From the heart of a swirling maelstrom, the Array of Life and Death was born. When stilled, it became an Immobile Wheel, its stillness mirroring the unwavering state of life and death. Yet, when it stirred, the very fabric of existence would be inverted.

As the colossal Wheel began its ponderous rotation, a sound like thunder ripped from the void, tearing through the veil of reality to echo across the mist-shrouded starfield. With each revolution, destinies were sealed.

A wave of oppressive power surged from the Wheel, descending upon a shattered continent that had dared to encroach upon the seal’s breach.

This was no mere crushing force. It was the subjugation of life, the suppression of death. Between these two opposing forces, it annihilated souls and spirits, shattered the tangible and intangible alike!

The shard of land shuddered violently. Cracks spider-webbed across its surface, the edges crumbling into dust. This decay spread with terrifying speed from the periphery, consuming the continent’s heart.

The roar of destruction ascended to the heavens, a deafening symphony of obliteration. In a fleeting instant, the fractures became chasms, a landscape of desolation that reverberated through the cosmos.

The continent’s tremors intensified with each turn of the Immobile Wheel. The interlopers who had infested the land, their faces drained of color, coughed up blood under the relentless pressure. Their bodies groaned and cracked as if on the verge of implosion, their faces contorted in agony.

The weaker among them were crushed outright, their physical forms dissolving, their nascent souls trapped within their skulls, flung skyward like grotesque offerings.

At the continent’s core, a colossal temple, barely formed, crumbled. Cracks webbed its facade, and under the Immobile Wheel’s slow descent, it imploded, reducing itself to rubble and dust.

Upon its ruined steps, an old man, blood trickling from his lips, his eyes wide with terror, howled in defiance. With a desperate surge, he leaped into the air, his hands weaving a complex incantation. A tempest of dark wind erupted around him, swirling into a monstrous vortex, a gaping maw of shadows that lunged toward the Immobile Wheel, as if to swallow it whole.

To Wang Lin, this act was summed up in a single, damning phrase:

*Utter folly!*

The old fool dared attempt to devour Wang Lin’s Array of Life and Death? An affront beyond measure! A chilling glint ignited in Wang Lin’s eyes. With a scornful snort, he commanded the Immobile Wheel hovering above the continent to stir once more, completing another agonizing rotation.

In that instant, the old man, shrouded in his swirling tempest, unleashed his monstrous maw. It swelled to an impossible size, dwarfing even the Array of Life and Death, threatening to consume it in a single gulp.

Desperation fueled the old man’s gambit. He knew escape was impossible. To stand and be crushed was certain death; to fight was a slim chance at survival. Victory would not only deliver him from this existential threat, but would resound throughout the universe.

With a guttural roar, the monstrous maw engulfed the Array of Life and Death. But in that split second, a chorus of agonized screams erupted from within. A titanic force, woven with life and death, with suppression and annihilation, exploded from the maw’s depths.

With a deafening crack, the shadowy construct shattered. Fragments of darkness recoiled, scattering across the sky like a storm of obsidian shards. Through the dissipating darkness, the Immobile Wheel emerged, resplendent in its deadly glory.

In that same instant, the old man’s broken form was hurled back, slammed into the crumbling continent. He crashed into the ruins of his temple, leaving a deep crater.

The reverberation shook the fractured land once more. Lying amidst the devastation, the old man was a broken figure, blood staining his robes, his eyes reflecting an overwhelming dread. He struggled to rise, but with a flick of Wang Lin’s sleeve, the Immobile Wheel descended further by nine inches.

Nine, the number of tribulation. With each inch the Wheel bore down, the world splintered.

The old man coughed up blood as the crushing force pinned him, robbed him of all strength. He fell, once more, into the earth.

The continent groaned, its disintegration accelerated. Chunks of rock fractured, scattering into dust, until nothing remained.

Those few survivors among the invaders were crushed into nothing. The Wheel spared no one. It ground them into dust and annihilated all memory of their transgression on this plane.

Even the half of the continent that had dared to cross the seal was obliterated, reduced to cosmic dust.

“The slaughter of Cloud Sea is concluded!” Wang Lin said, his voice a somber decree.

The Immobile Wheel, the agent of annihilation, moved again, sinking yet another nine inches into the earth. In that moment, the imprisoned elder howled, a final desperate sound.

His body exploded, scattering flesh and bone across the landscape. His skull, housing the trapped soul, was carried aloft by the force of the blast.

