Within the hallowed, secluded chambers of the Celestial Fortune Sect, upon a forgotten star, sat the venerable Skyfate Child, legs crossed in silent meditation. Before him knelt nine youths, eyes shut tight, lost in a slumber most profound.

A strange light flickered in Skyfate Child’s eyes as he gazed upon the nine. With a maw opening wide, he lunged forward, consuming them whole in a grotesque act of absorption.

His form shuddered, pain etched upon his face. Slowly, his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep, timeless sleep. Eons drifted by, until at last, Skyfate Child’s eyes snapped open, burning with newfound knowledge. “Ninety-seventh Awakening…” he rasped. “My next slumber and awakening shall be etched upon the heavens themselves!”

Wang Lin watched this scene unfold, his expression unreadable, yet within his heart, a tempest raged. He could scarcely believe Skyfate Child’s devouring was a desperate ritual for repeated awakenings.

“He must be one of the Seven-Colored Immortal’s three souls and seven spirits,” Wang Lin mused, a chill crawling down his spine. “Only that could explain these recurring awakenings!” He fixed Skyfate Child with a chilling stare.

The visions shifted, revealing Skyfate Child at different points in time. In one, he sat upon a desolate, untamed star, far from any known civilization. Having devoured his chosen sacrifices, he awoke once more. As he prepared to leave, a flicker of curiosity arrested his steps. He glanced down at a decaying, earth-hued cultivation star. A faint smile graced his lips, and he sent forth a telepathic whisper.

“On this forsaken world, I sense one with profound insights. But, little Foundation Core, you reach too far. Such heavenly secrets require eons to grasp, and by then, your mortal shell will have long turned to dust. Have you truly considered the cost?” With those words, Skyfate Child raised his hand, unleashing a mighty palm strike upon the dying star.

“I, Skyfate Child, offer you a thread of fate. Should you ever escape that desolate prison, seek me upon the Celestial Fortune Star. I shall take you as a nominal disciple, to follow me for a century!” His smile widened as he turned away, robes billowing behind him.

“The boy shows promise. He may serve as a vessel to be devoured after nurturing. Yet, he is weak… Whether he proves useful remains to be seen. Still, I sense a certain potential…”

At this revelation, Wang Lin’s mind reeled. He stared at the earth-hued star, recognition dawning. The aura emanating from it… it was him! While Wang Lin’s true self was lost in the labyrinth of Skyfate Child’s reincarnation, across the cosmos, every Skyfate Child fragment that had emerged simultaneously raised its right hand, piercing its own brow without hesitation.

On the eastern edge of the Summoned River Starfield, the first Skyfate Child manifested, eyes blazing with an otherworldly light. His right hand rose, pressing against his forehead.

“I am Skyfate, embarking on my final slumber, my ultimate awakening! With this awakening, I shall fulfill the grand scheme of countless ages!” With a resolute strike, his finger plunged through his brow, shattering the skull beneath. In that instant, Skyfate Child’s physical form crumbled into dust, sending echoes of destruction across the four great starfields. The nearly three thousand fragments dissolved, transforming into spectral lights that raced toward the Summoned River and Wang Lin’s projection.

“Let us see who is swifter! When I first marked you, you were but a paltry Foundation Core cultivator. Had it not been for me, your flesh would have rotted away long ago! All that you are, all that you will be, is mine!” The three thousand wraiths surged forward, their thoughts coalescing into a thunderous roar that echoed within Wang Lin’s heart, a symphony of avarice and entitlement.

As these souls bore down upon Wang Lin’s projection, his true self witnessed more of Skyfate Child’s awakenings. With each vision, the face of Skyfate Child twisted, becoming unrecognizable, as if inhabiting a new body in each lifetime. Only the essence remained, a haunting echo that linked these disparate forms. Wang Lin watched, horrified, as during the age before the collapse of the Four Great Immortal Realms, a man clad in blue, devoured a sleeping youth, his only disciple. “This is my thirty-fourth awakening…” he whispered.

In another vision, during the same ancient era, a beautiful woman consumed a sleeping man, radiating the very essence of a god, on a desolate, ruined land that floated among the stars.

Through countless acts of devouring, the true nature of Skyfate Child’s existence was laid bare, each revelation sending shivers down Wang Lin’s spine. “What is Skyfate Child? What entity is reborn through these monstrous acts?” Back in the real world, the hundreds of Skyfate Child souls from the Summoned River converged, plunging into Wang Lin’s projection.

Wang Lin’s projection remained still, uncaring of their invasion. Within his body, Skyfate Child’s soul swelled, threatening to consume everything. Even as more souls sped towards him from the other starfields, Wang Lin’s true self was trapped in a slow and terrible nightmare.

In the labyrinth of Skyfate Child’s past, Wang Lin glimpsed the entity’s third awakening, a time lost to history. It was a time before even the Immortal Realms, the age of the Ancient Gods.

In the star-strewn skies of the primordial era, mighty warriors sought not immortality but power, drawing strength from the world itself. Amid a circle of mourners, a wizened elder was burned upon a pyre.

Hundreds of men and women wept before the pyre, chanting softly. Suddenly, the elder’s eyes snapped open, confusion quickly replaced by cold calculation. Rising from the pyre, he opened his maw, swallowing the mourners whole. With a violent shudder, the very world crumbled as a monstrous mouth tore through the sky, devouring the entire star.

“This is my third awakening… I recall consuming the Seventh Spirit of the Seven-Colored Immortal during my second!” The ancient man proclaimed, licking his lips.

Wang Lin’s heart pounded in his chest.

“He devoured the Seventh Spirit of the Seven-Colored Immortal! He was not one of the Immortal’s three souls and seven spirits to begin with! Who is he? How could he consume the Immortal’s very essence?!”

Having witnessed countless reincarnations, Wang Lin saw a pattern. The entity’s devouring power diminished with each rebirth. In his third awakening, he devoured entire stars, yet in the ninety-seventh, he could only consume men. As he stared at the smiling old man, his mind raced. The visions shifted again, revealing Skyfate Child’s second awakening. This time, Wang Lin found himself in a barren region of space, devoid of all life. Here, there were only countless stars.

A terrifying theory began to take shape in Wang Lin’s mind, a theory regarding the true identity of Skyfate Child. In that instant, a faint wisp of soul essence streaked across the void, radiating the power of the Seven-Colored Immortal. As Wang Lin watched, the soul was devoured by a crack in space, which soon faded and a young man materialized.

“The Seventh Spirit… delicious… I helped him so much. Now that he is gone, no one can control me anymore… Sadly, his three souls are too powerful. I dared not consume them directly. Still, with this primordial spirit, I can grow… perhaps, many ages from now, I can recreate the entire Seven-Colored Immortal. When that time comes, I shall become him… But first, I must grow…” His face remained emotionless as he tried to smile.

“I must learn to be a cultivator. I must become someone even the Immortal’s three souls and six spirits cannot recognize… I must regain control over reincarnation…” Wang Lin stared at the youth, utterly stunned. He knew who Skyfate Child truly was.