The speed was blinding. Lord Xu’s right hand slammed the incense into the earth, planting it firm. He recoiled, three paces back, his left hand forming arcane gestures, a near-countless barrage of sigils manifested in the blink of an eye. His right hand mirrored the action, conjuring a tempest of equally potent glyphs. Both hands slammed down upon the soil.

With a thunderous roar, the earth around Wang Lin convulsed. The ground itself churned into a frenzied vortex, its edges rising skyward to form a colossal dome of imprisoning earth!

From afar, it resembled a gargantuan clod of dirt, enveloping Wang Lin entirely.

“Earth Rend!” Xu徳cai roared, and the earthen sphere began to constrict with terrifying force.

Xu Đức tài enjoyed a fearsome reputation throughout Green Devil Isle. His most terrifying attribute was his unparalleled speed in wielding arcane arts. This velocity granted him an undeniable advantage over his peers, allowing him to relentlessly bombard his foes with an endless stream of spells, leaving them no respite until utter annihilation!

It was this mastery that led the Dao Demon Sect, despite his status as a rogue cultivator, to extend a gracious invitation.

Trapped within the earthen prison, Wang Lin was surrounded by four towering figures of animated mud. A cacophony of muffled explosions echoed around him. Within his core, he felt the strange force of Xu Đức tài’s incense-fueled obeisance. Encircling him all the while, the gargantuan mud sphere pressed in. Above, a colossal whale-shaped specter opened its maw, swallowing the entire earthen prison in a single, monstrous gulp.

As the phantom whale dissipated, the earthen sphere remained, suspended in the air. Nine serpentine apparitions of blackest shadow materialized around it, spewing torrents of noxious venom into the clay, poisoning it from within.

With a deafening crash that reverberated through the heavens, the earthen sphere shattered. A surge of raw power erupted from within, coalescing into a gigantic fist that pulverized several of the shadowy serpents. The mud prison disintegrated completely, revealing Wang Lin, bruised and battered.

In his long life, Wang Lin had faced countless battles, yet this was the first in which he had been given no chance to recover, assailed by such an unrelenting onslaught.

The sheer speed of his opponent’s spellcasting was truly terrifying!

Scarcely had Wang Lin emerged from the shattered remains of the earthen prison when a wave of golden blades descended, their razor edges whistling through the air.

Close behind the whirling blades, eighteen golems of animated earth marched forth, each footfall a thunderous echo.

Trailing the earth golems, a painted scroll unraveled, undulating like a silken ribbon as it rapidly approached.

From behind the scroll, a gigantic bone, radiating an aura of immense age, was flung like a projectile, shrouded in an ethereal glow, hurtling directly towards Wang Lin.

Even further back, countless blades of emerald grass surged from the earth, each blade coalescing into a droplet of venomous liquid, forming a rain of destruction.

Beyond the green torrent, a swirling mist filled the heavens, as if tearing apart the storm clouds themselves, which became two gigantic hands that converged upon Wang Lin with devastating force.

Finally, the whale-shaped specter that had swallowed Wang Lin before reappeared, now surrounded by nine serpentine shadows that breathed venomous vapor. The beast opened its maw once more, ready to attempt a second devouring.

This creature was insidious. According to legend, those who were consumed by the whale more than thrice were doomed to severe injury.

Even Wang Lin felt a prickle of apprehension. Never had he imagined that anyone could wield magic with such overwhelming speed.

In so brief a time, his adversary had unleashed such a staggering number of spells. It felt as though he were battling not one, but many!

With no time to contemplate, the yellow blades reached him, filling the space around him in a whirlwind of steel.

Such rapid, relentless attacks gave Wang Lin no opportunity to retaliate. The onslaught arrived precisely as Wang Lin made his reappearance.

The sound of steel against steel echoed throughout the heavens as the blades hammered against him, forcing him backwards.

His clothes were torn to shreds. This was, without a doubt, one of the most harrowing battles he had ever faced! Had it not been for the resilience of his Dao-infused body, the blades would have surely wounded him grievously.

The eighteen earth golems allowed Wang Lin no respite. They lumbered forward, detonating in a devastating explosion of earth and force.

The shockwave engulfed Wang Lin, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. As he attempted to retreat, the painted scroll rippled forward, unfolding into a series of constricting spirals that enveloped him.

The scroll then shattered, unleashing a hundred thousand strands of razor-thin threads that pierced Wang Lin’s flesh, causing untold damage.

The assault was far from over. After the painted scroll, the bone engulfed in spectral light hurtled towards Wang Lin. Just as it reached him, the black sky above ripped open, revealing a monstrous canine maw.

