Upon the other side, the man cloaked in shadows, his vengeance made manifest in a heartbeat, weaved an arcane gesture with his gnarled hand. From the void, he drew forth a vortex of immense power. This swirling chaos, swift as lightning, snaked through the battlefield, and those hapless cultivators it touched were utterly unmade, their essence scattered to the winds of oblivion.

While the red-robed elder held the monstrous Wang Yue in check with a desperate sealing art, Yan Leizi and the shrouded figure moved with blinding speed, ensuring that the hapless souls caught in the ritual were banished from this plane.

Yet, when Yan Leizi encountered those of the Yao clan, a cruel glint sparked in his eyes. He would unleash his power with a deliberate excess, a tenth part beyond necessity, so that they might cough up crimson ichor and suffer agony before their final dissolution.

Wang Yue, the moon beast, roared in its fury!

The Eight-Corners Village Seal, though primarily binding it, cast its net wide. Even the lesser moon-kin found themselves ensnared, their forms briefly imprisoned within shimmering, octagonal barriers.

Wrath surged through Wang Yue’s golden hide. It could scarcely recall the taste of constraint. With a bellow that shook the heavens, it hurled itself against the seal. Each impact birthed yet another octagonal ward in the void before it, a force that struck back with terrible power.

The earth trembled with each blow, and Wang Yue’s fury intensified. In the blink of an eye, two fissures ripped open upon its head, above its gaping maw. These were the eyes of the moon beast, swirling with a clouded madness. Within, a swirling mist mingled with the rawest, most unbridled rage. A guttural, inhuman murmur escaped its lips, and from the nothingness before it, countless motes of light coalesced. They formed into a colossal, somewhat crude finger, of a size beyond reckoning.

This was Wang Yue’s wrath, unleashed as the Finger of an Ancient God!

“Quickly!” The red-robed elder cried, his voice ragged with desperation. Without hesitation, he pressed both hands upon the array, his face etched with grim determination. His robes billowed behind him, his hair stood on end, and a hurricane of primal energy swirled within him.

Before the sealed moon beast, that spectral finger sent a tremor of dread through the elder’s very soul.

As Wang Yue’s roar echoed once more, the God-Finger descended, pressing down with agonizing slowness upon the octagonal seals.

With a sickening crack, the village seals failed. They shattered into a million fragments, swirling back in a chaotic dance. The red-robed elder’s face turned ashen as he staggered back with the shards. In a blur, he retreated toward Yan Leizi and the shrouded man.

By this time, those two had swept the battlefield clean, ensuring that all remaining souls had been banished.

Yan Leizi, his eyes fixated upon the moon beast’s finger, erupted in a manic laugh. “A fine specimen of moon-kin! Deliver this to the Stellar Alliance, and Xuán Zhòngzi will choke on his own envy!”

With a guttural snarl, Wang Yue drove the God-Finger toward the trio.

It was as though a true Ancient God had descended upon the world, extending a finger in an act of cosmic judgment.

“Friends, this moon beast’s ultimate assault is beyond our mortal strength. Only our true selves, in their full power, could hope to endure it. But our task is done! Let us taste the might of a moon beast!” Yan Leizi bellowed, charging headlong towards the descending finger.

As he surged forward, an inferno blazed around him, engulfing him completely in a roiling sea of fire.

The God-Finger loomed, and in that final instant, Yan Leizi roared, weaving mystic signs with his hands. The flames that cloaked him coalesced, forming a great dragon of pure fire, which hurtled towards the ancient, spectral digit.

The fire dragon was Yan Leizi’s everything, the sum total of his being at that moment. As it sped forth, his mortal form vanished, and it seemed even his very soul was consumed, leaving only the dragon of fire to meet the God-Finger in a cataclysmic collision.

The echoes of that impact ripped through the heavens, shaking the very foundations of the Northern Domain. The dragon of fire was sundered, its essence scattering into a sea of burning embers, which enveloped the God-Finger in a blaze of intense heat.

The red-robed elder, his eyes glowing with otherworldly light, let out a hearty laugh. He stepped forward, and with a mystic gesture, he touched his brow. In a flash, his body transformed into a slender, crimson sword, which pierced forward as the God-Finger burned.

The shrouded man, his resolve unwavering, acknowledged that his current guise was expendable. The chance to experience such power, however, might yield unexpected boons.

Reaching his level, the next step was fraught with difficulties. The power of the moon beast, in his eyes, presented an opportunity.

With a furious battle cry, the dark figure made a series of hand gestures. His body transformed into an ancient, black eagle. This bird, a mere shadow of the true beast, radiated an aura of intense age. The black eagle flew towards the incoming attack.

The entire Northern Domain was consumed by an unthinkable roar, as if the land was ripped apart. The cultivators on every planet felt the earth-shattering roar of the god’s power.

The Fire Dragon was destroyed!

The Crimson Sword was shattered!

The Black Eagle was dispelled!

The God-Finger, though diminished, remained unscathed. The giant finger swept the area before finally merging back into the Wang Yue in motes of light.

The moon beast’s eyes shone with a cold light, as the smaller moon beasts of the area merged into the mouth of the creature. The massive body of the Wang Yue slowly moved through the stars before disappearing.

