Upon a desolate, ruin-strewn mountain, bathed in the dim light of a shattered realm, a colossal array pulsed with arcane energy. As swirling mists dissipated, a figure seated at its heart came into view. This being was wreathed in a soft, iridescent glow, a gentle radiance that allowed Wang Lin to discern the countenance before him.

It was an aged man, bearing a striking resemblance to the celestial being known as Tian Yunzi!

Yet, as Wang Lin gazed more intently, a disquieting sensation washed over him. This individual not only echoed the features of Tian Yunzi, but also held a haunting familiarity to another lost soul!

“Wang Lin,” the old man intoned, a subtle smile gracing his lips. His demeanor was one of serene composure, yet his gaze held a depth that defied easy interpretation. There was a hint of avarice, a flicker of remembrance, and, buried deep within his eyes, a concealed undercurrent of apprehension.

“Shall I address you as Tian Yunzi, or as the Seven-Colored Immortal?” Wang Lin’s form, now towering eight hundred feet in height, stood sentinel, his eyes fixed upon the old man. The visage before him seemed to be a grotesque fusion of the Seven-Colored Immortal and Tian Yunzi, their identities intertwined in a mockery of existence.

“My names are many and varied, but I find myself favoring Tian Yunzi in these twilight years,” the old man replied with a measured smile. He raised his right hand, striking the array beneath him.

Instantly, the massive formation roared back to life, emitting waves of ethereal light. The dazzling beams pierced the heavens and suffused the earth, drawing upon the very essence of creation. A palpable force emanated from the array, pushing against Wang Lin’s gargantuan frame, forcing him to stagger back a few paces despite his immense size.

“A teleportation!” Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with insight, his mastery of formations allowing him to perceive the true nature of the device.

“Alas, the lives you have claimed fall short of the required sacrifice…” The old man murmured, his voice heavy with regret.

Wang Lin remained silent, his mind teeming with unanswered questions. Instead of voicing them, he clenched his right hand into a fist and launched it towards the array. The ensuing impact reverberated like the wrath of the gods. Despite the raw power of Wang Lin’s physical might, a surge of repulsive energy slammed back into him, sending tremors through his body. His fist was violently repelled, and upon closer inspection, he found the teleportation array entirely unscathed!

“You cannot breach this barrier… You cannot halt my design. I have patiently awaited this moment for countless eons,” the old man lamented, shaking his head. His eyes, fixed upon Wang Lin, began to glow with an unsettling light—a complex tapestry of greed, remembrance, and unease.

Wang Lin had witnessed such a look before, mirrored in the eyes of Tian Yunzi, but never with such stark clarity. His own ascension to the Grand Empyrean had sharpened his perception, granting him new insights into the dark machinations of others.

“Tian Yunzi is dead! The Seven-Colored Immortal has been scattered to the winds! Who, in the name of the heavens, are you truly?!” Wang Lin bellowed, his form surging once more. He swelled from eight hundred feet to over a thousand, his roar shaking the very fabric of reality. Raising his right foot, he brought it crashing down upon the accursed array.

The ensuing quake shattered the air with a deafening roar, but the instant Wang Lin’s foot met the array, he was engulfed by a wave of unbearable force. The earth trembled as he was thrown back, reeling from the impact.

“Who am I…?” the old man pondered, before erupting into chilling laughter.

“Who I am is a secret known only to myself and, soon enough, to you! The day will come when you shall understand!” The array around the old man pulsed with increasing intensity, its hum vibrating through the very core of the world.

“What manner of teleportation is this, capable of shaking the earth itself?” Wang Lin’s eyes glinted with icy resolve. Whether this being was Tian Yunzi reborn or the Seven-Colored Immortal resurrected, he was now a Daoist Ancient Emperor, the mastermind who had stolen Wan’er’s fragmented soul, and thus, a target for Wang Lin’s retribution.

As the array intensified, Wang Lin drew a deep breath, and his body echoed with thunderous resonance. Azure veins writhed across his flesh, coiling around his face like grotesque serpents. He snarled, and his body continued to swell, reaching a colossal height of several thousand feet, verging on ten thousand. He became a true giant, a titan standing defiant against the heavens.

At such a scale, the array beneath him appeared as nothing more than an insignificant speck. With eyes burning like twin suns, he raised his right hand once more, ready to deliver another earth-shattering blow.

As his fist descended, the very essence of existence within a radius of tens, hundreds, thousands, and even tens of thousands of miles seemed to converge. Wang Lin’s fist became a black hole, consuming the surrounding energy and focusing it into a single, cataclysmic strike aimed at the array.

The old man, gazing upwards, betrayed no fear. As the fist crashed down, the array unleashed a blinding flash of light and splintered into countless fragments. Yet, the colossal blow passed through them and continued onward, impacting the earth. The ground trembled and split asunder, unleashing waves of destruction. A chasm opened in the earth where the fist had landed.

