Wang Lin, lost in thought, stepped beyond the precipice. The fissure atop the peak had vanished, and the brilliance that once bathed the Seven-Colored Realm had faded, plunging it once more into shadow.

Gazing into the inky blackness before him, Wang Lin unfurled his divine sense. He had intended to depart the peak with haste, but paused abruptly, his gaze drawn to a valley nestled nearby. “Come forth and face me!” His voice, though calm, resonated with an undeniable authority.

The words, cold as a grave wind, echoed through the valley, rising skyward as though shaking the very foundation of the Seven-Colored Realm. A thunderous roar erupted, as if his words were law, causing all who heard them to tremble in their souls.

Within a hidden grotto in the valley, Yun Hunzi sat in meditative posture. He had been roused from his trance when the rift appeared above Wang Lin’s peak, bathing the realm in light. A chilling dread, a nameless terror, had seized him. He suspected, with a sickening certainty, that the man from a century past had… returned.

The desire for vengeance that once burned within him had dwindled over the years. As he hesitated, a terrifying aura abruptly descended, causing his very spirit to quail. At the same moment, icy words, like a volley of daggers, manifested around him, piercing his form and striking his nascent soul.

His face drained of color, his ears rang with the deafening echoes. A blue flame flickered around him, as if he were being consumed. Thrumming within that flame, tendrils of lightning danced, numbing his body in an instant.

But what horrified him most was the surge of battle lust that flooded his heart. Had that fury been unleashed, it might have been bearable, but instead, an indomitable will, a Taoist precept, had locked it within his body. His soul, roasted by the contained battle lust, shrieked in agony. A cultivator of his caliber was reduced to a pitiable moan.

Worse, a profound and dreadful certainty took root within him. If he did not emerge at once, a mere thought from his tormentor would extinguish his existence!

“He… how can he be… so strong?!” Yun Hunzi’s face was deathly pale, contorted with fear. He could feel, with chilling clarity, that the Wang Lin before him was a being transformed from the man of a century ago. The difference was as vast as the gulf between heaven and earth.

Without further hesitation, Yun Hunzi burst from the grotto. His eyes fell upon Wang Lin, suspended in the air. A single glance robbed him of coherent thought. Only the frantic hammering of his heart remained. In that instant, he perceived that all creation had become his enemy’s palm, and he, trapped within that cosmic hand, could not escape. His life and death were no longer his own, but resided within the whim of the figure before him.

Most frighteningly, Yun Hunzi sensed that, though the space between Wang Lin’s brows was blank, an unseen eye watched him with dreadful intensity.

That eye held within it unfathomable power. The blue flames and lightning that consumed his body, the battle lust that threatened to shatter his soul, all emanated from that hidden third eye.

Even the terrifying chaos he had experienced when Wang Lin disrupted his teleportation, casting him into a valley of monstrous beasts, paled in comparison to the present horror. Wang Lin radiated an aura so potent that it could sweep across the Seven-Colored Realm. He was as an ant before a god! The feeling intensified until Yun Hunzi’s face became like parchment.

Wang Lin cast a frigid gaze upon Yun Hunzi, raised his right hand, and pointed a finger into the void. His eyes, filled with icy intent, locked with those of Yun Hunzi.

A strange sigil materialized from Wang Lin’s fingertip and floated slowly toward Yun Hunzi. Its pace was languid, giving Yun Hunzi ample time to evade.

But beneath Wang Lin’s gaze, Yun Hunzi broke out in a cold sweat, yet dared not move. A deep sense of impending doom filled him. Should he so much as twitch, a swift and merciless death awaited.

He knew, with a chilling certainty, that his adversary possessed the power to kill him in an instant. It was a premonition unlike any he had ever experienced in his long years of cultivation, and it filled him with a dread he could scarcely contain.

He watched, mesmerized, as the sigil drew nearer. A battle raged within his heart, but in the end, he abandoned all resistance and allowed the mark to settle upon his brow, imprinting itself deeply.

As the sigil settled, the phantom blue flames and lightning, the strange battle lust within his soul, all converged upon the mark, fusing together and vanishing after a few brief flickers. Yun Hunzi exhaled shakily, a look of abject obedience on his face, and bowed low. “This old servant greets his Master.” His cultivation allowed him to recognize the sigil for what it was—not a tool of death, but a brand of control over life and death. Wang Lin had not spoken the words, but his actions had made his intent clear: serve as his thrall, or die and become his spirit.

