The span between the first bridge and the second seemed short, yet Wang Lin felt as though he had flown for days before finally reaching the second bridge’s base.

This bridge dwarfed the first, its size magnified manyfold. Without hesitation, Wang Lin stepped onto its surface. The moment his foot touched down, his soul trembled, as though on the verge of shattering. It was as if his cultivation was deemed insufficient to tread upon such a sacred path.

Amidst the roaring in his soul, Wang Lin’s mind felt as if it had been cleaved in two. In the ensuing chaos, his spirit and soul seemed to separate. Through the swirling mists that veiled the land, he glimpsed a continent, strangely familiar. To the left lay seventy-two provinces, and to the right, thirty-six prefectures. Between them stretched a vast and desolate basin, within which a colossal, upright ocean spun with furious intensity.

Deep within the ocean’s heart, he saw nine titanic pillars, arranged to form a gateway.

The gate stood closed, unyielding.

“The Path to Transcendence… Am I, in truth, walking the path to Transcendence?” Wang Lin felt disconnected from his own being. Gazing down at the world below, he turned his gaze toward the Immortal Clan. As he looked, the seventy-two provinces of the Immortal Clan transformed, becoming seventy-two grotesque beasts, their faces twisted in savage roars towards the heavens.

He recognized them: the Celestial Bull, the Viridescent Scorpion, and countless other monstrous beings he had witnessed within the Heavenly Venerate’s Nirvana. These beasts, sensing his presence and his gaze, shrieked, and Wang Lin could clearly feel their terror, a terror mingled with something more.

At that very moment, as Wang Lin secluded himself, striving to breach the fabled realm beyond the Emptiness Tribulant, a tremor ran through the Immortal Clan’s lands. The seventy-two provinces shuddered, and waves of oppressive power radiated outwards, felt by every Immortal cultivator, who were left bewildered by the sudden shift.

Where temples of suppression stood, these sacred sites became the epicenters of the tremors sweeping each province!

The quaking intensified, drawing the attention of many powerful figures across the Immortal Clan. Horrified, they ascended to the skies, looking down upon the land. They saw the souls of the extraterrestrial beasts they were charged with keeping sealed, restless and unstable. With each tremor, they grew more agitated, as if on the verge of taking physical form, an unimaginable event.

Above the Celestial Bull Province, a monstrous Celestial Bull was the first to manifest. Its spectral form loomed over the entire province, its head thrown back in a deafening bellow. In its eyes, elation mingled with palpable fear, but deeper still, a plea!

A plea directed at the skies above, toward the strange presence it sensed, begging for release, for freedom!

As the Celestial Bull emerged, more and more of the imprisoned souls of the extraterrestrial beasts manifested above their respective provinces. Even those thought long dead awakened, their spectral forms blurry and indistinct, their skyward roars filled with terror and supplication, a heart-wrenching lament.

Nearly every cultivator within the Immortal Clan witnessed the earth-shattering spectacle. Confusion morphed into panic as the ground continued to convulse, the ongoing roars of the manifesting beasts threatening to erupt into utter chaos!

“What is happening?!” Within the Dao One Sect, the Grand Heavenly Venerate of Dao One shot into the sky. His expression was somber, tinged with terror. With his cultivation, he could feel the cataclysm sweeping across the entirety of the seventy-two provinces.

He fixed his gaze upon the towering tree taking shape above the Mountain-Sea Province, its branches thrashing wildly as it emitted a guttural cry.

“Damnation! That Extraplanar Treant was thought to be dead! How can its soul still linger? What could have triggered this? Could it be that Lian Daofei’s suppression within the Ancestral City Palace is failing?” Dao One exclaimed, taking a sharp breath.

At the same time, in the Northern Province, Wu Feng stared with a grave and fearful expression at the immense glacial giant materializing in the distance.

Within the Purple Sun Sect, the Twin Grand Heavenly Venerates soared aloft, their brows furrowed as they surveyed the heavens.

Within the Ancestral City, Emperor Jiu, the Grand Heavenly Venerate, stood upon Emperor Mountain, watching the unfolding events. He outwardly maintained a semblance of composure, but the dilation of his pupils betrayed his shock.

“The Earth Palace remains undisturbed, and Lian Daofei continues his slumber, maintaining the seals upon these seventy-two extraterrestrial souls,” Hai Zi said, seated behind Emperor Jiu, opening her eyes from meditation.

“Have you discerned the cause? What is happening that even these seemingly lifeless extraterrestrial spirits are driven to howl at the heavens, begging for something? What are they sensing?!” Emperor Jiu asked, his voice icy, yet tinged with fear. He looked to the skies above, but saw nothing.

“They are so clearly pleading…”

Hai Zi fell silent, her hands forming incantation seals. A miniature figure appeared within her right palm, bowing repeatedly. Hai Zi frowned, achieving nothing.

Her eyes flashed, and she bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the miniature figure in her palm. The miniature figure was immediately stained crimson, emitting a mournful whimper as it bowed to Hai Zi once more.

This time, Hai Zi’s body trembled violently, her face paling in an instant. Her eyes widened with disbelief.