It was a hound of the earth, but its visage was twisted into a grotesque parody, revealing a savage, bloodthirsty nature. Its red eyes fixated on the bone, and with a bloodcurdling howl, it lunged forward.

The earth hound was a monstrous beast, raised by the Lord Xu徳cai and used to maim and murder.

The hound’s speed was blinding. Its jaws snapped upon the bone, and its skull smashed into Wang Lin’s body.

Blood gushed from Wang Lin’s mouth as he was sent reeling backwards. The relentless torrent of green liquid descended, each droplet striking Wang Lin’s body with a thunderous detonation.
In that roaring, dizzying instant, the true killing blow descended. Two colossal hands, summoned by unseen power, slammed inward from either side, converging upon Wang Lin with earth-shattering force. They closed within ten paces, a thunderous clap echoing across the desolate plains!

Cracking sounds resonated from within Wang Lin’s very being, as though his mortal shell would shatter beneath the pressure. At the brink of annihilation, his hands shot upward, fists clenched, to meet the crushing palms head-on.

Simultaneously, from afar, a gargantuan phantom, shaped like a whale, surged forward with gaping maw, intent on swallowing Wang Lin whole. The very air vibrated with its approach.

The clash reverberated across the boundless steppes. The titanic hands met Wang Lin’s fists, unleashing a cataclysmic explosion of sound and raw power. Blood mist erupted from Wang Lin’s body as he was hurled backwards. The whale-beast loomed, ready to devour him in a single gulp, just as a triumphant smirk flickered across Xu Decai’s face in the distance.

But then, Wang Lin spat forth a shard of pure obsidian. The stone pulsed with an ethereal black light, merging with the encroaching shadows. From this darkness, a monstrous specter materialized – a leviathan of similar form to the whale, yet dwarfing it in size and power.

This was Wang Lin’s Heavenly Dao, the Umbral Beast!

Awakened into existence, its eyes shone with a mixture of confusion and savage hunger. Fear forgotten, it lunged, engaging Xu Decai’s illusory whale in a desperate, ravenous contest of consumption.

Xu Decai’s eyes widened in horror, his pupils contracting to pinpricks. Without hesitation, he recoiled, his fingers flying through a complex series of hand seals, desperate to recall his phantom creature.

But this time, his speed was not enough.

In a deafening roar, Xu Decai’s whale-beast, faltering in its retreat, was seized by the Umbral Beast and swallowed whole, without hesitation or reprieve.

At the moment of the whale’s demise, Xu Decai’s face turned ashen, and a torrent of blood gushed from his lips.

“My Heavenly Dao!!!” His cry was a lament, filled with a pain that defied description. His eyes burned crimson, for the devouring of a Heavenly Dao was beyond comprehension, a violation of all known truths.

Even though Wang Lin possessed his own Heavenly Dao, the very notion of one consuming another was unheard of!

He did not know that within Wang Lin’s Heavenly Dao lay a secret, a singularity known as the Spatial Stone!

Wang Lin had departed the Domain of the Caves, taking his Heavenly Dao with him, but leaving behind the immutable laws and constants of that realm.

Wang Lin retreated swiftly, drawing back beyond a thousand paces. He recalled his Heavenly Dao, the Spatial Stone returning to its place within him. Only then did he finally exhale, the tension that had coiled within him beginning to unravel.

His body throbbed with agony. He fixed his gaze upon Xu Decai in the distance, a mixture of apprehension and exhilaration swirling within him.

“No cultivator could possibly cast such spells at that speed. He must possess some extraordinary fortune, some rare and potent Art! Only through such means could he achieve the impossible! If I could but learn such an Art…”

His gaze remained locked on Xu Decai, a flicker of determination burning in his eyes. His heart pounded in his chest, but he did not advance. Instead, he took a single step backward, causing ripples to shimmer in the air around him, and vanished without a trace.

The instant he disappeared, Xu Decai’s sorceries erupted across the land, unleashing a cacophony of destruction. In the midst of the chaos, Xu Decai whirled around, his eyes burning with madness.

“You devoured my Heavenly Dao! Then I shall claim yours in return!”

But no matter how frantically Xu Decai searched, he could find no trace of Wang Lin, no lingering scent of his presence. He had seemingly held the advantage in this battle, yet he was consumed by a heart-wrenching grief.

Meanwhile, from three different directions, the two mid-stage Sky Severing elders of the Green Demon Continent, along with the early-stage Sky Severing female cultivator, broke away from their group and raced towards the disturbance.

But Wang Lin had already reappeared, far beyond them, behind the very group they had abandoned.

Wang Lin’s intention was clear: lure the three Sky Severing cultivators away, then unleash a massacre, slaughtering all who remained.