“Hail, dullard! Verily, the dullard prevails!”

A crimson gaze fell upon Wang Ping, curiosity flickering within. “So,” rumbled the voice of Lei Daozi, “you are not alone…” He scarcely uttered the words before Wang Ping tensed. Then, from the very earth beneath him, his shadow writhed and birthed forth a Celestial Guardian. With nary a pause, the construct unleashed a fist.

The blow shattered the very air, a sonic boom echoing that threatened to eclipse even the thunder, hurtling towards Lei Daozi.

Lei Daozi’s eyes narrowed. He had sensed the puppet, deeply hidden within Wang Ping’s shadow. Yet, showing no surprise, he weaved a spell with swift hands, lightning crackling around him. He thrust his hands forth to meet the Guardian’s strike.

The Celestial Guardian’s fist plunged through the shimmering lightning as if it were mere vapor, heedless of the energy that crackled about it. The blow landed squarely upon Lei Daozi’s hands.

A wave of pure destruction surged from the fist into Lei Daozi’s body, a tempest unleashed within his very core. A muffled roar echoed as Lei Daozi stumbled backward, his hands numb, the lightning energy fading away. Wonder shone in his eyes as he gazed upon the puppet, crying, “A masterwork of a golem!” The Celestial Guardian retreated two paces, its metallic gaze frigid, its body laced with errant lightning, like silver serpents dancing across polished steel.

Lei Daozi laughed, his voice booming. He took a single step forward. As his foot struck the ground, the ambient energy that coursed through the very walls of the chamber surged forth and coalesced upon his foot. He slammed it down.

The world itself seemed to groan and buckle beneath the force!

In an instant, the chamber was gone, erased from existence. A ring of pure lightning energy expanded outward with terrifying speed, Wang Ping caught within its path.

The Celestial Guardian’s icy gaze intensified. It lunged forward, unleashing a desperate punch, but the wave of energy spread too rapidly. It could not hope to defend all within its reach.

Seeing the lightning cresting towards Wang Ping, Qing Yi, unflinching, grasped his hand. Her gaze was filled with tenderness.

But Wang Ping remained calm, as unshakeable as a mountain before a storm. He knew his father would come.

In his eyes, his father was the mightiest being under the heavens, invincible against all foes!

Wang Ping’s composure did not escape Lei Daozi’s notice. He scrutinized the boy, as if piercing through some veil of illusion.

The wave of lightning surged ever closer, a thunderous roar preceding it. But as the deadly energy was mere breaths away, an ancient voice echoed through the world.

The voice, steeped in untold ages, washed over the scene, and the rampaging lightning, like untamed dragons, stilled.

The blue lightning, as if possessed of life, froze mid-strike, some of its wisps already grazing within inches of Wang Ping.

The voice had spoken but a single word: “Halt!” A swirling vortex opened in the void, and from its depths, a white-haired elder stepped forth, each movement deliberate.

He trod upon the void and stood beside Wang Ping. With a flick of his wrist, his hand caressed the frozen wave of lightning. A sharp, brittle sound echoed, and cracks snaked across the ring of energy.

The fissures spread with unnerving speed. In the blink of an eye, the entirety of the lightning wave shattered. Lei Daozi gasped, recoiling two steps, his face grim. He stared at Wang Lin with cautious eyes.

He could not fathom the depth of the old man’s power!

His eyes could see, yet his senses could not detect him. It was as if the elder did not exist at all.

“Father?” Wang Ping whispered, his voice filled with awe.

That one word held decades of yearning. The elder, none other than Wang Lin, turned his gaze upon his son. The dimness faded from his eyes, replaced by a steely glint unseen for many years.

“A messenger from the Thunder Immortal Palace,” Wang Lin said, his voice low.

With a metallic creak, the Celestial Guardian stood at Wang Lin’s side, its gaze fixed upon Lei Daozi.

Lei Daozi’s eyes were narrowed, his face a mask of grim concentration. “Who are you?” he demanded. Wang Lin surveyed the scene. Such destruction, and yet not a villager stirred. They were all, undoubtedly, rendered unconscious by the man’s earlier sweep of power.

He waved his hand, and a gentle light enveloped Wang Ping and Qing Yi. In that same moment, he took a step forward, and, in the blink of an eye, he vanished, taking Wang Ping and Qing Yi with him. The Celestial Guardian followed, disappearing without a trace.

Lei Daozi’s face was a thunderous storm. With a snarl, he, too, vanished.

