Hark! From the mists of the ages comes word of the Ancient Dao Celestial, mightiest of all beings in the Immortal Astral Continent!

His cultivation is a mystery veiled in eons, his hand unmoved in untold years. Yet, with but a single gesture, the very heavens trembled, the winds writhed in fury, and the earth groaned with a cataclysmic resonance. Even the towering sea-wall storms recoiled as if struck by an unseen force, carved into a deep, concave bend.

Wang Lin, his white hair a tempest of its own, stood defiant. Before him materialized the phantom finger of the Ancient Dao, a conduit of wind and rain, of thunder and lightning. Crackling arcs danced within its form, parting the swirling clouds with booming echoes, coalescing into a torrential downpour of countless crystalline droplets, obscuring the finger as though veiled in primordial chaos.

But this was not all! From within this tempestuous fusion arose the five elements themselves: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Their resonance mirrored the very essence of Wang Lin’s Five Elements True Body!

This single gesture, a tapestry woven from the very fabric of creation, was an act capable of slaying even a Grand Celestial!

Wang Lin’s pupils narrowed, a storm brewing within his gaze. He had long prepared for the Ancient Dao’s immense power. Even this casual strike, capable of obliterating a Grand Celestial, held no surprise.

“Ancient Dao…” he murmured, his left hand steadfastly held behind his back, his flowing hair lending him an air of enigmatic power. Unwavering, his feet rooted to the earth, he raised his right hand as the phantom finger bore down upon him, and with a gesture of equal nonchalance, extended his own finger towards the oncoming assault.

The disparity was staggering. The spectral finger of the Ancient Dao was a colossal force, threatening to crush Wang Lin into oblivion. The mortal finger raised in defiance seemed a mere mote in comparison.

Yet, in that instant, as Wang Lin’s finger pierced the air, the countless, unseen strands of cosmic law that governed existence shuddered in unison. An unseen tremor, imperceptible to mortal eyes, yet witnessed with stark clarity by the Ancient Dao himself.

These strands, quivering violently, shattered into nothingness. The laws of the universe dissolved in this single, silent act of defiance. The surrounding space, in that fleeting moment, became a realm devoid of all rules, all order.

The fingers collided. A cataclysmic roar, silencing even the tempestuous fury of the sea-wall storms, erupted outwards, a shockwave that echoed across the heavens.

Wang Lin grunted, staggering backward three paces. He lifted his head, his gaze fixed on the phantom finger of the Ancient Dao, which had faltered in its advance. Dark energy surged within it, causing the spectral digit to shatter into fragments, its power dissipating into nothingness.

Simultaneously, behind the shattered illusion, within the swirling mists of the nine-headed beast, the spectral form of the Ancient Dao reeled backward three steps!

The initial clash, a mere probing of strength, had ended in a draw!

As the Ancient Dao’s phantom recoiled, Wang Lin surged forward, a blur of motion. His right hand rose, his primordial spirit surged within him, and a multitude of azure threads materialized upon his hand. These wisps coiled around his fingers, forming a series of verdant smoke rings.

An intense heat emanated from Wang Lin’s palm.

“The Eight Extremes Dao!” The Ancient Dao’s eyes narrowed within the mists of the nine-headed beast.

“The Ultimate Water Dao!”

“The Ultimate Gold Dao!”

“The Ultimate Wood Dao!”

“The Ultimate Earth Dao!” The five elements poured forth from Wang Lin’s hand, taking form, drawing forth the ancient divine power of the Immortal Ancestor – the Eight Extremes Dao!

Though Wang Lin had not mastered the entirety of this forbidden technique, his power now rivaled that of the Immortal Ancestor himself. Thus, in his hands, the Eight Extremes Dao approached a power nigh unto that of a god!

Countless rings of light burst forth before Wang Lin. With a thrust of his right hand, the rings flashed and shot towards the nine-headed beast!

The Five Extremes Dao was a formidable beginning. Wang Lin, on his second crossing of the Sky-Stepping Bridge, had seemingly traversed the fifth bridge swiftly, yet in truth, had spent what seemed like countless eons there, achieving enlightenment upon the final three Extremes.

“The Ultimate Earth Dao!” Wang Lin strode towards the mist beast, his expression calm and confident. Like a master of ages, his right fist slammed into the earth, causing the immense basin formed by the towering sea to shudder and crack. A torrent of terrestrial energy spewed forth. The atmosphere was thick and polluted, laden with the deathly miasma of countless souls that had perished within those waters over millennia.

The terrestrial energy swirled and coalesced into a colossal gray halo, surging upwards and rapidly contracting, unleashing a terrifying power!

The Ancient Dao’s pupils constricted. Wang Lin’s prowess and the power of his spell was truly awe-inspiring, even to him.

“Just how many bridges has he crossed…?” The Ancient Dao wondered, raising his right hand in a swift incantation. The nine heads of the mist beast threw back their heads and roared, unleashing ripples of energy and nine distinct beams of light.

