An aged sage, garbed in coarse, threadbare robes, often lamented in private. A simmering grief festered within him, born from the actions of a kinsman holding a high and coveted position in the ancient Demon City. He held little faith in the fellow’s sorcery.

Moments later, as he prepared to speak his mind, the very earth beneath them shuddered violently, as though a slumbering dragon had stirred in its sleep. A deafening rumble echoed throughout the ten leagues surrounding them.

The white-robed elder’s face darkened, and he strode purposefully from his dwelling.

There, suspended in the sky, floated a solitary figure. A white garment billowed around him, carried by the wind, and long hair swirled about his face, lending him an unsettling, almost spectral, air.

It was Wang Lin, arriving consumed by wrath!

His eyes gleamed with icy fury, and his celestial energy surged within him. Hovering in the air, he took a phantom step, and as his foot landed upon the unseen, a thunderous roar ripped through the heavens.

Below, the earth itself buckled and caved inwards, forming a vast, concave hollow stretching for ten leagues. Cries of alarm arose from the inhabitants of the Demon City.

Yet, even as the ground crumbled, an ethereal, azure wave rippled outwards, spanning the entire area. In an instant, the devastation was undone, the land restored to its former state. From the shimmering wave emanated a palpable force, a resistance that surged directly towards Wang Lin.

Wang Lin scoffed, and with a deliberate motion, raised his right thumb and pressed it downwards. He unleashed the full power of the Finger of Oblivion.

An aura of utter desolation enveloped the area, as though even the void itself was dimming, showing fissures of impending collapse.

His thumb descended, colliding with the unseen wave. The ethereal ripples bent and twisted, flowing around Wang Lin’s finger like water diverted around a rock in a stream.

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed. “Break!” he roared.

At the utterance of that single word, a black radiance erupted from his thumb. The wave before him shattered, the destruction spreading outwards until the entirety of the azure force was utterly extinguished.

Wang Lin remained suspended in the air, his gaze fixed upon the city below. Ten leagues of dwellings stretched before him, and from every doorway, the denizens of the Demon City stared up at him, their faces etched with fear.

Wang Lin was not a slaughterer without reason. Amidst the terrified throng, two figures caught his attention.

They were both aged, one clad in ash-grey robes, the other in white.

The grey-robed elder felt a bitter resignation grip his heart. He knew that this day, they had angered one who should have been left undisturbed. The ease with which he had negated the array’s retaliatory power marked him as a cultivator of immense strength.

The white-robed elder was struck with disbelief, his gaze fixed upon Wang Lin with horrified awe.

“How can such a powerful being exist in this savage land? His cultivation… it rivals that of the elders in the General’s Palace. I am no match for him.”

Wang Lin’s voice was cold, devoid of emotion. “Who sent me the challenge? Step forward!”

His words began softly, but as they descended, they transformed into a peal of thunder, echoing and booming throughout the ten leagues. The grey-robed elder paled, stumbled backwards, and a line of blood trickled from his lips. His eyes widened with a shock that bordered on madness.

The white-robed elder stood straighter, his face a mask of conflicting emotions. Biting back his fear, he looked up and cried, “Who are you! I am an Executor of the Left Wing General’s Palace of the Demon City!”

Wang Lin fixed his icy stare upon the man. His voice was low and menacing. “It was you, then. I sense the essence of the totems upon you! Your death is assured!”

The white-robed elder felt a tremor of fear course through him. Gathering his courage, he roared, “Indeed! It was I who took those insignificant banners. If you possess the strength, then breach the array!”

Wang Lin gave the old man a frigid look. “Do you truly believe this paltry array can halt my advance?” Wang Lin reached into his storage sack and drew forth a colossal axe wreathed in crackling black lightning.

The instant the axe appeared, a deafening clap of thunder echoed across the heavens, and crackling orbs of lightning silently materialized around the weapon, spinning slowly.

The white-robed elder’s pupils constricted to pinpricks. Even the grey-robed elder at his side shuddered, crying out in disbelief, “An Outlander!”

Wang Lin gripped the axe, his face a frozen mask. With the speed of lightning, he swung the weapon downwards!

A ten-league-long arc of axe-light, accompanied by a swarm of crackling lightning orbs, descended from the heavens like divine retribution, crashing upon the array beneath.

The world exploded with a thunderous roar that echoed across the land, reaching the ears of those dwelling in the distant valleys.

Without pausing, Wang Lin swung again. In that moment, he became a primordial god of war, wielding his axe above the array, bringing it down once more!

The white-robed elder’s face was ashen. Regret gnawed at his insides, a bitter taste of his own foolishness. He had never imagined that a moment of greed could summon such a powerful being, especially an Outlander. Each such individual possessed unimaginable power, and were not to be trifled with!

