Before Wang Lin, a multitude of valorous spirits, each a beacon of former lives, offered their final salutations and surged as one into the three-fold essence of the Reincarnation Wheel. With their essence woven into its ancient workings, the colossal mechanism, straddling the boundaries of the Inner and Outer Realms, erupted in a blinding, celestial radiance.

For those within the Inner Realm, this light was a gentle embrace, a soothing balm upon weary souls. But to the denizens of the Outer Realm, it was a searing agony, a piercing assault that scorched their very being.

In this incandescent glow, the immense Wheel, a testament to forgotten ages, revealed its grim foundations. Countless tormented souls, remnants of defeated invaders from the Outer Realm, were enslaved, forced to push the mighty Wheel in its inexorable turning.

Within this revolving prison, propelled by the suffering of the damned, sat the gathered heroes of the Inner Realm, their spirits now one with the machine. Their numbers were legion, each a silent sentinel, their collective essence forming the very soul of the Reincarnation Array!

As the Wheel groaned and shuddered into motion, a sound that shook the heavens and echoed across the cosmos, the very fabric of reality seemed to shift. The turning opened a path for the people of the Inner Realm to traverse the stars and venture beyond, yet barred all passage to those who resided outside its protective embrace.

Even as the Wheel materialized, the raw, untamed energy of the Primordial Stars continued to flow, unhindered. The Wheel’s power was not to stop the celestial influx, but to deny passage to any not born of the Inner Realm, to forbid all those bearing the mark of the Ancient Tribes upon their brow.

With the Primordial essence coursing through the land, the chains that once bound the Inner Realm, the ancient laws forbidding the veneration of incense and the cultivation of spiritual power, shattered into dust. The cage that had confined generations of cultivators vanished, leaving them free to shape their own destiny.

As the last of the Inner Realm’s forgotten champions merged with the Reincarnation Wheel, Wang Lin raised his arms high and swept them outward. His silver hair danced in an unseen wind, his white robes billowed, and his eyes shone with an otherworldly light as he unleashed a low, primal roar.

“Nameless Reincarnation Wheel, open!”

At his command, the Wheel echoed with renewed thunder, expanding outward in a frenzy of growth, its power reaching a scale that defied comprehension.

This Wheel did not stand as a barrier, separating the Cloud Sea from the Outer Realm. Instead, it floated horizontally, a vast and protective canopy beneath the Inner Realm’s star-strewn expanse, encompassing all within its celestial embrace. It was as if the Inner and Outer Realms were shrunken down, held within the palm of a giant hand: the Inner Realm, the pupil of an all-seeing eye, surrounded by the boundless, uncaring void.

Now, this circular bastion, existing beneath the Inner Realm’s dominion, expanded relentlessly into the starlit territories that had once belonged to the Outer Realm.

The roar grew to a cacophony, a titan’s cry that reverberated through every corner of the cosmos, shaking the very foundations of existence.

As the Wheel spun faster and faster, growing exponentially in size, the Outer Realm cultivators who had gathered to witness its birth watched in paralyzed terror. Those who hesitated, those who failed to flee the Wheel’s inexorable advance, were consumed in an instant. Their bodies withered and crumbled to dust as their souls and spirits were ripped from their vessels, forever bound to the Wheel as tormented slaves, eternally pushing the colossal machine.

With each moment of frantic expansion, the Inner Realm’s territory grew, pushing back the boundaries of the Outer Realm. Lands that had once belonged to the invaders were now reclaimed, bathed in the light of the Inner Realm’s protection.

This was no mere defense; it was conquest, a blatant and unapologetic reclaiming of what was rightfully theirs.

“Those who erected the Sealed Realm Array acted unjustly,” Wang Lin murmured, his voice a low rumble that resonated with the weight of ages. “By what right did they divide the Inner and Outer Realms? Today, Wang Lin shall reshape the cosmos as the Nameless Reincarnation Wheel completes its cycle, redrawing the boundaries of existence!”

In the blink of an eye, the Inner Realm had expanded by nearly twenty percent, its growing size diminishing the domains of the Outer Realm’s Primordial Stars.

Within this newly acquired territory lay countless cultivation planets, their mortal inhabitants untouched by the cosmic shift. Yet those Outer Realm cultivators bearing the telltale mark upon their brow fled in desperate panic, their attempts to escape doomed to failure. Those who lingered too long were reduced to ash, their souls and spirits condemned to an eternity of servitude within the Wheel.

“Innocent souls of the Inner Realm,” Wang Lin declared, his voice ringing with sorrow and resolve, “you who have perished through countless ages of conflict, though your forms may be fragile, your essence endures. Today, in the name of Wang Lin, and by the power of this Reincarnation Wheel, I shall deliver you to the cycle of rebirth!” He raised his right hand, pointing towards the star-filled sky.

The Inner Realm quivered, and from every corner of its vast expanse, wisps of ethereal essence coalesced, drawn to Wang Lin like moths to a flame. An unseen vortex formed around him, teeming with the souls of countless mortals, a number that dwarfed the combined populations of all cultivators.

This swirling vortex of souls circled him, and with a surge of power, Wang Lin directed it towards the expanding Reincarnation Wheel.

In an instant, the boundless multitude of mortal spirits merged with the Wheel, using its cosmic energies to propel them towards the mysterious workings of the Heavenly Dao, and the promise of reincarnation.

As the mortal souls entered the cycle of rebirth, their collective power surged through the Wheel, propelling it to expand even further, reaching a scale that was thirty percent larger than its original size.

