A shrill cry rent the air as Archsage Tian, a blur of motion, shattered the very sound barrier. The speed was inconceivable, eclipsing even the rumored art of instantaneous translocation.

With a thunderous boom echoing in the void, he descended upon the Golden Dragon. A single, devastating blow landed, and the colossal dragon convulsed, spewing forth a torrent of blood. Its massive form was hurled backwards with brutal force.

In the wake of the dragon’s expulsion, Archsage Tian vanished, reappearing an instant later before Wudong Chan. The protective ethereal bubbles surrounding the sage shattered with a resounding pop. Wudong Chan gasped as a fist-shaped crater appeared on his chest. Blood gushed forth, accompanied by the sickening crack of splintering bone. His body was flung back, his eyes wide with stunned disbelief.

But the assault was far from over. Even as the Golden Dragon and Wudong Chan were sent reeling, the three violet wooden staves before Yimu Zi spun into a dizzying, impenetrable vortex.

Yet Archsage Tian’s velocity defied comprehension. He found a sliver of weakness amidst the rotating staves, and with impossible speed, his fist pierced through, impacting directly upon Yimu Zi.

A trickle of blood escaped Yimu Zi’s lips, and he retreated hastily.

Qing Shui, in turn, conjured a series of shimmering ripples before him. His left eye flashed with arcane energy, but a moment later, he was violently shoved backwards, the ripples intensifying with each step.

Finally, with a resounding blast, the ripples exploded outward. Qing Shui’s face was ashen as he staggered back even further.

All this transpired in the blink of an eye, faster than either the mind or mortal eye could perceive. The very fabric of space seemed to bend to his will, and the encroaching seal sapped the strength from all present, exacerbating Archsage Tian’s relentless onslaught, causing their cultivations to falter.

Wang Lin, unable even to track Archsage Tian’s movements, felt a gale of power wash over him, a force of overwhelming magnitude suddenly pressing down from the front.

Yet he did not panic. As the force crashed upon him, Wang Lin twisted his body, relying on the instinct of his ancient god lineage. His left fist met empty air.

*BANG!* The sound reverberated through the void. Wang Lin was thrown back, his face paling, a trickle of blood staining his lips. But before him, Archsage Tian was forced to reveal himself for the first time, stumbling back two paces. His gaze, now fixed upon Wang Lin, was filled with a strange curiosity.

“He is unaffected by the power drain, immune to the seal, and possesses mastery of physical strength,” Wang Lin called out as he retreated. “Our strengths wane. If we do not unite to destroy this puppet, we are doomed!”

“Silence, whelp!” The Golden Dragon, his body flickering with the strange light emanating from the five paper talismans fused to his scales, unleashed a torrent of the five elements, which swirled about him, then without moving toward Archsage Tian, rushed directly toward Wang Lin.

The elemental energies coalesced into five fiery emanations that closed in on Wang Lin from all sides.

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with a cold light. Knowing he could not evade the dragon’s attack, he unhesitatingly reached into his storage sack and produced the nascent soul of Xuanbao the Ascended. He made as if to crush it. “Take another step, and I will extinguish this soul!”

The elemental energies halted abruptly. The Golden Dragon’s eyes blazed with fury. Had his power not been draining so rapidly, and had he not been wounded by Archsage Tian’s initial strike, he would never have allowed himself to be held hostage. But now, his rage only intensified his helplessness.

In the distance, Archsage Tian smiled enigmatically, then vanished once more. Yimu Zi’s face contorted with alarm as he stumbled backward, but he was too slow. Crashing sounds echoed about him, each one a blow that sent him staggering. His every incantation, every spell, was too slow, shattered before it could fully manifest.

Worse still, the spells he did manage to cast lost much of their strength in this accursed place. Tenfold power manifested only as five; the true power of his arts could not be unleashed. His primordial power continued to drain, the speed of its departure ever increasing. In moments, his cultivation plummeted from its peak to the later stages of Purification Nirvana.

With no time to spare, Yimu Zi discarded all concern for the power draining from him. Without hesitation, he threw out his arms and roared, “One Wood, One World!”

One of the three violet staves surrounding him shattered, dissolving into motes of crystalline light that spread rapidly outwards, forming a self-contained world that sealed the area within a hundred paces.

Yet Archsage Tian was faster still. In the very instant the area was sealed, he retreated, disappearing almost as soon as he moved.

“Enough! We must first slay this Archsage Tian, puppet or no!” Wudong Chan’s face was grim, his own cultivation failing rapidly. He strode forward, summoning a multitude of ethereal bubbles that followed him towards Yimu Zi.

“Void of Annihilation!” Wudong Chan cried, his right hand forming a hand seal. The surrounding bubbles multiplied exponentially, until they filled the air.

In that instant, one of the bubbles imploded. Wudong Chan’s eyes flashed, and with a sweep of his divine sense, he willed the remaining bubbles to converge.

“Explode!”

