Wang Lin’s right hand descended, his vast cultivation channeling a divine sense that crashed into the wizened elder’s crown like a flood. It swept through him in a silent tempest, consuming his own spirit and battering flesh and bone.

A cacophony of pops and cracks erupted within the old man’s frame. His face contorted in unimaginable agony, blood weeping from his seven orifices as he convulsed violently against the binding spell.

For a fleeting moment, the agonizing torment weakened the binding, and a horrific shriek tore from the elder’s throat.

He clawed to escape Wang Lin’s grip, but the latter’s hand remained as unyielding as a mountain, clamped to his skull, offering no hope of escape.

The desperate howls pouring forth drenched him in sweat, and his eyes rolled back in despair, his face a ghastly white mask.

“You have committed the sin of slaying an Immortal! You shall know no peace! I am a soldier-Immortal of the Celestial Venerable, bearing immortal blood! Slay me now, and doom will find you!”

“Enough prattle,” Wang Lin replied impassively. He tightened his grip, his divine sense crashing once more through the elder, focusing upon his sea of consciousness, seeking to wrest forth every memory.

As Wang Lin’s spirit pierced the wizened elder’s mind, deep within the ancient Immortal Domain, at the heart of the statue-strewn landscape, stood four colossal statues representing the Three Clans of the Ancient Celestial.

Silence reigned, as it had for eons. But now, a raspy voice echoed forth from within one of the figures.

“Vermilion Bird, your descendant possesses a respectable cultivation, yet displays staggering arrogance, daring to plumb the memories of a soldier-Immortal! Though lesser than we, they still bear immortal blood! Can such a mere ant dare to trespass?” The voice dripped with disdain.

“He braved the Third Step Tribulation and plucked his fate from the Ninth Sun! A feat beyond comprehension, yet he achieved it! White Tiger, such mockery rings hollow. Could you, born of the lower realms, have accomplished such a thing?” A cold snort emanated from another statue, tinged with ancient weariness.

“What I could or could not achieve is irrelevant! Our Immortal memories are sealed by the Celestial Venerable, a boon reserved for the inner circle of the Seven Paths Sect! I am not surprised this wretch slew a wounded soldier-Immortal, but I wager, he attempts to breach the Celestial Venerable’s seal at his own peril!” The scornful voice retorted with a sneer.

“Enough! Why bicker over such a trivial matter? Vermilion Bird, does the death of your descendant beneath the Celestial Venerable’s seal impede your plans?” A third voice resonated from another statue.

“He was never part of my grand design. His arrival was…unexpected.” After a long silence, the Vermilion Bird spoke softly.

“The child is unique. He is the first I have witnessed to cultivate the Third Step in reverse. Alas, he is a lowly cultivator from the lower realms. Were he upon my Immortal Astral Continent, he would be hailed as a legend! Yet, he should not have sought to plunder those memories. Not even we could break the seal of the Celestial Venerable. He will meet his end within half an incense stick’s time…a pity, a true pity…” A fourth voice boomed with regret from the last statue.

The voices faded, returning to the timeless silence. Even Vermilion Bird sighed inwardly, for he knew of Wang Lin, but could not fathom him breaching the Celestial Venerable’s seal.

Within the wizened elder’s sea of consciousness, his spirit had woven a world, a realm sealed by a dense fog that repelled Wang Lin’s intrusion.

Wang Lin recognized this. He had encountered the same barrier in the mind of the Silver-Clad Maiden, where the figure from the seven-colored statue had appeared within the memory-sealing mists.

Now, within this elder’s consciousness, Wang Lin again saw the fog. His divine sense wavered for a heartbeat, then coalesced with purpose, his spirit taking form outside the swirling mists.

It was a bizarre sight. In the vast expanse of the ancient Immortal Domain, Wang Lin’s physical form was still, eyes closed, his right hand clamped upon the skull of the writhing, screaming elder.

But within, his spiritual essence had manifested as a figure of bone and spirit, his body as pale as white jade. He stood before the swirling mists, a pressure emanating from their depths that seemed to be a seal, blocking all forms of soul-searching magic.

“The Silver-Clad Maiden bore such a seal, and now this elder as well. Interesting…it seems all those beholden to the Celestial Venerable are thus protected.”

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed, burning with sharp light. In the past, his cultivation was insufficient to shatter the Silver-Clad Maiden’s seal, and he had retreated, also to spare her harm.

But this wizened elder stirred no such qualms within him. Though the elder bore him no personal ill will, he was yet deserving of death. If this Wang Lin had not known that the outside world was merely a cave, he would not kill him.

But Wang Lin now understood the truth. A hatred, unspoken, rose within him for the Celestial Venerable and all of his Immortals.

And the disappearance of Li Muwan’s thread of fate had brought that hatred to a fever pitch.

With a snort, Wang Lin’s spiritual form stepped forward, his essence a shooting star amidst the deafening roar. Raising a hand, he lashed out, conjuring a gale that roared into existence, tearing into the mists.

The fog churned, torn asunder, revealing a path. Wang Lin stepped forward, his form vanishing within the mists.

As he raced onward, the fog parted before him as if granting passage, drawing him deeper.

In that instant, a blinding radiance of seven colors erupted from the depths, piercing the darkness and forcing Wang Lin to squint.

Amidst the thinning fog, illuminated by the seven-colored light, sat a middle-aged man, eyes closed, radiating a power that could shake the heavens. Before him, even the most powerful would tremble, unable to take another step.

This was not the man Wang Lin had met in the Seven-Colored Realm of Zhao, but the very form of the seven-colored statue within his storage rift!

It was the second time Wang Lin had seen this being. He paused, his eyes hardening, and stepped forward without hesitation. Raising his right hand, he wove a hand seal. Instantly, the wizened elder’s mind churned and roiled as a colossal palm print appeared before Wang Lin. He slammed it forward, cleaving through the fog toward the seated man.

This man was the seal, the barrier against those who would plunder the memories of the Celestial Venerable’s Immortals!

The palm print roared forward and struck the seated man, tearing through him. But as it passed, the print crumbled silently, as if it had never been. Even more strangely, the palm print never touched him, collapsing three inches from his body.

Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed. As the palm print dissipated, he raised his right hand and pointed. A surge of power erupted from his fingertip in a roaring vortex. Wang Lin watched with focus, and saw the vortex also dissolve three inches from the seated man.

Wang Lin stared at the figure. With a flick of his sleeve, he closed the distance, and, with both fingers as swords, he commanded the power of the Ancient God that swirled through the stars between his brows. Thus infused, Wang Lin’s fingers could cleave mountains and shatter planets.

With a cacophonous roar, he brought his fingers ever closer, until they were three inches away.

In that instant, Wang Lin’s eyes burned with sharp light as he watched his fingers disintegrate, without pain, merely vanishing.

In that small space they became nothing. Were he to continue, Wang Lin’s entire hand would be destroyed. Thus Wang Lin retracted his fingers and stepped back.

He gazed at the seated figure, then at his own hand where half of two fingers had vanished.

“Such strange power…” Wang Lin murmured. With a surge of Ancient God power, the flesh of his fingers began to wriggle and regenerate.

Wang Lin hesitated. With the seated man guarding the path, retrieving the elder’s memories would be a formidable task. But it was not impossible.