The moment his words echoed across the void, the Four War Generals paled as one. Even the ancient strategist, Zhan Laogui, lurking at the rear, stilled, his gaze sharpening upon Wang Lin!

For the first time, Wang Lin had voiced the unspoken dread that haunted their hearts, speaking aloud of the Third Soul!

Such a matter was shrouded in the deepest secrecy, never breathed by the War Generals to Wang Lin’s ears. They deemed it a knowledge possessed by precious few within the Domain of the Caves.

Yet, before they could recover from the shock of Wang Lin’s revelation, his left hand rose. The Sky-Cleaving Axe, once a mere trinket, swelled to a colossal size, dwarfing even the mightiest warships. A wave of Daogu energy washed over Wang Lin, visibly augmenting his frame.

Wielding the axe forged by the Ancient Gods, infused with the power of his own Daogu blood, there was no being in all the realms more suited to command its might. Gripping it firmly, Wang Lin, without hesitation or qualm, swung the weapon downwards with earth-shattering force!

All transpired in an instant. As the axe descended, the starfield shuddered. Behind Wang Lin, a spectral image of a Daogu warrior materialized, mirroring his movements, wielding its own phantom axe in a symphony of destruction!

Qinglong, the Azure Dragon General, stood nearest the brunt of the assault. With a roar, he unleashed the very essence of his immortal blood, a serpentine dragon of a thousand fathoms erupting around him, lunging towards the descending axe!

Simultaneously, Xuanwu, Zhuque, and Baihu – the Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger Generals – roared in unison. Three spectral beasts manifested around Wang Lin: the gargantuan White Tiger, the fire-wreathed Vermilion Bird, and the earth-shattering Black Tortoise, each seeking to devour him in their monstrous embrace.

Wang Lin’s face remained an unreadable mask. He intended to etch a lesson of pain upon these ancient immortals, a memory they would carry for eternity. He made no attempt to evade. Daogu power surged around him, hardening his form into the unyielding Daogu Imperishable Body!

Even as his flesh rapidly repaired itself, the axe in Wang Lin’s left hand crashed downwards, cleaving a gaping rift in the fabric of reality itself. The Azure Dragon General, caught in the path of the blow, thrashed and roared in defiance, but ultimately shattered. The shattered dragon revealed the War General, who stumbled forward, launching himself towards Wang Lin.

United in their desperation, the four Generals unleashed their combined powers upon Wang Lin in a blinding barrage.

Wang Lin, gripping the axe after its initial strike, swept it horizontally in a devastating arc. The resounding boom echoed across the void. The immense axe-light clashed against the Generals’ onslaught, creating a maelstrom of energy that sent the ranks of a hundred-odd immortals reeling backwards.

Yet, the Generals’ attacks pierced the shield of axe-light, landing squarely upon Wang Lin!

The starfield quaked as if collapsing. The Four War Generals staggered back, their faces contorted in a mask of grim resolve.

Wang Lin, however, stood unyielding astride the Nether Beast. Using his Daogu Imperishable Body, he had endured the full force of their combined assault!

“Your powers have yet to fully recover,” Wang Lin declared, his voice resonating with quiet confidence, “You are merely at the peak of the Sky Profound realm… Such power cannot harm this body.” He stepped forward with startling speed, closing the distance to a retreating immortal. His right hand shot out, tearing…

The power of Sky-Rending erupted. Wang Lin’s right arm, infused with the power of Hualmo, seized the immortal. He had no chance to resist, his body disintegrating into a spray of blood and bone, his screams cut short.

Even two immortals standing behind him could not escape the Sky-Rending power, their bodies collapsing, their souls torn asunder.

Wang Lin blurred through space. As the Four War Generals closed in, he dove into the rift he had created, reappearing behind another cluster of immortals.

“Sky-Rend!” Wang Lin roared. His right hand lashed out, and the air filled with anguished cries as seven or eight immortals succumbed to the annihilating force.

The Four War Generals roared in fury, their divine powers flooding the starfield, rushing towards Wang Lin with furious speed. But Wang Lin’s Daogu Imperishable Body held firm, and he strode onward, appearing before yet another terrified group of immortals.

In the eyes of these hapless souls, they felt an overwhelming agony, unable to resist or evade, crumbling into blood-soaked oblivion.

“Wang Lin! I will slaughter your immortal realm!” Qinglong, the Azure Dragon General bellowed, his eyes burning with rage, but tinged with a disbelief at Wang Lin’s power and astonishing resilience.

“It seems the lesson of blood has not been fully absorbed,” Wang Lin retorted. He turned and stepped back onto the Nether Beast. Seeing Zhan Laogui about to intercept, he flicked the blood from his hand and stroked the Nether Beast’s flank.

“Consume them.”

As the words left Wang Lin’s lips, Zhan Laogui froze in his tracks. The Nether Beast’s eyes snapped open!

The sheer, unfeeling coldness in its gaze sent a shiver down the spines of all present.

