Wang Lin, empowered by the nascent Soul Ascendant of Gu Nu-hu, could not sustain its presence for long. The Ascendant possessed but a single, devastating strike. Thus, Wang Lin, a master of calculation, unleashed it at the most crucial moment!

Even so, Revered Miao Yin, one of the Five Ancient Sovereigns, proved a formidable foe, even in the diminished state of a suppressed avatar. Had the Sovereign not underestimated Wang Lin, suffering the initial sting of the blood sword and the subsequent, perilous assault of the Grand Wilderness Ascendant, culminating in a grievous wound from the Ascendant’s most potent spell, Wang Lin could never have hoped to inflict damage.

Crucially, Miao Yin’s knowledge of Wang Lin halted at the Emperor Star. The Sovereign could never have fathomed that Wang Lin had subdued a Soul Ascendant, one foot already treading the path to the Third Step of Immortality!

This proved the fatal flaw!

Yet, even with this advantage, after unleashing its power in a single, thunderous palm strike, the Soul Ascendant was thrown back by the backlash, spewing blood as its effigy shattered into dust.

Wang Lin, too, tasted blood, his ears ringing from the sharp, piercing sound hurled forth by the Sovereign, a sonic assault that tore at his very soul. He stumbled backward, a crimson testament to the power unleashed.

But barely a few steps retreated, Wang Lin forced himself to halt, his eyes blazing with cold resolve. He charged forward, ignoring the reeling Sovereign, and with a mighty sweep of his hand, the Emperor’s Furnace expanded, ballooning to tens of thousands of feet in size, engulfing the inky, poisoned sea!

This sea, tainted with virulent toxins, reeked of corruption. The countless spirits of incense within, now suffused with poison, became venomous spectres, unable to offer even a flicker of incense power.

Yet, this very toxic sea was an invaluable treasure to Wang Lin. He must claim it before the Grand Wilderness Ascendant could intervene, refining it within the Emperor’s Furnace. If he could distill the vast ocean into a single droplet, the resulting power would shake even a Third Step Immortal!

As for the Grand Wilderness Ascendant, though his words were smooth as silk, Wang Lin harbored no illusions. Any alliance was purely a matter of expedience, mutually beneficial.

Having cultivated for countless ages, the ancient monster’s mind was a labyrinth. He could break his oath to Miao Yin as easily as he could break any agreement with Wang Lin. This, Wang Lin understood perfectly.

Therefore, he had subtly manipulated the Soul Ascendant’s strike, ensuring that Miao Yin was cast back a greater distance, and, more importantly, that the three needles piercing the Sovereign’s brow were not driven home completely, leaving a sliver of life, enough to buy him time!

As expected, the Grand Wilderness Ascendant’s fragmented soul darted forth, directly towards the fallen Miao Yin, instantly transforming into a cloud of dark vapor and invading the Sovereign’s seven orifices, commencing a brutal attempt at body seizure!

Had Wang Lin driven the three needles fully, Miao Yin would have been too weakened to resist. But now, the situation was different. Within the Sovereign’s body, the two waged a desperate war of consciousness.

This internal struggle afforded Wang Lin the precious time he needed to claim the tainted sea. Without hesitation, he executed a series of hand seals, uttering a low, guttural roar, and drew the entire poisoned ocean into the Emperor’s Furnace!

Within the Emperor’s Furnace lay countless realms, though Wang Lin’s current cultivation allowed him to access only two. With a flick of his wrist, one realm absorbed the toxic sea, the other collected the released Soul Ascendant of Gu Nu-hu.

Meanwhile, as Revered Miao Yin fought the Grand Wilderness Ascendant’s soul for control of his own body, the massive rift torn into the Incense Sea World within the ancient tomb’s fog, began to rapidly shrink under the strain of their internal battle, collapsing from tens of thousands of feet, as if to disappear entirely.

Wang Lin could not allow the Incense Sea World to vanish! His alliance with the old poison Grand Wilderness Ascendant was for the sake of the Sovereign’s Incense Tip!

The incense itself was useless to him, but the Soul Ascendant of Gu Nu-hu stood with one foot already in the Third Step, lacking only the power of incense! With sufficient incense, the Soul Ascendant would step fully across the threshold, becoming a true Third Step Immortal!

Madness blazed in Wang Lin’s eyes. He surged forward, directly towards the shrinking Incense Sea World. Within, untouched by the poison, lay the pristine purple seas, teeming with countless Incense People!

These were the fruits of Revered Miao Yin’s tens of thousands of years of gathering and plundering, the very foundation of his power as one of the Five Ancient Sovereigns!

The surrounding fog, scattered by the earth-shattering battle, had been pushed back a great distance, the faint echoes of a storm resounding through the air. The sealed ground had long since crumbled, its occupants reduced to dust.

The fog sea below, too, had been forced downwards by the impact, revealing vast stretches of emptiness. But then, a sudden, terrifying change erupted!

Within the fog sea, the mists turned violent, erupting like a geyser in a sudden, deafening explosion from below.

More astonishing still, from the depths of the fog sea, a colossal arm, tens of thousands of feet in thickness, erupted!

The moment this arm appeared, an aura of unimaginable power filled the entire fog sea. The arm, moving with impossible speed, reached out, its hand opening, reaching down towards Wang Lin and the body of Miao Yin, currently locked in a deadly contest!

