With a single digit, Wang Lin channeled the zenith of his present might. It embodied the essence of his ethereal doppelganger and the full unleashing of his Celestial Ancestor’s spirit, amplified further by the convergence of his Five Elements True Body and the unveiling of his Lightning True Body. Behind him, the three fundamental essences of Illusion swirled into nebulous vortexes.

All strength coalesced within this one digit, unleashed with purpose. As it struck forth, shards from the shattered Bone Yin Blade refracted the golden light within his eyes, maximizing the potency of his ethereal doppelganger’s power within the confines of the bladed array.

With this onslaught, Wang Lin’s intent was clear: obliterate the source of the opposing finger. His nature was unyielding; those who sought his demise would surely meet their own.

Amidst the snow-laden street, the manifested finger and Wang Lin’s death-infused digit collided in a cataclysmic instant.

At the point of contact, the ancestral soul blood within Wang Lin’s body surged forth, the force of an ancient Celestial Ancestor, first to engage the opposing finger.

A deafening roar erupted as the ninety-nine phantom reflections of Wang Lin’s five divine meridians merged into one, bolstered by the Celestial Bull’s spirit, forming the second wave of assault against the intruding digit!

The earth-shattering echoes reverberated through the silent, snowy night, sending tremors through the surroundings and paralyzing the advancing Good Fortune Heavenly Venerate.

The opposing finger faltered, minute cracks of blood appearing, as if struggling to withstand Wang Lin’s retaliatory strike.

Yet, the symphony of power was far from over. Wang Lin’s Five Elements True Body, Lightning True Body, and the three illusory vortices behind him all converged, flowing through his fingertip, forming a third, all-encompassing wave. Within it pulsed the very essence of Wang Lin’s existence!

A thunderous din resounded as blood seeped from Wang Lin’s fingertip. Unwavering, he roared, thrusting forward with undiminished force!

The final, devastating wave surged from Wang Lin’s ethereal doppelganger. Golden light emanated from his eyes, enveloping his fingertip, amplified by the fractured bone shards reflecting the light, transforming Wang Lin’s finger into a beacon of pure gold!

A Golden Finger!

This pinnacle of power shattered the manifested finger at the moment of contact!

But as the opposing finger crumbled, a placid voice echoed across the heavens and earth.

“Through loss, there is reconstruction, and in reconstruction, existence is found!”

As the words resonated, the broken finger swiftly reformed, seemingly unscathed, and clashed with Wang Lin’s digit once more!

“Through existence, there is dissolution, and in dissolution, emptiness is realized!”

At this second contact, the power of the ancestral soul blood within Wang Lin’s finger vanished as if into the void. Likewise, his divine meridian sorcery and the Celestial Bull’s spirit dissipated, carried away like dust. From existence, they became nothing.

Even his Five Elements True Body and Lightning True Body succumbed to the strange power, fading into vaporous wisps. Only his three essences of Illusion remained!

These three essences, the foundation of Wang Lin’s power, the culmination of his life’s understanding of the Dao, of life, death, cause, effect, truth, and falsehood, defied all attempts at obliteration!

The golden light of Wang Lin’s ethereal doppelganger, too, remained untouched!

A deafening echo reverberated, and blood trickled from Wang Lin’s lips. He reeled backward, thrusting his right hand forward, launching the bone shards in their formation towards the collapsing, yet reforming, digit!

Thunderous sounds echoed through the long street, momentarily disrupting the snowfall. The reforming finger shattered anew upon the shards’ arrival, but the faintest traces of a fourth reformation materialized.

Wang Lin retreated with incredible speed, nearing the end of the street, the boundary of this confinement. Breaking through would lead him from this street of death!

But as he neared his escape, the buildings lining the street rippled with an unseen force, revealing nearly a hundred veiled figures in the snow!

Each figure bore an expression of sinister glee, clutching a bow. Aligning their sights on Wang Lin, they drew their strings in unison. With each pull, the swirling snow coalesced into a hundred arrows, targeting the lone figure in the street.

Simultaneously, the hundred figures spewed forth their lifeblood onto the arrows, their bodies visibly withering as if all vitality had been drained away.

“Deathsworn!” Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed. Everyone in this deadly street, save the origin of the finger, was a deathsworn, willingly sacrificing their lives to form this deadly trap!

