From the tempestuous womb of celestial storms, the Ancient Thunder Dragon was born, a being of pure lightning, shimmering ethereally within the turbulent sky. Its divine whispers were the peals of thunder, resonating throughout the ravaged heavens.

The Blood Ancestor’s eyes snapped open, sensing the shift in power. In that very moment, Wang Lin’s nascent soul stirred, causing the surrounding storm clouds to churn and writhe, unleashing a palpable aura of celestial tribulation that surged outwards.

Then, with a defiant roar that shook the very fabric of existence, Wang Lin’s soul, now embodied as the Ancient Thunder Dragon, burst forth from the storm clouds. Behind it, a relentless torrent of celestial lightning descended, an inexorable pursuit of divine judgment.

“You seek your own doom!” snarled the Blood Ancestor, his face a mask of malevolent fury. He retreated swiftly, casting two crimson orbs of condensed blood essence before him. “Blood Burst!” he roared.

With an ear-shattering detonation, the blood spheres shattered, unleashing a wave of cataclysmic force. Wang Lin’s Thunder Dragon soul, caught in the blast, dissipated into shimmering particles.

Yet, the Blood Ancestor remained vigilant, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

For where Wang Lin’s soul had vanished, countless bolts of lightning materialized, an ethereal rain of pure energy that converged upon the Blood Ancestor from all sides.

“You dream of claiming my sanguine form, a foolish ambition!” the Blood Ancestor hissed. He wove intricate hand seals, causing a crimson aura to erupt from his body. The lightning rain, in its ravenous descent, faltered upon contact with the aura, swirling harmlessly around him.

The Blood Ancestor’s eyes widened in dawning horror as he realized his error. Too late did he understand. The celestial tribulation, previously in pursuit of Wang Lin’s soul, now descended with thunderous vengeance upon him.

“Wang Lin!” the Blood Ancestor roared in fury, his sanguine aura flaring as he forcibly ejected Wang Lin’s nascent soul from his body. Yet, the tribulation continued its relentless assault, piercing through the fleeting soul and striking the Blood Ancestor directly. He stumbled backwards, desperately seeking escape from the tempestuous sky.

“Venerable Blood Ancestor,” echoed Wang Lin’s ethereal voice, “the Blood Star is shattered, and your concubine, the Violet Heart, has withered and died!” The Blood Ancestor’s face twisted in anguish.

“And your blood-stained tower…” Wang Lin continued, his voice laced with amusement, “A curious trinket indeed!”

“While you hunted me here, little did you know that your daughter, Yao Xixue, revived upon the Blood Star, has returned… is she not a lamb entering the lion’s den?” Wang Lin observed that, since the confrontation with the Blood Ancestor, all things observed were mere blood droplets, without a trace of Yao Xixue. Furthermore, in the collapse of the storage space, even with the Blood Ancestor’s power, he likely couldn’t protect her. Wang Lin deduced a high probability that Yao Xixue, under the Blood Ancestor’s protection, had already revived.

Those words struck the Blood Ancestor like an invisible thunderbolt, shattering his composure. His already weakened soul faltered, his mind reeling.

Yao Xixue… she was his weakness.

“Wang Lin!!” The Blood Ancestor’s soul trembled, causing his sanguine aura to flicker erratically.

A booming laugh echoed through the heavens as Wang Lin’s soul, which had been circling the Blood Ancestor, reformed into a torrent of lightning rain. It surged towards him from all directions, piercing the momentary weakness in his aura and burrowing directly into his flesh.

At that moment, the heavens unleashed their full fury. Rainbow-hued lightning, crackling with unimaginable power, plunged from the clouds. The Blood Ancestor roared in defiance, attempting to break free, but within his body, Wang Lin’s soul engaged him in a desperate battle of life and death.

The two souls clashed within the Blood Ancestor’s body, each vying for dominion. Though the Blood Ancestor’s soul was mighty, it had been grievously wounded, first by the mysterious elder who claimed half its essence, and again by Wang Lin’s relentless assault.

Even so, the Blood Ancestor’s innate power surpassed that of Wang Lin.

Yet, Wang Lin’s soul was bolstered by abundant yuan energy, having achieved the Solid Yang cultivation stage. This shifted the balance, allowing him to hinder the Blood Ancestor’s movements and drain his yuan energy, preventing his escape from the tribulation.

The Blood Ancestor must die. Wang Lin knew that his own survival depended on it. He would sacrifice everything to trap the Blood Ancestor within the tempestuous skies, to be consumed by the celestial tribulation!

Though the storm was fading, each lightning strike upon the Blood Ancestor caused him to shudder. The destructive energy raged within him, both wounding him and, strangely, being partially absorbed by Wang Lin’s soul, adding to its strength.

With a final, thunderous roar, the storm clouds dissipated, leaving behind a crushing weight of impending doom. It was the final judgment of the heavens, the ultimate celestial tribulation. As it coalesced, it devoured the remaining clouds, forming a colossal cloud-lightning behemoth that plunged down towards the earth.

This was the wrath of the heavens unleashed, a single strike meant to obliterate all it touched!

The chilling grip of death seized the Blood Ancestor. Trapped by Wang Lin’s soul, escape was impossible. In a desperate gambit, he bit his tongue, spewing forth a torrent of blood essence.

“Blood Seal!” The blood transformed into a massive seal, a net of crimson energy that enveloped his own body. As the seal closed, a blinding red light erupted from between his brows, and the Blood Ancestor’s soul tore itself free, escaping beyond the reach of the storm.

“Wang Lin, I forsake this body! By the Blood Seal, you shall not escape! The tribulation is yours to bear!” His soul, seething with unimaginable hatred, fled without a backward glance.

