**Chapter 1664: A New Epoch Dawns!**

With the emergence of the Axe of Creation, an ancient divine aura emanated forth, vast as a surging tide. It swept through the crumbling Formation of Sealing, causing it to tremble with even greater ferocity.

The reverberations thundered in the ears, incessant and deafening. One who closed their eyes might perceive the endless slaughter wrought by this axe throughout countless ages. An untold number of souls had perished beneath its edge.

The moment the axe appeared, Wang Lin, standing before it, seemed to glimpse myriad phantasmal specters. These wraiths, shifting and indistinct, poured forth and swirled around the Axe of Creation. Their howls, amidst the incessant roar, resembled a grotesque, undulating surface when viewed from afar.

It was as if the axe had risen from the River of Souls, escorted by the dead, its presence both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

Unlike the Seven Spirits before it, the axe did not dissipate. Instead, it hovered in the void, growing ever more solid. It seemed to possess a spirit, undergoing a momentous choice.

Would it choose to acknowledge Wang Lin as its master, or face the oblivion of destruction?

Time ebbed slowly. The thunder of the Formation of Sealing grew louder. Wang Lin waited for half an incense stick’s duration, observing the axe, still unmoving, and a frown furrowed his brow, his eyes gleaming with serene determination.

“Since you do not wish to follow me, then fade into nothingness,” Wang Lin declared. He raised his right hand, directing a palm strike toward the Axe of Creation within the crumbling formation. The world shook, the array shattered further, and in response, the Axe of Creation shuddered, its immense blade pivoting, hurtling straight toward Wang Lin!

It seemed to have broken free from the confines of the Sealing Formation. As it neared Wang Lin, the axe rose abruptly, unleashing a world-shattering shriek above him, before descending with ruthless force.

“A mere relic of the Ancient God Royal Clan dares to injure me?” Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with frigid light. He strode forward, his form swelling instantaneously to a thousand *zhang* in height, transforming into his true Ancient God manifestation!

The thousand-zhang giant stood as a colossus, a titan amidst the stars, rooted upon the crumbling Sealing Formation. As the Axe of Creation screamed downward, Wang Lin raised his right hand, clenching it into a fist, and unleashed a thunderous blow upon the weapon.

A monstrous crash erupted, shaking the very fabric of the cosmos. The Formation of Sealing collapsed layer upon layer, shattering like webs. The Axe of Creation itself shuddered, unable to land its blow, and with a deafening boom, it recoiled, blasted upward by the colossal force from Wang Lin’s fist.

However, Wang Lin was not unscathed. He stumbled back hundreds of *zhang*, a deep, ghastly wound appearing on his fist, exposing splintered bone. The Axe of Creation was of formidable power indeed.

Retreating, Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed. As his hand rapidly healed, he grasped at the void, and a tempest of crimson light erupted. The Blood Sword materialized within his grasp. With a flick of his wrist, it transformed into a hundred-zhang long blade, bathing the surroundings in a lurid, bloody glow.

Wielding the Blood Sword, Wang Lin shot forward. Raising the sword high, he unleashed a devastating downward strike, the blade unleashing a scarlet arc of energy hurtling toward the Axe of Creation.

The two indestructible treasures collided in a cacophony of shattering sound. Axe and sword clashed relentlessly, yet the Axe of Creation proved slightly inferior. Lacking a true wielder, it relied upon its own weapon spirit to maneuver, and soon, under the relentless assault, it began to falter.

Cracks and gashes marred its surface, and the light emanating from its core flickered, dimming.

“I offer you a choice once more: acknowledge me as your master!” Wang Lin roared, delivering another devastating strike.

With a deafening clang, the axe trembled and spiraled backward, crashing into the void, cleaving a vast rift through the stars.

Wang Lin’s Blood Sword vanished. He stepped forward, instantly appearing beside the Axe of Creation. As the axe rose from the rift, its ancient godly power surging outward, Wang Lin seized the haft with an iron grip.

He held it firmly, preventing the axe from escaping his grasp. But then, a phantasmal visage of an Ancient God manifested upon the axe! It howled forth from within the weapon, indistinct but raging like a tempest, lunging toward Wang Lin, as if to devour him whole.

From afar, the spectacle was clear: the spectral figure, rooted to the axe, towered thousands of *zhang* tall, a massive cone, wider at the top, resembling smoke billowing from a chimney, magnified endlessly in the sky.

This blurry, phantom form was none other than the weapon spirit of the Axe of Creation. It bent forward, arms outstretched, shrieking and roaring as it lunged at Wang Lin.

Before it, Wang Lin’s thousand-zhang form appeared as a mere youth before a titan. He seemed utterly incapable of resisting, yet his eyes blazed with defiance, and he unleashed a mighty roar at the approaching specter.

