Wang Lin’s countenance was grave, frozen in place for an age. The shock of what he had witnessed lingered in his eyes, a vision so unbelievable he questioned its very reality. “The Heavenly Dao is dead… the Heavenly Dao is dead…” For two thousand years, Wang Lin had heard these words whispered, relentlessly seeking the truth of the Dao, yet finding only a maddening chaos, a web of tangled threads leading nowhere. Perhaps, he mused, the only truth was that the Dao was indeed deceased. His face paled, his gaze, heavy with complexity, pierced through the Emperor Furnace, landing upon the Dao-Spirit beyond the illusory gate.

The Dao-Spirit, in the throes of a frantic recovery, seemed to sense Wang Lin’s scrutiny. It raised its head, emitting guttural roars, its eyes blazing with a savage, frenzied light.

Wang Lin remained silent, the vision he’d witnessed under the Flowing Moon playing out before his eyes. He knew, of course, that the Flowing Moon’s power could not fully unravel the Dao-Spirit’s long existence. His initial intention was merely to nudge it, to unearth some clue, some truth about its being.

But as the Flowing Moon washed over the Dao-Spirit, a strange transformation occurred. Perhaps it was the nature of the ancient tomb, or the simplicity of the Dao-Spirit’s existence, cleaved into two distinct epochs, that triggered this anomaly. The reversed flow of time upon the Dao-Spirit surged with overwhelming force, exceeding Wang Lin’s limits in an instant.

Despite the shock, Wang Lin remained calm, allowing the Flowing Moon to ravage the Dao-Spirit, reversing its existence with unrestrained power.

Finally, after an immeasurable passage of time, Wang Lin witnessed the first epoch! The Dao-Spirit shone with an unbearable radiance, blinding to behold, making it impossible to discern its true form.

Within this radiant shroud, the Dao-Spirit’s form seemed to dissipate, vanishing from sight. While the light obscured all, Wang Lin’s honed senses pierced through, revealing the truth within. It was this sight that caused his initial shock. A golden pill, the size of a skull, spun rapidly within the light, emanating the blinding aura. This was no Dao-Spirit, but a celestial elixir! The Dao-Spirit was, in truth, an awakened pill! This revelation alone would have startled Wang Lin, but it was the second vision that sent him reeling, causing him to rise to his feet in utter disbelief. Time flowed backward, like a raging river, and the pill shattered into a chaotic distortion. Moments later, the chaos collapsed, revealing a starfield from an era beyond reckoning. This was not the Outer Realm, nor the Inner, but a realm adrift in the currents of time, exuding an ancient, timeless quality. The Inner and Outer Realms seemed but youths in comparison.

Countless cultivation stars dotted this alien sky, stretching beyond the horizon. Nine of these worlds blazed with celestial fire, erupting in blinding light that illuminated the cosmos, like radiant suns. Or, perhaps, they *were* suns. In the vast expanse of time, a figure clad in robes of seven colors materialized within the starfield. On the index finger of his raised right hand, he wore a jade ring.

With a flick of his wrist, one of the nine suns shuddered with a cosmic groan, its trajectory altering as it hurtled toward the figure in rainbow robes.

Vast distances vanished in an instant, the searing heat of the star causing the entire starfield to tremble. Though the figure’s face was obscured, he again flicked his wrist, and the remaining eight suns shuddered in unison, changing course to converge upon him.

Before the figure in rainbow robes, the nine suns collided, unleashing an unfathomable cataclysm, threatening to unravel the very fabric of the starfield.

After an eternity, the colliding suns began to merge, collapsing upon themselves, growing ever smaller until nine became one. The figure exhaled a breath of seven-colored essence, which enveloped the mass, compressing it in a series of resounding pops. A skull-sized golden pill materialized, still wreathed in fierce flames, its light stretching to the edges of the cosmos. This golden pill was the very thing Wang Lin had extracted from the Dao-Spirit!

