As the grotesque aberration manifested, the Blood Fiend’s movements faltered. Seizing this fleeting respite, Wang Lin swiftly retreated. His hands danced through a flurry of arcane gestures, and even as dozens of crimson bolts of celestial lightning descended from the heavens, the ancient god’s cauldron shimmering around him pulsed with power, shielding him as it veered aside a hundred lengths!

The errant thunderbolts, deprived of their initial quarry, did not dissipate. Instead, imbued with a malevolent sentience, they wheeled about, resuming their pursuit with renewed fervor.

A mere hundred lengths was but a blink for celestial lightning.

Likewise, for Wang Lin, though swift, it was enough to conjure a single, vital spell.

“Invoke the Winds!” Amidst the encroaching peril, a chilling composure settled upon Wang Lin’s gaze. This dire moment hinged upon the very celestial tribulation that threatened him, a gamble with only a sliver of hope.

“Let this tribulation rage with even greater fury!” Wang Lin gritted his teeth. Upon his right hand, a black wind materialized from the ether, so dense it choked the heavens, swirling about him. As the bolts of lightning hurtled closer, it coalesced into a fearsome black dragon, which roared and spewed forth a tempest of spectral wind from its gaping maw.

A wind that could extinguish the flame of life itself. As it surged forth, several of the pursuing lightning bolts shattered and dissipated, yet others pierced through the gale, bearing down upon Wang Lin.

His eyes gleamed with a cunning light. As the remaining lightning struck, his nascent soul erupted forth, ravenously consuming three bolts before being forced to retreat to the sanctuary of his flesh.

The instant his nascent soul returned, the final, malevolent thunderbolts crashed down with deafening roars. At that moment, the butterflies and blood swallows, which had continuously orbited Wang Lin, flickered and surged forth, interposing themselves against the onslaught, their forms dissolving as they met the wrath of the heavens.

Amidst the thunderous echoes reverberating throughout the heavens and earth, three bolts remained, piercing every defense, drawing nigh to Wang Lin’s very being.

A strange light flickered in his eyes. His hands flew through another series of incantations, and the Seal of Immortals slammed into place before him. With a swift motion, he melded his form directly into the seal.

In the instant his body merged with the Seal of Immortals, the three remaining thunderbolts struck as one!

*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*

“Seal the Thunder!!” A muffled roar erupted from within the Seal of Immortals, causing it to shudder violently. Tendrils of lightning snaked across its surface, forming a miniature sea of crackling energy. Wang Lin’s form was violently expelled, a torrent of blood gushing forth. With a desperate lunge, he seized the Seal of Immortals and, with a burst of speed, retreated.

Lightning energy surged to its pinnacle across the Seal of Immortals. But, even as he retreated, Wang Lin surged upward, towards the storm clouds themselves, the golden runes etched upon the Seal of Immortals flashing madly.

Wang Lin knew he could never outrun the Blood Fiend. Even wounded by the Ancient God’s shattering blow, it remained a foe beyond his mortal capacity. But, by harnessing the power of the very tribulation that assailed him, there was a chance, however slight, of escape!

The arcane abomination that had sprung from the Blood Fiend’s brow fixed its gaze upon Wang Lin. Its form retracted, returning into the Blood Fiend’s body, causing its eyes to gleam with an unholy light. It strode forth and raised its right hand, reaching directly for Wang Lin’s crown!

Clearly, it intended to seize and devour his very soul!

Wang Lin’s eyes blazed with a fierce light. He raised his right hand and uttered the incantation: “Invoke the Winds!”

His most potent skill, the Wind Summoning technique, unleashed for the second time. The surrounding black winds churned, even denser than before, and before Wang Lin, they coalesced into not one, but *two* black dragons!

Before achieving the Ascendant Nirvana realm, Wang Lin could only summon a single dragon. But now, with his augmented cultivation, under the throes of desperation, two black dragons roared, their tails entwined about Wang Lin. Each head opened its maw, unleashing a torrential blast of spectral wind, a dual draconic assault!

Howling gales echoed through the cosmos. The spectral wind possessed an indescribable potency, causing the very fabric of space to tremble. Simultaneously, Wang Lin pointed to the Seal of Immortals, and a bolt of celestial lightning, conjured from its energies, hurtled towards the Blood Fiend!

Wang Lin slammed his hand upon his storage sack. The Immortal Sword appeared in his grasp, and heedless of his dwindling spiritual power, he unleashed the Severing Mantra with reckless abandon. Wave after wave poured forth, countless and unrelenting.

The Blood Fiend remained serene. Its form drew closer with casual ease. With a single flick of its right hand, the celestial lightning conjured from the Seal of Immortals shattered with a deafening *boom*.

It then pointed downwards. A hundred Severing Mantras coalesced into a massive force, which crashed back, collapsing one by one!

Finally, the Blood Fiend extended its right hand once more. The spectral winds unleashed by the two black dragons instantly dissipated, and the dragons themselves, under the crushing power of that single gesture, were cleaved asunder with pitiful whimpers!

“Bai Fan, the Immortal Emperor’s, Wind Summoning is but a pale imitation!” The Blood Fiend’s eyes blazed with even greater arcane light as its hand shot out, grasping towards Wang Lin.

At that very instant!

“Dare you speak my venerable Teacher, Clear Water’s, name again?” A suffocating wave of murderous intent, enough to cleave the heavens themselves, emanating from a chilling voice, resounded across the starfield the instant the Blood Fiend finished speaking.

