Success! Yet even Wang Lin himself was taken aback. Were he not driven to desperation, he would never have dared such a reckless act. For in his memory, the Gluttonous Fiend was a beast of ancient times, said to have battled even the Ancient Gods!

His previous sword strike was meant only to wound the Fiend, to grant an opening for the second wave of approaching sword strikes. He never imagined it would sever a head in a single blow.

Time offered him no leisure for contemplation. He seized the oddly unsettling head of the middle-aged man, and vanished a thousand fathoms away. But in that instant, the grotesque head exploded in a burst of crimson flame, revealing within a fragment of cerulean.

The shard resembled a broken piece of porcelain, yet upon it resonated a palpable might of the heavens.

Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed, but his form did not falter. He snatched the fragment and blurred into motion towards his destination.

Bereft of its severed head, the Gluttonous Fiend’s detached limb withered swiftly, dissolving into azure mist. The remaining seventeen heads rose in unison, and even its burly frame convulsed.

A roar erupted, a sound surpassing thunder, shattering the air. The very essence of the Golden Gate world seemed inverted, and countless approaching swords shuddered in their advance.

With a guttural bellow, the Fiend lunged forth, its speed approaching the fleeing Wang Lin with alarming haste. Incantations echoed from its seventeen mouths, and in a moment, they all lunged forward to devour!

Instantly, the heavens churned, and boundless azure mists materialized before the Fiend. Within them, a gargantuan cerulean head took form, bearing a human face, yet scaled and cruel-eyed. It stretched a thousand fathoms in size! A chilling anomaly marked its brow – a palm print, like a seal radiating endless violet energy! With a deafening roar, the monstrous head opened its maw, intent on swallowing Wang Lin whole!

Simultaneously, from the heavens above, violet energy coalesced into a colossal palm, descending slowly. It did not fall upon the monstrous head, but pressed upon the Gluttonous Fiend itself.

The Fiend’s seventeen heads writhed in fury, roaring defiance against the descending hand, yet still it willed the monstrous head into existence.

Wang Lin’s pupils constricted. A suspicion had taken root. This Gluttonous Fiend, though formidable, lacked the raw power he recalled from Tu Si’s memories. Even accounting for the thirty-six heads of legend, this Fiend still possessed a mere eighteen.

The suspicion had barely formed when the Fiend unleashed a terrifying supernatural power. The thousand-fathom head, upon its emergence, seemed to halt the flow of spiritual energy within Wang Lin’s very being, threatening to freeze him solid.

Furthermore, its engulfing power created an inescapable vortex, a force against which Wang Lin could not contend. His paralyzed spiritual energy rendering him helpless, he was pulled relentlessly towards the monstrous maw.

The head’s spell seemed capable of devouring all creation. Even the approaching swords, now nearing, trembled and were dragged towards the vortex.

But it did not end there. To Wang Lin’s horror, the very fabric of reality shuddered, as if tearing apart to be consumed by that insatiable maw.

“In ages past, there dwelt a spirit named Gluttony, that devoured worlds whole, gaining a head with each repast!” The words surfaced in Wang Lin’s mind. His face pale, he was pulled like a shooting star towards those dread jaws.

In desperation, Wang Lin raised a trembling right hand to his brow. A crackling echoed down his arm as it hardened into stone, only to slam against his forehead.

With the touch, a deafening boom resonated within him. His entire right arm exploded, showering stone fragments that were swept into the monstrous maw. Yet in that instant of self-destruction, a flicker of freedom ignited within his paralyzed spiritual channels.

In a flash, Wang Lin’s left hand clawed at the void, ripping open a dimensional fissure. He flung the iron sword and the shard of cerulean porcelain into its depths, as a scrap of beast hide emerged, affixing itself to the yellow talisman upon his chest.

The yellow talisman was a Seal of Speed, and the beast hide too was such a seal, crafted by the venerable ancestor of runes, Ta Shan himself! The power unleashed by the two Seals together was unimaginable, flooding Wang Lin’s form with unparalleled swiftness.

Fueled by this surge, Wang Lin grit his teeth and strained against the vortex. With each desperate stride, it felt as though he were battering against mountains. He hurled himself forward a mere ten fathoms!