It was this revelation that drove Wang Lin to his feet in astonishment. Beyond the fact that the pill had been forged from nine suns, it was the identity of the figure in rainbow robes that truly shook him. Though his face was obscured, Wang Lin vaguely recognized him as the figure from the statue he’d acquired from Greed Wolf! The statue that bore no ring upon its index finger. Greed Wolf had found the statue in this very ancient tomb, and now, Wang Lin witnessed him again through the Dao-Spirit. While he was shocked, though stunned, it would not make him subconsciously take a few steps back in panic. It was his sudden surprise, his rising to his feet because of the shock in his mind, but what made him back a few steps had a different meaning altogether, a feeling of unthinkable fear and earth-shattering that allowed him to be taken back subconsciously, it could only mean one thing, he was frightened, it was the man in rainbow robes who raised his right hand and held the pill, and said a phrase

“Using the Dao-Pill to nourish the Heavenly Dao is no easy task… I must devise another method… to allow this Heavenly Dao I stole to grow quickly…”

Those words resonated through Wang Lin’s mind, overwhelming the Flowing Moon technique, causing it to shatter. He stumbled backward, his disbelief and horror threatening to tear his very soul asunder. Even his ancient god body seemed poised to collapse beneath the weight of such a cosmic revelation. Nourish the Heavenly Dao? *Nourish the Heavenly Dao?!* The phrase echoed endlessly, drowning out all other sound. Pale-faced, Wang Lin wrestled with the turmoil in his soul, finally exhaling a long, steadying breath.

“What *is* the Heavenly Dao…? This Dao-Spirit was meant to feed it…? And who is this figure in rainbow robes…? An ancient Immortal Emperor…?” Wang Lin’s eyes reflected a haunting bewilderment.

The more he knew, the deeper the mysteries seemed to grow, a confusing labyrinth that eluded his grasp. He stood there, his confusion deepening with each passing moment.

“The Blood of the Heavenly Dao… Tian Yunzi schemed to obtain the Blood of the Heavenly Dao from the Rain Immortal Realm… The Azure Dragon Holy Emperor claimed to have swallowed the Blood of the Heavenly Dao…”

“The Heavenly Dao has blood, and needs to be nourished with this Dao-Spirit pill… What *is* the Heavenly Dao?!” Wang Lin lifted his gaze to the heavens, lost in contemplation.

“Perhaps the Heavenly Dao is a magical artifact, a celestial pill, or even… a monstrous beast…” A troubled expression crossed his face. He recalled the Underworld Beast he had seen in Luo Tian… a colossal creature with an entire realm contained within its body. Wang Lin stood there, his face growing grim, his heart slowly calming, burying the shock and speculation deep within. Within the Emperor Furnace, the Fourth Rank Dao-Spirit had recovered much of its strength, its form radiating vitality, its roars echoing with thunderous power.

But now, the Dao-Spirit held little mystery for Wang Lin. “A mere spirit born of a pill… Even forged from nine suns, the countless millennia of imprisonment have drained your strength. You were spared from nourishing the Heavenly Dao, but you shall now serve Wang’s purpose!”

His eyes gleamed, and he licked his lips. Fully composed, he fixed his gaze upon the elixir, his hands forming a seal, and with a wave, the Emperor Furnace trembled violently, unleashing torrents of flame and a tempest of souls, disrupting the Dao-Spirit’s healing and beginning its refinement. Wang Lin took a step forward, merging with the furnace, taking personal control of the process. The roars and echoes continued to reverberate within the sealed lands as time slipped by, three days melting away. On the third day, a plume of white mist erupted from the furnace, carrying a medicinal fragrance that permeated the air, seeping into the blood-red rivers that remained upon the ground.

Wang Lin materialized from the mist, his sleeve sweeping, causing the Emperor Furnace to vanish into a wisp of dark light within his brow.

Before him floated a skull-sized pill, its golden light radiating like a miniature sun. Wang Lin felt the surge of boundless power within it, sensing that, were he to consume it, even his ancient god body would burst asunder. Holding the pill before him, he did not swallow it, but instead inhaled deeply. A stream of fiery smoke flowed from the pill, entering Wang Lin’s nostrils.

A series of cracking sounds echoed through his body, and the flames in his left eye flared, the flame power within him raging. The inhalation even caused a trace of Flame Origin to materialize, and within his right eye’s thunder diagram, a flame pattern burned, seeming to incinerate impurities, bringing the thunder diagram closer to perfection. “After Illusory Fire comes the completion of Flame Origin, Dao Fire. Once Dao Fire ignites, my Thunder and Flame Origin will be complete! However, this Dao-Pill lacks a certain vitality; it requires sacrifice… Still, its lack of vitality is a blessing, allowing me to absorb it at my leisure!”

He inhaled again, the flame power within him surging, filling him with a sense of blissful energy. He lowered his gaze to the blood-red rivers on the ground.

“These rivers are surely connected to the birth of those humanoid beasts, for they did not crumble during the previous destruction. They must be extraordinary!”

Without hesitation, Wang Lin waved his hand, opening a storage rift. Howls erupted from within as a swarm of mosquito beasts poured forth.