Before the ancient ancestor’s effigy, only seven halos remained, emanating a soft, fading luminescence. Of these seven, one was rapidly dimming, as if on the verge of utter dissolution.

“Wang Lin!” Xuan Luo, barred from the ancestral temple, voiced his desperation in a telepathic cry that echoed towards the ancient edifice. Whether Wang Lin heard it, he could not know, his plea swallowed by the ancient stones.

He wove intricate hand seals, and a corona of light, like the sun’s aura, blazed around him. He stepped forward, attempting once more to breach the temple’s threshold, but was thrown back by a resounding force that sent him reeling.

As Xuan Luo ceaselessly persisted, deep within the temple, Wang Lin’s form withered, resembling a mere skeleton. The light of vitality was extinguished around him, his will a flickering ember, barely perceptible.

Countless attempts at fusion had failed, each failure eroding his will, grinding it towards oblivion.

Silence reigned in that desolate place, unbroken for an age. Yet, a desperate echo arose, reverberating in the void.

“Wang Lin!”

“Wang Lin!”

“Wang Lin!”

Wang Lin remained motionless, his eyes closed, yet at the sound of his name, a crimson pulse flickered within his skeletal frame – the remnant of his soul blood!

Each flicker painted the darkness of the ancestral temple with fleeting crimson light.

Time flowed, its passage unmarked. Outside the temple, four more halos vanished, leaving only three to cast their light upon the world. The celestial illumination diminished, etching a subtle difference into the unending night, a night that had reigned for over a decade.

Yet, this night held no solace for the Shi Gu, the ancient ones. All stood transfixed, gazes fixed upon the distant effigy, their very breaths held in abeyance.

Then, of the three remaining halos, one flickered like a candle in a gale, then surrendered to the darkness.

“Another gone!” a voice whispered, filled with dread.

“Only two remain. For twenty years, he has attempted the ancient path of spirit severance… Can he truly fail?”

“Hush! When both vanish, the-”

“Look! Another is extinguished!”

A collective gasp swept through the Shi Gu capital, a wave of dismay crashing over the city. All drew in breath, for yet another halo surrounding the ancient ancestor’s image had vanished, leaving only a single, solitary ring of light.

And that last light was also fading!

“Wang Lin! Awaken!” Xuan Luo roared, his fist impacting against the temple exterior. The sound thundered through the city, an echoing tempest that gathered and surged towards the temple.

He forced his way into the temple once more, only to be met with the same implacable force, throwing him back several paces. Desperation etched upon his face, he knew the perils of spirit severance. As long as a halo remained, even in the absence of life and awareness, it was not truly death, but a deep slumber of the soul.

A slumber that, if awakened, held the promise of survival, so long as the halo persevered. This was why he stood guard.

But if all halos were to vanish, then this slumber would become eternal, indistinguishable from true death.

“Wang Lin, I am your teacher, Xuan Luo! Wake now!” Xuan Luo cried, casting his voice into the impenetrable depths of the ancestral temple.

As his words echoed amongst the Shi Gu, a wave of startled murmurs rippled through the capital. For over a decade, the people had questioned the identity of the one undergoing this trial.

Now, the answer was revealed.

“Wang Lin? That name… is familiar…”

“It is he! Wang Lin, the one who slew the Dao Gu emperor over a century ago! It is him!”

“It is said that Wang Lin has become the tenth sun of the Immortal Astral Continent! By the heavens, Wang Lin is the one undergoing this trial!”

Amid Xuan Luo’s desperate cries and the shocked exclamations of the Shi Gu, the final halo about the effigy flickered, its light dimming to a mere ember, threatening to snuff out at any moment.

Deep within the temple, upon the withered form of Wang Lin, the crimson pulse of his soul blood beat faster, a desperate plea against the encroaching darkness.

“Who… calls to me?” Wang Lin murmured, as if awakening from a dream in a strange and hazy realm. He walked aimlessly, unaware of how long he had traveled, hearing a faint echo of his name behind him.

“Where… am I?” Wang Lin still could not grasp his whereabouts. The sound grew fainter, vanishing as he tried to listen.

“Why am I here?” He was confused and continued to move. The sky was dim, the land shrouded in a misty veil.

He was in a ruined place.

The earth was lifeless and barren. The mountains stood grey and crumbling.

