With a guttural roar that echoed through the heavens, Wang Lin unleashed the force of a single strike. The Hewn Axe, ripped from his very grasp, swelled in size, ballooning to engulf a thousand suns, dominating the star-strewn expanse. As it descended, a colossal fissure tore through reality itself!

This chasm, born of thunder, ripped open the Barrier Array, a gaping wound in its defenses. Two mighty paragons of the Third Step, their faces etched with terror, abandoned their futile resistance, scattering to either side in desperate flight.

Yet, their speed proved insufficient against the onslaught of the monstrous axe. In the fleeting moments before they could escape its wrath, the Hewn Axe descended, a torrent of crimson erupting as the weapon sheared through the void beside them. Each lost an arm, severed from their bodies in a single, brutal stroke.

Pale as corpses, the two titans reeled, their arrogance shattered. Fear gripped their hearts, and they retreated, fleeing towards the heavens from whence they came.

Though they escaped with their lives, grievously wounded, the third wave of invading warriors possessed no such grace. Caught in the Hewn Axe’s inexorable path, they met their doom in droves.

No screams pierced the void, only the sound of annihilation. Through the ranks of ten thousand warriors, a vast, gaping wound appeared, stretching a thousand fathoms.

This desolate space, a canvas of nothingness painted with the stench of blood, marked the axe’s passage. It had cleaved through the army and onward, venturing a million fathoms into the primordial starscape before finally fading from existence.

Silence descended, a heavy shroud upon the battlefield. The third wave of invaders stared in stunned silence at the rent in their formation, their courage failing.

Within the realm, those who had placed their hopes in the invasion watched in utter despair.

“Those who trespass upon my domain…shall meet their end!” Wang Lin roared, his fist clenched, his gaze like ice upon the ancient stars beyond the fractured barrier.

Then, a mournful cry, like the blast of a horn from the ancient past, echoed from the depths of the primordial stars, weaving its way through the broken barrier and into the realm.

At this sound, the third wave of invaders stirred from their stupor, their faces a mask of conflicting emotions as they gazed upon Wang Lin, standing defiant in the breach. They burned his image into their memories, an imprint they would carry to their graves.

Then, with a unified resolve, they retreated, abandoning their assault on the Barrier Array, fleeing back to the primordial stars from which they had emerged.

The desolate horn call reverberated within the realm, a lament that spurred the retreating warriors of the primordial stars to greater haste. They fled toward the breach, carrying with them the bitter lessons learned from the defenders, and the indelible shadow of Wang Lin’s wrath.

But Wang Lin, standing guard within the breach, had unintentionally severed their only path of retreat.

“You have slaughtered tens of thousands in my Yunhai! You dare think you can invade at your leisure, and then simply turn and leave?” Wang Lin’s eyes flashed, and he barred their path.

The warriors of Luo Tian, the sorceresses of Zhao He, the remnants of Yunhai, the venomous seas, and the swarms of mosquito beasts converged from all sides, falling upon the retreating invaders.

Amidst the chaos of battle, the invaders fell in droves, consumed by despair. They surged forward in a desperate frenzy, throwing themselves against the barrier, yearning to escape this hell and return to their primordial home.

Tens of thousands charged, pursued relentlessly by the defenders, all converging on the point where Wang Lin stood.

Ethereal flames erupted, engulfing all within a thousand fathoms of Wang Lin. No one could endure his burning aura and approach him within five hundred fathoms.

He stood as an unyielding gate, impassable and unyielding.

The Cryoclad Child and the Immortal Consort, alongside the remaining invaders of power, fought desperately but were held back by the Red Cedar Immortal and others, unable to intervene.

This battle, of a scale of horror that Wang Lin had never witnessed, reaped a harvest of countless lives. Even his own heart, hardened by a life of slaughter, was touched by the sheer devastation.

In silence, he raised his hand and with a sweep, conjured forth the ancient leaf, now multiplied into a dozen shimmering barriers that slammed shut before the advancing tide of invaders. These formed an impenetrable wall, trapping them within a cage of their own making.

The warriors of Luo Tian, the witches of Zhao He, the scattered remnants of Yunhai – all were consumed by bloodlust. They paid for every victory with their own flesh and blood, saved from complete annihilation only by the presence of the venomous seas and the swarms of mosquito beasts.

“I vow that every one of you who set foot in this realm…shall die! Not one shall be spared!” Wang Lin declared, his words laced with grim determination. After the ancient leaf, his hand rose again, weaving a web of countless Restrictions. Those trapped within the barrier, facing death on all sides, were consumed by despair. Had they known the price of this day, they would never have dared to trespass upon the realm!

But even as Wang Lin’s hand moved to complete the Restrictions, a sigh, ancient and sorrowful, drifted from the depths of the primordial stars. In its wake, a sudden, all-encompassing azure light washed over the Barrier Array.

