The celestial palace, once bathed in serene light, reeled as the approaching cultivators from its gilded halls halted mid-air, their faces stricken with a pallor of fear. All eyes, in horrified unison, converged upon Wang Lin.

“The Emperor’s palace perhaps has never known the caress of black snow,” intoned Wang Lin, his ebony hair a stark contrast to the encroaching darkness. With a lift of his hand, he gestured towards the heavens, and the all-consuming shadows transformed into delicate, obsidian snowflakes that descended upon the palace and its environs.

As these flakes spiraled down, a dirge of ages seemed to rise, and the immense palace began to visibly crumble, succumbing to a rapid decay. Yet, from the heart of the palace, the sole statue of the Ancestral Immortal, towering towards the firmament, began to emit a golden radiance. This light coalesced into ripples that surged outwards, enveloping the palace in a protective, gilded embrace.

This golden barrier, the palace’s most formidable defense, forbade any desecration. Within this aureate veil, upon the head of the Ancestral Immortal’s effigy, sat a figure clad in pristine white robes. His gaze, sharp and unwavering, locked with that of Wang Lin.

“‘Wang Lin’,” the white-robed figure, none other than the Imperial Preceptor appointed during the Emperor’s coronation, spoke with a gentle smile. He arose and took a single step in Wang Lin’s direction.

With that single stride, the entire palace seemed to fragment, its image layered upon another realm. The Preceptor’s footfall echoed as he materialized atop the grand hall, a mere thousand paces before Wang Lin. He stood there, his garments dancing in the ethereal winds. “I have awaited your arrival… for a very long time!”

Wang Lin lifted his eyes to meet the Preceptor’s. Above, the Celestial Emperor and the Twin Sovereigns engaged in an earth-shattering battle, a conflict with no swift resolution. This clash of Grand Empyreans would be long-fought, yet the Twin Sovereigns were sufficient to keep the Emperor from interfering with Wang Lin. Aside from the Emperor, only the Preceptor, with his enigmatic cultivation, posed a true threat within these palace walls.

Wang Lin remained silent, instead raising his right foot and stamping it upon the earth. A thunderous roar shook the heavens and the surrounding cultivators scattered, their faces etched with terror. Unlike the Ancient clans, who possessed no sects, only the Ancient Ancestral Temples and the Three Imperial Kingdoms, their loyalty to the crown was absolute. For the Immortals, however, the Emperor held a symbolic role. The true power lay with the Grand Empyreans and the numerous sects. Facing the terrifying presence of Wang Lin, they chose to flee.

With Wang Lin’s earth-shattering stomp, the land splintered and cracked, fissures radiating from him like tendrils, tearing the very earth asunder. These seismic rifts, born of Wang Lin’s will, surged towards the grand hall where the Preceptor stood.

These fissures, like earth-bound dragons, hurtled towards the Preceptor, who simply smiled and with a wave of his hand intoned, “All that exists may become naught…” As he spoke, the cracks spreading from beneath the grand hall vanished as if they had never been, their scars healed in an instant. “I did not kiss you in the long street!” Wang Lin declared, his gaze unwavering as he stared at the Preceptor.

“The man you slew was me, yet not me!” The Preceptor smiled, clenching his fist and then opening it to reveal a miniature figure of pure white light. This tiny effigy bowed to the Preceptor.

“You have walked the halls of the Great Soul Sect, and thus know this art. Soul Refinement and Dao Derivation, seemingly alike, are yet so different…” The Preceptor gestured, and the tiny figure in his palm shot forth, ballooning in size to become a lifelike replica, hurtling directly toward Wang Lin.

Its speed blurred the line between reality, yet as it drew near Wang Lin, his right hand flashed out, as it did in the long street, seizing the white figure in a crushing grip. With a single squeeze, he shattered it into nothingness.

“Why?” Wang Lin asked, his eyes closed. After a moment he opened his eyes to await an answer.

“A life born from the Cave Realms, you are the first to ever walk from them… the Cave of Tea… the Cave of Tea… the Immortal and Ancient races alike have countless Cave Realms!”

“The ability to carve out a Cave Realm, once possessed by none, even those of the Immortal and Ancient Ancestors… the secret to create a world within a world, is unique to our race!”

“It was our race who bestowed this power to those of the Immortal and Ancient races, allowing worthy sects of this Immortal-Astral Continent to craft their own Cave Realms!”

“For countless eons, countless Cave Realms… they have provided our race with vast incense, which, though others may find use for, is paramount to our existence! To consume what rightly belongs to our race is to become an Outer Clan, and without its sustenance, you are doomed.”

“Incense, is both poison and panacea! A truth that is not veiled in obscurity. But you, you walked through the Void, not by reincarnation, but in a body from the Cave Realms… an impossible feat, never before seen in our history!” the Preceptor exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with intense excitement, fixed on Wang Lin.

“In a sense, you and I do not belong to this Immortal-Astral Continent… It could be said you are the product of my race’s magic on this Continent…” the Preceptor concluded, forming a hand seal and waving his hand. The palace twisted and transformed, as if transported to a different dimension. The sky vanished, the earth shifted, and even the palaces dissolved.