“They sense an eye of Transcendence, looking down upon them from the heavens above the Immortal Astral Continent!”

“What?!” Emperor Jiu exclaimed, his countenance changing drastically, unable to mask his inner turmoil. He abruptly looked up at the sky, a chill running down his spine. Although he saw only the endless void, he could imagine it: a gaze from beyond, focused upon the Immortal Astral Continent, perhaps even upon him.

“Tra…” Emperor Jiu shuddered, his cultivation failing to maintain control over his physical form. He aged rapidly from old to middle-aged, then back to old, a testament to the shock that rocked him.
Wang Lin gazed upon the lands of the Immortals. He beheld the seventy-two celestial beasts, their forms vast and terrible, as they emitted anguished cries, tinged with a desperate plea, directed toward him. He witnessed, across the Immortal realms, the shock etched upon Dao Yi’s face, the sheer terror in Wu Feng’s eyes, the bewilderment of the Twin Sovereigns. And from the peak of Emperor’s Mountain, the unwavering gaze of the Eternal Emperor, Jiu Di.

He saw them all, yet they could not perceive him. Wang Lin’s gaze swept over the ancestral city, brushing past Jiu Di. And it was precisely at that moment that Jiu Di, Emperor Eternal, felt a chilling dread, his eyes snapping upwards to the sky.

He saw Hai Zi… saw Lian Dao Fei, transformed into a mountain, within the ancestral city’s underground palace.

“This humble one, Zhou Luo Jiu, offers greetings, revered elder! Speak your command, and I shall fulfill it with all my might!” Upon Emperor’s Mountain, Jiu Di’s face was ashen. He soared into the heavens, bowing deeply, his voice laced with fear.

Never, since ascending to the Great Celestial Throne, had he bowed to another. Yet now, consumed by dread, he offered his obeisance to the sky.

But no answer came. The celestial beasts, monstrous shadows of the Immortal realms, continued their lamentations. Their howls faded into despair, their pleas grew more desperate until, one by one, they vanished, leaving the land still and silent once more. Hai Zi trembled, whispering, “He… he is gone…”

Jiu Di, hearing these words, remained bowed in supplication. Only after the passing of a long incense stick did he rise, his face pale, and descend.

Wang Lin withdrew his gaze from the Immortal lands. When he had glimpsed the Celestial Bull and Lian Dao Fei, a flicker of desire had stirred within him, a yearning to rescue them. But he knew he could not.

In silence, he turned his attention toward the Ancient race. The instant his gaze fell upon them, a tremor, mirroring that which had shaken the Immortals, ripped through the land.

The earth shuddered. Within the thirty-six prefectures, thirty-six ancient and monstrous beasts materialized, including Luo Yan, whose soul he had partially consumed.

Luo Yan manifested in his entirety, his head a colossal, fleshy orb, resembling a celestial body. His tail, not a single appendage, but a fan of nine serpentine lashes, flailed wildly as he howled at the heavens, his voice an agonized plea.

Xuan Luo awoke from his seclusion, immediately taking flight. Gazing upon the turmoil that gripped the land, he gasped.

Song Tian, of the First Ancient lineage, stood speechless amidst the upheaval. “This… could it be connected to Wang Lin?! Impossible! A spectacle of such magnitude could not possibly be tied to that man!”

Deep within his hidden sanctum, the enigmatic Great Celestial of the Extreme Ancient lineage brooded, a dark expression shadowing his features as he sensed the disturbance.

Wang Lin saw all, his gaze finally settling upon Ancient Dao Mountain, upon the towering spire, upon the figure wreathed in mist within its highest chamber.

A sigh escaped the shrouded figure. His eyes opened, their depths serene. He looked towards the heavens, and in that instant, seemed to meet Wang Lin’s gaze.

At the moment their eyes met, Wang Lin felt it: this, the strongest being upon the Immortal-Astral Continent, truly saw him.

“So, you have reached this level…” the mist-shrouded figure spoke slowly. “Upon which bridge do you stand now?”

“The second,” Wang Lin replied after a moment of silence, sending his words forth as spiritual thoughts. Even with his current cultivation, he could not penetrate the mist concealing the visage of the Ancient Dao Great Celestial.

“I crossed the fifth bridge many years ago, and have been halted at the sixth ever since…”

“If one were to traverse the ninth bridge, would that be the fourth step?” Wang Lin asked calmly.

“I do not know,” the mist-shrouded figure replied. “No one has ever crossed the ninth bridge.”

“No one? Not the Ancient Ancestor, nor the Immortal Ancestor?”

“They both passed the eighth bridge, only to halt at the ninth.”

“This Bridge to Transcendence, what manner of place is it?” Wang Lin voiced his long-held question.

“The Immortal-Astral Continent knows much, but beyond lies even more land. In my understanding, the Bridge to Transcendence is a common path for all living beings.” The Ancient Dao Great Celestial sighed, a hint of bewilderment creeping into his voice. Even he, it seemed, could not fully comprehend the nature of this mystery.

Wang Lin fell silent, slowly withdrawing his gaze.