The Celestial Sovereign’s Yang, a swirling vortex of ebony and ivory, cast an eerie luminescence across the heavens, shrouding the void behind Wang Lin in its unsettling embrace!

This was Wang Lin at his zenith, his might coalesced into tangible form. As the Great Celestial’s Yang materialized, Wang Lin strode forward, his pace a blur, his target none other than the stunned Dao Yi!

Grand Emperor Jiu, his eyes narrowed with grim understanding, his pupils contracted in alarm. He shifted, intending to intervene. He could not allow Dao Yi to perish, his curse exacerbated, for the Ascendant Realm he sought to claim would be a fractured prize, the balance of power with the Ancient clans irrevocably shattered!

With the Ascendant Emperor fallen, Dao Yi’s survival was paramount!

Jiu raced forward, his body radiating blinding white light. Behind him, the ivory sun unfurled, its brilliance immense, coalescing into a gargantuan white wolf. It howled, a barrier intended to halt Wang Lin’s advance.

The two figures hurtled toward each other, meeting in a cataclysmic clash in the sky!

“Wang Lin! Dao Yi must not die!” Jiu roared, the wolfish manifestation of his essence snapping its jaws, aiming to swallow Wang Lin whole.

Wang Lin remained unmoved. As the white wolf lunged, ready to devour him, the black and white sun behind him erupted with blinding radiance. With terrifying speed, it contracted, pouring its power into Wang Lin’s very being.

Infused with the entirety of the Great Celestial Yang’s nascent power, Wang Lin twisted, launching a devastating kick at the wolf!

In the realm of the profound, where the path to the Great Dao is understood, even a simple strike could embody the laws of heaven and earth, capable of triggering miraculous transformations. The kick vibrated with such power that the very fabric of the void trembled!

From afar, it was no mere clash of a wolf and a mortal’s kick, but a titanic collision of a white sun against a sun of yin and yang!

The explosion echoed through the cosmos, reverberating through all existence. Jiu’s white Celestial Yang buckled. The wolf within howled in anguish, its immense form seemingly struck by an unstoppable force, crumbling until only its head remained, hurtling backward.

Jiu’s face paled, his eyes wide with shock. Though burdened by the oppressive curse, its effects warring for his attention, and weakened from his battle with the Twin Sovereigns, he was, undoubtedly, a Great Celestial, and a formidable one at that!

And yet, Wang Lin, though merely wielding the *semblance* of a Great Celestial Yang, a mere outline, not yet fully realized, still akin to a seed that has not yet bloomed, had managed to force him back in his current all out attack!

It defied reason! The only explanation was that Wang Lin’s nascent Celestial Yang was unlike any other!

“This is no ordinary Great Celestial Yang!” Jiu cried as he stumbled back, desperately trying to reclaim his footing. As the colliding Celestial Yangs disintegrated, Wang Lin, too, recoiled, a trickle of blood staining his lips. But with a swift movement, he propelled himself skyward!

Jiu’s desperate attempts to hinder Wang Lin were in vain. Wang Lin pierced the firmament, reaching Dao Yi, whose body was now festering, corrupted flesh sloughing off his bones in large chunks!

With a single stride, Wang Lin stood before Dao Yi, who saw no escape. Madness ignited in his eyes. He raised his hand to the heavens, and from the void, he summoned a curved blade of deepest black. The blade radiated palpable malevolence, encircling Dao Yi once before lunging towards Wang Lin!

“Wang Lin, if you seek to kill me, then we shall meet our end together!” Dao Yi shrieked, his voice laced with fury. As the blade descended, Wang Lin’s body flickered, splitting into ninety-nine illusory figures.

These spectral images swirled around him, many destroyed by the blade, their destruction echoing across the heavens. Yet some survived, piercing the blade’s trajectory and coalescing into Wang Lin once more, directly before Dao Yi.

Wang Lin, pale from the exertion, raised his right hand and pressed a finger onto Dao Yi’s brow.

A deafening boom resounded as Dao Yi plummeted from the sky, his screams cutting through the air. The power of the curse erupted within him, rending flesh from bone. By the time he crashed into the ravaged earth, half his body was nothing more than a grotesque skeleton!

“I will not accept this!” Dao Yi wailed, his voice filled with bitterness. Were he not afflicted by this damnable curse, Wang Lin would not have stood a chance! Yet here he was, reduced to this pitiful state!

“Wang Lin, enough! Take the Ascendant Ancestor’s skull if you must! Hai Zi, I will not force you to fight Wang Lin, but you must save Dao Yi!” Jiu cried as he rushed forward, the desperation evident in his tone.

Hai Zi remained silent, lifting his right hand towards Dao Yi’s broken form on the earth.

“With the power of the Mournful Clan, the thoughts of the living, the whispers of the dead… let that which exists, continue to exist, and that which scatters… come to a halt!”

As Hai Zi spoke, a shimmering layer of cerulean energy washed over Dao Yi, but Wang Lin’s progress slowed as though he was wading through tar.

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed, and his form exploded with countless strands of darkness, lancing towards Dao Yi, piercing the layers of cerulean energy. The strands collected around Dao Yi’s form, coalescing into a perfect replica of Wang Lin.