“How dare you! I am of the Royal Clan of the Ancient Gods, heir to the Dao Ancient Legacy! To attempt to consume me is to seek your own destruction!” As he roared, the Dao Ancient head materialized behind Wang Lin, its jaws gaping wide, joining his furious cry!

It was as if a hurricane had descended upon the stars, slamming into the Axe of Creation’s spectral form. The visage screamed in terror, its body writhing in fear, staggering backward, splitting apart, only to reform once more.

After reforming, it trembled, and struggled to bow to Wang Lin, its form shrinking rapidly, until it merged completely with the Axe of Creation, vanishing from sight.

The Axe of Creation ceased to struggle, settling into stillness.

Wang Lin, gripping the axe, bit his tongue and spat forth a mouthful of blood, which transformed into a scarlet seal that landed upon the weapon. With a flash, the mark vanished, imbuing itself within the axe.
He gazed upon the Obedient Sky-Cleaving Axe, now his, a prize wrested not through borrowed power, but by the sheer force of his own will. He recalled the years past, when his cultivation was but a shadow of its present might, and he could only wield this artifact under the watchful gaze of the previous Seal Sovereign.

Clutching the colossal axe, white hair swirling about him like a storm cloud, Wang Lin stood as a mirror to the statue upon the Vermillion Bird Star. The resemblance was undeniable, the transformation complete.

With a flick of his wrist, the Sky-Cleaving Axe dissolved into motes of light, vanishing into the space between his brows, becoming one with him.

He lowered his gaze upon the crumbling Seal Realm Array. A peculiar glint ignited in his eyes. The array was comprised of nine spirits, the last of which held the greatest power, the vessel through which the previous Seal Sovereign exerted his control.

But the breach in the array, and the events that followed, had brought about the final death of the Sovereign’s soul, dimming the vitality of this final spirit.

The near-death throes of the Seal Realm Array were intrinsically tied to this loss.

He raised his right hand, fingers spread into an open palm, and unleashed the final Karmic Seal upon the collapsing array. The seal burned into his palm, then descended through the void to clench into a fist.

The dying Seal Realm Array bellowed its last, a sound of utter agony. In its death throes, the array convulsed, and from its heart, a shattered jade pendant was wrenched free.

The jade was scarred with cracks, a dozen or more running deep within its substance. One, fresher than the rest, bore no mark of ancient time, a wound inflicted but a century past.

Despite its fractured state, a single character remained legible upon its surface.

Simple, yet profound. It was the character for…

*Immortal.*

With the Karmic Seal severing the jade pendant, the Seal Realm Array began its final dissolution. A cacophony of rumbling echoed as the web that had bound the Inner Realm’s Four Star Domains for eons began to shatter.

This collapse was absolute, irreversible, final.

Across the Four Star Domains, the remaining cultivators were struck dumb with awe. They watched as the starry sky churned, unleashing thunderous echoes, as the Seal Realm Array that had imprisoned the Inner Realm for countless ages crumbled before their very eyes.

Within the Cloud Sea Star Domain, Mu Bingmei, the Powder-Clad woman, and Xi Zifeng converged into three streaks of light, halting in the void, a distance removed from Wang Lin.

The collapse of the Seal Realm Array held them captive, the destruction of the web beneath their feet sending tremors through their souls. Their faces paled in the face of such overwhelming power.

Wang Lin studied the jade pendant, then, after a moment of silence, flicked his wrist. The pendant was flung clear of the dying Seal Realm Array. Freed from its source, it was like a rootless tree, a fish cast upon the shore. It shattered with a resounding boom, crumbling into dust.

With the shattering of the jade, the Seal Realm Array before Wang Lin finally crumbled.

In that instant, the Kunxu Star Domain was freed from its ethereal cage. The Zhaohe Star Domain was laid bare to the sight of the Ancient Starry Sky beyond.

In that single moment, Luo Tian and the Cloud Sea were utterly and completely released.

The Inner and Outer Realms, separated for countless ages, were now one. The Seal Realm Array, a seemingly eternal fixture etched into the memories of generations, vanished forever, reduced to smoke and echoes.

Without the Seal Realm Array, the strange power that had stifled the accumulation of incense souls within the Inner Realm also vanished. The Grand Elders of the Luo Tian Star Domain stirred with visible excitement, even Qing Lin was not immune to the feeling.

Wang Lin had shattered the Seal Realm Array.

He was the first to accomplish such a feat, the first to possess the vision and the courage to break the ancient bonds after the defeat of the Outer Realm invaders.

His name would echo throughout the cultivation world for millennia, for he was the Seal Sovereign, not a pawn of the Seven Dao Sect, nor a servant of the Seven-Colored Immortal, but a Realm Sovereign poised to lead the cultivators of the Inner Realm out of their cage, to shake the very foundations of the Immortal-Astral Continent!