Within Lin, a tempest raged, two spectral wills locked in mortal combat. The first, ancient and primal, a whisper from the dawn of creation. The second, ethereal and radiant, a celestial echo of divine grace. Their collision, their desperate struggle for dominance, was the crucible where fate itself was forged, and from which both salvation and annihilation might spring forth!

The premature unleashing of the Ancient God’s Second Grief shattered the mortal shell of his celestial form. Cracks spiderwebbed across his flesh, heralding its imminent collapse. This destructive force, fueled by the nascent fury of the Second Grief, collided head-on with the remnants of the ancient power. In a chaotic dance, they devoured each other, seeking utter annihilation. And in this maelstrom, Wang Lin’s spirit, his very essence, teetered on the precipice of oblivion!

A cataclysm shook the very heavens!

The essence of Wang Lin, his every aspect, dissolved in that fleeting moment. His Ancient God flesh, bloodied and torn, mingled with the earth of the mortal star. The ground quaked, waves of unseen energy rippled outward, shattering mountains and valleys, leaving behind a continent smoothed to a mirror sheen!

His collapsing celestial form, carrying the fragments of his shattered spirit, ascended skyward. With a deafening roar, it cleaved the heavens from the underworld, creating a realm apart, a golden firmament that replaced the blue!

The world transformed!

A golden sky, a black earth! A vision from forgotten myths, now brought to brutal reality.

The Mad One, awakened from his stupor, gazed upon the spectacle. He rubbed his eyes, muttering, “Am I dreaming? A golden sky and black earth…did not my brother say this was the First Sign of the Nine Twists and Three Aspects, heralding the Immortal Ancestor’s descent…”

Then, a thunderous roar tore from the earth, shaking the world to its core. The ground bucked and writhed, as if some titan stirred in its slumbering depths. The Mad One, in stunned awe, saw a colossal shadow rise from the very planet itself, a mountain of darkness reaching for the heavens!

A towering phantom, reaching for the sky, coalesced into the form of an Ancient God of the Dao. It was Wang Lin himself! Seven stars burned within his brow, their light swirling in furious motion. With a primal scream, he surged towards the heavens, his gigantic fist laden with the fury of the earth, striking at the celestial dome!

Simultaneously, the golden sky blazed with blinding radiance. A figure of pure light, shimmering with celestial energy, stepped forth. This being, radiating divine authority, fixed its gaze upon the earthbound Ancient God. With a single, sweeping gesture, a golden tempest engulfed the heavens!

From afar, it seemed the celestial figure wore a cloak of pure gold, a mantle woven from the very sky. The form, too, was Wang Lin! A circular mark blazed upon his brow, emitting waves of power. With another dismissive gesture, it sent forth a surge of golden light to meet the charging Ancient God!

Two Wang Lins, locked in an eternal struggle, drew ever closer, each seeking to extinguish the other!

Nearer and nearer they hurtled, until, in a blinding instant, they collided. But at the very moment of impact, as destruction loomed, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped open. Upon his brow, a new symbol manifested – a circular mark, almost identical to the one etched upon the Mad One’s forehead!

The appearance of this mark ignited a fire within Wang Lin’s marrow, causing his inherited blood to boil.

Before, the powers of his bloodline and the Ancient God were in a tense equilibrium. Though one was suppressed, it could not be destroyed, and would eternally persist.

But now, the mark served as a spark to tinder, unleashing a torrent of power from Wang Lin’s bloodline, seeking to eradicate the ancient power of the Ancient God.

In response, the suppressed power of the Ancient God launched a desperate counterattack. Using Wang Lin’s body as the battlefield, the two powers unleashed a deadly slaughter!

The power of his bloodline, though potent, was new, and could not yet match the ancient power of the Ancient God. The struggle reached a terrifying peak.

In that moment, the stars on Wang Lin’s brow began to shatter. One burst into fragments, releasing its vast power. Bolstered by this, Wang Lin’s body was restored. Flesh and blood regrew, reweaving his mortal form.

But as his flesh completed, the circular mark on his brow unleashed all of the power of his bloodline, and Wang Lin’s body exploded.

