Their eyes met in that fleeting moment, a thunderclap in their minds. Wang Lin, urging the White Tiger and his companions onward, plunged into the sixth layer, ascending towards the seventh. His face was ashen, his expression grave.

Yun Kong, too, felt the reverberation. His gaze, fixed on the heavens, now held a strange light.

“Ah,” he murmured, a faint smile playing on his lips. “I believed within the Tianniu Continent, only old relics and Yun Yifeng could stir my interest. Yet, today, I see another! The chilling aura in his eyes… he is a ruthless one indeed.” With that, Yun Kong raised his sword and began his ascent.

Wang Lin surged through the sixth layer, only the final seventh layer remained between him and freedom, a path leading beyond the Dan Sea Restriction Array. But time was a cruel master, allowing no respite. The seventh layer was thick with an obscuring mist, making it impossible to find a weakness within the limited time.

Adding to the peril was the presence of Yun Kong behind him. In the sixth layer, Wang Lin’s eyes flashed. As the clouds beneath his feet rippled, as if threatened by the passage of sword energy, his eyes glowed with crimson light. Two colossal, blood-red pupils materialized behind him, shimmering like an ominous omen.

“Origin of Restriction, merge with this Restriction Array!” Wang Lin roared, his voice laced with power. The colossal pupils behind him shattered instantly, their countless filaments surging forth like a swarm of crimson serpents, encircling him in a whirlwind of red, transforming him into a crimson meteor hurtling toward the seventh layer!

The moment Wang Lin burst through, the mist of the sixth layer collapsed, erupting with sword energy that sought to obliterate all in its path. The sword intent contained within was terrifying.

“Fellow Daoist, stay!” Yun Kong’s deep voice echoed through the layers. The sword energy, having obliterated the sixth layer, swiftly coalesced, reforming into a Heaven-rending sword shadow, screaming toward Wang Lin.

To be blocked by this sword energy would mean imprisonment within the seventh layer. The peril was imminent. Yet, Wang Lin, a veteran of countless battles, only grew calmer in the face of such danger. His mind became a still lake, reflecting only cold calculation.

As the sword energy bore down on him, Wang Lin spun around, his right hand raised, his Flame Origin True Body manifesting behind him. With a palm raised to the heavens, the mist in the seventh layer roiled and churned, birthing a colossal palm print!

The Spirit-Controlling Seal!

But not one! Wang Lin’s Fire Origin True Body, too, raised its right hand. And there, amidst the mist, behind the first gargantuan palm print, appeared another, seemingly forged of burning flames. Two palm prints, one before the other, crashed down upon the approaching sword energy.

Simultaneously, below Wang Lin and Yun Kong, within the sea cleaved in two by the sword energy, the strand of divine sense Wang Lin had merged with the ocean stirred. Sensing Wang Lin’s will, the sea roared, unleashing countless titanic waves. The entire ocean seethed, and from its depths, a colossal hand composed of seawater rose abruptly!

As this hand ascended, the ocean visibly receded, as if its essence was being absorbed to form the watery palm, which thundered upwards.

Three palm prints, two above, one below, all aimed at Yun Kong and his sword energy!

Wang Lin’s own palm was the first to arrive, crashing into the sword energy with a deafening roar. His hand disintegrated upon impact. But as it crumbled, the Fire Origin True Body’s palm landed, a fiery judgment descending.

At that moment, the Water Origin palm, conjured from the ocean’s depths, slammed into the sky, aimed directly at Yun Kong and his sword energy. It was a symphony of water and fire, a combined assault of fiery and watery power!

As the two titanic palm prints neared one another, the seawater began to emit a dense vapor, as if being scorched dry. In turn, the fiery palm seemed to flicker, threatened with extinguishment by the surrounding moisture. But because both fire and water were Wang Lin’s own Origins, emanating from his very being, neither was truly extinguished. Instead, they grew stronger!

Even Wang Lin had not anticipated the effect of wielding water and fire Origins in tandem. The hand forged of seawater began to boil, releasing copious amounts of vapor, obscuring the fiery palm in the sky, yet intensifying its flames, which now blazed with ferocious intensity.

Even Yun Kong’s expression turned grim. With a sweeping stroke of his sword, the fire palm fell, colliding with the sword shadow. And then, with earth-shattering force, the watery palm slammed upwards.

In a blinding explosion, the water and fire palm prints collided with Yun Kong and his sword energy, unleashing a force far exceeding the power of either Origin alone!

This power was Qi!

Qi, an Origin of the heavens and earth, so rare it was near unattainable. It could not be simply acquired, but was born only when one mastered both water and fire Origins, and then, through a delicate convergence, birthed this new, nascent power!

The value of this Origin was far greater than any single one.

The moment the Qi Origin appeared, both the water and fire palm prints disintegrated. But Yun Kong’s sword energy, too, was utterly annihilated for the first time. A savage shockwave ripped through the surroundings. Wang Lin, propelled backward by the force, harnessed it to scatter the mists of the seventh layer, charging through the opening with the White Tiger and his companions. Yun Kong staggered, pushed back several paces by the disintegration of the water and fire palms. Then, a chilling shriek echoed, and the Yi Si puppet, released by Wang Lin, lunged at Yun Kong with terrifying ferocity.

