The sound descended like thunder, a celestial roar that shook the very earth. Clefts spread across the emerald plains like spiderwebs, as if the land itself were about to shatter. Within the encroaching darkness, whispers of annihilation echoed from every direction.

As the sound reverberated, a palpable pressure coalesced from the ether, slowly descending. With its arrival, the chromatic realm of Hua Cai became a suspended prison, crushed by an unseen force from all sides.

Chen Tianjun, weakest among them, felt his soul tremble under the weight. Blood trickled from his lips as he stumbled back, desperately swallowing a restorative elixir, fighting against the encroaching doom.

Yun Hunzi, his face ashen, stared blankly at the heavens. Under the gaze of two unseen eyes, he felt utterly exposed, his spirit writhing in pain as a series of sharp cracks echoed from within.

The old crone in verdant robes watched, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. A phantasmal aura flickered around her, her form shifting erratically between ancient hag and beautiful maiden.

Only Wang Lin stood firm as a mountain pine. The oppressive weight of the heavens twisted and warped as it neared him, as if a hidden law protected him, setting him at odds with the very fabric of reality!

He locked his gaze on the vortex swirling above, his lips sealed in silence, his right hand slowly clenching into a fist.

“I offer no deceit. Survive the force of my palm, and I shall grant you the chance to flourish,” a weary voice echoed from the heart of the vortex. As the words faded, the celestial maelstrom began to spin with terrifying speed.

The rotation accelerated, blurring the heavens and concealing the unseen eyes behind a veil of chaos. A deafening roar filled the air, as if the very universe were collapsing before Wang Lin’s eyes!

In that instant, the vortex plunged down, a force of utter devastation, threatening to tear asunder all life and absorb it into its chaotic heart.

The earth convulsed. Within the encroaching darkness, the sounds of rending multiplied.

Chen Tianjun coughed blood, his soul quivering uncontrollably. Yun Hunzi and the crone in green felt their spirits shudder, terror blossoming in their eyes.

The vortex descended relentlessly, hurtling towards the earth. Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with cold determination. With a roar, he leaped into the sky, a defiant meteor hurtling towards the heavens. His right fist clenched, he prepared to strike a blow against the descending vortex.

A thunderous roar ripped through the chromatic realm, splitting the air with raw power. With that single punch, the dusky sky erupted in a storm of light. A million silver serpents of lightning illuminated the heavens, banishing the darkness!

The celestial storm was born from Wang Lin’s defiance. As his fist met the void, lightning from the vortex surged towards him, coalescing into an irresistible force hurtling towards the heavens!

Deafening booms echoed through the air, yet the vortex continued its inexorable descent, crushing down upon Wang Lin. Suspended in the air, Wang Lin felt a terrible pull emanating from the vortex, threatening to rip his soul from his body, to drain his vital energies, to shatter his very essence!

“Will you cower and die, or will you stand with me and break free?” Wang Lin’s voice echoed like a chilling wind, reaching the ears of the three below. Yun Hunzi gritted his teeth and surged upwards, standing to Wang Lin’s left. With a flick of his sleeve, countless wailing specters swirled around him, twisting his features into a grotesque mask.

The crone in green, pale but resolute, followed without hesitation, taking her place on Wang Lin’s right. She weaved arcane gestures, and a mist of blood and death shrouded her form, pulsating with countless forbidden sigils.

Chen Tianjun was the last to rise. With a guttural cry, the primal essence of beasts poured forth, coalescing into a dozen roaring spirits around him. Among them were the spectral forms of two Twelfth Order beasts, their power diminished but still terrifying!

Wang Lin paid them no heed. The star of nascent law, nestled within his brow, pulsed with celestial light. His right hand, now open, summoned the trident of storms. He gripped it tightly.

“One palm, you say? Let us see its might!” With a defiant laugh, Wang Lin charged towards the descending vortex. The heavens themselves seemed to be collapsing, threatening to crush all beneath.

As Wang Lin surged forward, lightning crackled around him, fueled by a burgeoning battle lust that burned within his soul. He would defy fate itself, cleaving a path through the falling sky!

Emboldened by Wang Lin’s defiance, Yun Hunzi roared, the swirling specters coalescing into a single, unified force. He withdrew a black, rune-etched spike, spitting blood upon its surface. With a surge of power, he unleashed its ancient binding and, with a primal scream, followed Wang Lin towards the celestial vortex!