His arms, legs, torso, even his head and spirit, all shattered into fragments. Before they could fly away, a tide of pure celestial energy surged forth, coalescing into a blurry shape.

It was a spirit – not a mere cultivator’s spirit, but a true spirit of a celestial being, a Yuan Xian!

The moment the Yuan Xian appeared, the scattered flesh surged forth and began to congeal, forming into a body of pure energy, radiating celestial light, a truly awe-inspiring figure!

But the celestial body had barely formed when it trembled, exploding and tearing apart, and one of the stars that rested on its brow shattered!

With the destruction of the celestial body, the energy of the Ancient God erupted, gathering around the scattered flesh and beginning to reform it. In the blink of an eye, an Ancient God hundreds of feet tall stood between the heavens and the earth!

But the Ancient God had barely been formed before it, too, exploded.

Again and again Wang Lin shifted, between the celestial body and the Ancient God. Each transformation brought with it unimaginable pain. But as limited as the Ancient God’s power was, he had no choice but to shatter the stars!

He had no choice but to fight. If he surrendered, the ancient power of the Ancient God would become a storm that destroyed everything. He had a sense that, should that happen, he would surely die!
A balance must be struck, a merging must occur, or this creation shall become a doom of life and death!

Seven shatterings, seven transformations between celestial and divine, seven astral points utterly extinguished – all transpired in the blink of an eye, a fleeting moment in the grand tapestry of existence! With each star’s demise, the ancient god power within Wang Lin swelled, morphing into the vast, boundless force of the Dao-God. Thus, after seven star-shatterings, the Dao-God power coalesced within him became a force of earth-shattering magnitude!

And then, the eighth cataclysmic shift commenced!

This time, it was the proto-star vortex, yet to fully form into the eighth star, that splintered. With a resounding boom, his essence spiraled wildly, transforming between celestial and divine for the eighth time!

Eight such transformations, and Wang Lin found himself facing the abyss – no stars left to break!

His ancient god flesh erupted in a violent burst, a miasma of blood and muscle intermingling with ethereal celestial energy. From this chaos reformed the celestial body, shattered and reborn countless times, the Immortal Corpse!

This indestructible form was a legacy of the Celestial Ancestor’s Seal. It was the very presence of this mark that gifted Wang Lin with his death-defying flesh. The circular sigil upon his brow pulsed, intensifying the celestial energy coursing through him. The marrow within his bones generated an ever-increasing torrent of celestial blood, threatening to drown out the ancient god essence and solidify him as a true immortal!

Yet, the drama was far from its finale. Had Wang Lin not inherited the Dao-God legacy, had he remained a mere ancient god, his journey would have ended here. He would have forfeited his divine heritage, becoming instead a flawed immortal, doomed to collapse and fade.

But his ancient god lineage was royal! Furthermore, it had intertwined with the Dao-God inheritance. And then there was the Celestial Ancestor’s Seal, its origins shrouded in mystery. Its appearance not only stirred the blood within Wang Lin but also resonated with his Dao-God legacy!

As the madman had previously proclaimed, this Seal must never be passed into alien hands, least of all those of the ancient kingdom’s cultivators, especially the three ancestral families!

A harrowing roar ripped from Wang Lin’s throat as countless hairline cracks erupted across the surface of his celestial form. Simultaneously, the Dao-God power within him unleashed a cataclysmic surge. Though no astral point shattered, it triggered something akin to the premature arrival of the second tribulation, the second of the ancient god’s Three Afflictions and Seven Tribulations! This hastening was spurred by the celestial mark and the ancient will of the Dao-God legacy as it faced expulsion.

Within Wang Lin raged a tempest of opposing wills, ancient and celestial, their clash and conflict the very root of his creation and his crisis!

The premature onset of the ancient god’s second affliction shattered the celestial body, each fissure widening into a chasm. This crumbling force collided head-on with the nascent might of the affliction, a furious dance of annihilation, seeking to obliterate one another, devouring Wang Lin’s very spirit and all he encompassed!

The heavens trembled!

