A maddening vortex of violet mist contracted with unnatural speed, its edges coalescing into a shimmering wall of amethystine energy. The warriors of the Celestial Sword Sect, for all their valiant charges, found themselves utterly unable to pierce this ethereal barrier. Indeed, the encroaching violet miasma seemed to drain their very life essence, leaving them weakened, addled, and driven to a desperate frenzy.

One among them, a master of the Great Luo lineage, even unleashed the fabled Skyrend Blade Art, inherited from the ancient hero Ling Tianhou. Yet, to their horror, the blade’s spectral projection was instantly consumed by the encroaching violet energy, leaving not a trace of its former glory.

Lord Chenlong, his face a mask of dismay, whirled about to face the retreating figure of Wang Lin. “Wang Lin, brother! This hour is dire! Might your… companion… lend us aid?”

From beyond the swirling violet curtain, the voice of the dreaded Corvus boomed, “Wang Lin, I had not intended to end your life so soon. But you have stumbled upon affairs far beyond your ken. No one can save you now!”

Wang Lin’s eyes flickered with a chilling resolve. He offered no reply, choosing instead to quicken his retreat. The violet mist was rapidly closing in, and to linger near its voracious edge was to risk being consumed, body and soul.

“Wang, friend!” cried a desperate voice from the ranks of the Celestial Sword Sect. Chenlong pleaded, “Can you not see our plight?”

“Chenlong, friend,” Wang Lin replied, his voice laced with steel. “I can scarcely preserve my own life, let alone offer succor to others!” With that, he dissolved into the swirling violet depths, the enchanted blade housing his companion, Zhou Yi, circling him warily.

“Traitor!” Chenlong spat, his face darkening with bitter realization. A sigh escaped his lips. The Heavenly Fortune Sect and the Great Luo lineage were sworn enemies; it was foolish to expect aid from such a source. Still, Chenlong understood.

“Curse my hesitation!” he lamented. “Had I possessed the courage to defy Corvus sooner, to unleash the sword’s power gifted to me by my master, we might have prevailed! But now…”

He knew the truth. Even with the master’s enchanted blade, the ancient and cunning Corvus would be prepared. Victory was far from assured, and the price of failure would be the utter annihilation of his brethren.

For a mere suspicion, to risk so much! A hundred years of doubt had paralyzed him, leaving him vulnerable to this very moment!

The violet mist constricted with ever-increasing speed, shrinking tenfold in the blink of an eye. As it contracted, the violet energy at its edge grew ever more concentrated, forcing the beleaguered warriors of the Celestial Sword Sect to retreat further and further.

“Wang Lin, flee now, or even my strength will be insufficient to escape this doom!” the anxious voice of Zhou Yi echoed within Wang Lin’s mind.

“Patience,” Wang Lin whispered, his eyes gleaming like chips of ice as he observed the distant forms of the Celestial Sword Sect warriors.

“Five souls… four wielding the Skyrend Blade Art… five enchanted blades…” A cruel smile played upon his lips.

Despair filled Chenlong’s eyes as he gazed upon his comrades. He closed them, then snapped them open, a terrifying decisiveness hardening his features.

“Forgive me, brothers! I have failed you all!” With a fierce resolve, Chenlong raised his right hand and touched his brow. A crimson light burst forth, coalescing into a spectral sword.

It was the Skyrend Blade Art, but imbued with power beyond anything Wang Lin had witnessed. It was the very essence of Ling Tianhou’s might, drawn from the four lesser realms and forged within his soul – a primordial sword unlike the fleeting echoes possessed by the other disciples.

It was this very blade that had fueled Chenlong’s agonizing indecision!

As the blade materialized, the encroaching violet mist faltered for the first time. Corvus, watching from beyond the swirling depths, narrowed his eyes. He had suspected Chenlong’s hidden strength. His suspicions were now confirmed.

With a mournful sigh, Chenlong channeled the blade’s power, and lunged directly into the violet energy. A cacophony of explosive impacts erupted as the crimson blade tore through the encroaching barrier. Fire crackled around Chenlong’s body, testament to the immense power he wielded.

At last, the violet curtain yielded, revealing a narrow breach. Chenlong, propelled by the blade’s energy, burst through into the open. He could not, dared not, attempt to carry any of his brothers with him. The smallest burden would shatter his desperate escape.

The instant Chenlong escaped, the violet mist snapped shut, sealing the remaining warriors within a swirling vortex of impenetrable purple. No sight, no sound could pierce its depths.

Within, despair reigned. Lord Wuma roared in fury, “Brothers! Our fate is sealed! Let us not succumb to despair! I know Wang Lin is in here! Aid me in ending his life, and grant me peace in death!”

A murderous intent ignited within the other warriors. If they were doomed to die, then they would drag the wretch of the Heavenly Fortune Sect down with them! Had he not appeared, a glimmer of hope might still have remained!

“Wang Lin, why do you hesitate?!” Zhou Yi’s voice thundered in Wang Lin’s mind. “Flee while you still can!”

“Ancient one,” Wang Lin replied, his eyes alight with cunning, “Use your spirit-sense to lock onto their positions!” Like a wraith, he moved through the swirling mist, where sight and spirit-sense were rendered useless.

