The Great Celestial Sovereigns of the Immortal-Astral Continent, nearly all stirred to action, transformed into seven streaks of vibrant light. From their diverse domains, they converged with haste upon the desolate Cang Mang Basin. From the Ancient Clan’s territory, three streaks thundered forth, their velocity a tempestuous gale.

Amongst the Immortal Clan, four figures, grim and silent, hastened their flight. Yet, even at their utmost speed, a fortnight might pass before they reached the theatre of battle. The Immortal-Astral Continent was vast beyond measure, and they lacked the cultivation of Wang Lin and Gu Dao.

In the heart of the Cang Mang Basin, the Sea Wall Storm churned. Nigh to the Ancient Clan’s side, a thunderous roar echoed across the heavens and earth. Wang Lin, surrounded by a swarm of near ten thousand vaporous spheres, weathered their explosive dissolution. As the last of these dissipated, a thread of crimson traced his lips. He staggered back, retreating hundreds of feet, and spewed forth another mouthful of blood, the spectral aura that cloaked him shattered and undone.

Beside him, the mist-formed beast that sheltered Gu Dao crumbled and split asunder. Its mournful cries faded into oblivion. As it vanished, the mists that veiled Gu Dao dwindled, gradually receding until they threatened to unveil his enigmatic visage.

“To glimpse my face, you willingly embrace injury…” Gu Dao intoned, his voice echoing from the void hundreds of feet distant. The mists about him were now gossamer-thin, barely clinging to obscure his countenance.

“Since you desire it so, then gaze upon me… You are the first in countless ages to behold my form…” Gu Dao’s frame was lean, clad in a verdant robe, yet his right arm was bare of sleeve. His hair, the color of ash, framed a face towards which the last tendrils of mist conceded their hold.

Wang Lin, at a distance, met his gaze. As the final veils lifted, and the face of Gu Dao was laid bare, no surprise flickered across Wang Lin’s features. Instead, a sigh escaped his lips.

“So, it is you…”

Gu Dao offered no reply.

“Shall I address you as Ancestor Gu, or simply Gu Dao?” Wang Lin inquired, his eyes fixed upon the familiar visage before him.

For the face of Gu Dao was none other than the likeness of the ancestor carved in the statues of the three ancient cities Wang Lin had seen.

“Or perhaps,” Wang Lin continued, “that countenance is your own, and the statue in the city was sculpted in your image.” He studied Gu Dao, noting the lines of time etched upon his face.

“I am Gu,” came the solemn reply, “and I am Ancestor Gu.”

“I inherited a fragment of Ancestor Gu’s memory and will, charged with safeguarding the Ancient Clan, with protecting the descendants of its royal bloodline…” Gu Dao’s voice was heavy with the burden of ages. “My visage altered as I absorbed that memory and will, slowly transforming…”

“The furthest you can stray is surely this place,” Wang Lin mused, his mind assembling the puzzle. “The tales of your slaying Immortal Clan Celestial Sovereigns upon their own soil… they are likely misconstrued. More likely, they invaded beyond this central line of the vast sea, and thus you could strike them down.”

He had always struggled to reconcile the notion that Gu Dao, with his power, could not simply obliterate the Immortal Clan. Yet, for countless years, they had endured.

“By acquiring the memory and will of Ancestor Gu, you gained power, yes, but also limitations,” Wang Lin observed with a sigh.

“The day the transformation completed, I sensed a tether binding me,” Gu Dao affirmed, his tone even, devoid of lament. “I cannot venture too far from the Ancient Clan’s lands. Should I stray, my cultivation would desert me.”

“Why,” Wang Lin pressed, repeating the question that haunted him, “why do you bar my departure?”

“After inheriting the memory of Ancestor Gu, over these endless years, I have perceived things, felt things…” Gu Dao sighed, his gaze sweeping the landscape, the earth, the distant heart of the Ancient Clan. “Things I cannot grasp, cannot believe, yet feel profoundly real.”

“Perhaps they are true, perhaps they are mere delusions,” Gu Dao murmured, shaking his head. He did not answer Wang Lin’s question directly, but a resolve hardened in his eyes.

“Fight, then! Defeat me, and I shall lack the strength to hinder you further. You may leave as you will! I sense you have yet to unleash your full might. Neither shall I hold back!

I possess two supreme arts. The first is the Transformation of Heaven and Earth. In Ancestor Gu’s memory, he was born from nothingness. He believed that his eyes could become the sun and moon, his blood could form rivers and seas, his bones could transform into mountains, his hands, joined together, could become the sky, and his body, when it falls, could become the earth.

Driven by this faith, by this vision, he poured his entire being into creating this art: the Transformation of Heaven and Earth!

This art… since inheriting it, I have never unleashed it… Today, it shall be for the first time…” Gu Dao said, his gaze unwavering.

Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, meeting Gu Dao’s eyes.

“In the ancestral temple of the First Ancient Imperial City, I beheld a figure that stepped toward the heavens. That single step resonated within me. On the Fifth Bridge of Heaven-Treading, I plunged into a cycle of rebirth, lost to the passage of time. Beyond the enlightenment of the Eight Extremes, it was that very step that occupied my mind.

I should have been incapable of crossing that bridge, yet, driven by that step, I succeeded.

This step, I call the Heaven-Treading Step!” As Wang Lin spoke, his own eyes blazed with resolution. This battle was inevitable. He would fight to the end.

“Should you withstand this art, you shall be worthy to witness the Path of the Heavens, a technique I have explored for countless ages!” Upon hearing Wang Lin’s claim of traversing the Fifth Bridge, Gu Dao fell silent, then raised his right hand and swept it across the sky.

Instantly, a myriad of radiant lights erupted behind Gu Dao. These lights, coalescing from the void, gathered with impossible speed, and in a mere heartbeat, formed a colossal, luminescent spectacle.
A radiant form, veiled in blinding light, materialized before them. As it took shape, the luminescence intensified, and then it *inhaled*. The heavens themselves shuddered as celestial power surged from every corner of existence. The sphere of its influence expanded with terrifying speed, swallowing leagues beyond leagues, until the entire Basin of Whispers lay within its grasp.

Vast, boundless celestial energies roared inwards, consumed by the luminous figure. The sphere of influence continued to spread, far beyond the Basin, reaching towards the lands of the Ancient Ones and the Celestial Kin.

Near the Great Azure Sea, in the Celestial Kin domains, the Grand Empyreans, led by Elder Long, halted their progress, their faces etched with dread as they gazed towards the distant epicenter. A chilling premonition of annihilation washed over them.

A similar unease struck the Ancient Ones and the Three Sovereigns upon their ancestral lands. They felt the world itself straining, the very fabric of existence drawn towards an unseen vortex in the distant sea.

At the heart of the Azure Sea, the radiant entity grew, fueled by the consumed energies. In the blink of an eye, it swelled to a height of tens of thousands of fathoms, and still it grew. Soon, Wang Lin could no longer see the upper reaches of the being, only the immensity of its legs.

Wang Lin gasped. He could not fathom the final size of this being, but he could imagine what it would look like from beyond the Celestial Continent: a colossal giant, straddling the world.

A titan of unimaginable scale, touching the sky itself!

“Ancient Ancestor…” Wang Lin murmured, watching the figure continue to swell. “Give it enough celestial power, and it could rival a starfield.”

Only when the celestial power of the entire Celestial Continent was drawn in did the entity cease its growth. Even in its present state, it emanated an aura of unimaginable power, a weight that pressed upon Wang Lin’s very soul.

“The Ancient Shaping the World…” Wang Lin whispered, his gaze lifted towards the heavens. As his divine sense expanded, he perceived a vision of wondrous and terrible truth.

The gargantuan entity’s eyes detached, one becoming the blazing sun in the heavens, the other the gentle moon. From its body, a viscous ichor flowed, forming the rivers and oceans of the world.

Its arms rose, and in their shadow, the blue sky formed. Its immense form toppled, becoming the very earth beneath their feet. Its bones transformed into the mountain ranges that scarred the landscape.

As Wang Lin witnessed these unfolding events, his eyes burned with pain, threatening to bleed. It was as if a force sought to tear them from his skull, to make one a sun, the other a moon.

His arms twitched and quivered, drawn upwards, compelled to become the sky itself. His body ached, yearning to become the earth, held in thrall by an alien power.

This was a magic of belief.

A magic so intense, so potent, that it could reshape reality, warp time and space. Those caught within its sphere became extensions of that belief, instruments in its grand design!

Within this maelstrom of belief, Wang Lin steeled himself, his eyes calming. He cast aside any thoughts of resisting this magic and closed his eyes, allowing the image of a figure holding a lifeless body on a snow-dusted peak to fill his mind. He saw the figure stride towards the heavens.

This step echoed in his mind, over and over again. Then, Wang Lin lifted his right foot, taking a step into the sky of this world shaped by the Ancient Ancestor’s faith.

As he stepped, Wang Lin felt himself become that figure, the one who cradled a corpse and wailed at the heavens. Unspeakable grief welled within him, a pain like having his heart ripped from his chest.

He forgot the duel with Gu Dao, forgot the path back to the Realm of the Caverns. All that remained was sorrow, despair, and rage.

That rage fueled his step, driving it downwards!

A single, world-shattering tread!

**(The author’s note about the double moon tickets and update schedule has been omitted as it is not relevant to the fantasy rewrite)**