Dao Yi, consumed by madness, was about to struggle against the phantom, but the curse reached a crescendo. He lost all control of his body as his flesh and blood scattered, but just before he could attempt to activate his divine power, the form of Wang Lin stomped on his chest, immobilizing him on the cracked earth.

“If you seek battle, then let us battle! If not, then let it be! I cannot allow all things to go as you wish! This Dao Yi struck at me first. If you demand that I let him be, then you must pay the price!” Wang Lin, his foot firmly planted on Dao Yi’s chest, looked up at the approaching Jiu, his face devoid of emotion.

[end of chapter]

Jiu’s face was a mask of thunder, stopping many feet away from Wang Lin. He glared, as the energies of the curse pulsed in his very bones.

“What price do you demand!” Jiu asked, taking a deep breath to center himself.
With a subtle shift of weight upon his right foot, Wang Lin pressed down upon Dao Yi’s form. A torrent of obsidian miasma erupted from the plagued cultivator, its acrid stench filling the air. Within Dao Yi’s eyes, once burning with fanatical zeal, a flicker of madness danced, struggling against the searing agony and the profound humiliation of being pinned beneath Wang Lin’s heel.

“I require the infant skull,” Wang Lin declared, his voice a calm counterpoint to the swirling chaos. A subtle glint flickered within the depths of his eyes.

Lord Jiu, his brow furrowed in displeasure.

“Dao Yi, relinquish the skull, and your life will be spared,” Wang Lin continued, his tone unwavering. Though he held the upper hand, the thought of slaying Dao Yi was far from his mind. His advantage stemmed from the curse plaguing these Great Celestial Sovereigns, not from some inherent power that rendered him invincible.

Dao Yi’s gaze, burning with resentment, locked upon Wang Lin, as if etching his visage into the very fabric of his soul.

“Dao Yi, obey him!” Lord Jiu commanded, his voice a chilling growl.

Knowing that time was fleeting, and that the insidious curse festering within him would soon consume him entirely, Dao Yi reluctantly obeyed. With a strangled cry, and as Wang Lin eased the pressure of his foot ever so slightly, Dao Yi’s hand shot out, grasping at the void. In his grasp, there materialized a skull, no larger than a clenched fist.

He released the skull, and with a shuddering breath, Dao Yi vanished into the heavens, tearing through the veil of reality itself.

The skull, a grotesque miniature of a babe’s cranium, pulsed with an aura of death so potent that it rippled outwards, engulfing the surrounding space in an icy shroud.

A familiar sensation washed over Wang Lin, clear and undeniable. He extended his hand, beckoning the skull to him. It soared through the air and nestled within his grasp.

Clutching his prize, Wang Lin retreated, drawing back towards the inert form of the Immortal Ancestor’s head, where the madman lay, lost in unconsciousness.

“Wang Lin,” Lord Jiu’s voice boomed, “the Mournful Clan and I laid this trap, yet you are the one who reaps the greatest reward. This transgression will not be forgotten. Upon departing this place, you must swiftly attain the rank of Great Celestial Sovereign, or you will answer to me when I have cleansed myself of this damnable curse!”

His gaze shifted, piercing, towards the being known as the Twin Sovereigns. “And you, Twin Sovereigns, should Dao Yi fail to recover, and the ancient balance between the Immortal and Ancient clans be shattered, know that you will witness the blood of my Immortal kin staining the earth at the hands of the Ancient ones. Your Violet Sun Sect will not be spared from the carnage!”

“My design was sound: to allow all Great Celestial Sovereigns of the Immortal Clan to partake of the Immortal Ancestor’s relics, to bolster our strength, to usher in a new era, free from the shackles of the Immortal Emperor’s line. But you have disrupted everything. You will bear the consequences of your actions!” Lord Jiu spat the words out like venom.

Silence descended, broken only by the rustling of ancient energies. The Twin Sovereigns did not speak, yet in their eyes, a complex tapestry of doubt and confusion was woven.

A pang of guilt pierced Wang Lin’s heart. He gazed at the Twin Sovereigns, a silent vow forming within him.

*”I owe the Twin Sovereigns a debt that can never truly be repaid… I must do everything in my power to prevent the looming war between the Ancient and Immortal clans, lest she regret the actions she takes today.”*

“What I have decided, I have decided. Your words are unnecessary,” the Twin Sovereigns finally spoke, their voice laced with cold finality.

“Ha! Very well!” Lord Jiu roared, his eyes, like chips of ice, focused upon Wang Lin.

“I will allow you to take the Immortal Ancestor’s head, but Lian Dao Fei remains. This is not negotiable. Take the head, and leave this place.”

“I have already yielded ground. If you dare attempt to forcibly take Lian Dao Fei as well, I will unleash the full fury of the curse within me, regardless of the cost to my own recovery. I will keep you here!”

He turned his gaze upon the Twin Sovereigns. “You aided him in acquiring the Immortal Ancestor’s head, but the Immortal Emperor is broken, and the Immortal Ancestor’s head is marred. You must understand the vital role Lian Dao Fei plays here!” Lord Jiu’s words hung heavy in the air.

Wang Lin’s expression remained placid, but a flicker of unease narrowed his eyes.

“Wang Lin… Leave Lian Dao Fei behind,” the Twin Sovereigns finally commanded, their gaze unwavering.