From the swirling chaos of the celestial realm, a chromatic Wind Dragon clashed with a resplendent Qilin. The thunderous roars of their battle echoed across the heavens, twisting the very firmament in their wake. The Wind Dragon, wreathed in a cyclone of seven shimmering hues, commanded gales that ripped through the skies.

The Qilin, a creature of divine majesty, was engulfed in an inferno. With each movement, it unleashed a sea of celestial fire that spread like wildfire. Even the Dragon’s tempestuous winds served only to fan the flames higher.

Yet the Wind Dragon, composed of the very essence of the storm, was an ephemeral foe. Though shattered, it would reform anew, its ethereal body coalescing from the roaring winds, possessed of a seemingly immortal draconic essence. Thus, the two beasts were locked in a battle of equals, their earth-shattering collision rivaling the clash of two Great Divine Cultivators. Upon a shard of a shattered Immortal Realm, Wang Lin stood, pressing his foot against the celestial fragment, shrinking it until it became a protective ward around him. To the words of the venerable Ling Tianhou, he replied with serene composure, “I thank you for your praise, esteemed elder. The events of this day are as mystifying to me as they are to you. I know not what transgression I have committed to warrant my master’s attempt to obliterate me!”

Ling Tianhou chuckled, “Such matters are not uncommon, young friend. In my long years, I have witnessed countless such instances. Why, once, long ago, a certain…”

But before Ling Tianhou could finish his tale, a voice, ancient and resounding, echoed through the realms.

“Ling Tianhou, your words are far too many! All transgressions I may endure, but the matters of my Heavenly Fate Sect are beyond your meddling. Within three breaths, depart this place, or I shall cast you out myself!”

Ling Tianhou rolled his eyes, scoffing, “Heavenly Fate Elder, does the Sword Sovereign frighten so easily? If you wish to battle, then let us do so! I shall see how much you have improved since last we met!”

Wang Lin heard their words clearly. Though the form of the Heavenly Fate Elder was absent, he knew that with his divine powers, the elder could arrive in but a fleeting moment. A question that had troubled Wang Lin since his days of lesser cultivation now weighed heavily on his mind. Now numbered among the Great Divine Cultivators, he could no longer ignore the disparity between Ling Tianhou and the Heavenly Fate Elder. Ling Tianhou, while mightier than the Blood Ancestor, was far from the level of Yan Leizi or Qing Shui. Compared to the Heavenly Fate Elder, they were as different as heaven and earth.

Yet, for millennia, Ling Tianhou had dared to oppose the Heavenly Fate Elder. It was a fact that Wang Lin found baffling. Even in his words, the Heavenly Fate Elder seemed to tolerate Ling Tianhou with unusual restraint. “What hidden secret lies between them?” Wang Lin wondered, his eyes narrowed, watching intently.

“You have broken our agreement!” the Heavenly Fate Elder’s voice echoed through the heavens, devoid of emotion. As those words were spoken, the sky, which had begun to brighten with the promise of dawn, abruptly darkened. The rising sun, poised to paint the east with its light, was consumed by a force of immense divine power, plunging the world into shadow. Ling Tianhou’s countenance turned grim. With a grand sweep of his sleeve, the primordial sword at his side emitted a resounding shriek and plunged into the void, unleashing a towering surge of sword energy! “To break agreements is my prerogative, Heavenly Fate Elder! Even were you to summon the Grey Robe, would I tremble before you?” Ling Tianhou sneered, pointing his right hand toward the surging sword energy. Instantly, the energy shattered with a deafening boom, transforming into countless motes of light that filled the heavens.

Piercing the encroaching darkness, those fragments of light illuminated Wang Lin’s path, shrouding him in a twilight haze. In the far reaches of the sky, a solitary figure clad in grey slowly emerged. About this figure emanated an aura of desolate isolation and chilling pride.

Step by measured step, he traversed the heavens, approaching Ling Tianhou.

The moment Wang Lin beheld the figure in grey, his heart surged. He recognized him instantly as the very Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder who had once bestowed upon him the Slaughter Immortal Incantation! The Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder’s gaze was cold, radiating an unwavering arrogance. Without a word, he raised his right hand and grasped at the void. Instantly, the boundless darkness that enveloped the realms seemed to writhe, converging upon the Elder’s hand.