“Wang Lin, in ten breaths, I will drag you out of here, even if it means rending your very soul!” Zhou Yi warned, his spirit-sense sweeping through the contracting violet depths, marking the four doomed warriors of the Celestial Sword Sect.

With lightning speed, Wang Lin lunged toward the weakest among them – a mere adept of the nascent soul stage. His spirit-sense was useless in this violet prison, leaving him blind and deaf to the approaching threat.

The warrior felt only a fleeting breeze upon his face. But that breeze quickly turned to a chilling, deathly wind, bringing with it the severance of his head!

Wang Lin seized the severed head, imprisoning the warrior’s nascent soul within. He claimed the enchanted blade and turned toward his next target.

Lord Sisha, wielding his enchanted treasure, was gripped by a suffocating dread. His eyes darted frantically, seeing only the swirling violet mist beyond a paltry seven feet.

Then, for an instant, he glimpsed a fleeting shadow.
“Who goes there!” Serpent’s heart jolted within him. With a flick of his wrist, his enchanted blade flew forth, aimed at the swirling mists. Yet, in the instant the steel left his grasp, a frigid hand descended, pressing against the nape of his neck. Serpent felt his very life force shudder within, his vitality draining away with alarming speed. A strangled gasp escaped his lips before he crumbled into a desiccated husk.

But in his final breath, the Ling Tian Marquis’s sword-qi, imbued within him, erupted forth, shattering his remains in a violent burst.

Horse’s eyes blazed with crimson fury. Robbed of his own weapon, his hatred for Wang Lin burned white-hot. Recklessly, he channeled the dormant power of the Ling Tian Marquis’s sword-qi, poised to unleash it at the slightest provocation.

The mists before him churned, as if someone rushed forward. “Wang Lin, you shall die!” Horse roared, his face contorted in rage.

He was on the verge of releasing the pent-up sword-qi when a voice, familiar and unsettling, drifted from the swirling fog.

“Brother, it is I, Dog!”

Horse faltered, his hand twitching as he hesitated. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, an arm materialized from the mist, its touch as silent as the grave. A single finger pressed against Horse’s brow.

His eyes bulged, and a torrent of blood erupted from his mouth, revealing a look of ultimate despair. He had hesitated for a moment, and now no chance remained for the sword-qi to protect him.

As the tenth heartbeat faded away, Zhou Yi, with Wang Lin in tow, transformed into a streak of sword-light and burst from the violet mist.

“Alas, only one more was needed!” Wang Lin muttered, a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.

Out of the four Da Luo Sword Sect disciples, Wang Lin had seized three blades, along with the power from two strands of sword-qi.

Had the violet mist not shrouded their surroundings, had the four not been driven to desperation by a century of imprisonment and the vanishing of Dragon, such a swift victory would have been impossible. Even still, one of the disciples had managed to unleash their borrowed sword-qi at the last possible moment. Wang Lin had barely managed to avoid serious injury.

Under different circumstances, facing four Da Luo Sword Sect disciples armed with the Ling Tian Marquis’s sword-qi, Wang Lin would have retreated without hesitation. It was not the warriors themselves he feared, but the destructive potential of the sword-qi that filled him with apprehension.

Zhou Yi had witnessed the entire display. A spark of respect ignited within him for Wang Lin’s audacious and decisive actions. Any other cultivator would have focused solely on escape, without a thought for opportunity.

Little did he know, Wang Lin had demonstrated even greater boldness in the past, snatching the body of a slain dragon in the instant it fell into an abyss.

The mist contracted, shrinking to a mere hundred feet.

Outside the violet veil, Dragon’s face was a mask of grim determination. The Ling Tian Marquis’s sword-qi crackled in his hand. He was surrounded by a swarm of ravenous Mosquito Beasts, their discordant shrieks filling the air as they sought his blood.

“Greed Wolf, I wonder how you shall explain this to our master!”

Greed Wolf stood some distance away, flanked by a swarm of mosquitoes. Even with his control over the swarm’s Alpha, he dared not approach too closely, for their feral nature remained untamed.

A few of them he could handle but a swarm this large caused him to feel uneasy. Even through his control over the alpha mosquito he wasn’t sure how he could handle this situation.

“By the time your master learns of this, I will have my own explanations ready.” Greed Wolf retorted with a sneer, “and that is if he even learns of it.”

At that moment, Wang Lin exploded from the violet mist, riding upon a sword of pure light.

Greed Wolf’s eyes narrowed as he spotted Wang Lin, his cold smile grew on his face. With a thought, he commanded the swarm. A dark cloud of Mosquito Beasts peeled off from the rest and swarmed towards Wang Lin.

Greed Wolf planned to capture Wang Lin alive, not to slay him. He sought to extract the location of Situ Nan, for he had sensed Situ Nan’s residual presence upon Wang Lin when he saw him on the outer rim of the Eastern Sea Demon Spirit Land.

Wang Lin gazed upon the approaching swarm, a strange glint in his eyes.

Then, a piercing shriek ripped through the swarm, a sound that overpowered all others. A dark figure streaked forth, straight towards Wang Lin. It was Wang Lin’s own Mosquito Beast!