Shimizu’s form shuddered, his dim eyes erupting with a final, desperate light. He had lost his parents, his mentor, his beloved, and all the friends he knew within the Immortal Realm. Even Wang Lin, his closest companion, seemed lost to the grasp of death.

He had lost everything!

He would not, *could* not, bear to lose the pink-robed maiden before him, for upon her he sensed a fragment of his daughter’s very soul!

That fragment, that sliver of existence, had once driven him to elation. He had laughed like a madman, gazed upon her countless times, as if she held the very continuation of his life.

She *was* everything.

Though gravely wounded, though lacking the aid of Hong Shanzi and with but a few moments left to him, he would not allow his daughter to suffer even the slightest harm in this, his final stand!

It was the duty of a father, a father who had been burdened with an eternity of guilt, a father who had searched for so very long.

A primal roar ripped from his throat as, with trembling hands, he slammed his palm against the altar beneath him. The impact echoed like thunder, shattering the ancient stone and releasing a torrent of raw power that surged back into his weary body.

Using this devastating surge of force, Shimizu launched himself from the altar, bursting through the swirling mists, towards the shattered barrier and the besieged world beyond!

His vision blurred, the world fading into an indistinct haze. Yet one figure burned bright in his sight: the pink-robed maiden upon the trembling world.

Her face pale, the maiden could only hear the deafening roar of war. She watched as the barrier crumbled and a hulking brute, crackling with wind and lightning, thundered towards her, followed by tens of thousands of savage invaders.

The very planet beneath her shuddered, unable to bear the weight of their presence, especially the towering form of the brute.

Great fissures rent the earth, the ground heaving like a stormy sea. The Kun Xu cultivators around her, eyes burning with a desperate light, cried out and threw themselves, like moths to a flame, against the tide of invaders!

Did the moth not know of its impending demise? Perhaps it did not, or perhaps… perhaps it *did*.

A gust of wind whipped at the maiden’s face, bringing a strange flush to her pallid cheeks. A flicker of regret remained in her eyes, but she steeled herself, taking a resolute step forward.

Her cultivation was meager, but she was of this world. She feared death, yet she would not flinch from facing it alongside the fall of her home.

The wind-and-lightning brute, one of the Seven Great Ones from beyond the stars, grinned cruelly. Ignoring the insignificant natives, he raised a hand and slammed it downwards.

The air crackled as black winds spiraled into a raging storm, filled with countless spheres of emerald lightning. It coalesced into a monstrous, ten-thousand-foot-long black dragon that roared as it plunged towards the earth!

Its path led directly to the pink-robed maiden, the sole obstacle in its destructive descent!

The brute stood upon the dragon’s head, hurtling forward through the ranks of the defenders, closing to within a few dozen paces of the maiden.

“Insignificant insect,” he sneered, his gaze sweeping over her dismissively. She was beneath his notice. His target was the destruction of this world, the conquest of the next!

But as he drew within ten paces, the brute’s expression twisted in alarm. His eyes snapped upwards, towards the shattered altar deep within the star-array.

From that shattered altar, a bestial roar ripped through the heavens, filled with a world-ending resolve, a father’s wrath against any who dared threaten his child.

“DIE!”

Blood-red light flashed as a blizzard of scarlet snowflakes erupted in the void. They swirled with a bone-chilling intensity as Shimizu, a crimson wraith, hurtled through their vortex. His speed reached its very limit, driven by a berserk fury. The very essence of slaughter exploded within him, shaking the heavens. Even those locked in battle far away paused, sensing his arrival.

The wind-and-lightning brute recoiled in horror. He recognized Shimizu, knew his power – a force unmatched amongst the Kong Nie. Without hesitation, he halted his advance and commanded the black dragon to rise, to meet the incoming storm.

But this act only amplified Shimizu’s rage, driving him to a fever pitch of fury unlike any he had ever known!

The maiden! She was too close! The dragon’s ascent would bring it crashing down upon her. None knew the bond between them, not even Wang Lin himself. Only Shimizu knew the truth!