“The Ultimate Heaven Dao!” Wang Lin spoke calmly, pointing to the heavens.

The dim sky seemed to collapse, flashing with blinding light. Wang Lin’s finger transformed into a hand, reaching out to grasp the very brilliance of the sky. As he clutched, the heavens dimmed, plunging into shadow. Beneath, a halo as bright as the sun itself manifested, descending rapidly towards the nine-headed mist beast.

The Eight Extremes Dao was nearly complete. Only the final extreme remained unmastered. Now, the energies of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, intertwined with the Heavens and the Earth, converged into a maelstrom of halos aimed towards the mist beast.

The nine heads of the beast roared in defiance, unleashing a kaleidoscopic rainbow around them. The colors scattered, colliding with Wang Lin’s Eight Extremes Dao in a battle of apocalyptic proportions.
Then, from within the swirling mists, the Ancient Dao stretched forth his hands, and with a violent tremor, hundreds of spheres of pure, malevolent vapor materialized around the nine heads of the Mist Beast. Each sphere pulsed with power enough to obliterate a Sky Sovereign, and even a Grand Sovereign would tremble before such a barrage.

In the instant of their birth, these myriad orbs splintered, multiplying into thousands upon thousands, a suffocating swarm that choked the air. They joined the radiant aura of the Mist Beast’s nine heads and the iridescent arc that wreathed it, all arrayed against Wang Lin’s Eight Extremes Dao!

The roar that followed shattered mountains and shook the very foundation of the Boundless Basin. The Five Elemental Extremes crumbled, yet the light of the Heaven and Earth Extremes pierced the chaotic storm, striking the Mist Beast’s monstrous form.

The beast howled, a sound of utter despair, and its vast body shuddered. In that moment, Wang Lin reappeared. Having unleashed his Eight Extremes, he had wasted no time, channeling the Speed Meridian within his core. His velocity became an unimaginable blur as he vanished in a single stride.

Re-emerging, he struck without a word. His fist slammed forward, and the heavens themselves groaned under the force. A colossal phantom fist surged towards the Mist Beast’s flesh. He spared no glance at the impact, vanishing once more, only to materialize behind the shrouded figure of the Ancient Dao within the mist. Again, he unleashed a ferocious blow.

The Ancient Dao spun, his sleeves lashing out to meet the strike. A deafening boom echoed, and Wang Lin was hurled back, ejected from behind the Mist Beast. Yet the Ancient Dao grunted, his sleeve dissolving into wisps of nothing.

Wang Lin’s attack was no mere fleeting blow. He had calculated the timing, the angles, ever since the Ancient Dao had made his first move. There was a purpose hidden within this punch.

For as his fist landed, it seemed to connect, in a strange echoing way, with the fist that had struck the Mist Beast moments before. The Mist Beast became the nexus, and a tempest of raw energy erupted, tearing its corporeal form asunder.

But the Ancient Dao was the strongest in all of Immortal-Astral. In the very breath after deflecting Wang Lin, the thousands of vaporous orbs surrounding the Mist Beast unleashed their collective fury, hurtling towards Wang Lin in an unstoppable torrent. Explosion after explosion rocked him, offering no chance to evade. Each sphere, capable of shattering a Sky Sovereign, now struck as one.

Just as the last sphere detonated, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped shut, his right hand slamming against his brow.

“The Extremity of Fate!” he roared, his eyes bursting open, filled with an unnatural, spectral light. That eerie glow emanated from his gaze, coalescing before him into a shimmering, obsidian ring that spun around him, a shield against the devastating onslaught.

The ensuing roar was the sound of a million celestial thunderbolts colliding, shaking the Boundless Basin to its core and sending ripples of power outwards. Even the very laws of reality buckled and bent. Across all of Immortal-Astral, the skies themselves shifted, mirroring the cataclysmic struggle.

In Dao Yi Sect, upon the Imperial Mountain of the Ancestral City, within the Purple Sun Sect, and from the glacial wastes of the Northern Continent, the Grand Sovereigns, save for Lian Dao Fei, felt the tremor that shook the world. They sensed the collision of two titanic forces emanating from the Boundless Basin.

“The Ancient Dao stirs!”

“One power belongs to the Ancient Dao! The other…it feels familiar…”

“Who dares clash with the Ancient Dao, to unleash such a world-rending spectacle!”

“The aura locked in battle with the Ancient Dao…it is…Wang Lin!”

Four streams of blinding light shot forth from the Immortal lands, each hurtling towards the Boundless Basin.

Simultaneously, across the lands of the Ancient Clan, Xuan Luo, Song Tian, and the perpetually enigmatic Grand Sovereign of the Primeval Path felt the tremor. They felt the Earth groan and the sky crack. Without hesitation, all three pierced the heavens, racing towards the maelstrom that engulfed the Boundless Basin!