Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with a chilling light, yet he remained silent, his actions undeterred by the seemingly crazed rituals unfolding before him. Drawing upon the essence of the Immortal Emperor’s soul, he momentarily intertwined himself with the skull of the Immortal Ancestor, coaxing a fraction of it to meld with his Great Celestial Sovereign Sun. From this unholy union, he borrowed a surge of raw, untamed power.

With each passing moment, the Celestial Sovereign Sun blazed with renewed vigor. Visible to the naked eye, the colossal sphere contracted at an alarming rate, shrinking from immeasurable proportions to the cusp of nothingness. As it vanished into the ether, the entirety of its power surged forth, channeling through Wang Lin’s being in a bizarre and mystical fashion. Empowered, he raised his right foot, taking a single, momentous step forward.

As his foot descended, Wang Lin unleashed a guttural roar that echoed through the chamber, the air around him crackling with arcane energy. Thunderous booms reverberated, as if the very fabric of reality was being torn asunder.

Should the space encompassing this array exist independently from the realm of Immortals and Mortals, then all of Wang Lin’s previous assaults would be rendered futile, passing through it as if it were mere illusion – visible, yet intangible.

However, the very presence of the array here, its ability to siphon the deathly energies emanating from the palace, spoke to a convergence of disparate realms. A superposition, however fleeting, had occurred.

Such arcane wonders were not entirely unfamiliar to Wang Mo. Within the Immortal Palace, he had witnessed echoes of similar feats.

Now, fueled by the burning sacrifice of his Celestial Sovereign Sun, Wang Lin had garnered the strength to breach the boundaries of existence. His intent was audacious – to infuse this single step with that borrowed power, relying on his physical prowess and profound cultivation to wrench himself from his current space into the realm of the array.

Such a feat rivaled the legendary exodus from the Cave World, where a single stride could land one directly upon the Immortal Continent. Transcending dimensions was a challenge that could stymie even the mightiest Celestial Sovereigns, save for those who possessed cunning stratagems – like the pre-ordained pathways that riddled the Immortal Palace. Wang Lin, however, sought to force entry where no path existed. The difficulty was almost insurmountable.

It was this very audacity that caused the seemingly serene Daoist Tutor of the Ancient Dao Kingdom, so reminiscent of Tian Yunzi and the Seven-Colored Immortal, to blanch in alarm.

As Wang Lin’s right foot hovered, poised to strike, a cacophony of arcane power erupted around him. The runes of the teleportation array flared wildly, and an ethereal, invisible web materialized before him, shimmering in the light. His foot descended, impacting upon this otherworldly barrier, causing it to ripple and distort. Should Wang Lin succeed in shattering this web, he would triumphantly stride across dimensions.

Though invisible to the untrained eye, the web’s presence could be felt, a tangible resistance against Wang Lin’s will. As his right foot descended, the web strained to its breaking point, and Wang Lin himself began to tremble, beads of sweat forming upon his brow. Even with the immense power he had wielded, the task was proving to be incredibly arduous.

All of this unfolded in the blink of an eye. The Daoist Tutor, reacting swiftly, rose to his feet and wove a complex hand seal. Instantly, an iridescent wave of energy, encompassing the spectrum of ten colors, surged forth, striking the invisible web beneath Wang Lin’s foot. The web solidified, its resilience reinforced, pushing back against Wang Lin’s descent, threatening to lift his foot once more.

Ahead, the grotesque winged monstrosity renewed its frantic assault, slamming against the unseen barrier that prevented its advance, driven by a singular desire to reach Wang Lin.

Having reinforced the ethereal web, the Daoist Tutor bit his tongue, spitting forth a mouthful of blood. But, strangely, the crimson fluid did not land upon the array beneath his feet; instead, it passed through, vanishing into the unknown.

Simultaneously, the array whirred into overdrive, its mechanisms spinning at an accelerated pace. Murmured incantations, born from the array’s intensified operation, swelled and echoed throughout the chamber, like the voices of countless souls speaking in a language just beyond comprehension.

“With my blood, I summon the essence of the heavens, open!” the elder roared. From within the spinning array, a legion of spectral figures materialized. As Wang Lin beheld them, a cold shock ran through his very being.

For these were the souls of those who had perished by his hand in the Cave World!

The souls coalesced into a torrent of black miasma, surging forth from the teleportation array and ascending rapidly toward the heavens, forming a colossal vortex above. Within the vortex, a distorted and fragmented vista materialized.

It was a reflection of the Immortal Continent!

Upon the Immortal Continent, within the region of the Mountains and Seas of Shanhai, a scattering of cultivators stood, staring in disbelief at the churning ocean. The waves swelled and crashed, the sea surface receding to reveal a gargantuan, black pillar, tens of thousands of feet in diameter and of unimaginable length, rising from the depths with earth-shattering force. Piercing the surface of the water, the colossal pillar shot skyward and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Wang Lin, witnessing this spectacle within the vortex, felt his heart pound within his chest. He could not fathom the significance of this event, yet an icy premonition gripped him, as if some earth-shattering calamity was about to befall the Immortal Continent.

He inhaled deeply, and without hesitation, slammed his right foot down, determined to shatter the shimmering web and breach the space of the array. But the reinforced web, now imbued with immense power, resisted with all its might, resulting in a cataclysmic clash of energies.

