A mournful wind, a keening sigh echoing through the very fabric of the Wind Immortal Realm, heralded a darkness approaching. From the horizon, a black line unfurled, a living tapestry woven from the bodies of ten thousand mosquitos, a horrifying spectacle against the fading sky.

At the forefront of this swarm, a behemoth of a mosquito, fully a hundred paces in length, bristled with savage delight. Its multifaceted eyes, like polished obsidian, gleamed with an almost feverish excitement as they met the knowing smile of Wang Lin. A tremor wracked its colossal frame.

With a shriek that pierced the very air, the hundred-pace Mosquito King abandoned all restraint, propelled by the wind towards its master. It crashed against Wang Lin with joyous abandon, the sheer force of its passage whipping the air into a stinging gale that lashed against his face. The sight alone would have sent the bravest warrior reeling in terror.

This creature, however, was no mere beast, but a devoted servant, long accustomed to the resilience of Wang Lin’s true form. This boisterous embrace, though well-intentioned, threatened to overwhelm the mortal vessel he currently inhabited.

Raising his right hand, Wang Lin gently placed it upon the rushing behemoth. A ripple of arcane energy pulsed forth, enveloping the Mosquito King in a shimmering wave that subtly slowed its advance.

Beside him now, the creature buzzed with unrestrained joy, its enormous proboscis nudging against his body in a display of affection so profound, it bordered on reverence. It was more than loyalty; it was a bond forged in the crucible of shared experience, etched into the very essence of the mosquito’s soul, never to be broken.

Each gentle touch of its proboscis seemed a mournful query, a whispered lament for the long absence of its master.

Wang Lin, his heart warmed by this reunion, laughed aloud. With a fluid movement, he stood upon the creature’s broad back. Before them stretched the vastness of the Wind Immortal Realm, and toward it he turned. The ten thousand mosquito swarm swirled around them, a living vortex of wings and buzzing mandibles. Some recognized him, their multifaceted eyes reflecting a glimmer of familiarity. Others, newer additions to the brood, regarded him with curious uncertainty.

Having found again the monstrous beast he had raised from infancy, Wang Lin was suffused with a contentment rarely known to him. A lifetime of solitude had granted him few companions beyond these formidable beasts, and none held a bond as old or as strong as this monstrous mosquito.

“You’ve grown into quite the formidable creature,” Wang Lin said, patting the Mosquito King’s massive head with a smile.

The King roared in reply, a sound filled with pride. Through its guttural pronouncements, the creature seemed to recount a century of trials and triumphs. Though the nuances were lost to Wang Lin, he had witnessed the mosquito’s growth firsthand, and from its tone he guessed at the nature of its tale.

“Enough,” Wang Lin said, his smile unwavering. “Take me to the deepest heart of the Wind Immortal Realm.”

A spark ignited within the Mosquito King’s multifaceted eyes. With renewed vigor, it turned into the wind, its roar echoing across the desolate landscape. The swarm followed as one, transforming into a swirling tempest of chitin and buzzing wings, hurtling towards the horizon.

The Mosquito King’s speed far surpassed what Wang Lin remembered. Standing upon its back, he studied the creature with a growing sense of wonder.

Though formidable in the past, the beast now radiated a power that bordered on the unimaginable. It stood on the precipice of a transformation, teetering at the very edge of a third-step cultivator’s power, akin to one facing the fifth Heavenly Tribulation.

This evolution astonished Wang Lin.

The creature was but a hair’s breadth away from a metamorphosis that would elevate it to a being of terrifying power, a possibility that had never crossed Wang Lin’s mind.

“What manner of fortune has befallen you, to have advanced so far?”

As he pondered this mystery, the Mosquito King soared past countless fragmented continents, its familiarity with this shattered world evident in every twist and turn. It swiftly brought Wang Lin to the very depths of the Wind Immortal Realm.

The air grew heavy, thick with a swirling mist. Within its depths, Wang Lin saw a colossal rift, a rent in reality that stretched into the unknown, emanating a chilling aura that seemed to seep into the very bones.

Beneath the swirling fog lay the remains of fractured continents, eerily unchanged from his previous visit. He remembered a humanoid statue that once stood upon the central landmass, but now it was gone, vanished without a trace.

Beside it lay the carcass of a mosquito, thousands of paces long, its lifeless eyes staring blankly at the sky. Death clung to it like a shroud.

At this sight, Wang Lin’s gaze hardened.

With a flicker of its wings, Wang Lin’s Mosquito King plunged into the mist, landing beside the fallen behemoth. Its proboscis lashed out, piercing the corpse. The Mosquito King began to feed, its body radiating a golden light.

The swarm of ten thousand surrounded the pair, yet none dared to feed upon the fallen kin.

Wang Lin dismounted and walked to the side of the gargantuan corpse. Though years had passed since its death, the flesh had not decayed, but rather become desiccated, like preserved meat. Even in its withered state, the creature exuded an aura of immense power, a tangible pressure reminiscent of a third-step cultivator.

Examining the carcass closely, Wang Lin discovered a fatal wound upon its neck, a trio of small punctures that marked the cause of death. Three finger-sized holes.