This was a defeat of utter devastation. His soul was mutilated, his body lost, leaving him as a wretched, broken shell. He could not risk remaining, lest Wang Lin survive and unleash unimaginable vengeance. He regretted his foolishness. Had he honored his promise to restore Yao Xixue and not sought Wang Lin’s demise, he would not be reduced to this wretched state.

But now, it was too late.

Trapped by the Blood Seal, Wang Lin’s soul was confined within the ruined body of the Blood Ancestor. Yet, he had no intention of fleeing. Gathering the yuan energy within his soul, he welcomed the descending tribulation.

The resounding explosion echoed across the vast emptiness of the cosmos. The Blood Seal shattered under the weight of the heavens, and the Blood Ancestor’s body was reduced to a ravaged husk. Wang Lin’s soul was violently ejected, reforming as the Ancient Thunder Dragon and roaring defiance at the sky.
The celestial tapestry above, once a roiling storm of wrath, dissolved into nothingness, the Heavenly Tribulation itself banished.

Wang Lin’s nascent soul, a beacon of resilience, retrieved the ravaged flesh of the Blood Ancestor and returned to the splintered land. Yet, the land was now a mere fragment, scarcely a hundred paces across, resembling not a continent, but a colossal seal.

Re-integrating his soul with his own mortal form, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped open, a surge of formidable power coursing through him. He drew a deep breath, then swiftly gathered up the Blood Ancestor’s remains. His gaze fell upon the shard beneath him, now a desolate印. With a flash of insight, he slammed his hand upon the ground.

The shard quivered, then melded with Wang Lin’s soul, shrinking rapidly until it was nothing more than a grain of sand, which he swallowed whole. With a triumphant laugh that echoed across the void, he strode forth into the boundless expanse.

At that moment, Wang Lin’s cultivation had reached the realm of Yang Solidification. While not yet at its zenith, he was perilously close. The elemental force within him was rich and potent, much of it still untapped. Once fully absorbed, it would propel him to the peak of Yang Solidification, bringing him immeasurably closer to the true path of a second-step cultivator.

Within this Immortal Realm of Thunder, save for a scant few, Wang Lin had no equal!

Armed with his innate powers, his treasured artifacts, and, most importantly, the shattered Immortal印 of this realm, along with the beast bone he had acquired previously, Wang Lin now possessed the strength to face even those newly ascended to the second step, the early-stage Insightful Void cultivators. Though victory was uncertain, he could finally stand and fight.

The oppressive weight that had clung to him since his flight from the Alliance Star System to the Star Domain of Luo Tian lifted, banished by the wind. Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed with newfound resolve. He moved with startling speed, his divine sense unfurling like a silken banner as he pursued the fleeing soul of the Blood Ancestor.

“Uproot the weeds, lest they sprout anew!” Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with lethal intent. With the strength of Yang Solidification coursing through him, his speed far surpassed that of his previous peak Spirit Severing cultivation.

He streaked through the void like a fallen star, a blazing trail of righteous fury.

A powerful confidence bloomed within Wang Lin’s heart, a confidence born not solely of power, but of the unyielding spirit of a rebel cultivator, a true warrior of the Dao.

“So, even the mighty, like the Blood Ancestor, Celestial Fate, and Marquis Ling Tian… are not invincible!” A steely determination settled upon Wang Lin’s face, and a cold smile touched his lips.

Even Celestial Fate could scarcely have imagined that the disciple he had taken from a half-abandoned star would achieve such heights, forcing the Blood Ancestor to such desperate measures through a series of fateful encounters.

“Yet, there must be someone aiding me… for the Blood Ancestor could not have been so weakened when I discovered him!” Wang Lin’s gaze sharpened, the question lingering in his mind.

Meanwhile, far ahead in the desolate depths of the void, upon a fragmented continent, Li Yuan fled in ragged desperation, his face ashen. His right arm was shattered, lost to him forever, the remnants oozing crimson.

Scars marred his body, the deepest a grievous wound across his abdomen.

His nascent soul was ravaged, teetering on the brink of collapse. Only through the forbidden arts of his shattered clan did he manage to escape, else he would surely have perished.

The icy breath of death clung to Li Yuan, a bitter resignation etched upon his face. He yearned to fight back, but his pursuers possessed an ancient mirror capable of dispelling any barrier. Having expended his strength to aid Wang Lin, employing the Seal of the Heart, his power was insufficient to conceal himself for long unless he could create distance.

“To wield a mirror of such power, capable of disrupting any seal, they must be a family descended from the Immortal Realm, here in the Star Domain of Luo Tian. When my family was strong, these people would have been nothing more than strutting peacocks, but now… Alas, Brother Xu, farewell. I cannot fulfill my promise to you, to pass on the Seal of the Heart… It is not my wish!”

“Cousin, this man possesses quite a few treasures. This immortal blade is exceedingly powerful; I adore it.” Behind Li Yuan, three figures pursued him at a leisurely pace.

Two were men, one was a woman, her face strikingly beautiful, though tainted with a sly媚. In her hand, she brandished an immortal blade – one that Li Yuan had claimed from an ancient Immortal’s storage space!

The younger of the two men smiled indulgently at her words, his expression calm. “Since my little Xia loves it, he possesses eight more. Once I have taken them all, I will inquire as to where he found them, and present them to you as well.” This man, too, had achieved the peak of Spirit Severing cultivation, but the elder man by his side was truly formidable.

Wang Lin, were he present, would have immediately recognized that the old man had reached the pinnacle of Yin Void境界.