Upon the Skyreach Steppe, Zhang Daozong and the aged Zhao, guardians of the very ground, stood with faces etched in bewildered apprehension. Beneath their feet, they felt a terrifying presence stirring – a raw, untamed power erupting from the earth’s dark heart.

A mere brush with this energy sent shivers down their spines, conjuring visions of a colossal Sky-Ox, roused from an age-long slumber, bellowing its defiance at the heavens as it charged skyward.

Nor were they alone in their dread. The four Jade Demons, their faces impassive as carved jade, now wore masks of grave concern. They, too, stared fixedly at the ground, their usual icy silence deepened.

Since childhood, the three ancient patriarchs of the Jade Demon Continent had culled them from countless children, recognizing in each a spark of extraordinary talent. Once their training reached a certain point, they were sent to the Scorpion Temple, to serve as acolytes to the Jade Demon.

Over countless millennia, many such acolytes had walked those halls, but few survived the brutal trials within the Scorpion Temple. Only nine had ever been deemed worthy of the Jade Demon’s favor!

These nine were the Jade Demon Envoys, the inheritors of the will of the Scorpion Soul, chained beneath the Jade Demon Continent!

This connection granted them a clarity that surpassed even Zhang Daozong’s. The subterranean roars and oppressive aura resonated within them as the birth of a new Sky-Ox Herald, blessed by the Sky-Ox Spirit.

The ground buckled and groaned with increasing ferocity, a deafening rumble echoing across the land. Countless blades of grass shattered into emerald dust, whirled up by the wind to form a choking, verdant fog.

Fear lent wings to Zhang Daozong’s heels as he shot skyward, followed closely by the aged Zhao.

But the four Jade Demon Envoys remained rooted to the spot, their jade visages grim. Spreading out in a ritualistic circle, they knelt, their hands weaving intricate seals, and chanted in unison.

In response to their guttural incantations, swirling jade mists erupted behind each of them, solidifying into four colossal scorpions, their carapaces gleaming like oiled jade.

With venomous shrieks, the jade scorpions lunged forward, plunging toward the churning earth.

Then, each Envoy bit down upon their own tongue, spitting forth crimson blood. They pressed their bloodied hands against the ground, and as their eyes slammed shut, plumes of emerald energy, thick as a man’s arm, erupted from their crowns. The four streams converged in the heavens, coalescing into a vast, shimmering mirror of green light!

Though ethereal, the mirror radiated an aura of profound, ancient malice. Zhang Daozong and the aged Zhao, upon seeing it, were overcome with a feverish awe.

Within the mirror, a vast continent unfurled amidst the swirling jade energies. Mountains were scarce; instead, the land was dominated by sprawling, fetid swamps. Even the cities of men were built upon stilts within the mire, a testament to the land’s strangeness.

The continent was perhaps only seven-tenths the size of the Sky-Ox lands, yet the oppressive stench of its swamps choked the very air, lending the whole vista an unsettling, dreamlike quality.

It was the Jade Demon Continent!

As the four Jade Demon Envoys chanted, the mirror descended slowly, encompassing the ground between them. Its influence stretched outwards, threatening to blanket the entirety of the Skyreach Steppe, to bind it in a suffocating embrace.

Deep within the earth, Wang Lin, merged with the spectral form of the Sky-Ox, surged upwards. Behind him lay the shattered remnants of the underground palace. He sought not glory, nor did he fight for the sake of the Sky-Ox lands. His only goal was the fulfillment of the three conditions.

Yet, honor bound him. He had drawn upon the strength and lifeblood of the thousand souls below to forge his Soul Armor. He could not abandon them now. He must first deliver them to safety.

His goal was clear: break free of the earth and slay the three ancient horrors of the Sky Tribulation realm. Only then would he complete the second task given to him by the Old Azure Bull.

As he hurtled onwards, his face hidden behind the ebony visor of his armor, only his icy eyes and snow-white hair were visible. His pace quickened, closing the gap to the surface to a mere few hundred feet.

But then, his eyes narrowed. He felt it: four familiar yet utterly repulsive auras suddenly appearing around him, converging upon his location.

He glimpsed them – four jade scorpions, their claws and stingers bared in hideous anticipation.

A visceral loathing surged within Wang Lin, a hatred so profound it shook him to his core. He knew this hatred was not his own, but rather, a primal instinct echoing from the Sky-Ox Spirit.

Evidently, eons ago, before the Immortal Ancestor’s chains had bound them, the Sky-Ox and the Scorpion had crossed paths!

Perhaps they had even been… eternal enemies.

