“By the Heavens, it is Tian Yunzi!” Wang Lin cried out, his vision shattering. The azure light that had enveloped him dissipated, and with a surge of power, he ascended into the heavens, vanishing from the Immortal Realm and piercing through the outer reaches of the Milky Way.

Qing Lin gazed upon the spot where Wang Lin had disappeared, a hint of concern flickering across her features.

“Fear not,” a voice boomed, laced with chilling intent. “To dare scheme against the son-in-law of the esteemed Lan Meng Dao Zun! Tian Yunzi will not live long.” A murderous glint shone in the eyes of Lan Mang Dao Zun, for he regarded Wang Lin as his own kin. Though his words were calm, his heart seethed with rage. With a flick of his sleeve, his form dissolved into a streak of azure light, vanishing from the snow-capped mountain.

Qing Lin’s eyes flashed with determination. She took a step forward, following Wang Lin into the heavens. Before departing, she extended her divine sense across the Immortal Realm, a plea echoing through the void.

“Red Pine Elder, Southern Cloud Elder, Wang Lin, my friend, has been ensnared by a being called Tian Yunzi. I, Qing Lin, give chase. Will you join me in this pursuit?”

From the heart of the Immortal Realm, the aura of Red Pine Elder erupted, his form materializing in an instant. Without hesitation, he strode towards the heavens.

Southern Cloud Elder paused, a moment of contemplation etched upon his face. He chose to remain behind, recognizing that the Immortal Realm could ill afford to lose more of its powerful protectors in this critical hour.

Wang Lin burst forth from the Milky Way of the Immortal Realm, taking a single stride that carried him into the Zhao He Star Territory. His countenance was serene, yet his eyes burned with a deadly fire. Many questions plagued his mind, but the words of Lan Meng Dao Zun had illuminated one truth:

Tian Yunzi had been plotting against him for a long time, from the days on Planet Suzaku to the trials in the Land of the Ancient Demons!

“He saw through my schemes, and once failed to account for me, yet he quickly spun another web, using a false guise as bait. This man… I, Wang Lin, must slay! No matter the thoughts and plans he harbors, even if I know them not, it matters little. With his death, all will end!” Wang Lin’s killing intent was palpable, his very being akin to a drawn blade, hurtling through the cosmos.

His roar echoed through the void, his essence blending with the heavens as he surged towards the location revealed by his divine sense, his speed unmatched.

In the depths of the Zhao He Star Territory, within a floating asteroid, Tian Yunzi’s face paled. A moment prior, he had sensed a gaze upon him, a divine sense piercing through the void. In that fleeting connection, he had recognized the presence of Wang Lin!

“His cultivation should not allow him to find me so quickly… someone aids him! And this is not Qing Lin!” Tian Yunzi’s eyes narrowed. He rose to his feet, but before he could leave the asteroid, he abruptly turned, his gaze piercing through the rock, and his expression darkened.

“So swift…”

Outside the asteroid, in the distant void, a streak of light hurtled towards him. Within that radiant beam was Wang Lin, his eyes locked upon the floating rock. His right hand clenched into a fist, his speed accelerating. The beam of light collided with the asteroid, a cataclysmic impact that shattered the silence of the void.

**BOOM!** The sound deafened the heavens as Wang Lin’s fist struck the asteroid. The rock splintered into countless fragments, dissolving into dust.

A wave of destructive energy emanated from the point of impact, threatening to tear a hole in the very fabric of the cosmos.

With a flash of iridescent light, Tian Yunzi materialized in the distance. He raised his hands, weaving arcane gestures to dispel the encroaching wave of destruction.

“Tian Yunzi!” Wang Lin roared, fixing his gaze upon his foe. He strode forward, each step carrying him closer.

Tian Yunzi’s face remained calm, devoid of fear. As Wang Lin drew near, a raging inferno erupted from Tian Yunzi’s left eye, spreading into a sea of fire before him.

His right hand rose, pointing towards the heavens.

Instantly, the sea of fire transformed into a magnificent Vermillion Bird, its fiery wings spanning the heavens. With a piercing cry, the immense bird flapped its wings and dove towards Wang Lin.

This sight did not surprise Wang Lin, for Lan Mang Dao Zun’s words had prepared him. Now, seeing his own fire essence controlled by Tian Yunzi, his killing intent surged even higher.

As the Vermillion Bird screeched closer, fire blazed from Wang Lin’s left eye, forming an equally massive Vermillion Bird before him. With a thunderous roar, it hurtled forward!

The scene was awe-inspiring, a sight rarely seen. Two colossal Vermillion Birds, each claiming half the cosmos, collided in an earth-shattering clash. Behind each bird stood Wang Lin and Tian Yunzi, their white hair dancing in the astral winds, their eyes piercing through the flames, meeting in a deadly gaze!

The collision of fire essence, the clash of the Vermillion Birds, unleashed a cataclysmic heat wave that swept through the stars. The cosmos trembled, scarred with fiery rifts. The two Vermillion Birds shattered in a thunderous explosion, sending fiery tendrils spiraling outwards. Half engulfed Tian Yunzi, and half consumed Wang Lin.