At that moment, the Qinglong General, struck by the Nether Beast’s gaze, felt a wave of dread wash over him. He had seen such a look only once before, long ago, when he had witnessed a being wreathed in mist consume Liandao Fei whole!

“This… this…” Even as Qinglong and the other War Generals recoiled in horror, the Nether Beast, obeying Wang Lin’s command, opened its vast maw and devoured the starfield!

The cosmos trembled, the heavens shifted, and the very fabric of reality contorted. A swirling mist materialized, emanating an ancient and alien aura.

A powerful vortex of energy erupted. Despite the frantic efforts of the Four War Generals, the remaining seventy or eighty immortals around Wang Lin, their faces ashen with terror, were dragged towards the yawning abyss. Their screams of fear echoed across the void as they were consumed by the Nether Beast’s gargantuan maw.

All this happened with blinding speed, over in a breath. The world was filled with mist, and then screams.

When it was done, the void remained, but of all those who had stood against Wang Lin, only five remained standing!
“Will the sting of this remain?”, Wang Lin intoned, seated atop the abyssal Umbra Beast. His expression, unyielding as granite, betrayed nothing. Though his voice was a mere whisper, its arrival in the ears of the five warriors, including the aged Battle Wraith, sent tremors of dread through their very souls!

“The Celestial Dao! It is the Celestial Dao itself!” The Azure Dragon General stammered, his form quivering. His eyes, wide with a terror that threatened to drown him whole, revealed a fear unmatched by any he had known, surpassing even the sight of Wang Lin drawing the Bow of Li Guang!

“Celestial Dao… in his possession… this… this…” The Vermillion Bird General, his cunning intellect rendered useless, stood paralyzed, his face a mask of horror mirroring, and perhaps exceeding, that of the Azure Dragon. He felt the very essence of existence threatened by the Celestial Dao’s consuming power, a force capable of obliterating him utterly. In his mind, Wang Lin had ascended to a terrifying deity, a master of all.

The White Tiger and Black Tortoise Generals were no better, frozen in place as if struck by a petrifying curse.

“I… I dared berate the Celestial Dao…”

“No wonder its aura eluded me, no wonder…”

In the distance, the Battle Wraith’s eyes narrowed to pinpricks, shock rendering his ancient features taut. Within him, the Soul of Seven Colors stirred, taking brutal command of the old warrior’s form. A malevolent aura, belonging to the Immortal Venerate of Seven Colors, twisted his visage, fixing upon Wang Lin with palpable dread.

Outside the Domain of Caves, the Seven Colors feared not the Celestial Dao, but within these boundaries, the Dao was all, the very essence of the realm. To command the Celestial Dao was to command existence itself.

Yet, even the Celestial Dao had its limits. Had not Lian Dao Fei shattered it with his self-immolation? The Battle Wraith, though confident in his ability to resist, found himself grappling with a far more troubling notion.

“You have found the third shard…” the Battle Wraith croaked, his voice infused with a chilling despair that was not his own, but rather the lament of the Soul of Seven Colors.

“I have not,” Wang Lin replied, his voice devoid of emotion. Beneath him, the Umbra Beast, its eyes like ancient abysses, regarded the five warriors with disdain before drifting silently into the inky expanse.

As they passed the four generals, the warriors recoiled, granting passage with trembling limbs, unable to muster the will to hinder them. They watched as Wang Lin and his spectral mount faded into the star-strewn void, their minds reeling.

They might have possessed the means to contend with the Battle Wraith, for the Wraith’s body was yet tethered to the Soul of Seven Colors, but before the power of the Celestial Dao, they could only offer silence and retreat.

Wang Lin, astride the Umbra Beast, drifted toward Kunxu, his face an impassive mask. But within his heart, a sigh of doubt echoed.

“Is the Celestial Dao still incomplete? The four generals were easily cowed, but the Battle Wraith… the Umbra Beast sensed its resilience, its resistance to being consumed…”

Meanwhile, within the Kunxu Starfield, a rainbow of light pulsed in the void. The Daoist of Seven Colors, clutching nine fist-sized spheres of blood, strode forward with purpose.

“The Nine Xuan bloodlines are finally complete. With this power, I shall unveil the Path of Reincarnation and locate the Third Teacher, who fled into the cycle of rebirth… He must be within Kunxu.”

Far away, upon the Immortal Continent, deep within the untamed lands of the Immortal Clan, lay a labyrinth of mountains cloaked in primeval forests. Darkness reigned beneath a sky alive with stars, and the howls of savage beasts echoed through the night.

In ages past, nestled amidst these mountains, stood an immortal sect known as the Seven Dao Sect.

In the moonlit sky, a ripple distorted the celestial orb, and from it, a solitary figure materialized. A young man with raven hair, his face etched with weariness, gazed down upon the land below. A smile of pure joy illuminated his features, mingled with a desperate hope. It was as if the price he had paid to reach this place was of no consequence.

“My child of the Dao Clan, I have come to bring you home. The path ahead may be fraught with peril, but I know you will not yield to fear.” With a hopeful smile, the young man descended into the mountains.