Then his left leg petrified and shattered into dust, drawn away by the vortex. The Gluttonous Fiend roared in unending fury, its seventeen heads contorted with rage, veins throbbing as it fought the ever-closer hand. Before it, the monstrous maw blazed with cerulean light, its suction intensified!

As Wang Lin strained to escape the vortex, his right leg crumbled, and his body was held fast, no longer able to advance. With a despairing sigh, he raised his left hand, stiffening and about to turn to stone, and tore the talisman and beast hide from his chest. Summoning his last dregs of spiritual energy, he cast the talismans into the rift.

Having done all he could, he was swallowed by the monstrous maw along with a swarm of flying swords.

The thousand-fathom head vanished in a blinding azure flash, merging into the Gluttonous Fiend’s body. At that very moment, the descending palm hovered a mere fathom above the Fiend, then halted.

The Gluttonous Fiend’s seventeen heads turned upwards, their eyes filled with dread, yet still they roared their defiance. The violet light of the palm intensified, then burst outwards, bathing the Fiend in a radiant glow, rendering its body as transparent as glass, its innards laid bare.

Had Wang Lin not been devoured, he would have clearly seen that within nine of the seventeen heads rested fragments of the cerulean porcelain.

The violet light faded and vanished, and with it the descending palm was gone as if it had never been.

The apprehensive glimmer in the Fiend’s seventeen heads waned. At its neck, a mass of flesh writhed, and with a moist *pop*, a hundred-fathom branch sprouted forth, upon its tip was a head… the likeness of Wang Lin!

Meanwhile, far beyond on the Moon Star, a hidden peak of Suzaku Star harbored Wang Lin, seated within a mystical formation. He shuddered, his eyes snapping open in shocked recognition. “Gluttonous Fiend!” He gasped. He had sought to witness the power of Tuo Sen’s avatar, yet before ever laying eyes on the being, he had fallen prey to the Fiend’s jaws.

“The beast’s initial powers, while potent, were something I could have weathered, even severing one of its heads… but in retrospect, this was because the beast held back its true might. It must have been restrained…” He recalled the palm seal etched upon the brow of the thousand-fathom head, and the ethereal violet hand that manifested as the Fiend unleashed its world-consuming power.

“Could the creature be bound, its true abilities triggering the seal’s force…? The thousand-fathom head… it was terrifying! Even with my combined Seals of Speed, granting me pace rivaling that of a Nirvana Shatterer, I was helpless against its suction!”

Wang Lin stared into the distance, lost in thought. After a time, he sighed heavily, murmuring in bitter resignation, “Wang Lin, your current strength is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I must remain wary!”

A look of bitterness crossed his face. The battles in the Land of the Demon Spirit against Xu Kongzi, against the will of the heavens in the night of carnage, the ancient battles with the Ancient Demon, his ascension as the Emperor of Suzaku, the rescue of Qing Long, the awakening of Emperor Qing Lin – along that path, Wang Lin’s power had surged. Especially after becoming the Emperor, in the elaborate schemes to wage war against Tuo Sen, he had become complacent, feeling an illusion of control.

Seeing the Gluttonous Fiend, had he retained his former caution, he would have fled without attempting to harm it, and avoided his fate within the beast’s maw.

His clone’s death struck like a hammer blow, shattering his growing complacency. Never again would he feel such arrogance.

The sensation of death had been stark and real, marking only the second time he had tasted oblivion. Bitterness lingering, Wang Lin fell into deep thought. Finally, his face hardened, and he exhibited his former caution. He formed a hand seal, touched his brow, and once more, a sliver of his spirit parted and stepped forth.

As before, he gathered fragments of stone to form a clone. The spirit merged, and in a flicker, vanished from the peak.

“Qing Lin’s celestial arts demand immense celestial energy, and dividing my spirit further will severely weaken my soul. This second clone is the limit…” Wang Lin closed his eyes, meditating, his mind focused on the clone.

Using the art of shrinking the earth, Wang Lin returned to Suzaku Star. Without pause, he journeyed directly to the Land of the Ancient God, took a deep breath at the entrance, and strode within.

With the caution he possessed during his Core Formation days, Wang Lin traversed the void until he reached the swirling vortex. He retrieved a flying sword, channeled his divine sense into it, and sent it spiraling into the vortex. The moment it entered, it was assaulted by a storm of dust and sand.