The ground rippled with shimmering azure light, fighting with every ounce of its power to resist the axe’s devastating force. With each blow, the light intensified, weakening the axe’s power while absorbing what remained, feeding the force into its own defenses.

In this way, a self-sustaining loop was created. This array was of a strength far beyond that of the one in the valley.

After a few heart-stopping breaths, the white-robed elder finally breathed a sigh of relief, his color slowly returning. He gazed at Wang Lin, who continued to swing the axe with unrelenting fury, and sneered. “This array will never be broken by you!”

The grey-robed elder also felt his tension ease. He knew better than anyone the power contained within the array. It seemed that Wang Lin’s attack would fail.

Wang Lin, however, remained unmoved. He studied the array.

“To force my way through will take too much time. And even to break it using enchantments will take a considerable amount of study and preparation!”
Seeming to perceive Wang Lin’s hesitation, the white-robed elder chuckled, a smugness creeping across his aged face. “Even should you possess divine powers beyond imagining, this ward is not a thing you can unravel! I counsel you, begone! Do not further shame yourself here!”

Wang Lin cast a frigid glance upon the old man, a sliver of contempt twisting his lips. He uttered, his voice a chilling whisper, “Is that so?”

With that, his hand swept out, and the battle-axe he wielded was cast forth, hurled earthward. This time, however, its target was not the shimmering weave of the ward itself, but the very edge of the ten-mile sphere it encompassed.

The axe, a streak of vengeful lightning, crashed down upon the land, ten miles distant from where they stood. A deafening roar echoed across the plains. Where the axe fell, the earth, unshielded by the ward’s arcane defense, yielded as readily as soft cheese. A deep chasm scarred the ground.

Wang Lin raised his right hand, pointing a single finger at the fractured earth. He traced a circle in the air, an ethereal sigil of command.

From the bowels of the earth, a rumbling arose once more. Guided by Wang Lin’s will, the axe burrowed beneath the surface, carving a frenzied path. In the blink of an eye, it had etched a complete, unbroken circle around the ten-mile boundary of the ward.

The white-robed elder was bewildered, utterly unable to discern the purpose of this strange act.

Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed with icy intent. He inhaled deeply, grasping with his right hand at the empty air. He intoned a single word, a guttural command: “Rise!”

The word cracked like thunder, unleashed from his lips with startling force. The very air seemed to thicken, gripped by an unseen power. The ten miles of earth held captive by the ward shuddered violently.

“Rise, I say!” Wang Lin bellowed once more. The veins in his right hand pulsed with unleashed energy, and he heaved it upward with all his might.

A cataclysmic roar, unlike any heard before, erupted from the depths below, the earth groaning in protest. Then, a sight of staggering grandeur unfolded.

The ten miles of land, cradled within the ward, appeared to be seized by an invisible hand. With agonizing slowness, it tore free from the earth, rising majestically into the sky.

Billows of dust and ash poured forth, obscuring the scene in a choking haze.

As the dust began to settle, the incredible truth was revealed. The ten-mile expanse was completely severed from the land, hovering dozens of feet above the ground, a constant rain of soil and debris cascading from its base.

Where it had once rested, a vast, circular basin gaped open, a wound upon the face of the earth.

Wang Lin, by manipulating the war-axe, had carved out the ten-mile circle from below, leaving it precariously balanced. He had then used his power to wrench the detached land free.

From atop the floating island, the inhabitants screamed in terror. Never in their lives had they witnessed such a terrifying spectacle, a feat that shattered the very foundations of their understanding.

The gray-robed elder swayed, barely able to keep his feet. His face was ashen, drained of all color. Terror flared in his eyes.

“This man is a madman… These outsiders… they are all mad! He… he has torn the warded land from the earth itself!”

The white-robed elder trembled, his disbelief palpable. He could not fathom how his opponent had conceived of such a method.

Cold fury burned in Wang Lin’s eyes. He could not dismantle the ward within the ten miles quickly enough, but he could consume it!

He grasped the ten-mile island with his unseen power, letting out a roar and propelling it skyward. The floating land mass gained momentum, rising rapidly.

Cries of panic echoed once more.

Wang Lin moved like a wraith, a blur of motion, appearing beneath the rising landmass. Raising his right hand, he planted it firmly beneath, supporting the ten-mile island in mid-air. Like a titan of old, he began to stride forward.

Were any to witness the sight, they would never forget it.

A lone figure, clad in white robes, bearing a ten-mile swathe of land upon his palm, hurtling through the countryside at breathtaking speed.

He moved swiftly, and after several hours, he saw the familiar outlines of the valley in the distance.

Guided by Ouyang Hua, the people of the valley emerged to greet Wang Lin’s return. They halted abruptly, their jaws agape. They stared at the colossal landmass he carried aloft, the shimmering green light of the protective ward still enshrouding it.