“I… Who am I?” The confusion in Wang Lin’s eyes deepened. He could not remember himself, why he was here, or where this place was.

“Awake… Awake…” The voice echoed. Wang Lin stopped.

“I think I heard something.” Wang Lin was disoriented, wanting to turn around and look. But as he was about to turn, he saw a mountain through the mist ahead.

The mountain was covered in colorful snow.

On the mountain, a blurry figure stood. He could only make out that it was a man holding a corpse. The corpse had long hair that was carried by the wind. The sight was mournful and sad.

Wang Lin stared at the figure. He felt a sense of familiarity that made his body tremble.
A cry of utter despair, a soul-rending bellow, echoed from the distant, mountain-like form. Head thrown back, it howled at the heavens, the sound reverberating across the land, a piercing force that struck Wang Lin’s heart and amplified his trembling.

With the mournful cry, the dim sky shuddered, ripples expanding outward, and fissures began to appear. It was as if the very heavens themselves, unable to withstand the sound, threatened to crumble.

“Celestial Shackles…” The figure choked out the words, but as they left its lips, a different, familiar voice cut through Wang Lin’s awareness.

“Wang Lin, awaken!” The voice, seemingly born from nothing, shattered the illusion. The mountain vanished, the figure cradling the corpse and shrieking to the sky was gone.

Wang Lin’s body jolted. He spun around, instinctively searching behind him. In that instant, his mind erupted in a cacophony of understanding.

He remembered! He was Wang Lin, undergoing his tribulation within the Ancestral Shrine of Shi Feng, enduring the second merge of his divided spirit. As this realization washed over him, the fog cleared from his eyes, replaced by crystal clarity.

At that very moment, ten paces before Wang Lin, who sat cross-legged deep within the Ancestral Shrine, stood an aged figure with hair as white as snow. He stumbled forward, his robes clearly those of Xuan Luo!

Yet, unlike the youthful appearance of Xuan Luo, this man bore the heavy weight of time.

“Wang Lin, awaken!” the old man rasped, his voice hoarse with desperation.

Slowly, Wang Lin opened his eyes. Seeing him awake, the old man’s face lit with joy, but he could no longer resist the force that pushed against him within this sacred space. He was hurled back from the Ancestral Shrine.

“Master…” Wang Lin murmured, watching Xuan Luo’s receding form, seeing the aged weariness etched upon him. He knew he would never forget this act of selfless devotion.

He snapped his head up, his hands flying through a series of intricate seals. Immediately, a cascade of luminous motes reappeared around him, converging above his head and rapidly forming a radiant halo.

As Xuan Luo was ejected from the shrine, he saw the last ring of light on the ancient ancestor’s statue fade. But in the instant of its dissipation, the ring inexplicably reformed, blazing with renewed intensity! Then, a second, a third, a fourth… until a full twelve rings shone brilliantly, bathing the shrine in dazzling light.

Then came the thirteenth, the fourteenth… all the way to the eighteenth! Silence fell upon the entirety of the Imperial City of Shi Gu, stunned by this sudden display.

That silence shattered, replaced by a tumultuous roar that shook the very foundations of the city.

Amidst the uproar, a nineteenth ring of light materialized upon the ancient ancestor’s statue. Then a twentieth, a twenty-first, a twenty-second… until twenty-seven rings blazed with unwavering power, sending waves of light rippling outward, encompassing not only the Imperial City but also the surrounding primordial mountains.

A smile graced Xuan Luo’s face. He did not linger outside the shrine, but instead, as the twenty-seven rings pulsed with light, he departed, ascending into the heavens. There, he resumed his seated vigil. He knew his protection was not yet complete. Wang Lin still had to face the final merge of his divided spirit!

Within the Ancestral Shrine, suspended above Wang Lin, floated a gigantic aura, taking up almost all of the room. It was dozens of times larger than the aura from his first split spirit!

He looked up. The aura seemed to return his gaze, as if it pierced through the roof of the Ancestral Shrine and saw Xuan Luo smiling in the heavens.

“Master…”

His gaze remained fixed for a long moment. Then, Wang Lin lowered his head and drew a deep breath. This second tribulation of the Ancient Dao split spirit was immensely perilous, but its dangers paled in comparison to what he had witnessed during his descent into madness.

His mind could not help but conjure once more that figure, cradling a corpse and howling in despair at the heavens.