Only a keen eye could discern the wounds.

Wang Lin’s pupils contracted as he approached the injury. He raised his right hand, extending three fingers, and inserted them into the holes. They fit perfectly. The holes had indeed been made by three fingers.

“What sorcery is this, to slay such a beast with only three fingers?” Wang Lin murmured, his eyes narrowing. He recalled seeing this creature years ago, struggling forth from the rift.

Though its size had changed, its essence remained the same.

“Three fingers… I vaguely recognize the residual power upon this corpse… As though I have felt it before…”

Nearby, the Mosquito King withdrew its proboscis, sated. It glanced at Wang Lin, and with a piercing shriek, pointed its proboscis towards the rift in the sky.

Wang Lin looked up, his eyes gleaming with newfound interest. At that moment, the Mosquito King beat its wings and flew directly towards the rift. Wang Lin strode forward, close behind it, and in an instant, they stood at the very edge of the tear in reality.
Though veiled in a creeping mist, a bitter chill emanated from the chasm, raising a keen wariness in Wang Lin’s eyes. He did not immediately plunge into the fissure, for his journey to the Wind Immortal Realm had not been undertaken to study such rifts.

Yet, happenstance had led him here. The sight of the skeletal remains of a mosquito beast, coupled with the uncanny and familiar sensation of those three ethereal fingers, stirred within Wang Lin a deep curiosity regarding the chasm’s destination.

“Where does this rift lead?” he wondered.

This marked the first time Wang Lin had observed the immense fissure from such close proximity. With careful scrutiny, he began to perceive certain unsettling anomalies. The jagged edges of the tear were irregular, yet within those serrated shapes, there were hints of past connections, as if once joined.

In silent contemplation, Wang Lin waved his right hand, conjuring forth a jade slip. Holding the slip, he snapped it in two. The sharp crack echoed in the stillness as the jade split apart, its edges revealing a multitude of tiny, jagged fractures.

Rejoining the two halves, the jade slip appeared once more whole. With a gentle flash of light emanating from his right hand, Wang Lin infused his cultivation into the slip, binding it together. The irregular fractures adhered to one another, leaving behind only a web of delicate, hairline cracks.

Gazing intently at the jade slip, Wang Lin’s eyes flickered with understanding. Once more, he grasped the slip with both hands and snapped it apart. Again, the jade split, revealing both the previously healed fractures and fresh, jagged fissures.

Holding the broken slip, Wang Lin cast several glances upon it, then turned his gaze towards the chasm’s jagged edge. Slowly, a light of realization began to dawn in his eyes.

“It is similar…,” he murmured. “This chasm was once torn open, then mended. After years beyond counting, it was rent asunder once more, creating this chaotic edge.”

“If the second rending occurred during the collapse of the Wind Immortal Realm, leading to the reign of the mosquito beasts… then when was this chasm first torn open? And who was responsible?”

A piercing shriek shattered Wang Lin’s reverie. His own mosquito king hovered near the chasm, its movements hinting at a desire to enter. It would often gaze back at Wang Lin, its eyes reflecting a fervent impatience.

“Very well, let us explore,” Wang Lin said, nodding slightly at the beast’s behavior. With a triumphant screech, the mosquito king plunged into the fissure. Its movements were practiced, indicating that, in the past century, it had traversed this path more than once.

Wang Lin stepped forward, his heart filled with caution. This vigilance had served him throughout his life, never diminishing even as his cultivation grew stronger. The higher his cultivation, the more acutely Wang Lin perceived the unfathomable mysteries of the heavens and earth.

As he stepped into the chasm, a bone-chilling cold assaulted him. Wang Lin narrowed his eyes, circulating his cultivation throughout his body. Rather than dispersing his divine sense, he first swept the area with his gaze.

And with that one glance, he froze, his eyes widening in astonished brilliance.

The rift opened into a world bathed in an ethereal luminescence. This glow emanated from countless enormous, oval objects. He found himself in an extraordinary realm teeming with the eggs of mosquito beasts!

The mosquito beast eggs were densely packed, strung together in endless clusters, with countless beasts awaiting their moment of awakening. From what he could perceive, there must be over a million eggs, the amount growing as he delved further into the place. The further Wang Lin went the bigger each egg became; he even saw some that were over three hundred feet in size. Inside these behemoths, a golden light pulsed, indicating a mosquito beast already fully formed, seemingly poised to awaken at any moment.

As soon as Wang Lin’s mosquito king entered, it emitted a joyous shriek. It hurtled towards a string of eggs, plunging its massive proboscis into one. With a single, powerful suck, it drained the egg of its essence.

Watching the scene, Wang Lin realized that his own mosquito beast had undergone a transformation. He now understood why, due to this place!

“What is this place…?” Wang Lin murmured, his brow furrowed. He slowly began to disperse his divine sense, shrouding the entire space with its vigilant power.

As his divine sense expanded, Wang Lin saw the entirety of this place in a single, breathtaking moment. His eyes widened in sheer shock as he instinctively took a few steps back, looking up.