Within the Forbidden City of the Ancestral Citadel!

A colossal rent tore across the heavens, casting down feeble rays of light upon eight towering peaks. Encompassed within their embrace, a head of vast proportion, easily ten measures tall, hung suspended in the void, utterly still and silent.

Yet, its right eye flickered open. Within that orb, no deathly stillness reigned, but a nascent spark of sentience ignited. Though dimmed and muddied, this consciousness swirled like a vortex, drawing the eye into its dizzying depths.

As it spun, a spectral silhouette took form, barely discernible. That phantom was none other than Wang Lin!

The Ancestor’s right eye served as a gateway to another realm. Within this pitch-black expanse, Wang Lin floated, eyes sealed shut, amidst an empty, desolate void, heavy with the chill of mortality.

The tendrils of his hair underwent a rapid transformation, shifting between the stark white of age and the jet black of youth, a change unnoticed by the slumbering figure. Within his flesh, golden light flickered, struggling to pierce his skin. This radiance, though weak, threatened to fade, yet held Wang Lin in a state of serene slumber, devoid of sensation.

An age passed, marked by the slow, steady brightening of the golden light that emanated from Wang Lin. It expanded outward, his body now the site of a tumultuous battle, a clash between inheritance and usurpation, between suppression and rebellion!

Though his outward form remained unchanged, within Wang Lin’s body raged a tempest. At the heart of it all lay a golden orb, imbued with the very power of the Ancestor. From this orb sprang the light that spread through Wang Lin, subtly altering his flesh and bone, from his feet to his thighs, conforming them to the golden energy’s dominion.

This golden light radiated an overbearing force, laced with a madness-inducing aura, capable of enslaving all living beings. It hinted that even without the Grand Tutor’s machinations, Wang Lin, if he had willingly undergone this inheritance, would have been driven to insanity, stripped of his own will.

This tyrannical, maddening light expanded, crushing Wang Lin’s will to resist. As it claimed his arms, it began to engulf his torso, but found one region where its influence faltered. One place remained unyielding: the locus of Wang Lin’s Ancient Ancestor’s soul-blood.

The Ancient Ancestor’s soul-blood, a substance of equal significance to the Ancestor’s legacy, proved impervious to the golden light’s grasp. However, being small in quantity, it could not mount a counter-offensive, and so a fragile truce was established.

“Once the golden light has consumed his entire body, it will be able to suppress his very soul, shattering it! Then, I shall take his place!” echoed the Grand Tutor’s divine sense within the golden light’s core.

His physical form was gone. Only a tendril of his spirit remained within Wang Lin. He knew that usurping Wang Lin would not be easy, hence the lure. His true objective was to exploit the Ancestor’s inheritance, a ruthless purging of Wang Lin’s resistance. A body imbued with the Ancestor’s power, yet devoid of a rebellious soul, would be his for the taking, free of peril.

When the golden light had seized all of Wang Lin save for his head and the region of his soul-blood, the light radiating from his form became blindingly brilliant, piercing even the Ancestor’s skull. From the outside, it could be seen that the right eye of the floating Ancestor’s head now pulsed with a faint golden glow.

As the golden light spread, the Ancestor’s head seemed to awaken, stirred by an unfamiliar spark of life!

“This Wang Lin’s interior is most peculiar. I sense the aura of an Ancient Ancestor. Though it cannot be erased, it can be confined, kept from interfering with my plans!” With this thought, the Grand Tutor’s divine will directed the golden light to converge upon the region of the soul-blood, enveloping it in layer upon layer. The soul-blood remained, but it was effectively isolated, posing no threat to the Grand Tutor’s designs.

“The body is now mine! Next, the head! Once I have claimed the head, I will suppress the soul!” Excitement laced the Grand Tutor’s thoughts as he felt the golden light within Wang Lin. Having secured the soul-blood, the light surged like a golden wave, flowing along Wang Lin’s neck, towards his head.

Wang Lin shuddered. His head was instantly consumed by golden light, which burst forth from his seven orifices.

The golden light, in its ruthless, domineering way, breached Wang Lin’s cranial defenses in an instant, claiming his head, and thus, his entire being.

In the moment of complete subjugation, the golden light flared with such intensity that the Ancestor’s head within the Forbidden City erupted in a blinding torrent from its right eye.

“Suppress the soul!” the Grand Tutor’s divine consciousness roared. He exploited the moment, the golden light saturating Wang Lin’s body, and sought to find and destroy Wang Lin’s soul!

Moments later, he sensed a faint ripple, the echo of a soul’s presence. With feverish excitement, he struck.

