Sweat beaded upon Du Qing’s brow, a cold film born of disbelief. He stood transfixed, staring at the rear mountain caves, the dwelling of Wang Lin. For seven cycles of the moon, Wang Lin’s spiritual presence had lingered there, yet in that fleeting instant, it had vanished utterly.

This was no mere withdrawal, but a true and utter disappearance, as if his essence had become one with the very fabric of existence.

Such a transformation was too abrupt, too impossible for Du Qing to comprehend. He had entertained no expectation of such an event, his casual glance towards the caves born of amusement alone, only to be confronted by this sudden, unfathomable change.

A moment of stunned silence gave way to frantic action. Du Qing surged forward, his own spiritual sense unfurling like a desperate banner, rushing towards the rear mountain caves. The instant it swept through the chambers, a shudder racked his very being.

“Gone… he’s gone…” Wang Lin, who had sat in meditative repose within the caves for seven long months, had simply ceased to be.

His vanishing had occurred without a whisper, without a trace, as if he had evaporated beneath Du Qing’s very eyes.

“This cannot be! This is impossible!” Du Qing stood atop the mountain crest, emerald grass whispering beneath his feet, his face a mask of bewilderment. He rubbed his eyes with brutal force, unwilling to accept what he had witnessed, and once more cast his spiritual net, seeking any sign of Wang Lin’s essence.

Again, and again, and again, he searched, yet found nothing. Not a single echo of Wang Lin’s presence remained.

“It’s not possible! His spirit cannot merge with the heavens! Such a feat is only achieved by ancient monsters, beings at the very zenith of the Void Tribulant stage…” he stammered, his face paling. “He… he could not have!” Terror gripped his heart, a sudden, chilling realization that these past seven months had been nothing more than a vivid dream.

“Were you seeking me, perhaps?” The tranquil words drifted from behind him, a voice that sent shivers down his spine.

Du Qing spun around with jarring speed, his pupils constricting to pinpricks. There, clad in white, stood Wang Lin himself, his expression serene, bearing no mark of disarray.

Behind Wang Lin, shimmering layers of energy rippled and faded, like echoes in the ether.

“You… you…” Du Qing stumbled back, instinct urging him to distance himself. Wang Lin’s arrival was impossibly eerie, his presence undetected, unguarded against. Had Wang Lin chosen to strike, Du Qing would have surely been grievously wounded.

A chilling aura, reminiscent of the mountain winds, radiated from Wang Lin, a frigid essence that was slowly dissipated by the surrounding ambience of the Azure Dragon Sect. Yet, the lingering feeling on Du Qing’s skin was still that of a biting winter storm.

The shock and terror in his eyes transmuted into stark fear, rendering Wang Lin utterly alien, impossibly menacing.

“Nothing of import… The sect disciples have returned, bringing news of sub-branches discovered… some ancestral souls have been resealed…” Du Qing stammered, struggling to regain his composure.

Wang Lin merely glanced at Du Qing, a gaze that forced the latter to avert his eyes in subservience.

“Bring them to my cave,” Wang Lin commanded, his voice measured. He took a single step forward, transforming into a streak of vibrant light, soaring away to his mountain retreat.

Only after Wang Lin had departed did Du Qing release a shaky breath. However, his disquiet only grew, fueled by Wang Lin’s departure as a radiant comet.

“It cannot be! He could not have become one with the heavens. Otherwise, he would have disappeared in a blink… The vanishing of his aura must be instantaneous transit, yes, *teleportation!* The man must have grown weary of constant failure, attempting to save face with this charade…” The more Du Qing pondered, the more convinced he became of his theory. A wry smile crept upon his lips, seeing his earlier terror as mere self-deception.

“I knew it! He could never accomplish such a thing as melding with the heavens! What colossal self-importance!” A cold smirk spread across his face, his conviction solidified. With a dismissive gesture, he turned to leave, when a tremor seized his very being. His eyes locked onto the patch of ground where Wang Lin had stood only moments before, and he stared, his eyes wide with disbelief and a tide of surging horror.

His mind exploded with noise, a cacophony of thunder, and all other sensations dissolved, leaving only the patch of earth that had supported Wang Lin.

After an age of stunned silence, Du Qing’s face grew ashen. He stumbled back, his gaze fixed on the rear mountain caves, now filled with a terrifying awe and confusion.

Near him, on the very spot Wang Lin had occupied, lay a scattering of bluish-green snow, glinting in the sunlight, slowly melting away.

Throughout the entire continent of Azure Cattle, only the Celestial Mountains in the far west held snow of such a hue. To travel from the Azure Dragon Sect to those peaks and return would take even Du Qing, traveling at full speed, many months…

“Snow of the Celestial Mountains… This man… is a prodigy!” The words escaped his lips as he stood in silent contemplation. In that instant, all the contempt and dismissiveness he harbored towards Wang Lin’s seven months of seclusion dissolved, replaced by a sense of fathomless mystery.

