As the Vermillion Bird underwent its fourth awakening, the realm quaked, its flames momentarily stilled. Then, in a heartbeat, they coalesced, streaming forth from every direction like a wildfire consuming the land, engulfing the avian entity entirely.

Most remarkably, shards of the Nine-Colored Fire Lotus converged upon the Vermillion Bird, forming a magnificent, iridescent armor that encased its body. The surrounding sea of flames, without a trace remaining, vanished into the Bird’s very being.

From afar, this was no mere Vermillion Bird, but a primordial Fire Spirit incarnate! The flames that coursed within and without had reached a fever pitch, bordering on the ethereal realm of Voidfire.

The Fire Spirit writhed, its inner fires roaring in a final transformation. This process, swift or lengthy as fate would decree, could not be disturbed. Interruption would shatter this once-in-an-age opportunity, sending the Vermillion Bird’s fourth awakening spiraling backward, forever robbing it of the chance.

This moment was paramount, a linchpin in Wang Lin’s destiny!

Yet, as if by cruel jest, an unforeseen cataclysm was brewing.

Beyond the realm, upon the Emperor Star, tens of thousands of cultivators watched with rapt attention. Few noticed the swirling chaos erupting outside the star, where magnetic rifts surged and groaned.

The Emperor Star, usually turning with imperceptible slowness, now shuddered, a cosmic convulsion that painted the heavens with dread. The assembled cultivators felt the earth tremble and the skies rend.

The Emperor Star was turning.

Its subtle rotation gained momentum, accelerating into a frenzied spin, like a compass needle gone mad.

A wave of horror washed over the onlookers. Si Mozhi stared aghast, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Beside him, Grand Astrologer Yun Luo, attempting to channel celestial energies, cried out as her right hand exploded in a shower of blood. She stumbled back, her face ashen.

“The Emperor Star’s Descent! The Ancient Calamity is upon us!” she gasped.

Her calculations, poised to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos, were shattered by an unknown force, obliterating her right hand.

In the moment of her broken calculation, a vision flashed through her mind.

A veiled figure, surrounded by a bead emblazoned with strange rings, with an object like a compass needle around it. Behind it, the corpse and blood stained surface of an ancient star.

She saw Daoist Miaoyin’s physical form crumble and her spirit die. She witnessed the third-step Grand Masters of the Ancient Starfields fall in agony.

The seal of Feng Jie was collapsing.

Then, she saw herself, struck down by the veiled figure, her body reduced to ash, her spirit extinguished. In her final, agonizing breath, the figure turned, seemingly gazing at her.

That glance became her nightmare.

Yun Luo stumbled back, her eyes filled with unspeakable terror.

Daoist Miaoyin leaped to his feet, a fan manifested from dissipating clouds in his hand. A sweep of his divine sense revealed a truth that shifted his expression into one of grave concern.

Daoist Lan Meng’s gaze sharpened as well. With a wave of her hand, a blue light enveloped her daughter, her eyes locked onto the turbulent skies.

The heavens were consumed by a swirling mist, charged with magnetic energy and laced with tearing rifts. The Emperor Star’s sudden rotation had unleashed a tidal wave of elemental chaos!

The Old Vermillion Bird looked up gravely, silent.

The immense tortoise upon the arena raised its head to emit a piercing cry to the heavens.

More and more magnetic mist filled the sky. They coalesced into a vortex, plunging downwards, straight toward the giant tortoise!

The surrounding tens of thousands of cultivators scattered in panic, fear etched on their faces.

Only the Old Vermillion Bird and a few others remained still, transfixed by the approaching vortex.

The vortex, with incredible speed, slammed into the second incense stick upon the tortoise’s back, the incense of the realm. In an instant, it was as if the incense stick had become a black hole, consuming the elemental chaos of the sky.

Old Vermillion Bird was shocked and gasped.

“This…” Si Mozhi gawked, utterly lost as to what befell the incense.