Wang Lin understood that his location remained unchanged, but the space around him had been altered. Within the Imperial Palace, someone had created a space of identical nature, so that it felt like another world entirely. He now stood within a grand hall, supported by countless pillars, each encircled by nine orbs of ghostly flame, casting the hall in an ethereal glow.

Countless pillars, countless orbs of spectral flame, and within each flame, a veiled and obscure face flickered.
Far below the gleaming spires of the Celestial Palace, in a place forgotten by the sun, lay a subterranean altar. Shaped like a mountain hewn from obsidian, it pulsed with a dark energy that chilled the very soul. Upon its summit stood the Imperial Diviner, motionless as a granite statue, yet radiating an aura that suggested he existed partially in another realm – a realm where the altar was, indeed, the Celestial Palace.

Before the Diviner, a vast pool of blood-red liquid simmered, its surface reflecting the hellish glow of unseen fires. Immersed within, cross-legged and contorted in agony, sat a figure of terrible power: the Lord of the Underworld, Daozun of the Shadowlands himself! His eyes were sealed tight, his face a mask of excruciating torment, every vein on his body strained and swollen. An aura of immeasurable age and suffering clung to him like a shroud. Encircling the altar were nine pillars of bone-white stone. From each, a chain of rusted iron snaked upwards, their links groaning with the weight of centuries. The chains met in the air above the altar, forming a cage of iron, suspended there as if by malevolent magic.

Hanging within this cage, pierced through and through by the nine chains, was a man clad in a faded, once-vibrant coat of many colors. His eyes were closed, and he hung limp, lost in a black abyss of unconsciousness.

This man was known only as the Madman.

“When the Immortal Ancestor gifted our clan this Celestial Palace, he delved deep, carving out this forgotten labyrinth. All that you see here echoes the structures above,” the Diviner said, his voice a silken whisper, as he gazed upon Wang Lin. Wang Lin’s gaze was fixed on the unconscious Madman. After a long moment of silence, he spoke, his voice as cold as the subterranean air. “You and the Immortal Emperor have lured me here with trickery and force. Tell me, for what purpose?”

The Diviner’s eyes gleamed with an unnatural light. “Do you desire the power of the Immortal Ancestor?” he breathed.

“The Immortal Ancestor possessed boundless might,” Wang Lin replied, unmoved. “If you answer my demands, I might aid you in gaining the inheritance to the Immortal Ancestor’s cultivation. I would help you become the strongest being in all of the Immortal Continent!”. Wang Lin’s face remained as cold as ice and never betrayed any emotions, he stared menacingly at the Diviner.

“The Immortal Emperor has spent countless years preparing for the Ascendance Ritual. Should it succeed, he will gain the Ancestor’s power and become the second Immortal Ancestor!” the Diviner hissed, his voice laced with desperation.

“I can help you steal this power, unnoticed by the Immortal Emperor during the Celestial Feast!” the Diviner licked his lips, his eyes burning into Wang Lin’s soul.

“You are worthy. You were born in the lower realms that feed our clan’s incense…”

“You cannot leave the Ancestral City!” Wang Lin interrupted, his voice ringing with unexpected authority. “Indeed, you cannot leave this palace!” The Diviner’s face darkened, and his smile vanished. His eyes became like chips of ice, and he fixed Wang Lin with a baleful stare. Wang Lin met his gaze unflinchingly. After a long, silent battle of wills, the Diviner laughed, a hollow, mirthless sound.

“You speak the truth,” he admitted. “The Immortal Ancestor is powerful beyond measure. Our clan was forced to submit, and the majority of the incense from the lower realms is filtered through our very bodies and offered to him!

“He placed a generational curse upon our people. We can never leave the Ancestral City, and even our words must be carefully chosen. Each Immortal Emperor holds dominion over our lives and deaths! Should any of our clan dare to flee, they are doomed! Even the Old Ancestor of the Great Soul Sect, a prodigy of our line, could not escape his fate! Thus, we must pledge loyalty to each Immortal Emperor, generation after generation! But this is something I wish to change and now, finally, an opportunity presents itself!”

“When I learned of your origins, that you hailed from the realm of incense, the Immortal Emperor wished to have you slain. But I knew Lian Daozhen. He is paranoid and cruel. I twisted his suspicion by declaring you a grave threat, needing to be dealt with.”

“As I had predicted, he grew wary. This explains why he did not strike upon your arrival to the Immortal Clan. Eventually, your power grew far more quickly than expected, but he had already devised another plan – to use your power to complete the Lord of the Underworld’s ascension in this labyrinth!”

“The Immortal Emperor is to use the Ascendance Ritual upon the Lord of the Underworld, but I, I have chosen you, Wang Lin!! “Ancestor Jiu is a threat to the Immortal Emperor. It is for this reason that he dare not lay his hands on you within the Ancestral City for fear of alarming Ancestor Jiu. This is why you were invited to his coronation and then subjected to an assassination attempt along the long street. Yet the slaughter you unleashed that day amazed him. So he drew upon his memory of Lian Daofei, even using it to lure you here!”

“I desired your arrival here for the very reason that only another Great Celestial Venerate could appear and battle with him. Only then, in the midst of their conflict, could I speak these words without him knowing!” The Diviner’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, his eyes fixed intently on Wang Lin.