Yun Hunzi’s blood boiled, for this was a gamble for life itself. To break through, or to be extinguished forever!

The crone in green, deathly pale but with unwavering eyes, split the deathly mists around her, revealing the entwined essences of life and death. A serpentine dragon of mist, pulsating with forbidden energies, carried her after Wang Lin.

Chen Tianjun followed last, a chorus of bestial roars erupting as the horde of spectral beasts merged, clawing their way toward survival.

Four streaks of light, with Wang Lin at the vanguard, hurtled toward the celestial vortex, drawing closer and closer!
In a heartbeat, they clashed. Wang Lin, heart ablaze with battle lust, swept his trident in a wide arc. The weapon met the collapsing vortex in a cataclysmic display of power, raw magical energy coursing through his veins, the ancient might of the Gods surging to the fore. He charged like a shooting star, shattering the veil of reality itself!

A breach, a desperate tear, appeared within the vortex.

But the vortex’s fury was immense. Chen Tianjun was the first to falter under its crushing weight. The spectral beast clinging to his soul imploded. A pained shriek echoed as his flesh crumbled, dissolving into the vortex’s maw. His spirit, writhing and desperate, clawed for escape, but the vortex held too tight, threatening to drag him into oblivion.

“You promised to lead me out! You swore!” Chen Tianjun’s ethereal cry pierced the chaotic din.

In that instant, Wang Lin wheeled around. His hand, a blur of motion, seized Chen Tianjun’s spirit, wresting it from the vortex’s grasp.

With a thunderous crack, Chen Tianjun’s essence split, a fraction devoured by the vortex, the remainder clutched in Wang Lin’s hand. He staggered, then lunged toward the opening.

Yun Bizi, plunging into the vortex, endured a brutal assault. A symphony of cracks and snaps echoed as blood sprayed from his wounds. The spectral guardians he summoned were annihilated. Even his enchanted artifact, no mere trinket, shattered. Yet, in its final, desperate act of destruction, it propelled him into the rent Wang Lin had torn in reality.

The aging woman, face a mask of grim determination, hurtled towards the shrinking breach. The relentless suction shattered her life-preserving wards, and she spat crimson upon the churning void. As the vortex sealed, she desperately wove a desperate incantation, a touch of her fingers to her brow. With a shudder, two figures emerged from either side of her.

One, an old miser. The other, a woman in the autumn of her years.

Without hesitation, both figures embraced oblivion, detonating in twin explosions of pure energy. The sacrifice bought the old woman a sliver of respite. She surged forward, escaping into the breach just as it vanished.

But this was not the end. It was merely the beginning.

The vortex careened past the survivors, slamming into the earth below. With a deafening rumble, the land quaked and writhed, contorting in a manner most unnatural. Five colossal peaks erupted from the ground, piercing the sky with impossible speed!

From Wang Lin’s vantage point, the truth became horrifyingly clear.

“This… this is…” Blood streamed from Yun Hunzi’s lips, but the joy of survival was extinguished by the unfolding nightmare. He stared, transfixed, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror.

The old woman beside him, battered and weakened, mirrored his horror.

The earth itself, in this fractured moment, had become a gargantuan hand! The five mountainous peaks were but its fingers. The network of chasms that had plagued the landscape were nothing more than the lines etched into its palm.

This hand, of unimaginable scale, emanated a pressure that dwarfed even the vortex. It pulsed from the hand formed from the very fabric of the Seven-Colored Realm.

This was the meaning of “a single palm’s power.” A palm crafted from the Seven-Colored Realm, fingers forged of mountains, the landscape itself a web of fate. This was the power promised by the ancient, weary voice.

And Wang Lin, Yun Hunzi, and the old woman found themselves trapped within its grasp!

The aged voice echoed in Wang Lin’s mind, its meaning now starkly clear:

“Escape the palm, and live!”

In that instant, the hand woven from the Seven-Colored Realm began to close. A crushing aura descended. As the mountainous fingers curled inward, they threatened to crush the trapped mortals like insects.

Wang Lin’s face hardened, but fear was absent. Instead, a deep, primal war lust ignited within him, his blood singing a song of battle. Upon his brow, the six nascent stars of the Ancient God spun in a dizzying dance. At their core, a single, nascent star, born of comprehension, flickered. He resembled a seven-starred God of old!

“Let us fight!” Wang Lin roared. He gripped his trident, sweeping it in a protective arc. Like a celestial warrior, he plummeted towards the earth below!