Using the fragmented soul of a Heavenly Fortune Child’s Avatar, Wang Lin sought to pinpoint the location of the true Heavenly Fortune Child. This was his desperate plan. Eyes closed, he delved into the depths of his soul, where he beheld the very avatar he had imprisoned and merged with.

Over the long years, this stolen avatar had served as a conduit, a lifeline in the face of mortal calamities, granting Wang Lin a sliver of hope amidst the overwhelming odds. Were it not for his growing power, which allowed him to sense the looming presence of the true Heavenly Fortune Child – a peril of immense magnitude – Wang Lin would have gladly left the matter undisturbed.

For in Wang Lin’s heart, Heavenly Fortune Child possessed an enigmatic aura unlike any he had encountered.

“Where does he lurk? What twisted schemes does he weave?” Wang Lin furrowed his brow, his consciousness intertwining with the avatar, and commenced a perilous divination.

Time trickled by, each moment a grain of sand in the hourglass of fate. Wang Lin remained motionless outside the dwelling, his spirit wholly absorbed within the avatar’s essence. As the fusion deepened, he felt a disquieting sensation: the illusion that he was becoming the Heavenly Fortune Child himself.

This unsettling feeling was not new. He had felt it during the crisis with the Water Daoist. But now, as the fusion progressed, his mind grew strangely serene. Though his eyes remained closed, the immortal realm stretched before him, the sun and moon within his gaze, the cosmos subject to his will.

It was a sensation that could inflate one’s ego beyond all bounds.

Wang Lin seemed to forget his very name, as though he were becoming one with the Heavenly Fortune Child. As the merging grew ever tighter, his divine sense expanded, reaching outwards, encompassing all that lay around him.

In this manner, Wang Lin hoped to exploit the subtle connection between the true Heavenly Fortune Child and his avatar. Yet to achieve this, a complete fusion was required, a total immersion in the essence of the avatar.

This was not the first time Wang Lin had employed this perilous method. He had considered the risks, yet detected no obvious danger.

But just as Wang Lin melded with the avatar, light-years away, in the starfield of Summoning River, a small meteorite drifted through the void. Within, the true Heavenly Fortune Child sat cross-legged, a sinister smile playing on his lips.

His white hair flowed strangely, hinting at an immortal’s bearing, but the smile betrayed it, lending him an air of chilling foreboding.

His eyes snapped open, gleaming with malevolent light. His smile widened as his gaze pierced the meteorite, traveled across the cosmos, and settled on the meditating figure in the immortal realm.

“My good disciple,” he murmured, “you cannot escape me. The stronger you become, the greater your worth to me, the more benefits I shall reap.”

“Seven Daos of Origin, no less! Excellent!” He raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. In that instant, a causal energy of profound power radiated from his palm – the very Essence of Karma!

“Left hand gives life, right hand controls death,” Heavenly Fortune Child mused, his left hand resting on his knee. In his hands, a second Essence emerged: Life and Death itself.

“Closed eyes are illusion, opened eyes are truth,” he whispered. In his eyes, the Essences of Illusion and Reality coalesced.

Even more astounding, a raging inferno danced within the pupil of his left eye, while lightning and thunder split the heavens in his right.

“All this, I possess. Slaughter, I possess it too!” A hazy vortex opened in his brow, revealing another Heavenly Fortune Child clad in grey robes!

“Excellent, I have claimed them all,” the true Heavenly Fortune Child hissed. “Only the seventh remains.” His eyes flared, and a torrent of crimson veins erupted in his pupils. They quickly engulfed his entire irises, and within them, seals of power began to form.

Yet the weaving of these seals was a slow process, a gradual absorption into the red threads. It would take time for Heavenly Fortune Child to master the Essence of Sealing.

“To weave the threads of the eye into the rules of the heavens, to make one’s own will the laws of the cosmos… Disciple, you never cease to amaze me. Never has such an art been conceived. A testament to my eons of planning, you are truly the Child of Destiny!

“My grand design will be fulfilled through you. It shall be so!” He licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with a fervor rare for him.

“I have a tree planted two thousand years hence. It has already sprouted its ghost… But the fruit is not yet ripe for harvest. It still needs more nourishment.”