Wang Lin’s form, his very existence, dissolved in a sweeping wave of disintegration. His ancient god flesh, collapsing into a mess of blood and sinew, seeped into the earth, causing the land to shudder. Unseen ripples emanated outward, leveling mountains and reshaping the terrain into a mirror-smooth expanse!

His celestial body, shattering alongside his fractured spirit, surged skyward, carving a chasm that seemed to cleave the heavens from the Netherworld, creating a new realm entirely, painting the sky with a golden hue!

The very fabric of existence warped!

A golden sky and a black earth, a sight of myth and legend now made real!

The madman, roused from slumber, lay sprawled, staring in bewildered awe. Rubbing his eyes, he muttered, “Am I hallucinating? A golden sky, a black earth… isn’t this one of the Nine Twists and Three Faces my brother spoke of, seen when the Celestial Ancestor descended?”

Just then, a thunderous roar erupted from the earth, and the entire landscape began to heave. A force seemed to explode from within, and in the madman’s dazed vision, a colossal black shadow rose from the land, coalescing into a mountainous form that reached for the sky!

The gargantuan phantom, towering over the world, was none other than a Dao-God ancient god! The very image of Wang Lin, his brow adorned with seven spinning stars. With a primal scream, he charged towards the heavens, a vast fist rising to strike, seemingly powered by the very earth itself!

Simultaneously, from the golden sky, a figure of pure celestial energy and commanding presence emerged. His gaze, cold and distant, fixed upon the Dao-God ancient god rising from the earth. With a flick of his sleeve, the golden heavens stirred with infinite waves!

From afar, it appeared as if this celestial figure wore a magnificent golden cloak, the cloak being the very sky itself! This figure too was Wang Lin! The circular mark upon his brow blazed with golden light as he launched himself towards the charging Dao-God ancient god!

Two Wang Lins, locked in a desperate collision, a struggle to the death!

Closer and closer they flew, until, in the moment before their cataclysmic impact, a soft, ethereal glow emanated from the space between them!

From within this light emerged a pearl, no larger than a babe’s fist!

The Heavenly Defiance Bead, reborn!

The madman, lying prone upon the earth, his eyes widening in sudden comprehension, stared at the bead and stammered, “That’s… it’s so important, so important… My brother was searching for it… it’s… Ugh, I forget! Little Red, what is it?”

With a resounding blast, the forces of golden sky and black earth crashed against the suddenly materialized Heavenly Defiance Bead!
The Celestial Wheel, a construct of fate itself, ground slowly into motion. As its first revolution completed, the golden firmament, and within it the spectral form of Wang Lin, were devoured by the Wheel’s ravenous hunger. They merged, coalescing upon its surface to manifest a radiant being: a golden Xian Yuan Body, an avatar of celestial origin.

Again the Wheel turned, pulling the very essence of the ebony earth skyward. The Dao Ancient God, born from that desolate ground, suffered the same fate as the golden sky, consumed and woven into the nascent being. It manifested as a colossal Ancient God physique, a thousand fathoms high, enveloping the golden Xian Yuan Body.

Yet, this Ancient God form shimmered with an unnatural, inner gold. For it was he, Wang Lin, reborn in terrible glory!

Time itself seemed to falter, caught in the gravity of this transformation. How long passed, none could say. Then, with sudden force, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped open. In his left eye danced golden flames, in his right, a tempest of golden lightning crackled. The circular mark upon his brow vanished, and in its place, seven Ancient God stars began their celestial ballet. But these were no ordinary stars; each burned with a fierce, golden light.

Golden stars indeed!

The instant his eyes unsealed, Wang Lin shuddered, coughing forth a crimson tide. He cast a withering gaze upon the madman gaping at him from the ground, then stepped forward, planting his feet upon the earth. Closing his eyes once more, he sank into a meditative pose, his presence radiating a palpable power.

The madman, caught in the vortex of that searing look, felt his spirit tremble. Feigning nonchalance, he whistled a tuneless melody, gazing in every direction save Wang Lin. Yet, his peripheral vision clung to the meditating figure, ever watchful for any sign.

After an age of agonizing silence, the madman cleared his throat, directing a leering grin toward the seated Wang Lin. “Fair maiden,” he croaked, “grant your king a smile… and treasures untold shall be your reward!”