In a flash of insight, Wang Lin halted. The Sky-Ox phantom that had enveloped him receded, merging back into his form. Once again, only Wang Lin stood in the depths of the earth.

Without hesitation, he changed course, abandoning his ascent. He turned westward, and with a thunderous stride, he vanished. When he reappeared, he was face-to-face with a jade scorpion, its mandibles clicking hungrily.

Before the scorpion could strike, its tail lashed out, sending a phantom whip hurtling towards Wang Lin. He met the attack with frigid contempt. Ignoring the scorpion’s stinger, he grasped the earth before him.

“Sky-Rending!” he roared, channeling his newfound strength, amplified to the early stages of the Sky Tribulation realm, with the raw power of his Dao Ancient heritage. He forged a technique unlike any other, a spell born of his unique circumstance!

As Wang Lin tore at the earth, a colossal fissure erupted before him, a gaping maw of destruction ripping through the ground towards the oncoming scorpion!
The chasm roared and spiraled, its gaping maw widening to impossible size, lunging towards the swift, poisonous strike of a scorpion’s tail. The appendage shuddered, then shattered in a thunderous explosion. The colossal fissure then swept forward, cleaving through the emerald carapace of the monstrous scorpion with brutal ease before tearing into the earth, the reverberations shaking the very foundations of the world.

Beneath the trembling Skyreach Grasslands, the earth erupted in the west. A colossal subterranean rent, spanning tens of thousands of leagues, ripped open with deafening force. The ground buckled and heaved. From the abyss spewed a noxious green miasma, accompanied by a heart-rending screech that faded into nothingness.

Seated in meditation upon the surface, one of the four Green Devil Emissaries paled drastically, coughing up a mouthful of crimson.

“A Tear in the Heavens,” Wang Lin snarled, having annihilated one Green Devil Scorpion Soul. Deep within the earth, he whirled, only to face the swift approach of three more emerald scorpions, each radiating a suffocating aura of malice, closing in from three directions.

“I wonder, with my current cultivation, if the Seven-Colored Lance can recapture the full might of the Seven-Colored Immortal, capable of obliterating suns?” He eyed the approaching terrors, battle lust blazing in his eyes.

He stepped forward, and the very bedrock of the underworld trembled beneath his tread. Raising his hand, he channeled his energy with blinding speed, unleashing the Seven-Colored Lance!

Though his casting speed hadn’t increased dramatically compared to his unarmored state, it was still several times faster than that of an average cultivator.

With a flick of his wrist, seven colors bloomed across the cavern, coalescing into a long, ethereal lance. The moment it materialized, an aura of world-ending power radiated outwards, volatile and threatening to shatter at any moment.

Then, the colors shifted. The vibrant spectrum of the Seven-Colored Lance dissolved, replaced by an all-consuming black!

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet – black was absent from the original spectrum.

Yet now, the Seven-Colored Lance was the deepest black imaginable, exuding a palpable aura of death. This was the true Seven-Colored Lance, a weapon whose full potential could only be unlocked through mastery of one’s power, manifesting as the First Transformation!

Wang Lin seized the black lance, and as his fingers closed around the hilt, the weapon pulsed. Blinding white light erupted from its core – the Second Transformation!

A predatory glint ignited in Wang Lin’s eyes. He hurled the lance forward, and with a cataclysmic roar, the Seven-Colored Lance in its Second, white-hued form, hurtled towards one of the incoming scorpions.

As the lance streaked through the void, its color shifted again, morphing from white into a somber grey.

This was the Third Transformation! The ultimate potential of the Seven-Colored Lance, a power that even the Seven-Colored Immortal could only unleash in his prime!

The Seven-Colored Third Transformation, wreathed in ashen energy, slammed into the scorpion. The beast screeched in defiance, spewing a torrent of virulent green miasma, but the lance tore through the cloud and struck true.

The underworld shuddered as the impact exploded, sending a shockwave spiraling towards the surface. Above, the Skyreach Grasslands buckled. Thousands of leagues of earth collapsed inwards, sending a geyser of soil and grass skyward.

“Alas, this Soul Armor only amplifies my cultivation, conforming to the aura of the Sky-Bull instead of my own. If I were truly at the Initial Stage of the Void Tribulation, my Nine Daos perfected, capable of manifesting nine true Dao bodies… then the Seven-Colored Lance would be ninefold in its devastation! I could obliterate these three scorpions in a single stroke!” Wang Lin lamented inwardly. The Soul Armor was, after all, a borrowed power, a potent force but ultimately not his own.

“Two scorpions remain,” he mused. “A perfect opportunity to test my other arts, to discern their final power and determine which are worthy of further pursuit!”