Seeing the Daoist Tutor spitting forth three more mouthfuls of blood, each crimson surge summoned forth a greater number of vengeful spirits. These shades, without exception, were those who had met their end at the hands of Wang Lin. Their faces contorted with anguish and fury, they materialized into streams of black smoke and followed the prior specters towards the heavens.

Three more vortices formed, arranged in an arc alongside the first, and from each vortex emerged a different vision.

On Cloudwave Isle, a vast ocean, usually tranquil with gentle waves, transformed into a turbulent maelstrom. Countless islands were submerged, their inhabitants fleeing in terror, as the sea’s surface began to sink. Then, with an earth-shattering roar, another black pillar of immense size erupted from the depths, soaring towards the heavens before vanishing from sight.
In two other places, echoes of the same dread ritual unfolded, invariably within the celestial seas. The waters roared, and colossal pillars, born of some unseen force, pierced the heavens. But the last… it defied the very name of sea. It was the frozen sanctuary where Grand Empyrean Wu Feng practiced his secluded arts. There, the ancient ice groaned and shattered, revealing the frigid abyss below. From its depths, a monstrous pillar erupted, shattering an age-old iceberg in its ascent, reaching for the sky with implacable might.

Wu Feng stood afar, gazing at this spectacle. The pillar radiated an aura of untold eons, a weight of timeless existence. A palpable pressure emanated from it, shaking the very foundations of the world.

“Gh-g-ghost… the pieces fit!” Wu Feng stammered, his eyes suddenly blazing with understanding.

These scenes unfolded before Wang Lin within the swirling vortex of the celestial tapestry. Seeing the Dao Ancient Master about to spew forth his fifth draught of blood, Wang Lin hesitated no more. He summoned his most potent phantom, the ethereal essence of himself. A shimmering mist materialized around him, and in that instant, Wang Lin’s power surged to a crescendo. He focused all his might into his right foot, and with a guttural cry, he STOMPED upon the imprisoning net!

As his foot descended, overlapping phantom images appeared, as if another being, a reflection of himself, momentarily solidified. This spectral form was none other than Wang Lin’s phantom self!

The impact was cataclysmic. With a resounding CRACK, a breach tore open in the net, allowing Wang Lin’s right foot to fall… to fall within the very space the array occupied!

His body remained here, yet his foot was there, in that other dimension, grounded.

This was his ultimate exertion. He could not yet fully transport himself, but the placement of his foot was enough. A flash of obsidian energy pulsed from his foot as he swiftly retracted it. Simultaneously, tendrils of black mist, countless in number, erupted from his body, writhing like serpents through the closing tear in the net, pouring into the void beyond.

Within that other space, near the edge of the array and before the Dao Ancient Master, the black mist coalesced. A figure emerged, a being with raven hair and eyes that burned with cold detachment, devoid of emotion. It was the avatar of slaughter, the killing intent made manifest, sent by Wang Lin himself. His name…

“Lumo!” The Dao Ancient Master himself uttered the name, his voice a hoarse whisper.

The ancient being stared at the dark-haired avatar, a flicker of primal fear dancing in his ancient eyes.

“I find it distasteful to converse across dimensions,” the avatar of slaughter said, his voice a chilling monotone. “I prefer a face-to-face discourse.” He slowly turned, his gaze sweeping across the alien landscape.

It was a place of impossible geometry, seemingly infinite yet confined, a paradox that twisted the mind. A constant murmuring permeated the air, as if a multitude whispered secrets too faint to discern.

Breaking his gaze, the avatar of slaughter advanced towards the Dao Ancient Master.

Outside the array, Wang Lin sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. All his senses, his very consciousness, were now focused within the avatar.

“You seem to fear me, and you know the name of this incarnation…” the dark-haired avatar said, his eyes fixed upon the ancient being. His gaze swept across the intricate array on the ground, and he raised his hand, tendrils of darkness beginning to writhe and coalesce, ready to obliterate the enchantment.

“If you destroy this array, Li Muwan will never awaken! The remnant soul is just that, a fragment! Even if you were to extract it and place it within the Sky-Shielding Coffin, she would remain dormant. To restore the dead to life, this array is the only hope!

“Otherwise, even if you were to temporarily rouse her through the power of the Ancestral Blood Creation, she will still be bound to the cycle of reincarnation. In a few years, she will crumble to dust. To free her from that cycle, you MUST rely on this array!” The Dao Ancient Master desperately pleaded.

The avatar of slaughter paused, his hand hovering. Outside, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped open.

“What realm does this array open?”

“The Ancient God Realm!” The Dao Ancient Master, a being who bore an unsettling resemblance to both Heavenly Fate Child and Colorful Immortal Venerate, spoke after a moment of fraught silence.

“If you wish to release Li Muwan from the endless cycle, to free her from the torment of reincarnation, you must venture into the Ancient God Realm. There, one can veil the cycle of reincarnation and unlock your own origins, to pierce through Li Muwan’s dream-like state and find her true self. Only then can she transcend fate.

“The Ancient God Realm has always been opened only partially in the past, but through my methods, it can be opened entirely!” The ancient being said, his voice tinged with desperate urgency.

Yet the avatar of slaughter’s eyes narrowed, and his hand, once paused, began to descend again, poised to annihilate the array.