before him.

As he prepared to enter the swirling portal, Wang Lin paused, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. The vortex was splitting, dividing into two distinct paths, offering a choice.

One vortex resonated with familiar energies, leading back to Suzaku, the place of his long-ago disappearance.

The other pulsed with golden light, a rich, intoxicating divinity flowing from its depths, tugging at the golden blood hidden within his brow.

“What lies there?” Wang Lin murmured, his gaze sharpening. He examined the golden vortex, then pointed a finger, halting its frenzied spin. As the motion slowed, Wang Lin unleashed his divine sense, a tempestuous wave that crashed against the far side of the vortex, revealing a world that sent a jolt through his very being.

It was a boundless land beneath a sky dominated by nine suns, immense spheres of light bathing the world in radiant glory.

Jagged mountains rose to impossible heights, vast oceans roared with untamed power, and countless lakes and rivers snaked across the land. Wang Lin’s divine sense could barely encompass a fraction of this continent, dwarfing even countless star systems.

The density of celestial energy was unimaginable, the very flora and fauna unlike anything he had ever encountered. Even the beasts possessed a spark of divinity, their inherent cultivation far exceeding his expectations.

He sensed pockets of immense power, energies that rivaled those he had felt from the Seven-Colored Daoist within the Seven-Colored Realm!

He even glimpsed a streak of blue light flash across the distant sky, only to pause and transform into a young girl clad in azure robes.
The girl-child, barely seven or eight summers old, possessed a beauty that bordered on ethereal. Her eyes, pure and untouched, held a spark of innocent curiosity. She paused, then gazed downwards, her vision seemingly piercing through the veil of reality. It was as if she beheld Wang Lin himself, caught in the swirling void.

“What place… is this…?” Wang Lin’s divine sense echoed with bewilderment, reaching out into the alien realm. But the instant his thoughts ventured forth, a force, born from the heart of the swirling vortex, slammed against his will. It hurled his perception back, shrinking the scene before him into a fleeting memory. Stunned, Wang Lin found himself once more before the twin vortices in the void.

He stared at the portal leading to that strange world, a silence stretching into what felt like eons. At last, a glint of resolve ignited in his eyes. He turned toward the vortex that promised passage to Suzaku, but as his foot crossed the threshold, a voice, young and filled with an innocent wonder, echoed within his mind.

“Why are you leaving? This is the Immortal Astral Continent! I am called Wawa, what is your name?”

Wang Lin faltered, but the voice was already fading, as if lost across vast and immeasurable distances. Soon, it vanished entirely.

“Immortal Astral Continent!” Wang Lin whirled, casting a look at the other vortex. It was not the first time he had heard that name. The Madman had uttered it once, long ago.

The Madman had spoken of it as his homeland: the Immortal Astral Continent.

Wang Lin was silent, a nascent understanding stirring within him. He sensed he was on the precipice of a truth that would shake the very foundations of the inner and outer realms. Yet, a veil remained, preventing him from grasping the full picture.

“The Immortal Astral Continent… the Seven-Colored Daoist… Clear Water… the Madman… the Palm Sovereign… Old Zhan… the Sky-Eater… the Heaven Defying Bead… the Ancient Immortal Domain… and the word Old Zhan spoke when conversing with the Palm Sovereign in the Cloud Sea: ‘Inner Sanctum’… A thread runs through them all. This thread connects them, and perhaps others I do not yet know. When that thread is fully woven, it will reveal the ultimate secret of the inner and outer realms.”

“Perhaps before my Dao of Dreams, I was not worthy to know these things. But now, I am!” Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed with cold determination as he stepped into the vortex leading to Suzaku.

His form dissolved into the swirling chaos, vanishing from sight.

Meanwhile, in the Kun Xu Starfield, beyond the planet Suzaku, the Space Gate loomed – immense, infinite, a phenomenon never before witnessed in the annals of the inner and outer realms. Six primal sources of power wove around it, marking it as a pinnacle of existence.

The gate remained, but no soul emerged to break through. This created an invisible pressure, a suffocating weight that bore down upon the cultivators of the outer realm, even the powerful Sky Sovereign of Emptiness.

“Damnation! Six primal sources? Even the Palm Sovereign cannot achieve such a thing! Who is this person? He uses six primal sources to beckon the Space Gate. Should he break through, even if his cultivation remains at the initial Emptiness Nirvana stage, he could fight an early Emptiness Profound expert! He could transcend the Emptiness Realm in a heartbeat!”

“This person… if he is of the inner realm, he must die!” The Sky Sovereign of Emptiness, his eyes burning with killing intent, turned away from the awe-inspiring gate and strode towards Suzaku.

Though only a clone, he possessed the cultivation of an early Emptiness Profound expert. Nearing the protective array around Suzaku, he raised his right hand. His entire arm transformed into a cloud of violet mist, which expanded and surged forward like a storm, crashing against the planet’s defenses.

With a thunderous roar, the array, weakened by months of constant assault, shattered into countless fragments. Suzaku was exposed, its protection gone.

“Attack! Destroy this planet and retreat quickly!” With a flicker, the Sky Sovereign of Emptiness passed through the shattered array, his gaze falling upon the towering statue of the Sealed Exalt that dominated the landscape.

Around the statue, thousands of cultivators from the inner realm stood, ready to fight to the death.

The Sky Sovereign of Emptiness sneered and raised his right hand, intending to destroy the statue. But suddenly, his expression changed. He whirled around, staring at the starry void beside the Space Gate.

“The Gate Breaker!”