A single, decisive Binding Spell, a trump card to be deployed with utmost cunning. To reveal its arcane weave beforehand was to invite resistance, thus its casting must be swift, absolute, a strike of pure, unexpected lethality. For over a millennium, Steel-King Lin had honed this art, the Unforeseen Bind, its every application bringing him miraculous advantage. Now, in this desperate hour, with the Spirit-Agile Sage already teetering on the precipice of oblivion, its power surged forth. The Sage’s ravaged form shuddered violently, and the crimson mists surrounding him roared, engulfing the last sliver of his sanctuary, swallowing him whole into their swirling depths.

To attain maximum victory at minimal cost – this had always been Lin’s guiding principle on the field of battle. Had he not seized the jade slip earlier, preventing the Sage’s injuries from reaching such a critical state, the old mage might well have found a path to escape.

The Binding Spell operated under this very principle. Therefore, Lin would stake everything, first driving his opponent to the brink of utter collapse, then, in the most pivotal moment, snatching away his power, unleash the Binding Spell to deal a crippling blow. This battle would be swift, decisive. With hands weaving through arcane gestures, Lin unleashed a torrent of seals upon the crimson mists. Within, a cacophony erupted – roars of fury intertwined with weakening bellows – until, after what seemed an eternity, a fragile silence settled.

“I fear not your mere bindings, but the trapped spiritual energy within, now sealed so tightly! Let it contend with the mortally wounded Sage; such a conflict serves my interests best!” Lin’s eyes glimmered, for this was precisely as he had foreseen. Had the Sage been unharmed, that untamed energy might have proven a match, leading to unwanted attrition.

But as it stood, everything unfolded according to Lin’s careful calculation.

His right eye flashed with the power of lightning, summoning the Thunder Sigil, which hovered above the thousand-foot expanse of mist. Thunder crashed as bolts of lightning rained down, weaving together into a cage of pure, crackling energy.

From his left eye blazed forth a fiery inferno, encircling the mist in a sea of consuming flame. The fire and lightning merged, forming an unbreakable barricade.

With this done, Lin touched his brow with his right hand. Immediately, the ancient god starpoint upon his forehead began to spin, and the Heavenly Furnace materialized with a thunderous roar, engulfing the thousand-foot mist within its vast shadow.

Lin’s hands moved once more, crafting an arcane seal. The Heavenly Furnace began its work, the process of purification. Gazing at the swirling mist, Lin’s eyes gleamed. The Heavenly Furnace was a relic of the ancient god-kings, known not only for its impenetrable defenses but, more importantly, for its power of “Refinement.” This furnace did not refine elixirs or treasures; it refined thralls for the ancient gods! Having completed this step, Lin turned his gaze from the mist and strode towards the twin, sealed Ancient Breath Leaves. With a wave of his hand, the leaves flew into his grasp.

“I did not expect the Spirit-Agile Sage to possess an Ancient Breath Leaf… I wonder where he obtained such a treasure.” Separating the two leaves, he focused his mind on the one that had belonged to the Sage. His consciousness flooded forth, infused with ancient god power, shattering the Sage’s lingering essence. This artifact, after all, belonged to the ancient ones, impossible for outsiders to truly master.

Imbuing the leaf with his own ancient god aura, Lin carefully stored both leaves. These treasures held immense value for him, rivaling even the Binding Spell in certain situations. His gaze swept across the expanse, landing on the two-thousand-foot, crimson-tinged Burial Platform suspended in the air. With a flicker of movement, he stepped onto the platform.

“The Sage spoke of a Second-Tier Burial Platform; this must be it… but what purpose does it serve?” Lin frowned, crouching down to examine it closely.

After a moment, Lin’s eyes sharpened, catching sight of a curious detail.

Upon the platform’s surface, hidden beneath the crimson, blood-like hue, were countless inscriptions. As soon as Lin laid eyes on them, he understood their significance. They were the very numerical sigils that had adorned the foreheads of all who entered this place! Lin remembered vividly how, during the platform’s battle, the sigils of fallen combatants remained even as their bodies crumbled to dust, becoming floating runes.

He had seen this, but hadn’t immediately discerned its hidden meaning. Now, upon seeing this platform, the truth revealed itself.

“Those numerical sigils, when absorbed into the platform, allow it to advance in tier…” Lin murmured, his eyes scanning the surface. The platform bore five hundred and eighty-nine such runes.

Within this sealed domain, over a dozen had already perished. These individuals, despite their deaths, had left behind the faintest of sigils in the air.

Even the raging crimson storms had failed to obliterate these marks. Furthermore, the Sage and the scholarly middle-aged mage had been too preoccupied with the treasures themselves to bother collecting them.