His eyes burned with a terrifying light. In the blink of an eye, he stood before the bewildered maiden, seizing the black dragon in his right hand. He roared, wrenching it outwards with all his strength.

“DIE!”

As Shimizu grasped the dragon, the swirling red snowflakes converged, engulfing the beast in a crimson shroud. The dragon shuddered and froze, its movements seizing.

From Shimizu’s grip, the culmination of a lifetime of slaughter surged into the dragon’s form, exploding within it as he flung it away. The beast shattered in a deafening roar, its body splintering into a thousand pieces!

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The brute, bathed in its gore, coughed blood and recoiled in terror. But before he could flee, Shimizu was upon him, his right hand descending in a single, devastating chop!

The blow carried with it a killing intent so profound, that it was akin to certain death.

With a deafening crash, the brute spewed forth a fountain of blood, staggering backward hundreds of paces, a gash of raw flesh across his face, from forehead to stomach, as though his very being was about to be split asunder!

Yet, his body did not cleave. The killing intent, at the last moment, had faltered, weakened, until it vanished.

Pale and shaken, the brute, who believed he had met his end, looked up to see Shimizu vomiting black blood as he collapsed backwards, his failing form caught by the very maiden he sought to protect.

Tears streamed from Shimizu’s eyes as he looked upon his daughter’s beautiful face.

The maiden, still confused, bit her lip. She did not understand his actions, but she knew of his power, his importance.

“Why…” she whispered.

But then, the wind-and-lightning brute roared, a triumphant grin spreading across his blood-soaked face as he launched himself towards them once more!

At the same time, a thunderous cry echoed across the battlefield as, on the world where Mu Bingmei stood, the protective barrier shattered. The lecherous young lord, his eyes gleaming with a predatory lust, laughed and strode through the broken defenses towards the woman who stared back with a defiant gaze!

“The consort of a Sealed Lord will surely bring me pleasure!”

Despair flickered in Mu Bingmei’s eyes. The warriors of the God Sect rushed to her defense, willing to die alongside their world in its final moments.

Simultaneously, outside the star-array, Qing Shuang, the woman of Zhaohe, and Hong Shanzi, locked in battle with the Kong Xuan from beyond the stars, faced their most perilous moment!

This life-or-death struggle seemed destined to end the war, but even as they fought, a force capable of crushing the entire star-field thundered from afar, tearing through the very fabric of reality. This power resonated with dread in the hearts of the defenders, even as it filled the invaders with exultant cries.

In the eyes of all who watched, a massive rift opened in the heavens, emanating the power of the Ancient Starry Sky from beyond the stars. And from that rift, with a deafening roar, a colossal palace emerged!

The palace, revered by countless cultivators of the Ancient Starry Sky, a temple in their hearts, the very moving palace of the Palm Sovereign!

For the first time, the Palm Sovereign himself stepped foot within the boundaries of the Inner Starry Sky. Clad in black robes, his features hidden, the Palm Sovereign raised a skeletal hand, crackling with the power to shatter worlds!

Then, he thrust that hand downwards, towards Hong Shanzi, the woman of Zhaohe, and Qing Shuang!

“It ends now,” a raspy, ancient voice croaked from the Palm Sovereign’s lips. As his hand descended, a gargantuan palm-print materialized, blotting out the very stars. It hurtled down from the heavens towards the star-array!

Space buckled and cracked. A suffocating dread gripped the heart of every cultivator of the Inner Starry Sky, morphing into utter despair.

Under the shadow of this crushing force, the wind-and-lightning brute charged towards Shimizu and his daughter, a mad grin upon his face! And Dao Feixiu, his eyes burning with lust, swept aside the defenders before him, leaving only Mu Bingmei as he closed in.

But at that precise moment, in that critical instant, a piercing shriek echoed from the very edge of the Luo Tian and Cloud Sea Star-Fields!

It was not the cry of any cultivator, but the sound of an arrow!

An arrow carrying destruction, rage, and a desperate bloodlust! Its cry drowned out the thunder of the Palm Sovereign’s descending palm-print, becoming the sole sound in the minds of every cultivator, both native and invader, in the Luo Tian Star-Field!

Wang Lin had arrived.