Heavenly Fortune Child’s gaze flashed. The seals continued their relentless advance through the blood-red veins of his eyes.

But in that very instant, his expression hardened, his smile vanished, and the fusion of seals faltered.

Back in the immortal realm, atop the mountain where Wang Lin’s dwelling stood, the figure that had sat motionless for five days suddenly snapped his eyes open, forcefully severing the connection with the avatar.

His face was grim, his eyes clouded with suspicion. He glanced at his body, his brow deeply furrowed.

“Strange… I felt something drain from my Essence during the fusion.” Wang Lin pondered, examining his seven Daos of Origin. But no matter how closely he inspected them, they seemed untouched. Relief washed over him, yet unease lingered.

“The Essence is whole. But why did I sense it? Was it merely my imagination?” He fell silent, then once more plunged his consciousness into the avatar, slowly merging. But just as complete fusion was about to occur, he recoiled, snapping the connection and leaping to his feet.

His expression was as bleak as a winter storm as he stared at the heavens, his eyes burning with cold light.

“No! It cannot be my imagination! Something is wrong with the avatar!” He raised his right hand, striking his forehead and wrenching forth wisps of ghostly smoke. They coalesced into the form of the Heavenly Fortune Child’s Avatar, now a soul, floating motionless in Wang Lin’s grasp.

“What is wrong?” Wang Lin scoured the soul with his divine sense, but found nothing, fueling his unease.

“No sign, no missing Essence, only my intuition. Can it be I am wrong? Is the connection between the avatar and its master a trap? A method to find the Heavenly Fortune Child, or a scheme devised by the Heavenly Fortune Child himself?” Wang Lin felt a tremor in his soul, finding it hard to believe his speculations.

“Back in the Land of the Demon Spirit, I used the Night’s Remnant technique to slay the avatar and seize it for myself. Was that also part of his plan? Preposterous!” Wang Lin recalled those events, but even now he found no sign of Heavenly Fortune Child’s manipulation.

He stared at the avatar, his expression shifting with growing dread. He was lost in confusion when a flicker of light shone in his eyes. In a flash, he vanished.

He reappeared in the southern part of the immortal realm, at the base of a towering mountain range covered in white snow.

Bitter winds howled, carrying crystalline snowflakes that stung the face. Wang Lin leaped upwards, heading straight for the summit. The wind roared against him, but could not impede his advance.

Near the mountainside, he saw Green Frost clad in white, gazing wistfully at the world, a struggle of memories warring in his eyes.

Behind her, Zhou Yi whispered soft words, his eyes filled with tenderness. They were oblivious to Wang Lin’s presence. He passed them by and strode towards the summit.

There, atop the peak, stood a white pavilion wreathed in immortal energy, spiraling into a massive vortex that could be seen from afar.

Wang Lin emerged from the void before it.

The pavilion door opened silently, and Green Frost, now dressed in blue like a scholar, smiled at Wang Lin.

“Brother Wang, a surprise visit! To what do I owe the honor?”

Though Green Frost had once offered to take Wang Lin as his disciple, those words had faded with time. Wang Lin’s cultivation and station had long since changed that idea. Green Frost altered his form of address to a respectful formality suitable for a fellow cultivator.

“I heard long ago that Senior Green Ripple excels in the art of calculation. I seek her aid to deduce a matter of great importance!” Wang Lin said, his expression serious, his eyes fixed on Green Frost.

“I will give it my all! Tell me, what must be done?” Green Frost’s smile vanished.

“The soul in my hand belongs to a Heavenly Fortune Child Avatar. The Heavenly Fortune Child is a master of calculation, and his whereabouts remain hidden. I fear some calamity may befall me. Thus, I must use the Avatar to seek…” Wang Lin explained the situation, and with a wave of his hand, the Avatar’s soul appeared.

Green Frost frowned as he heard Wang Lin’s words. After Wang Lin had finished explaining, Green Frost’s eyes glimmered as he stared at the avatar’s soul.

“Is that so! I shall see the soul myself!” Green Frost grabbed the avatar’s soul, observing it with deep concentration.