As a cacophony of explosions shook the space, Yimu Zi, his face dark with concentration, swept his right sleeve forward. A massive tree manifested before him, hurtling towards the oncoming barrage.

A wave of force rippled outwards, and the Golden Dragon roared in pain as his massive form was flung back once more. Archsage Tian reappeared, seemingly unscathed, clinging to the dragon’s flank, hammering blows upon him.

The dragon thrashed and roared, snapping its massive jaws in an attempt to swallow the figure whole, but even as it opened its maw, every one of its teeth shattered in a deafening explosion.

Archsage Tian laughed wildly, his eyes gleaming. He spoke in a strange tongue, unintelligible to all but Wang Lin.

“Today, none of you will escape!”
Retreating, the shadow of the Paragon Sage flickered once more from sight. Wang Lin, his face a mask of composure, seized the moment of its vanishing. His right fist clenched, he unleashed a thunderous blow upon the space beside him.

A deafening crack echoed as Wang Lin was hurled backward, yet the Paragon Sage was likewise forced from its ethereal veil.

Qingshui, a blur of motion, closed the distance. His right hand formed a mystic sign, and the void answered with a howling gale of black winds. From this tempest arose eight serpentine dragons of shadow, coiling and writhing. With deafening roars, they lunged toward the Paragon Sage.

The Paragon Sage, a grotesque smile twisting its lips, dissolved into nothingness as the black dragons descended.

But as it was about to escape, Wang Lin’s eyes flared with an arcane light. The phantom image of his ancestral God-Cauldron shimmered into existence around him. With a burst of speed, he vanished, only to reappear precisely as the Paragon Sage retreated.

Before the God-Cauldron could fade, Wang Lin unleashed a savage punch. The Paragon Sage, reacting with startling speed, spun and met Wang Lin’s fist with its own palm.

The resulting explosion sent Wang Lin reeling, a crimson torrent erupting from his lips. The Paragon Sage, too, stumbled back several paces. In that fleeting instant, Qingshui’s hands flew through a complex series of seals. He unleashed a deluge of rain, each drop transforming into a razor-sharp arrow that hurtled toward their foe.

The Paragon Sage, a sneer curling its lip, attempted to weave away, but Wang Lin’s eyes blazed with icy resolve. “Senior Brother! Lend me your Immortal Essence!” he roared, thrusting his right hand forward.

“Hold!”

The word echoed with power. The last dregs of Wang Lin’s own essence, both mortal and celestial, surged through him, pouring into his right hand and thence into the void. Simultaneously, Qingshui, without hesitation, struck the air before him, channeling half of his remaining Immortal Essence into the blow, and propelling it into Wang Lin’s form.

The celestial power flooded Wang Lin, an overwhelming tide. It roared forth from his outstretched hand.

The Binding Spell, driven by such unbridled force, was unleashed with a potency never before seen. A single word, a command to stand still, and the Paragon Sage was frozen, trapped in the fabric of reality.

In the distance, Yi Mu Zi surged forward. The oppressive seals upon this place forbade instant travel, yet his speed was considerable. Before he drew near, his hands were already weaving a spell. A phantom tree materialized before him, spinning with increasing speed until it coalesced into a slender, wooden sword. The sword shot forth like a bolt of lightning, plunging point-first from above, piercing the Paragon Sage’s skull. Thudding echoes reverberated as the entirety of the blade sank into its flesh.

Then, with a cataclysmic explosion, the wooden sword shattered within, unleashing a torrent of arcane wood-based attacks that ripped through the Paragon Sage’s body.

At the same instant, Wu Dongchan, seeing the Paragon Sage ensnared by Wang Lin’s spell, waved his sleeve and spewed forth a mouthful of his vital spirit essence. This ethereal vapor transformed into a chain of shimmering bubbles, racing toward the paralyzed foe. Layer upon layer, they enveloped the Paragon Sage, then detonated with furious force.

Even the Golden Dragon, its hatred for the Paragon Sage burning bright, roared in fury. The power of the Five Elements crackled around it, interweaving and coalescing into a spectral crown. This diadem of elemental might hurtled toward its target, slamming down upon the Paragon Sage’s head. The combined onslaught of the three ancient beings overwhelmed the struggling Paragon Sage. A deafening roar erupted as the wooden sword, the ethereal bubbles, and the spectral crown exploded in unison. The Paragon Sage’s body was utterly annihilated.

As the remnants of flesh and bone scattered, Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed with a thousand-year-old hunger, an avarice rarely witnessed. The phantom of the ancestral God-Cauldron materialized, and with blinding speed, it descended upon the collapsing form of the Paragon Sage.

In a heartbeat, Wang Lin bit his tongue, spewing forth a gout of ancestral God’s blood. An eerie, guttural chant rose from his lips as he unleashed a desperate, ravenous inhale!

“Inheritance of Power!”

Within the shattered remains of the Paragon Sage, a fist-sized star of violet light flickered, pulsing with a gentle glow and resonating with the power of an ancient God.