This was the second time Wang Lin had beheld this monstrous limb. His face paled, a force he could not hope to resist slamming into him, threatening to tear him apart!

With lightning speed, the arm slammed into Revered Miao Yin’s body. The Sovereign coughed blood as the Grand Wilderness Ascendant seized the opportunity to forcefully suppress his soul. But that momentary pause allowed the Sovereign’s body to be captured in the palm, unable to escape!

Instantly, the colossal hand hurtled towards Wang Lin, its five fingers, like pillars supporting the heavens, collapsing inwards, preparing to crush him.

An overwhelming force slammed into Wang Lin, sending him spiraling backwards, another gout of crimson painting the air. He could not escape the reach of the hand. But he refused to accept defeat! He refused to be captured, not when the Incense Sea World lay a mere hundred feet away!

The rift had shrunk to a mere thousand feet across, on the verge of disappearing completely. If it vanished, the victory hard-won through Wang Lin’s alliance with the Grand Wilderness Ascendant, the crippling of Miao Yin, would all be for naught!

The Ancient God’s protection on his right arm, the Blessing of Antiquity, had been used recently and could not be activated again. Moreover, each use damaged the arm, threatening to shatter it completely.

Seeing the gigantic hand hurtling towards him, Wang Lin had no time to think. In this direst of moments, he roared to the heavens, determination blazing in his eyes. He gritted his teeth and his body erupted in size, growing to hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye, unleashing his Ancient God True Form!

His sudden increase in size granted him the advantage. Within the closing grip of the gigantic hand, Wang Lin suddenly towered two hundred feet higher, obliterating the hundred-foot distance that separated him from the rapidly shrinking rift!

“Seal!” With a deafening roar, Wang Lin, now in his Ancient God form, swung his right hand, two Ancient Breath Leaves hurtling towards the rift, one slamming down on each side, momentarily halting its collapse.

In that frozen moment, Wang Lin’s Ancient God hand, like a shooting star, plunged into the rift, and with a mighty grasp, seized countless Incense Souls!

At the same moment, the arm that had erupted from the fog sea slammed into Wang Lin’s chest, below his neck, and a searing pain tore through him. The force contained within the arm surged into his body, threatening to explode his flesh!

Even as it grasped him, the arm yanked downwards, attempting to drag Wang Lin and the Grand Wilderness Ascendant, now successful in his body seizure, down into the fog sea!

The force of the pull was immense. Wang Lin had nothing to hold onto in the air. His right arm, clutching the Incense Souls, was being dragged out of the rift. His body was being torn downwards. In that desperate moment, Wang Lin roared, his right arm, as it was being pulled from the rift, grasped the edge of the Ancient Breath Leaf seal on his right. Unleashing the full power of his Ancient God bloodline, he desperately lunged with his left hand and seized the edge of the rift on his left!

The sight was terrifying! From afar, it was a scene of utter destruction. An Ancient God, hundreds of feet tall, clutching the edges of a rift that looked like a shattered shard of glass, held on with all his might!

Below his chest, a gigantic hand gripped him tightly, pulling him relentlessly downwards.

With each pull, agonizing pain coursed through him, Wang Lin felt as if his body was being torn asunder. With a terrible ripping sound, the hundred-foot rift stretched downward, tearing further into reality!

Within the widening fissure lay the endless purple sea and countless Incense Souls. Without hesitation, madness burning in his eyes, Wang Lin opened his maw and inhaled with all his might!

He could not afford to be cautious. He had to seize as much incense as possible. With that single breath, the Incense Souls within the rift stirred, surging towards Wang Lin.

His body, like a bottomless abyss, devoured the rushing spirits of incense.

With that single inhalation, he had claimed a tenth of all the incense within the rift! But even as he did, his body was dragged thousands of feet downward by the force of the arm.

Yet, his hands remained locked on the edge of the rift, preventing its dissipation, stretching it into two vertical fissures, thousands of feet in length!

“Emperor’s Furnace!” As the opening widened, Wang Lin roared, and the Emperor’s Furnace plunged deep within, its mouth opening wide, unleashing another realm within. The Furnace began to devour everything it could reach.

Tons of purple seawater flooded into the Emperor’s Furnace, along with countless Incense Souls, swallowing everything! In an instant, it had consumed another two tenths of Revered Miao Yin’s Incense World!

Filled to its capacity, the Emperor’s Furnace could absorb no more!

All of this had happened in an instant. Enduring the excruciating pain, Wang Lin released his grip, and the Emperor’s Furnace turned into a spectral light that shot directly towards his brow. Even the two Ancient Breath Leaves were reclaimed as Wang Lin let go.

His body, completely consumed by the gigantic hand, vanished swiftly downwards into the fog sea, and the rolling fog sea rushed in from all sides, filling the vortex created by the arm’s passage.

Soon, everything was shrouded in mist, revealing no signs of the battle that had just transpired, slowly returning to its quiet and uneventful state.

Several hours later, a group of twenty or so cultivators, speeding past on a platform below, swept through the area, oblivious to the events that had just transpired.

“Strange, according to the map, there should be a sealed ground here…”

“We’ve been searching for a long time and haven’t found it… Could the map be wrong…”

The group quickly disappeared into the distance.