“I, Wang Lin, a son of the Inner Realm, pledge to stand guard for three years,” he announced, his eyes serene and resolute. “During this time, I willingly relinquish all personal desires, and cast myself into the heart of this array, to become its guardian, until my vigil is complete!” With steady step, Wang Lin moved forward, his form dissolving into the swirling energies of the Reincarnation Wheel. In a blinding flash of light, he became one with the machine, his body melding with the matrix, his spirit intertwined with its ancient workings. The instant his lotus-like form settled into place, the Wheel thundered once more, expanding to forty percent of its original size!

Now, the Inner Realm was vastly expanded, and to the stars, forty percent larger than it had been before. The Reincarnation Wheel had seemingly reached its limit, ceasing its outward expansion, but it still emitted a blinding radiance that bathed the Inner Realm in light. Like rising tendrils, the light emanated from the base, lifting upwards into the vastness beyond, until it enveloped the entire realm in a pillar of pure, celestial energy.

At the edge of the Cloud Sea, within the gap where it once opened to the Outer Realm, Wang Lin merged with the Array, seated in meditation. The Emperor Furnace manifested beneath him, and upon its dais, he sat with his eyes closed, commencing his three-year vigil.

These dramatic changes had expanded the Inner Realm by forty percent, and to its citizens, its four great realms had grown, and new cultivation stars had appeared.

In the long run, this dramatic transformation of the Reincarnation wheel would provide the Inner Realm with a new seed of vitality!
Yet upon the Outer Realm, this blow landed as a crushing weight. The Ascendant Lord, he who had fled before, remained hidden, kneeling within his palace, his gaze fixed upon the star-strewn void where Wang Lin dwelled.

“He wields but the strength of two bows… it cannot be mistaken, only two! I expended my Three Fates Art once before, leaving me but a single use… He must be forced to exhaust those two bows within these three years! Once his Celestial Force wanes from those drawn bows, he shall be vulnerable!”

The Ascendant Lord’s visage darkened, his eyes glinting with chilling resolve. His apprehension toward Wang Lin exceeded even the dread he held for the one who had driven him back with a single roar in the Inner Realm.

“Mystic Sound Dao Sovereign, Nine Heavens Demon Sovereign, and the Great Wasteland Elder… the latter two are trapped within the Land of the Ancient God, where also lies the Fourth Immortal rumor… Should these three escape, perhaps they could bleed Wang Lin of his bow-drawn Celestial Force!”

He rose, lost in thought, preparing to stride forth. Yet, he faltered, his gaze flickering as he raised his right hand. An jade slip materialized.

He imbued the slip with a tendril of his divine sense and cast it outward. It vanished in a flash of light.

“The Council of Elders shall heed my command! Gather the remaining strength and unleash an assault upon the newly forged Inner Realm array, sparing no cost to shatter it within three years!”

“All Sky-Masterful beings throughout the Ancient Starry Realm, by my authority, you are to gather at the Council of Elders and obey the decree to destroy the array!”

“Every tribe in the Ancient Starry Realm, your Fifth Decayed Heaven-Human cultivators are hereby ordered to hasten to the Council of Elders and undergo the secret crafting of Sky Puppets! Any who refuse shall suffer the destruction of their entire clan!”

“Open the vaults of the Council of Elders! Retrieve the Ancient Imperial Edict! Drench it in the blood of one hundred thousand cultivators, revealing the ancient writ!”

The Ascendant Lord, his face a mask of shadow, delivered these edicts with chilling finality. Then, with a flicker of his form, he vanished into the starry depths.

“And there is Blue Dream Dao Sovereign, the corporeal vessel of the Fifth Immortal Concubine is his wife, and her soul yet endures, coexisting with the Concubine’s…” In the star-strewn void, the Ascendant Lord paused, his eyes hardening with resolve. In a moment, he disappeared.

He reappeared within the Ancient Starry Realm, upon Blue Mountain, home of the Blue Silk Clan. Dolorous melodies echoed across the slopes. The Ascendant Lord, standing in the sky, listened to the lament for a long while, then with a flourish of his sleeve, he addressed the wooden dwelling at the mountain’s peak.

“Blue Dream, old friend, are you aware of the events unfolding in Luo Tian of the Inner Realm?”

The mournful music lingered, then slowly faded. From within the dwelling, the voice of Blue Dream Dao Sovereign responded.

“I am.”

“Should you draw from him but a single arrow, I swear upon my immortal blood, I shall spare no effort to force out the Fifth Immortal Concubine’s soul!”

Silence hung heavy within the wooden dwelling.

Knowing that Blue Dream could not refuse such an offer, the Ascendant Lord turned and stepped away, vanishing without a trace.

He reappeared near a star-realm rift in the Ancient Starry Realm. Without entering, the Ascendant Lord’s gaze flickered, and he projected a wave of his vast divine sense.

“Seventh Immortal Concubine, you have secluded yourself for long, your injuries long healed. If you do not act, our pact is forfeit!”

After a long silence, a calm voice floated from within the rift.

“I will act.”

The Ascendant Lord regarded the rift for a moment, then turned and departed.

His figure flickered across the void as he summoned the last remnants of power within the Ancient Starry Realm. Finally, he arrived at the heart of the realm, a place where nine great fragments of land floated together, forming a circle.

An invisible barrier enveloped the area, impenetrable to all but those who possessed the blood of immortals.

Upon one of those fragments, the Ascendant Lord stood respectfully, bowing towards a distant point.

“Disciple seeks audience with the Master!”