At that moment, deep within the Lightning Immortal Hall of the Luotian Star Field, three figures sat cross-legged in a secret chamber. They were seated upon an ancient formation, each occupying a key point within its intricate design.

One of these figures was none other than Yan Leizi. He opened his eyes, a thoughtful expression on his face. At the same time, the other two, the red-robed elder and the shrouded man, also stirred and opened their eyes.

“Most powerful!” spoke the dark figure.

“This moon-kin is as the records foretell, best left undisturbed!” said the red-robed elder.
“Then it is decided! We shall gather a company of heroes and weave a net to capture this moon-beast, Wang Yue, alive!”炎雷子 declared, a gleam of madness flickering in his eyes, yet his voice remained chillingly calm.

Far away, in the Eastern Domains of Luo Tian, upon a crimson-stained world, within the ancestral halls of the Yao Clan, the Blood God stood. Behind him, a dozen or more soul tablets shattered with a resounding *crack*, their remnants dissolving into wisps of white vapor. With a dismissive flick of his crimson sleeve, the Blood God gathered the dissipating essence.

His gaze, cold and calculating, turned skyward. “This vagrant from the Alliance Starfield… he possesses a ruthlessness and unwavering resolve that far surpasses the third generation of my own Yao Clan!” he muttered to himself.

After a long silence, the Blood God’s right hand clenched, drawing forth a surge of crimson light which coalesced into a blood-red jade scroll.

“Dispatch Yao Yun, of the second generation, to Luo Tian’s Northern City,” he commanded, his voice dripping with venom. “Let him claim the life of Xu Mu!” With that decree imbued upon it, the jade scroll vanished, dissolving into a fleeting crimson radiance.

Throughout the Luo Tian Starfield, the name of the demonic Xu Mu, known also as Wang Lin, was whispered with fear and loathing. The tragedy that had befallen Luo Tian’s Northern Domain had etched his name into the minds of every cultivator. He had become a hunted man, pursued relentlessly by the Yao Clan and countless others. Yet, against all odds, he not only survived, but had turned the tables, wielding the power of a colossal beast in a terrifying counterattack!

That act had decimated the vast majority of his pursuers and sent shockwaves throughout the entire Luo Tian Starfield. No other cultivation family dared to involve themselves in the vendetta between him and the Yao Clan.

Those few who survived the Battle of Wang Yue carried tales that spread like wildfire across the cosmos. “Xu Mu, the demonic fiend… only engage him as a last resort!”

He was considered utterly unhinged, a berserker of unmatched power who reveled in carnage. He butchered low-level cultivators without remorse, and even unleashed a primordial behemoth to wreak havoc upon the land!

His infamy was beginning to rival even that of the legendary Eastern Sea Star. Consequently, no one was willing to throw their lot in against him. The old whispers regarding Xu Mu’s exploits in the Realm of Thunder resurfaced, etched even deeper into the minds of cultivators across the land.

The name of the Demonic Son resonated throughout the Luo Tian Starfield with an impact far greater than Wang Lin could have ever imagined. Oblivious to this shift in the celestial tides, he found himself deep within the flesh of the ancient moon-beast, his expression grim, his every step measured.

Behind him, a multitude of smaller, parasitic Wang Yue pursued relentlessly. Their tentacles writhed with an almost gleeful anticipation, their monstrous maws snapping shut as they devoured the lingering traces of Wang Lin’s essence.

Wang Lin’s brow furrowed. Something was amiss. This descent into Wang Yue was unlike his previous visit. The smaller moon-beasts seemed unusually excited, and during Yao Bingyun’s recent assault, the larger Wang Yue had even intervened on his behalf.

This realization made him pause. “It must be the Ancient God’s hide armor!” he muttered. A flash of insight illuminated his mind. With a mental command, the Ancient God armor that had been enfolding his soul was shed and materialized in his hand, only to be immediately consigned to his storage bag.

Having severed this link, he shifted his course and hastened away.

The pursuing Wang Yue reacted with immediate and feral outrage. As if a beloved treasure had been ripped from their grasp, they unleashed a chorus of enraged roars, scattering and merging into the surrounding tissue, frantically searching for their lost prize.

Wang Lin exhaled with relief, and cautiously navigated the strange terrain, determined to find the location of the Great Cauldron of Greed, the artifact that had resonated so powerfully within his spirit.

But at that moment, a series of tremors rippled throughout the moon-beast, emanating from all directions. These vibrations, shaped into waves, surged toward Wang Lin with terrifying speed.

His face paled. He retreated, attempting to evade the incoming wave, but another rippled through the space behind him. They were too swift, too relentless. The waves washed over him, piercing through his very being.

In that instant, the vibrations dissipated, as if they were Wang Yue’s own method of detecting foreign entities within its flesh. Wang Yue had located Wang Lin!

A deep, guttural bellow echoed through the moon-beast’s vast interior. It was the beast’s terrifying sonic attack, capable of shattering souls. What began as a mere rumble swiftly intensified, growing into a deafening cacophony, as if a thousand thunderclaps were exploding directly against Wang Lin’s eardrums. The sonic assault rose in a crescendo, threatening to drown out all other sound.