Amidst the fiery vortex, bolts of lightning crackled around Tian Yunzi, as though summoned by an ancient god. Lightning converged from the cosmos, coalescing into a gargantuan nine-headed thunder dragon.

The nine-headed dragon roared, each head crackling with destructive lightning, and bursting through the fiery maelstrom, it charged towards Wang Lin, like a trial of divine thunder.

Wang Lin’s face darkened. He was intimately familiar with thunder essence. Without hesitation, he charged forward, and in that instance, lightning flashed in his right eye, and his entire being transformed into a colossal bolt of primal thunder, aimed directly at the nine-headed dragon!

With a deafening crash, lightning essence erupted where the shattered flames still flickered. Wang Lin’s face paled as the thunderbolts collided and crackled around him, but he pressed forward, ignoring the assault, and passed through the lightning, now within a few dozen steps of Tian Yunzi!

A subtle smile spread across Tian Yunzi’s face as he watched Wang Lin approach. He shook his head slightly, and raised his right hand, extending his fingers in a grasping motion towards Wang Lin, and with this fleeting motion, his fingers clenched into a fist!
Wang Lin mirrored Tian Yunzi’s every move. As their fists clenched in unison, they yanked outwards with ferocious strength!

Both figures were jolted violently. Tian Yunzi’s face paled, and he coughed a mouthful of crimson blood. He staggered back, yet his eyes remained disturbingly calm.

“Your arcane arts, your very essence, all that you are, I will…”

Wang Lin retreated, his gaze locked on Tian Yunzi. A murderous intent blazed within his eyes, weaving a crimson lattice of blood vessels throughout his pupils.

“My essence, my arts, you will take? Then consider this!” Wang Lin swept his right hand across his eyes. In that instant, two colossal phantom orbs, replicas of his own pupils, materialized on either side of him. Infested with the writhing, crimson threads of his own blood, they resembled nothing so much as the binding fabric of cosmic law.

“The Source of Inhibition! With threads of my own sight, I weave a Rule made manifest!” Wang Lin bellowed, his hands sweeping outwards. The two vast eyes surged forward, swelling in size until they dwarfed star systems.

From within the pupils, the crimson threads unwound, flooding the starry expanse until all was enveloped in a web of crimson.

Each crimson strand pulsed with the power of restriction, ensnaring Tian Yunzi within its suffocating embrace like a spider’s silken trap.

“Killing Binding!” Wang Lin roared. The crimson threads sharpened, becoming blades of pure energy that lashed out at Tian Yunzi, tearing through him with the merciless fury of a celestial grinder.

“You and I are as one, you are but a fragment of myself. What matter if you slay me…?!” A sinister smile twisted Tian Yunzi’s lips. Before Wang Lin’s disbelieving eyes, his form was rent apart by the crimson tendrils, vanishing into nothingness.

As he dissolved, a spectral essence, visible only to Wang Lin, seeped from the remnants of Tian Yunzi and soared toward him. Resist as he might, the essence plunged into Wang Lin’s form, merging with the nascent soul of Tian Yunzi’s fragment that already resided within him. The fragment swelled with power, growing stronger within Wang Lin’s very soul.

Simultaneously, as the soul fragment within him surged in power, Wang Lin sensed, across the Zhao He Star Region, the resurgence of Tian Yunzi’s presence!

Silent and grim, Wang Lin strode forward, vanishing into the void.

In that direction, upon a solitary cultivation star, lay a desolate basin. All around, life had withered and died, save for a lone old man with a shock of white hair, clad in white robes, who sat in meditative repose. He opened his eyes, a mirror of the same unsettling smile upon his lips. Blood, as thick as ink, spiderwebbed across his pupils, each strand pulsating with the forbidden energy of his binding arts!

“To forfeit a mere fragment of soul, and gain the Source of Inhibition in return… a worthwhile trade indeed. Yet his power is wanting still. He must grow stronger…then my grand design will draw ever nearer…” A feverish anticipation gleamed in Tian Yunzi’s eyes.

“The Cycle of One… Truly, this art is wondrous. With the awakening of my memories, I perceive that I was not the first to awaken, nor the second. Ninety-seven times have I broken free…” He drew a ragged breath. “This, then, is my ninety-eighth awakening!”

As the crimson threads faded from his eyes, Tian Yunzi rose to his feet and gazed skyward.

“He should be arriving soon…”

Even as the words left his lips, the skies above the cultivation star roiled. From the emptiness itself, Wang Lin emerged, his gaze burning with righteous fury as it fixed upon Tian Yunzi.

The smile on Tian Yunzi’s face widened at Wang Lin’s appearance.

“The next time…it lies in that direction.”

Tian Yunzi raised his right hand, pointing to the east. Then, tracing an arc with his finger, he plunged it into the center of his brow. The finger pierced his skull, and with a final, twisted grin, his body dissolved into nothingness. A wisp of his fractured soul drifted outwards, merging with Wang Lin in a blinding flash.

Wang Lin felt a chill grip his heart as he stared at the empty space where Tian Yunzi had stood.

“What is he planning?!” A cold dread washed over Wang Lin. He sensed once more a faint echo of Tian Yunzi’s presence beckoning him toward the direction he had indicated earlier.

It was an invitation, a lure, a promise of things yet to come.