Lin’s eyes flashed with cunning. He raised his right hand, sweeping it across the air, and the dozen or so floating runes immediately rushed towards him. After careful examination, Lin directed them towards the platform.

One by one, the runes landed on the platform, fusing with its substance. But as the eleventh rune merged, the platform shuddered violently, rumbling with unseen energy.

The surrounding air crackled as countless particles of dust rushed from every corner, embedding themselves within the platform. Under Lin’s watchful gaze, the platform expanded outwards, becoming larger with each passing moment. Simultaneously, even more particles seemed to tear through the veil of reality, pouring into this sealed domain and merging into the platform’s structure.

Gradually, the platform grew, reaching two thousand three hundred feet, then two thousand five hundred, then two thousand eight hundred… finally, halting its expansion at three thousand feet. The vibrations ceased, and the platform’s color shifted from crimson to a deep, regal purple. Floating in mid-air, it resembled a small continent, an awe-inspiring sight. Lin’s expression changed as he stared intently at the platform. His astonishment came not from the platform’s sudden growth, but from what occurred the instant it reached three thousand feet: an ethereal sensation, akin to a divine presence, emanated from the stone, flowing up through Lin’s feet and into his very being. It flooded him with a deluge of images, merging with his memories so swiftly that he had no time to react.

Closing his eyes, Lin was presented with a map-like construct. The map was vast, but most of its expanse was shrouded in impenetrable black mist. Only three areas were free of the darkness, forming a composite area that encompassed roughly thirty percent of the entire map.

Studying it intently, Lin pinpointed his current location on the map: the Fire-Path Enclosure. On the three joined territories, there were three enclosures. Moreover, he discerned a faint path, one that led deeper into the heart of the ancient burial grounds.

His heart raced. He spent a long time internalizing it, before opening his eyes, at which point he faltered, as the sealed lands were now riddled with millions of tiny cracks, opening and closing at random in a rather eerie fashion.

With a single determined step, Lin left the burial platform. In that instant, those cracks, which had been so visible before, had vanished, erased by a magic neither he nor the others could see.

Upon returning to the Burial Platform, he could see them again.

“This platform is strange…” Lin mused. Though he could find no specific cause, he had a clear understanding that this platform would be the key to unravelling the secrets to this tomb. “Right now it’s third-tier…if it could get higher, it wouldn’t just unfurl the full map. It would also activate other dormant functions.” After thinking for a while, Lin’s eyes fell to the Heavenly Furnace below.

Inside the Furnace, thunder and fire mixed as the aura of the Ancient Gods was spread. The mist was being refined, shrinking from 1000 feet to slightly more than 800 feet. It was still in the process of shrinking.

Smiling, Lin stepped, sat cross-legged in front of the Heavenly Furnace, used his hands to weave spells, and launched seals into the fog.

Besides the Ancient Soul Seal, Lin was versed in every other seal, changing the type often. The seals he created would quickly weaken before finally breaking. After 30 minutes, all that was left was a fog of 100 feet, revealing the thousand-foot platform that was carried by the ancient god. Lin swiped with his right hand, sending the three jade tablets he had seized from the middle-aged scholar through the Heavenly Furnace to be engraved into the hundred-foot fog. In that moment, the mist froze, stopping its writhing.

Lin’s eyes flickered before standing up and placing his hands on the Heavenly Furnace. The strength of the Ancient Gods flooded out as the Heavenly Furnace began to create mournful wails. Souls became a pair of hands that tore apart the hundred-foot fog, finally revealing what was inside. Before Lin could take a proper look, he heard a deafening roar as the Fourth-Grade Fire-Path Spirit charged out. As if sensing Lin, it shot out of the Heavenly Furnace towards him.

With a loud crash, Lin coldly watched as the Qilin-like Spirit collided with the Heavenly Furnace and ricocheted. It was covered in wounds, its essence and spirit broken. It had clearly struggled with the Spirit-Agile Sage inside of the fog.

But, its eyes were still full of malice. As it recoiled, it began to growl.

Behind it was a corpse, and its flesh was so ravaged it was unrecognizable. It was the Spirit-Agile Sage! The Heavenly Furnace was Lin’s personal item, and the Spirit-Agile Sage was trapped within, unable to escape. Lin could tell in one glance that the man wasn’t actually dead. His primordial spirit was trapped inside, healing as quickly as he could.

Raising his right hand, he pointed at the Heavenly Furnace and swirled the spirit inside as the Dao-Spirit was lost, leaving only the Spirit-Agile Sage’s body.

“No use in playing dead. I never planned to kill you. I’d rather have a Third-Level Ancient Slave than a dead sage!” Lin said coldly. The six-pointed star on his brow spun as the power of the Ancient Gods flooded into the Heavenly Furnace, beginning the gruesome task of enslavement.