Far to the west of Ran Yun, upon a desolate plain, Wang Lin stepped forth from the void, Wang Ping and Qing Yi appearing within the light.

At the same time, a hundred paces distant, lightning crackled, and Lei Daozi materialized.

The moment he appeared, a storm of lightning erupted around him. The sky above grew dark, roiling with storm clouds laced with crackling energy.

“Whoever you are,” Lei Daozi’s voice was harsh, “leave the puppet, and I shall spare you all!”

Wang Lin’s eyes burned with an icy fire. “Even if you wished to spare me, I would not spare you. Had I arrived but a moment later, my son would have perished by your hand. You have struck at my heart. Regardless of who you are, today, you shall die!” His words were like the ring of steel. A wave of killing intent radiated from him. The Celestial Guardian emerged from the void. In an instant, its metal body shimmered with gold, blindingly bright, and it lunged at Lei Daozi, fist extended.
With a practiced flick of his wrist, Lei Daozi summoned from his enchanted pouch a shimmering net woven of pure lightning. Incanting ancient words of power, he cast it forth. In a heartbeat, the net expanded, mimicking the very sky above, then contracted with blinding speed, seeking to ensnare the Immortal Guard.

Myriad runes blazed upon its surface, lending it an unbreakable resilience. Despite its relentless struggles, the golem’s fists failed to shatter the web’s electrifying embrace.

“I am an emissary of the Thunderous Celestial Hall!” Lei Daozi roared, his eyes never leaving his foe. “Even with that construct at your command, you cannot hope to vanquish me!” He launched the net, then, with a swift incantation, conjured a bolt of pure lightning that streaked towards Wang Lin.

Wang Lin, however, remained unmoved. As the lightning neared, he simply opened his mouth and *inhaled*. To Lei Daozi’s utter disbelief, the entire bolt vanished, swallowed whole by the seemingly unassuming elder.

Crackling arcs of energy danced across Wang Lin’s skin, yet he remained unharmed.

“Such paltry power is insufficient!” Wang Lin declared, raising his right hand. From within his very soul, a sliver of his essence emerged, coalescing in his palm. In an instant, a sphere of pure lightning, no larger than a fist, manifested.

Its appearance shattered the very tranquility of the heavens. The storm clouds overhead churned in violent response. As if summoned by an ancient decree, countless bolts of lightning, each a raging dragon of pure energy, erupted from the skies and converged upon Wang Lin’s tiny sphere.

Lei Daozi gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief. Before him, the very sky itself was being devoured, its power funneled into a single, devastating point within his enemy’s hand.

“This,” Wang Lin said, his voice calm, “is true thunder.” With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed the sphere. A deafening roar ripped through the air as it hurtled towards Lei Daozi.

Panic seized the emissary. Without hesitation, he retreated, fumbling within his pouch to produce a black iron rod, a full three fathoms in length and an inch thick. Covered in arcane symbols and crisscrossed with a thread of dark crimson, it pulsed with contained power.

As Wang Lin’s lightning sphere approached, Lei Daozi plunged the rod into the earth, his hands moving in a blur, etching runes of power into its surface.

“Heavenly thunder, be drawn!” he bellowed, his eyes blazing with desperate concentration.

With a cataclysmic rumble, the sphere, guided by the iron rod, veered from its path. It slammed into the metal, unleashing its raw energy in a blinding surge.

Arc after arc of electricity crawled across the rod, igniting every rune in a frenzied dance of absorption.

But the sphere’s power was too great. A crack echoed through the air as the iron groaned under the strain. Yet, before it could shatter, the crimson thread snaked through the fissures, binding the broken pieces, holding the rod together.

The sphere roared, its divine might undiminished despite the rod’s desperate efforts. With a final, earth-shattering impact, it collided with the empowered iron.

In that instant, the rod’s fractures widened into chasms, and the crimson thread spread to encompass the whole. Lei Daozi watched, his face etched with incredulity.

Then, the inevitable. The rod, unable to contain the sphere’s immense power, shuddered once more, and shattered in a blinding explosion.

The very heavens themselves seemed to convulse. The world shook as countless miniature thunderclaps ripped through the air. Mountains crumbled, and rivers raged.

The unleashed power slammed into Lei Daozi, flinging him back a dozen paces. His face ashen, he glared at Wang Lin. “You!” he shouted, his voice strained. “You are the imposter who dares to claim the title of Thunderous Celestial Hall emissary, Xu Mu! What is your true cultivation?” With the dissipation of the net, the Immortal Guard strode free.