From within that light, a figure slowly emerged.

Wang Lin knew that sigh. He felt his heart plummet. As the breach in the barrier rapidly sealed, he saw, outside the array and beyond the ancient stars, the middle-aged man stepping from the blue light.

“Let them return,” the man said, his gaze fixed on Wang Lin.

“Blue Dream Dao Sovereign!” Nan Yunzi, the master craftsman who mended the Barrier Array, felt his pupils constrict in terror. The Blue Dream Dao Sovereign’s power was said to be at the very peak of the Void Profound realm. Nan Yunzi was no match for him.

Those at the pinnacle of the Void Profound realm were beings of unimaginable power. Among the five Sovereigns of the primordial stars, even the Nine Heavens Demon Sovereign and the Echoing Sound Dao Sovereign could not compare. They lacked the final step, a gap like an unbridgeable chasm.

No one could sway the Grand Empyrean from his plans, neither Echoing Sound nor Nine Heavens. But Blue Dream…he could.
A grimness shadowed the eyes of Crimson Cedar, who clashed with the Iceclad Child, for the name of Azure Dream Dao Lord echoed with immense power.

Wang Lin’s right hand paused, his gaze lingering on the middle-aged warrior. The din of battle still reverberated in his ears. After what seemed an eternity, he shook his head.

“I do not wish to fight you,” Wang Lin declared, his voice resonating with an ancient authority. “Considering the favor I once bestowed upon you, bid them return. Let this first battle be counted as a loss for the Ancient Starry Sky. Do not force my hand.” The middle-aged warrior remained stoic, his voice a low rumble, yet laced with an undeniable decree.

The clamor of conflict began to subside, save for the ongoing struggle against Crimson Cedar and his cohort’s arcane arts. The gazes of nearly all the warriors were now fixed upon Wang Lin, awaiting his decision.

Through this very battle, Wang Lin had solidified his title as Venerated, igniting respect within the hearts of the Boundary’s warriors. Though his cultivation might not rival the likes of Crimson Cedar, in their eyes, he deserved the title of Venerated, the Venerated of the Boundary.

Wang Lin fell silent, studying the middle-aged man. Moments later, he bowed deeply before raising his head, his eyes gleaming with resolve. He lifted his right hand, and the million prohibitions materialized with a resounding boom. In that instant, these million seals coalesced within the Boundary’s starry sky, forming the ribs of an immense umbrella.

As the umbrella’s frame took shape, the canopy unfurled, revealing the nascent form of the Devouring World Ancient Umbrella.

Azure Dream Dao Lord regarded Wang Lin with a profound look, then shook his head, sighing softly.

“Firstly, I aided you, a newcomer to the Ancient Starry Sky, by bestowing upon you divine arts, shielding you from the Immortal Concubine’s prying eyes.”

“Secondly, I retrieved the Moon from the Well for the Hand Sovereign.”

“Today marks the third time.”

“But remember this, Wang Lin, there will be no fourth. The fourth time, I shall intervene myself…” Azure Dream Dao Lord turned away, ceasing to acknowledge the unfolding events. With a flash of azure light, she faded into the void.

In that very instant of her departure, the Burning Heaven Ancient Umbrella fully manifested. Even before it opened, a world-ending inferno erupted, engulfing the starry sky in flames that seemed eternally unquenchable.

As he watched Azure Dream Dao Lord disappear, a spectral image of a sorrowful woman flickered before Wang Lin’s eyes. The woman smiled and shook her head, and words whispered centuries ago echoed within his mind.

“To forget each other in the rivers and lakes…” The ebb of life force within him gradually dispersed the woman’s apparition, as if her form, along with the words of Azure Dream Dao Lord and his own fading vitality, were all flowing into the unfolding Burning Heaven Ancient Umbrella, fueling its opening.

With a deafening roar, the Devouring World Ancient Umbrella began to unfurl within the starry sky, opening only a tenth…

A surge of world-annihilating fire roared forth, drenching the stars, transforming them into a raging sea of flames. Within that fiery ocean, countless warriors writhed, their faces contorted in agony, their desperate gazes piercing Wang Lin’s very soul.

This first battle of the invasion from beyond the Boundary, purchased at a horrific cost by both sides, seemed to near its end with the release of the Burning Heaven Ancient Umbrella. But then, a killing intent, so intense it shook Wang Lin to his core, erupted from the depths of the Tai Zhong Star, locking onto the space between his eyebrows.

Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed as he turned towards the barely healed breach in the seal, no wider than a hundred feet!

He beheld a figure, a man clad in white, holding a bow in his hand. The bow was drawn, the arrow aimed directly at Wang Lin!

“First Disciple of the Hand Sovereign, Thumb, Feng Xu!”

Wang Lin recognized the bow.