The Yi Si’s appearance was sudden, as if it had waited for this precise moment. Its speed was breathtaking, and in a flash, its obsidian claws reached for Yun Kong.

The timing was perfect. As the suffocating aura washed over him, Yun Kong’s face paled. He bit his tongue, and as the Yi Si approached, spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood instantly transformed into a scarlet sword energy, which lashed out at the approaching puppet!

Everything happened too fast. The sword energy struck the Yi Si, severing its right arm. The Yi Si shrieked in agony, recoiling instantly. But the severed arm twisted and turned into five strands of black mist, that with impossible speed, plunged directly into Yun Kong’s body.
A guttural groan escaped Yun Kong’s lips, crimson staining the corner of his mouth. The five tendrils of black miasma, imbued with a malevolent aura that could rend souls, were wreaking havoc within his body. Their eradication proved near impossible, for woven into the darkness was the very power of the Dao Ancient lineage!

“Farewell, Yun Kong, friend,” a resonant voice echoed from the heavens. It was Wang Lin. Yun Kong, staggering backward, looked up to see the armless puppet, Yi Si, dissolving into a cloud of ebony smoke, drawn back into Wang Lin’s possession. Wang Lin himself, astride the White Tiger and his companions, vanished into the seventh layer of swirling mists, a network of crimson sigils blazing across his form. The air crackled with departing power.

Only after Wang Lin’s departure did Yun Kong permit himself a smile, though it was a grim and unsettling expression.

“Heh…this venture into Tianniu Prefecture should prove…interesting. But next time, I shall grant you no escape! Such strength as yours should be forged within my blade-furnace, Yun Kong’s eternal offering!” A flicker of dark ambition ignited in Yun Kong’s eyes. He turned and strode towards the Azure Sea, his face pale. The battle had wounded him, but time for healing was a luxury he could not afford. He had to fulfill the task set to him by the ancient forefathers: to refine this Sea of Pills and return its essence to the half-celestial pearl!

Within the Sea of Pills, not a single cultivator of Tianniu Prefecture remained. All were dead.

The entire Sea had become a dominion of the Green Devil Continent!

Outside the Sea, upon Tianniu Prefecture, Wang Lin’s figure, a streak of vibrant color, paused a league away. Blood trickled down his chin. With sudden ferocity, he whirled around, his gaze dark and unforgiving, fixed upon the Sea of Pills, now obscured by layers of forbidden enchantment.

“White Tiger, you three must depart,” Wang Lin declared. “I have other matters, and cannot travel with you. The Great Soul Gate lies far from here, but the Return to One Sect is closer. If you wish to inform them of these events, hasten your journey.”

“As for the Great Soul Gate, I myself will carry the tidings!” Wang Lin’s eyes, fixed upon the Sea of Pills, blazed with frigid intent. He raised his right hand, revealing a jade slip, a sending-stone from the Great Soul Gate. Imbued with his divine sense, he cast it skyward. It transformed into a spectral ray, piercing the heavens with blinding speed and disappearing in an instant.

Such sending-stones, with their unique design, traveled many times faster than a cultivator. However, the exact time it would take for the Great Soul Gate to receive the message remained unknown.

Upon seeing the sending-stone, the three companions recognized it as an object only used within the Great Soul Gate, and their expressions shifted.

“I have joined the Great Soul Gate, and now hold the title of Elder,” Wang Lin stated, sensing their unease. He slowly removed his gaze from the Sea of Pills.

“Take care!” White Tiger and the others returned his greeting. They spoke no thanks, yet neither did they forget the past and their encounters within the Cave Worlds.

“And you as well!” Wang Lin’s smile was genuine as he bowed. His gaze lingered for a moment upon the Vermillion Bird.

The Vermillion Bird sighed internally, as if wanting to say something, but in the end remained silent. The three of them transformed into streaks of light, and traveled toward the Return to One Sect.

Only when they had disappeared into the horizon did Wang Lin turn back, his eyes fixed on the Sea of Pills once more. Murderous intent flared.

“Never in my time upon this Immortal Astral Continent have I suffered such a grievous loss! Yun Kong, unless I seize this opportunity and strike you down in your wounded state, Wang Lin cannot endure this insult!” The agonizing cries of Yi Si echoed in his mind, filling him with pain and wrath. Furthermore, Yun Kong’s cultivation was peculiar, not overtly powerful, but that Sword Intent… it was terrifying.

He had taken possession of several magical treasures won from Yan Chong, stripping them of Yan Chong’s divine sense. Chief among them was a gourd containing thirty million soul-spirits, a devastating force, though its use was limited to a single strike!

His mind made up, Wang Lin shot toward the Sea of Pills.

His actions might appear reckless, but he was betting that Yun Kong assumed that after a hard-fought escape, he would not dare return. It was that very assumption he would exploit.

“To slay Yun Kong, I must first seize the control-compass of that forbidden formation!” This was the first being since arriving upon the Immortal Astral Continent whom Wang Lin had ever truly sought to kill!