Wang Lin met Lei Daozi’s gaze with an unnerving calmness. “My cultivation…” he mused. As he spoke, a surge of celestial power erupted within him, flowing upwards from the Foundation Realm, swiftly ascending through Core Formation, reaching the peak of Spirit Severing.

But it did not stop. With another surge, his cultivation soared again, reaching the initial stages of Soul Transformation!

As Wang Lin’s power continued to escalate, Lei Daozi’s face grew ever more ashen. Though he looked down upon those who languished in the First Step of cultivation, the old man before him was climbing to heights he could not fathom.

Initial Soul Transformation was not the end. With another surge, Wang Lin’s cultivation reached the Middle Stage!

Then, with a sense of finally settling, his raw power seemed to stabilize, and rested at the Middle Stage. Yet, something continued to rise, unrestrained. It was his *intent*, his *essence*.

Surpassing all expectations, his *essence* rose beyond the boundaries of mere Middle Stage Soul Transformation, reaching into ever deeper realms of power. Wang Lin’s white hair swayed wildly about his head as his brow furrowed in concentration.

A wave of energy emanated from him, flooding outwards, encompassing the entire planet of Dan Yun.

His *essence* soared past his own, physical restraints. Then, with ease, it crested the Late Stage. But, yet again, his intent continued, untamed!

Lei Daozi’s eyes twitched. He nearly ceased to breath. A feeling of foreboding seized him.

Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Perhaps this was his limit. Perhaps the old man was merely an oddity, not a threat. As he began to ease, the sky rippled. As the light bent, the very fabric of the sky parted, revealing a landscape of ethereal mountains, seas, and rivers; an impossibly beautiful work of art drawn across the very canvas of the heavens.

Seven streams of sickly yellow light emerged through the art, gently flowing. A vision of the very Underworld, created by an artisan of unfathomable skill.

Then, in a heartbeat, the landscape, the rivers of the dead, all collapsed and were pulled into Wang Lin through the aperture at the crown of his head, vanishing.

Lei Daozi could only watch in paralyzed terror as Wang Lin’s *essence*, fueled by the consumed, otherworldly energies, surged once more.

And, with a final, earth-shattering burst, Wang Lin had completed it. His intent cresting and stabilizing at the peak of Late Stage Soul Transformation!

There, it stopped.
Lei Daozi breathed a sigh of relief, the tempest in his heart finally subsiding. He had feared, with chilling certainty, that this Wang Lin’s understanding of the world, his very *yi jing*, had broken the barrier to the first step of true cultivation. Had that been the case, and coupled with the cunning of his puppet, today would have seen a battle etched in blood and thunder!

“With such paltry power, you dare impersonate a Herald of the Lei Xian Palace!” Lei Daozi scoffed, but a serpent of doubt still writhed within him. The sphere of lightning that Xu Mu had unleashed moments before was undeniably potent, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary cultivators.

Such command of lightning magic was usually only glimpsed in the elite, the Earth Grade Heralds of the Palace. Moreover, when he had swept the area with his divine sense, he had found no trace of the man. Even now, though he could clearly perceive Xu Mu’s cultivation level, he felt as though a veil of mist lay between them, like trying to grasp the moon’s reflection in water.

Wang Lin raised his head, his celestial energy a mere trickle, barely enough to maintain the stable Mid-Stage of Foundation Establishment. Yet, his *yi jing*, unbeknownst to him, had reached a level far exceeding his power. This unexpected surge took Wang Lin by surprise.

He had only unleashed the *yi jing* of Life and Death Reincarnation. The potent force of Thunder and the weaving threads of Causality and Karma, held within his nascent soul, remained veiled.

The reason Lei Daozi could not pierce Wang Lin’s true depths lay precisely in that unseen wisp of Karma. Wang Lin’s *yi jing*, in its nascent evolution, was now obscured from those who had not taken the second step towards immortality. The dance of Yin and Yang, Illusion and Reality, was, after all, merely the bridge between the first and second realms.

Wang Ping stared at his father, transfixed. In the moment of his father’s fleeting ascension, a faint tremor had resonated within him, a signal that pulsed into his very soul, strengthening his burgeoning suspicions.

(The author then digresses into a personal note about his birthday being ruined and a plea for readers to vote for his novel.)

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