A seed of fear, divorced from cultivation, was planted in his heart – the chilling dread of the unknown.

Within the rear mountain caves, Wang Lin brushed away the lingering frost from his robes. After seven months of painstaking effort, he had finally awakened his ethereal doppelganger.

In the instant of its awakening, Wang Lin was flooded with an indescribable sense of understanding. Knowledge flooded his mind, emanating from that distant aspect of his being, momentarily encompassing him. The invisible barrier, woven from heavenly law, which had so long hindered him, loosened, seemingly disintegrating to allow him passage.

A myriad of insights flickered through his thoughts, tantalizingly close, yet frustratingly ephemeral. Wang Lin understood this was due to the incomplete nature of his doppelganger’s evolution.

Once his other half was fully grown, all knowledge of those celestial laws would be his.

At the same time, the oppressive pressure that had constricted him like an icy shroud began to recede, as though invisible cracks had formed in his mind, allowing his spiritual sense to flow freely, no longer forced.
It was all because of his Avatar!

The instant Wang Lin’s spirit merged with the cosmos, his mortal form vanished, becoming one with the very fabric of existence. A forgotten sensation returned, the feeling of shrinking the land beneath his feet, a technique once learned within the Realm of the Caves.

With a thought, he materialized upon Mount Tian of this starfield, witnessing the ethereal dance of cyan snow. This first stride across the land was without purpose, a mere familiarization with his newfound power.

But when he turned his mind towards the Azure Dragon Sect, its image burned clear within his soul, he found himself instantly behind Du Qing, in the forbidden mountains beyond.

The journey took less than half the time it takes incense to burn. Were it not for the specks of cyan snow clinging to his boots, even Du Qing would have remained ignorant of Wang Lin’s brief sojourn to Mount Tian.

“My Avatar, barely grown, already grants such might… should time stretch on, this Avatar shall become my most powerful form!” This truth resonated deep within Wang Lin’s heart.

“The time draws near to absorb the primary pulse of Earthfire within the Great Soul Sect. But first, I must gather the lesser veins, to see what form my True Body of Fire can take.” He knew the path ahead would be fraught with peril, particularly in the final stages.

The very formation of its head would demand not merely the essence of fire, but the will of fire itself.

Half an incense stick later, Du Qing arrived to pay respects, bearing both the collected Earthfire Souls from his sect’s disciples and a detailed map of the starfield. Marked upon it were the locations of countless minor veins of Earthfire.

Wang Lin, without ceremony, absorbed the offered Earthfire Souls, though their inherent will proved too weak to significantly aid in the formation of his True Body.

The map, however, was a treasure indeed. He accepted the jade scroll and took his leave, for Du Qing knew the nature of Wang Lin’s quest, one in which he could not partake. Yet, he would not betray him, for Du Qing still harbored his own ambitions regarding Wang Lin.

Moreover, Wang Lin’s parting gaze, devoid of all emotion, coupled with the rippling void beneath his feet as he vanished before Du Qing’s very eyes, spoke volumes more eloquently than any threat.

Du Qing, shaken to his core, watched Wang Lin’s departure, and sighed long after.

“Du Daoyou, your assistance shall not be forgotten. Should fate allow, I shall repay your kindness,” Wang Lin’s voice echoed in his ears long after he was gone.

On the seventh day after Wang Lin’s departure, tremors shook the starfield. One by one, minor veins of Earthfire erupted in cataclysm, waves of flame spreading throughout the land. Even the very air seemed to crackle with heat, breathing it in caused a subtle disquiet.

As this phenomenon spread across the starfield, the various sects could no longer ignore it. They dispatched countless disciples and elders to investigate, but found only ruined husks where Earthfire veins once pulsed.

Half a month later, Wang Lin emerged from a mountain shrouded in black mist, a place that had once been the Seven Paths Sect. He looked somber.

He had needed to come here, to this place where he could almost feel the echoes of the Realm of the Caves, and Xuan Luo’s long vigil.

Stepping out of the mist, Wang Lin glanced back at the shrouded peaks, sighed softly, and turned away.

“Situ, Qing Shui, and Li Qianmei, and all those who have been reborn… where do you reside now?” The silhouette of Wang Lin, walking away, exuded loneliness.

A day later, in the far west of the starfield, amidst the lands claimed by the Great Soul Sect, on the peak of Mount Tian, a white-robed, white-haired youth stood amidst the cyan snowfall. His gaze pierced the dancing flakes, focusing on the land beyond the mountain, the western reaches of the starfield.

From his vantage point, he could see countless mountains stretching into the distance. And in their deepest heart, a scarlet peak pierced the sky.

“The Great Soul Sect…” the youth murmured, a glint of resolve flickering in his eyes.