That was indeed Wang Lin’s intention. Should Yun Hunzi prove troublesome, he would not hesitate to end him. He turned his gaze from Yun Hunzi and spoke calmly, “How long have I slept?” A bitter taste filled Yun Hunzi’s mouth, but he harbored no resentment, only a sense of bewildered awe. The difference between the man before him and the one from a century past was a source of constant wonder. He bowed lower. “Master has slumbered for ninety-nine years.” Wang Lin’s expression remained unchanged, but his heart skipped a beat. He turned to gaze at the shadowed heavens, his thoughts becoming somber. “So much time has passed…”

Yun Hunzi dared not interrupt Wang Lin’s contemplation. He cast a complex glance at Wang Lin. The events of the past century felt like a dream. He could never have imagined that the one he had once scorned would now be his master.

After a moment, Wang Lin moved, transforming into a streak of light and shooting across the sky. Yun Hunzi followed close behind, sighing inwardly.

With Wang Lin’s current strength, his speed was astonishing. Before long, they arrived at Sima Mo’s valley. Thanks to Wang Lin’s will imbued within the thunder and fire a century ago, the valley had been spared from destruction.

With a wave of his right hand, Wang Lin stepped into the valley, entering within. Yun Hunzi stood respectfully outside, not daring to enter without Wang Lin’s leave.

Within the valley, Wang Lin gazed upon the familiar surroundings. The passage of a century seemed both swift and unsettling. A sense of urgency stirred within him. “Tuo Sen must have emerged by now!” Wang Lin’s eyes flashed as he went straight to the first grotto, sweeping it with his divine sense. He sighed in relief.

Within the countless seals of the first grotto, all the spirit stones had crumbled to dust. The contained beast souls had dissipated. The Mosquito Beast lay on the ground, encased in what appeared to be an egg. It was extremely weak within, seemingly unable to break free.

The instant Wang Lin’s divine sense probed, the weakened Mosquito Beast opened its eyes, revealing confusion, then joy. It struggled, but without spirit stones, it could not complete its transformation and break free.

Wang Lin’s heart ached at the sight. He opened the grotto and entered. With a grasp of his right hand, a storage rift opened, and all the spirit stones he had collected flew out, scattered around the cave.

As the spirit stones appeared, they radiated dense spiritual energy, flowing toward the egg-encased Mosquito Beast and being rapidly absorbed, allowing its metamorphosis to continue. “Go and bring Chen Tianjun. He should still be alive!” Wang Lin released his divine sense, piercing the valley and landing within Yun Hunzi’s mind. Yun Hunzi immediately answered with a respectful affirmation, transforming into a streak of light and heading into the distance.

Chen Tianjun sat cross-legged within the same grotto he had occupied a century ago. Over the past hundred years, his emotions had been a turbulent sea. The hope of escaping this place seemed to have died. He often stared blankly at the shadowed sky, remembering his life before he had entered this place. “My master and fellow disciples must be fighting fierce beasts on the battlefields of the Ninth Order Star Domain… That is where I should be… I do not belong here…”

He had spent a century of solitude in this lightless world, and was on the brink of despair. But when Wang Lin awoke, the realm was suddenly bathed in light. Chen Tianjun’s hopeless heart shuddered.

He wanted to leave, yearned to escape this place with every fiber of his being. That longing was like a fire consuming him. He stood abruptly and rushed out of his grotto, looking into the distance, his soul trembling. “He… has he returned?!”

As he waited anxiously, a streak of light appeared in the distance. Chen Tianjun immediately recognized Yun Hunzi within the light and his heart sank. He retreated, his eyes growing wary.

Yun Hunzi floated in mid-air, glancing coldly at Chen Tianjun. “Chen Daoist, the Master requests your presence. Let us depart together.” “Master?” Chen Tianjun paused, and after a moment seemed to understand. He took a deep breath, and without another word flew with Yun Hunzi into the distance.

Soon, Chen Tianjun arrived at Sima Mo’s valley. He could clearly feel Wang Lin’s aura, and joy lit his eyes. “Chen Daoist, enter quickly.” Wang Lin’s voice echoed from within the valley. Chen Tianjun quickly answered with a respectful affirmation and entered the valley with excitement. His eyes fell upon Wang Lin’s figure outside the grotto. “Lü Brother…” Chen Tianjun’s voice was shaking with excitement. The century of waiting had suddenly come to an end, and even he struggled to contain his emotions. “Do you have enough spirit stones?” Wang Lin nodded slightly. “Enough, more than enough!” Chen Tianjun tore open his storage rift and took out a storage bag, respectfully handing it to Wang Lin. Wang Lin took it and swept it with his divine sense, leaving a single sentence before turning and entering the grotto. “Wait for me. I will take you away!”

Those words were what Chen Tianjun had waited a century to hear. He took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions, and looked up at the dark sky. At that moment, even that sky seemed to hold light. “Finally, I can leave!”