Yun Luo, deathly pale, trembled as she beheld the magnetic mist flowing into the incense, her fear deepening.

“Could it be… could that veiled figure… be him?!”

Daoist Miaoyin stared fixedly at the incense, his mind reeling. “A defiance of the heavens! A force against the will of the gods! The power of destiny!!”

Within the realm incense, Wang Lin was at a critical junction, poised to transcend to the realm of Voidfire. But then, his Heavenly Defiance Bead erupted with power.

Wang Lin’s expression changed. He felt the realm shaking, spinning with accelerating speed, though the sensation was difficult to discern from within.

Then, in an instant, the realm’s sky was overtaken by a magnetic mist, rushing toward Wang Lin with unimaginable force!
Wang Lin could not evade. The endless magnetic mist crashed upon him, surging into his form and burrowing within, infiltrating the Heaven Defying Bead! Within Wang Lin’s chest, the bead spun into existence, resembling a vortex, endlessly devouring the incoming magnetic power.

Its light pulsed rapidly, each flash drawing more of the magnetic essence within.

All unfolded in the blink of an eye. Instantly, Wang Lin felt a roaring within his being as the Heaven Defying Bead, even as it absorbed the magnetic force, unleashed a power that crashed into his very soul, igniting a series of visions within his mind!

The visions were all of a single object!

A colossal compass!

So vast was this compass that it rivaled the stars themselves. Upon it, a massive needle turned slowly, shimmering with an ethereal light that pulsed and shifted, escaping the needle’s embrace with each rotation, its destination unknown.

At the compass’ very center, a gargantuan pearl was embedded – the Heaven Defying Bead itself!

As these visions flooded Wang Lin’s soul, beyond the Great Emperor Star within the Shattered Land of the Ancient Starry Sky, a spectral scene unfolded, one that would shake the very essence of any who witnessed it!

Outside the Great Emperor Star, in the vast expanse of the cosmos, countless lights flickered, coalescing into a gargantuan circle – a compass taking form! The Great Emperor Star rested at its center, resembling the compass’ needle!

And now, the Great Emperor Star began to spin with furious speed, like a compass needle whirling in chaotic circles!

At the very center of the compass, a hazy pearl shimmered, its depths obscured, yet within, a figure could faintly be discerned: Wang Lin himself!

The Great Emperor Star, spinning like a needle in a frenzied dance, suddenly shuddered and stilled. The needle pointed southwest!

In the instant its rotation ceased, an ethereal light burst forth from the Great Emperor Star, hurtling southwestward through the cosmos!

This light, of an unknown origin, streaked away from the Shattered Land with unimaginable speed, and whatever stood in its path – be it cultivator or cultivation star – crumbled to dust upon its touch.

In a heartbeat, the light arrived at the very edge of the southwest, where the Sealed Realm Array stood! The cultivators stationed to guard the array felt only a flicker of light, a fleeting presence, before their bodies shuddered and dissolved into nothingness.

The light crashed against the Sealed Realm Array, causing it to seethe and churn. All the spiritual entities within materialized, bathed in blinding light, as the ethereal beam vanished, whether swallowed by the array or blasting through its defenses, none could say.

The spectral compass beyond the Great Emperor Star faded into oblivion, and the Great Emperor Star ceased its spinning, returning to its former state. Within the Realm, the Heaven Defying Bead in Wang Lin’s chest expelled all the magnetic mist it had consumed.

Wang Lin became like a sieve. A tidal wave of magnetic essence erupted from his form. The Vermillion Bird, in the midst of its critical transformation from tangible to ethereal flame, was caught in the torrent.

As the magnetic mist washed over it, the Vermillion Bird shuddered. Its tangible flames collapsed, becoming entirely ethereal. Yet, due to the magnetic onslaught, the ethereal flames were twisted into something never seen before!

A transformation that would leave even the Vermillion Bird Ancestor awestruck!