With the death of the elder, those few invaders who still clung to life, instantly collapsed, their bodies disintegrating. Every trace of life was purged. The broken remains of the land were swept aside and torn apart until they were nothing but cosmic dust, lost forever in the vastness of the universe.

The last remnants of the slain invaders were drawn towards Wang Lin, swelling the ranks of the countless that already followed him, a terrible legion of the dead.

Wang Lin stared out over the wasteland, then turned away towards his destination.

There lay Luo Tian, home to friends and enemies alike, the theater where this great war would be decided.

He turned to meet his destiny.
Toward the celestial domain of Luo Tian, Wang Lin trod, each step echoing with the mournful cries of ten thousand souls left in his wake, their laments weaving through the very stars. Beneath him, the Wheel of Life and Death, a ceaseless vortex of existence, turned in unwavering obedience.

“The Array of Karma, complete!” A whisper, seemingly Wang Lin’s, drifted upon the cosmic winds. At its utterance, the countless heads surged skyward, swirling above Wang Lin like a tempest, reforming into a colossal vortex of tormented spirits.

Wang Lin raised his right hand, his fingers splayed wide, and pressed down upon the vortex of souls. At his command, the whirlwind spun with ever-increasing velocity, a deafening roar erupting as the myriad heads blurred into an indistinguishable mass.

Slowly, deliberately, Wang Lin clenched his fist. The moment it closed, the heavens thundered. The vortex, in its frenzied rotation, solidified once more, becoming a second, immutable Wheel of Karma, hovering above him.

From afar, Wang Lin was a figure of immense power, framed between two colossal wheels. He stood as a deity, master of both Life and Death, Cause and Consequence. His flowing white hair, a stark contrast against the cosmic canvas, spoke of a chilling, unyielding hunger for retribution.

“Luo Zhi…” Wang Lin’s form flickered, then vanished within the dual embrace of the Wheels. He reappeared in an instant, stepping boldly into the very heart of Luo Tian!

Within the Luo Tian Starfield, nestled amidst a siege of countless extra-realm cultivators, lay a vast formation of nine hundred ninety-nine cultivation stars. Here, the last remnants of the inner-realm’s defenders stood defiant, their faces etched with grim acceptance. They knew their realm was failing.

These nine hundred ninety-nine stars, carefully chosen from the Four Great Star Domains, were the last bulwark of their civilization. Yet, even now, they could not stem the tide of extra-realm powers, which chipped away at the stars, threatening their collapse.

With a roar that rent the fabric of the starfield, one of the besieged stars finally succumbed. After enduring for so long, it shattered, unleashing a tempest of destruction upon the surrounding void.

The continent crumbled, the oceans boiled away, and the very essence of the star fractured into countless shards. The star’s soul, its life force, vanished into the ether.

A triumphant cry rose from the ranks of the extra-realm cultivators. Hundreds of thousands surged forth, wielding their powers and artifacts, unleashing another brutal assault upon the remaining star array.

Such assaults had been relentless for months. While they had failed to breach the array, they had steadily eroded the strength of the individual stars.

Today, less than three hundred stars remained from the original nine hundred ninety-nine.

The Grand Empyreans, masters of the Third Step, held back, with those below the Empty Profound realm were the ones directly attacking. The few Empty Profound cultivators present merely observed, their sole purpose to prevent the inner-realm defenders from destroying the star array in a final, suicidal act.

These Empty Profound beings numbered five. Three were Immortal Consorts, two of whom had been present during Wang Lin’s tribulation. The third was cloaked in regal purple, a woman of noble bearing.

The remaining two Empty Profound cultivators were familiar to Wang Lin: the aged crone and the black-clad elder, both veterans of the Tribulation of Life and Death.

All those who had played a part in that tribulation, save for the Sovereign and the slain middle-aged scholar, were gathered here.

Their presence ensured that the inner-realm cultivators could not trigger a mass star collapse, forcing them to watch as the star array was slowly, irrevocably, consumed.

Leading the extra-realm assault were seven cultivators, their powers ranging from Empty Nirvana to Empty Spirit. It was these seven who spearheaded the assault from seven different directions, hammering the star array.

The thunderous echoes reverberated throughout Luo Tian, shaking the very souls of those who heard it.

Amidst the ranks of extra-realm cultivators stood a woman of surpassing beauty. She watched the star array with a cold gaze, her expression tinged with a deep-seated worry.

It was Yun Luo, the Grand Commandant herself, the true form of the being whose avatar had met its end.