The moment those words echoed, the surrounding stars and nebulas erupted with thunderous cracks, and entire swathes of the cosmos began to crumble, unable to withstand the force of that utterance.

Not only the stars, but even the tribulation clouds above recoiled in terror!

The Blood Fiend’s former invocations of law, its words made reality, were but a feeble whisper compared to this sudden, commanding presence.

The ten-thousand-length domain of law it had erected instantly shattered!

Even Yao Yun, leagues away, coughed up blood. Her body slumped, her eyes filled with dread, and she retreated with frantic haste.

The ten-thousand-length starfield was suddenly engulfed in an unimaginable murderous intent. Throughout the Southern Domain of Luo Tian, every cultivator felt the chilling aura permeating the very fabric of the heavens and earth. Many spat blood, injured by its sheer intensity, even from afar.

And at the very epicenter of that tempest of murderous intent, the Blood Fiend felt it more intensely than any other. Its eyes narrowed to pinpricks.
Before Wang Lin stood the shattered form of the Black Dragon, its spine broken. But as the voice echoed through the void, the beast roared anew, its form mending, its scales shimmering with renewed vigor. Then, from the star-strewn tapestry above, a figure descended.

Clad in robes of purest white, a young man with raven locks cascading about his shoulders, and a right eye burning with crimson fire, walked slowly, deliberately, towards the fray.

Upon his face, the Blood God’s carefully constructed mask of composure shattered. Surprise morphed into dread.

“Clearwater Ascendant!” The Blood God snarled, recoiling a pace. His eyes, like pools of shadowed blood, were fixated upon the approaching figure. “Dare you speak those words again before my face, knave?”

Clearwater, his hands clasped serenely behind his back, radiated an icy aura, his gaze unwavering. “Repeat them, if you dare.”

The crimson fire within Clearwater’s right eye blazed with an unholy light, spilling outwards, bathing his features in an infernal glow. It was a power that promised annihilation, a spectacle that chilled the very soul.

The Blood God’s eyes shimmered with baleful light. “Clearwater Ascendant, we bear no ancient grudge. I spoke rashly and retract those words. We are destined for the Allied Star Domains together, and I will seek to mend this rift in time.

“However, this wretch has earned the ire of the Yao Clan. I implore you, Ascendant, to stand aside, lest amity turn to animosity.”

Clearwater’s expression remained a frozen mask. He strode forward, closing the distance between himself and the Blood God. “This junior brother of mine…his skill is…lacking. He has, perhaps, provoked the House of Yao. But,” Clearwater paused, his voice deceptively calm, “what of it?”

“Junior brother?!” The Blood God stumbled back, his face paling beneath the eerie glow of the crimson eye.

Clearwater raised his hand, pointing a single finger towards the heavens. Instantly, a tempest of black wind, a thousandfold more potent than the feeble gust conjured by Wang Lin, consumed the heavens. Within its swirling heart, the cries of monstrous beings resonated. Six Black Dragons, each a league in length, manifested from the churning darkness.

They wove and writhed, their colossal forms obscuring the very stars, their presence a suffocating weight upon the cosmos. Even the nascent storm clouds above, poised to unleash a tribulation upon Wang Lin, recoiled in fear, only to gather again, preparing a cataclysmic strike.

It was a spectacle to break the spirit of even the mightiest warrior.

“He has learned to call the winds, and thus, he is the inheritor of my Master’s legacy! By that right alone, not only you, but even the ancient progenitors of your Yao Clan would not dare to harm a single hair upon his head!” Clearwater’s voice was a frigid gale. He turned his hand, pointing at the Blood God. The six Black Dragons roared in unison, unleashing torrents of spectral wind.

The Blood God’s face darkened further. He could feel the chill creeping into his bones, the spectral wind a vastly more potent version of the crude power wielded by Wang Lin.

Hesitation flashed across his face, and then he acted. He thrust his hands outwards, and crimson energy erupted into being, coalescing into a swarm of blood-red swallows. Ninety-nine in total, they formed a vortex of crimson, a whirlwind of blood that clashed head-on with the spectral gales.

The resulting cataclysm shook the very fabric of reality. The void between the Blood God and Clearwater shattered, revealing a gaping rift that stretched and yawned, a chasm threatening to swallow the very stars.

The Blood God staggered backwards, his eyes fixed on Clearwater. “Clearwater, I grant you the respect due to an Ascendant, but do not push me too far! Have you been slumbering so long that your wits have dulled? This mortal may have learned to summon the winds, but he is no ‘junior brother’ of yours! Furthermore, he has slaughtered countless scions of my Yao Clan! I come to avenge them! Justice is on my side! Why do you interfere? Clearwater, I fear you not! Do not force my hand!”

The Blood God knew nothing of the guilt that gnawed at Clearwater’s soul. He was forever haunted by the debt he owed his Master, a debt that could never be repaid.

Upon awakening, when he had witnessed Wang Lin’s crude, yet familiar, magic, when the clash with Yan Leizi had stirred dormant memories, a strange and complex emotion had taken root within his heart.

“Even if he has erred, it is for me, the student, to correct him, to carry out the Master’s wishes! You have no right to do so!” Clearwater’s voice was like the grinding of glacial ice. The six Black Dragons spiraling around him unleashed a renewed torrent of spectral wind, a whirlwind of chaos that shook the heavens themselves.

But this time, the dragons intertwined, coalescing into a single, immense serpentine form. As it roared, no spectral wind emanated from its jaws. Instead, a deluge of rain cascaded from the heavens, shrouding the surrounding thousands of leagues in a shimmering veil.

“The Call of Rain!”