With the resolve of Wang Lin blazing in his heart, and a fervent desire to claim the Nether Beast as his destined companion, he slammed his palm forth. A thunderous roar echoed, and the fading seal upon the beast’s head seemed to drink in a new, vibrant life force.

In an instant, the seal pulsed with a luminous, ethereal glow. Before his very eyes, it reformed, becoming not only whole once more, but three times as potent as before!

Just as the Nether Beast’s maw gaped wide, Wang Lin’s eyes burned crimson. With a guttural bellow, he snatched at the heavens with his right hand, and the very cosmos trembled!

There, suspended in the star-strewn void he had claimed, materialized a colossal whip, tens of thousands of feet in length. Wang Lin seized it, and with a crack that split the firmament, he unleashed its fury. The whip, already immense, swelled to hundreds of thousands of feet!

From afar, it resembled a celestial serpent, almost matching the Nether Beast’s gargantuan size. As it snaked through the starry expanse, the sight was enough to shatter the mind.

Without hesitation, Wang Lin snapped the whip, the sound reverberating across existence. It hurtled towards the Nether Beast with impossible speed!

The Kun-Ji Whip!

With a deafening thud, the Kun-Ji Whip landed true upon the Nether Beast’s hide. A muffled roar of agony echoed from within, and the beast’s colossal form shuddered, showing glimpses of its soul teetering, threatening to leave the body. It resisted, clinging to its mortal coil.

Wang Lin did not relent. The Kun-Ji Whip, imbued with his burning will, struck again and again, a rapid-fire barrage of eight more blows!

Nine strikes in total. Golden light erupted from the whip, and the Nether Beast could no longer bear the torment. Its eyes, betraying its true cowardly nature, widened in terror. Its soul, a mere sliver, began to manifest!

Even in its fear, the Nether Beast knew its peril. It fought with rabid desperation, trying to reclaim its essence.

But Wang Lin would not allow it. With a mighty flick of his wrist, the Kun-Ji Whip became a blur, lashing out at the beast with blinding speed.

The nineteenth, the thirtieth, the fiftieth strike… until the ninety-ninth blow landed!

With the final, hundredth strike, the Kun-Ji Whip blazed with divine light. Its tip shattered, unleashing a supernova of golden energy that washed over the Nether Beast, obliterating its struggles. Its soul tore free, hovering in the void!

The Nether Soul was nothing more than a gaping maw, capable of devouring entire worlds. Before it could fully open, Wang Lin stepped forward, his forehead blazing with the seven ancient god stars. They ripped forth, piercing the soul!

The seven stars, with unstoppable force, plunged into the Nether Soul, guided by the single, luminous seal within.

In that instant, the soul seal blazed back to life, seven stars burning brightly once more.

The soul seal was complete. But one remained. He pressed his right hand upon the Nether Soul, sending it crashing back into the Nether Beast’s body.

Wang Lin descended with the force of his eight million-foot dominion. Before the gaping maw could open of its own accord, he sunk his hands into the sides. He ripped.

The beast’s maw was a gate; opened willingly, it would let the beyond in. By force… He tore at its flesh.

With the beast’s screams he tore the maw open, the beast’s screams poured from the gap in a torrent.

The screams buffeted Wang Lin’s body, like a tempest threatening to hurl him away.

But Wang Lin did not yield. As he tore the Nether Beast’s jaws asunder, he unleashed a tempest of enchantments. Each one sang with the power of the Ancient Dao, an onslaught that poured into the beast’s gaping maw.

They snaked their way through the beast’s insides, searing sigils into its organs, veins, bones, into every fiber of its being!

The beast was sealed.

Wang Lin retreated, stepping back a hundred feet. The ordeal had left him flushed, teetering on the edge of his endurance.

He watched, with cold eyes, the triple-sealed Nether Beast.

“Under the auspicious stars, by the blood of my Wang Clan, the Seven-Star Ancient God, and the legacy of the Ancient Dao, I claim you as my destined beast!”

“Nether, accept your fate!” Wang Lin commanded.

The Nether Beast shuddered, its flesh, soul, and external seals writhing as one. A ghostly light shimmered around it, and the struggles in its eyes slowly abated.

After a time, the Nether Beast bowed before him.

A sensation bloomed in Wang Lin’s heart, an impossible bond. It felt as though the beast was a part of him.

As the feeling took hold, a wave of ancient vitality, carrying the echoes of forgotten eons, surged from the Nether Beast and into Wang Lin’s soul.

He became the beast, drowning in its memories. At that moment, his body groaned, and his Ancient God form began to swell.

The vitality within the Nether Beast was boundless. His form swelled. One-thousand, one-thousand five hundred, two-thousand… three-thousand, six-thousand feet!

The Ancient God, a titan, stood over the starry sky.

Wang clenched his fists. His power flowed, vibrant with life.

“The Ancient God is only born upon taking a companion, and reaching for the moon… I see no moon, not yet. But it seems I am reaching it nonetheless!”

Wang Lin watched, and his form shifted once again. He returned to his human shape. His form was different now; a young look, the hair still white, but barely there. Some found it hard to see him at all.

He turned. He saw the beast before him. He could see its every memory; a life half-spent asleep, an eternity in chaos. Only one stood true, centuries past in the Seven-Colored Realm.

Wang Lin reached forth. The beast opened its maw and belched forth the spirit.

After the spirit came another, then the ancient one.

Last came the moon.

Wang Lin stood before the beast, and frowned.

“The Nether Beast remembers little… It seems in its fervor to consume the Seven-Colored Realm, it tore at the veil and swallowed something it ought not have. It… it absorbed the Dao…” He placed a hand upon the beast.

The beast shuddered, and it spat forth. A strange fruit, as orange as the sun.

The Dao Fruit.

He grew.

“Perhaps these might satiate my greed.” Wang took the fruit.

Without the fruit, the beast stared blankly at Wang.

In that moment, the beast looked like its old self, gazing blankly over the realm. Still, the beast knew better. It still saw.