But Wang Lin’s face darkened with grim realization, as the old man and the teleportation array remained unscathed.

It was as if the old man and the array were not truly there at all, as if they were phantoms, or existing in a separate plane of existence.

“Why expend such pointless effort…” the old man sighed.

“If it hasn’t transported you away yet, this array must be more than just a teleportation device,” Wang Lin said, his voice resonating deep within the mountains. The old man’s eyes flickered in response.

Wang Lin closed his eyes, and his ten-thousand-foot body shrunk rapidly until it was nothing more than a shimmering illusion. A normal-sized Wang Lin in white robes now stood in the place of the giant.
The accelerated shrinking of the gargantuan shadow warped its essence, creating an illusionary spectacle.

Wang Lin, returned to his normal stature, strode forward and halted just beyond the boundary of the arcane array. Through its shimmering veil, he beheld the elder, a being both like Tian Yunzi and Seven-Colored Immortal Venerate. Raising his right hand, Wang Lin summoned his Five Elements True Body, merging it seamlessly with his own. Simultaneously, his Slaughtering Lightning True Body transformed into a swirling shroud of black mist, which then seeped into his form.

“This array… it is more than just a conduit. It serves as a gateway, a veritable doorway to an ancient domain…” The elder paused, his voice laced with regret. “Alas, your slaughter is insufficient.”

He continued, “You cannot breach this array, nor can you halt its machinations. Why not sit and parley with me for a time? I might unveil secrets that plague your mind.” The elder smiled, his gaze fixed upon Wang Lin.

Wang Lin was silent for a moment, then shook his head. He took another step forward, and from behind him, a colossal sun manifested, its halves divided into stark black and white. The celestial body emanated an eerie radiance, a spectral glow that painted the world with unsettling light.

“I am not accustomed to conversing through barriers,” Wang Lin said calmly, his voice echoing across the unseen chasm. He moved towards the array, each step deliberate and unwavering. In the blink of an eye, he stood at its very edge. Stepping forward, he passed through the flickering waves of power, yet it was as if he stood in a space separate from the array itself.

The elder, seemingly only a few dozen paces away, still smiled, though a hint of sorrow lingered in his eyes. But then, in the space of a breath, the elder’s pupils constricted in sudden shock.

He saw Wang Lin standing there, his cultivation aura swelling unstoppably. The Great Celestial Sun behind him blazed with blinding intensity, expanding to several times its original size, then tenfold!

Such a vast Great Celestial Sun emitted an even more fierce luminescence, yet it did not cease its growth. It continued to swell, inflating like a balloon on the verge of bursting!

“What do you intend?” the elder demanded, his expression shifting, his eyes fixed on the growing sun behind Wang Lin. His face grew somber. Without hesitation, he raised his right hand and pointed at the void. At his command, the gigantic mosquito, circling him and shrouded by the array, buzzed with menacing force. Its multi-faceted eyes glowed with a savage hunger as it hurtled towards Wang Lin.

But the monstrous insect found itself unable to advance beyond a few lengths before Wang Lin. It was as if an invisible barrier stood before it, preventing its passage.

Thunderous booms echoed through the heavens as the mosquito, enraged, repeatedly slammed against the unseen wall. Before it, Wang Lin raised his right hand and clenched his fist, drawing forth a wisp of soul – the soul of the Immortal Emperor!

Grasping the spectral form, Wang Lin closed his eyes. His cultivation continued to surge, even after reaching the apex of Sky Tribulation. He poured all of his power into the soul, causing the Immortal Emperor’s spectral eyes to snap open. They blazed with blinding golden light, yet held no sentience, filled only with a dazed confusion. Wang Lin flung the soul towards the Great Celestial Sun behind him.

Within the sun, a blurred visage could be faintly discerned – the severed head of the Immortal Ancestor, which Wang Lin had retrieved from the Ancient Dao palace and then reabsorbed into his celestial sun.

As the Immortal Emperor’s soul merged with the celestial body, fusing with the Ancestor’s head, the Great Celestial Sun swelled once more, booming as it grew to one hundred times its original size!

Wang Lin trembled, letting out a wordless roar as he kept his eyes closed. The Great Celestial Sun behind him grew again by several factors and Wang Lin snapped his eyes open. In the instant his eyes opened, he cried:

“Ignite, Great Celestial Sun!”

The Great Celestial Sun burst into flames, an inferno of black and white. From afar, it appeared as a colossal fire-orb, a sea of heavenly fire!

“Do you not wish for Li Muwan to truly live again?!” the elder suddenly exclaimed, his expression changing. He leaped to his feet, bellowing with urgency.