Wang Lin had faced such situations before, but never with such stakes. Previous attempts on his life had involved those who valued their own lives, but now he faced adversaries who embraced death!

In an instant, the hundred figures dissolved, their bodies turning to dust, but their bows remained drawn. As they faded, a hundred piercing hums erupted!

As the hums reverberated, the hundred blood-stained snow arrows surged forward, a hundred streaks of light closing in on Wang Lin, leaving him no chance to evade!

With a mighty roar, Wang Lin channeled his inner power, and his white hair whipped about him, his robes swelled, and golden light blazed in his eyes. Behind him, a golden sun materialized in the snowy night.
As the sun clawed its way into existence, the endless street dissolved. All of heaven and earth became a sea of absolute night, where the first rays pierced the horizon, wielding the power to banish the encroaching darkness!

“Night’s End!”

The pronouncement echoed through the void, and the hundred blood-stained arrows that had been hurtling towards him seemed to meld with the retreating shadows. They were swept aside by the light that rent the night, exploding in a cacophony of thunderous detonations.

Above the din, Wang Lin’s voice resounded!

“I believe all darkness will shatter before the light!”

“I believe all existence will find oblivion in the dawn!”

“I believe all void and nothingness will be forever undone!”

As the words left his lips, the golden sun erupting from Wang Lin’s body blazed with even greater intensity. The hundred arrows disintegrated. Even the titanic finger, a third time conjured into being, hissed and spat forth plumes of black smoke as the sunlight fell upon it.

Wang Lin threw back his head and roared, flinging his hands outwards. The sun, born of the withered remnant tree, hurtled forward in a mad, destructive charge. Blackness fled before it, and the ethereal finger, touched by the sun’s searing kiss, crumbled into dust!

With a final, deafening boom, the light faded, and all returned to normal. The long street stood once more, besieged by an endless, biting wind and snow.

But seven rents marred Wang Lin’s robes, and seven shards of arrows, untouched by the annihilating light of the sun, pierced his flesh.

Crimson welled at the corners of his lips. He stumbled backward, taking several measured steps. Raising his fist, he slammed it against the edge of the long street, where it was bound by some unseen constraint. At the moment of impact, the very air shimmered and warped.

Through the distortions, he glimpsed a colossal, inverted bowl, an ethereal barrier encompassing the entire street. Within the fleeting waves of reality, he saw, beyond the street’s edge, countless black-robed figures kneeling in layer upon layer.

Tens of thousands they were, each linked by an unseen power, forming the prison that held him captive!

“You cannot escape,” a dispassionate voice echoed across the street. As the voice resonated, the shattered finger reformed once more, looming in the air.

“To slay you, we have unleashed the full might of our sect!”

As the words faded, the warped edges of the street straightened, obscuring Wang Lin’s vision of the world beyond. Soon, all was a blur, and then, only emptiness remained.

But in the instant before the outside world vanished, Wang Lin saw hundreds among the assembled thousands lift their heads abruptly. They swallowed pills, their bodies instantly collapsing inward upon themselves. Their nascent souls unfurled like ribbons of smoke, rushing toward the prison that confined the long street.

At the same time, within the street itself, hundreds of ephemeral figures materialized from the swirling snow and wind. Each one pulsed with the power of a Celestial Sovereign, heedless of their own destruction, and charged towards Wang Lin!

Wang Lin’s eyes were calm, but a chilling aura emanated from him. He gazed through the oncoming specters, his gaze fixing on the resurrected finger that hung motionless in the air.

“Since you deny me passage, then this day, I shall remain here!” he declared. “The only way to break a killing cage is to slay all who crafted it! Then, the prison shatters.” Wang Lin’s white hair grew unnaturally long, with tendrils of black creeping from the roots, threatening to transform it into the color of night.

His eyes, serene, held a boundless indifference, a coldness towards all living things. In that moment, Wang Lin was as implacable as the eternal ice.

“I had wished to avoid bloodshed, but now… you shall face the wrath of my murderous form!” Wang Lin closed his eyes, then snapped them open. In that instant, he became the embodiment of a war god descending. For the first time, the origin of Murderous Lightning within him took control.

And for the first time, within the body of the Murderous Lightning, Wang Lin unleashed the Sealed Origin, unleashed the Primordial Origin. With lightning as the catalyst, murder and annihilation burst forth!