“All that exists, by virtue of its existence, can become nothing! Soul, become void!” As the Grand Tutor’s words echoed, the soul he had found vanished, obliterated from existence.

“So fragile… not even a memory remains? It seems the Ancestor’s golden light was too aggressive, weakening Wang Lin’s soul to the point of disintegration. Without a soul, this body is no more than a corpse… but a puppet will do.”

The Grand Tutor’s consciousness swelled, guiding Wang Lin’s body beneath the golden light.

In that very instant, the figure of Wang Lin, now radiating endless golden light, snapped his eyes open. They burned with an even more intense, overwhelming golden radiance!

But the Wang Lin that stood was no longer the man he once was. His eyes now held the consciousness of the Grand Tutor!

“Success! That Wang Lin, so devious, so suspicious, never cooperated. But even so, under the might of the Ancestor’s power, he has been forced to yield!”

This body… is strong!! It can refine even more incense power!!” The Grand Tutor, now inhabiting Wang Lin’s body, clenched his fist, a flicker of wild exhilaration in his golden eyes.
“Alas, the inheritance I’ve grasped is incomplete, but this is but the first step of my grand design. The second follows swiftly, and should it succeed, my people shall finally cast off the shackles of the Immortal Ancestor and reclaim their birthright of freedom!”

Within the stolen shell of Wang Lin, the Imperial Tutor’s eyes blazed with fervour mingled with a haunting sorrow. Visions of the past danced before him – endless rows of his kinsmen, their destinies etched from the moment of their creation.

“For this day I have waited an age untold. Nothing in this world holds greater worth than liberty, a prize for which all else is a trifling offering! For my brethren, even oblivion itself is a sweet bargain!”

“Wang Pu… forgive me this trespass…” The Tutor whispered, then a fierce resolve ignited within his gaze. He would not retreat from the Immortal Ancestor’s right eye. Instead, with frantic hand gestures, he summoned forth the golden light within him, amplifying it a thousandfold! Like a raging inferno, this incandescent energy erupted outwards, forcefully driving the Immortal Ancestor’s power from Wang Lin’s very being!

In this blinding, golden explosion, Wang Lin’s body flared with the intensity of a sun, banishing the abyssal darkness of the right eye world and revealing its hidden contours. The light poured forth from the floating head, bathing the Forbidden Palace in its radiance, a beacon of hope against the ancient gloom.

The head itself, now possessed of a radiant right eye, appeared disturbingly alive.

“The Left Eye!” The Tutor roared from within Wang Lin’s stolen form. He chanted ancient words, his hands weaving intricate patterns in the air. As the incantation echoed, the Immortal Ancestor’s left eye snapped open. Unlike the vibrant gold of its counterpart, this eye was clouded, stagnant, a pool of deathly stillness.

The instant it opened, a ravenous suction clawed its way to the surface, reaching out through the gaping hole in the celestial dome above. From beyond the veil, a shudder ran through the shattered catacombs, across the ruined blood pool. The chains that bound the Madman to the altar above vibrated with a new sense of urgency. The cursed metal itself was straining, stretched taut by an invisible force that threatened to rend them asunder.

The suction wasn’t aimed at the chains, but rather the wretch they imprisoned. He was pulled against his restraints, dragged towards the collapsed blood pool below. The chains groaned under the relentless pressure until, with a series of ear-splitting cracks, three of the nine snapped and fell to the earth. The remaining six held only for a heartbeat before shattering in a final, agonizing roar.

Released at last, the Madman was seized by the invisible tide and flung through the breach in the dome, becoming a streak of golden light that soared towards the Immortal Ancestor’s waiting left eye! In a blink, the Madman was engulfed, drawn into the clouded orb in the same manner Wang Lin had been devoured before him.

Within the depths of the left eye, the Madman’s form flickered into existence, radiating an even more intense golden light that poured from the eye, mirroring the glow of the right. The Immortal Ancestor’s head now stared out with both eyes blazing, imbued with a terrifying semblance of life!

“Immortal Ancestor, speak! Release the suffering tribe, unseal their generations of imprisonment!” From within the right eye, the Imperial Tutor’s voice ripped through the silence, though he failed to notice the soul of Wang Lin still lingering in a hidden corner shielded by the Heavenly Jewel, watching this terrifying display with cold fury.

As the Tutor’s words faded, the Immortal Ancestor’s head, eyes now fully awakened, slowly opened its long-sealed mouth. A voice, weathered by millennia, reverberated through the Forbidden Palace, the very voice of the Imperial Tutor himself!

“Re… lease… suf… fering…” The echoes of this grim mantra hung in the air.