It was a sight most bizarre, for this darkness was not mere twilight, but a surging, tangible force. It was the absence of light itself, the shadow born of its absence – how could it be grasped? Yet, before Wang Lin’s very eyes, it moved, it coalesced! “He is absorbing the power of light!” Wang Lin exclaimed inwardly, his eyes wide with shock.

The infinite darkness solidified in the Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder’s hand, transforming in a heartbeat into a slender, black blade, no thicker than a finger. With the blade in his grasp, the Elder wasted no words. He simply swung it in a horizontal arc! In that instant, a boundless wave of slaughterous intent surged through the heavens. Not a single current, but ten! Ten currents of true, unadulterated slaughter! These were not the incomplete versions Wang Lin had once cultivated, but currents born of those who had mastered the Slaughter Immortal Incantation, whose bodies and souls had merged with the aura of slaughter, whose beings had been forged through countless eons into veritable incarnations of slaughter itself. Wang Lin’s face darkened as he watched the Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder unleash those ten currents of slaughter. He could not help but recall his own past brush with death, and how close he had come to becoming another such current in the Elder’s arsenal. Just as the thought took root, Wang Lin’s body shuddered. A bolt of lightning seemed to cleave through his mind, and his eyes burned with sudden clarity. Something had changed.

“It is not true!”

“The Heavenly Fate Elder is not infallible! His reasons for imparting to me the aura of slaughter were profound indeed, a deliberate planting of the seed that would bloom into the pure Yang energy on my day of birth!”

“In those days, the Heavenly Fate Elder was perfection incarnate, his calculations flawless. But I, within the lands of the Demon Spirit, with the unwitting aid of the Ancient Demon, discovered the flaws and shortcomings of the Slaughter Immortal Incantation! This act of demonic aid introduced the first deviation into the Heavenly Fate Elder’s designs!”

“Then, the arrival of the Scattered Devil disrupted the Heavenly Fate Elder’s plans once more, allowing me to perceive the cause and effect within the Slaughter Immortal Incantation, and to relinquish the devastating aura of slaughter!”

“That was the Heavenly Fate Elder’s first miscalculation concerning me!” Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed with a newfound understanding. He stared at the Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder, his thoughts racing with incredible speed.

“If the Heavenly Fate Elder miscalculated once, then that must be why he misjudged the precise date of my return, and could not discern my true level of cultivation!” Wang Lin’s eyes sharpened with a burning intensity. He inhaled deeply, his mind clearing. “That single error, however small it may seem, was a flaw in the tapestry of the Elder’s design!”

“The Heavenly Fate Elder of today is not perfect, nor unbreakable! The fatal knot within his plan is not immune to unraveling! If he could err once with me, then he can err again!” A frigid light flashed in Wang Lin’s eyes.

At that moment, the Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder remained impassive, his face as cold as ice. Before him, the ten currents of slaughter erupted, streaking toward Ling Tianhou with blinding speed.

Ling Tianhou snorted and raised his right hand, muttering an incantation: “Reveal, Penetrate, Break! Heavenshattering Second Stance: Sword Child Bearing Blade!” As he raised his hand and pointed towards the sky, a thunderous rumble echoed. The four primordial swords spun with furious speed, merging together as one!

In an instant, the conjoined swords emanated a blinding light, and from within that light emerged a child of seven or eight years, his eyes closed. The child radiated sword energy, and upon his back rested a massive blade of deep violet hue. Its shape was both striking and unnatural, curved like a sinuous serpent. From the blade poured a thick aura of immortality that coiled and twisted like serpentine dragons.

The instant Wang Lin beheld the curved blade, his eyes sharpened.

“Immortal Sword of Rain!” Wang Lin exclaimed inwardly, recognizing the origin of the serpent-shaped sword. Long ago, in the Immortal Realm of Rain, the Immortal Sword of Rain had been divided into four fragments, two of which were stolen. This serpentine blade was precisely the one seized by Ling Tianhou! The Sword Child strode forward to confront the Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder. As Ling Tianhou bellowed and formed a hand seal, the Sword Child’s eyes snapped open, releasing two beams of piercing light.

At the same instant, the Sword Child swayed forward, and the serpent-shaped Rain Sword unsheathed with a deafening clang, rocketing toward the ten currents of slaughter unleashed by the Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder.

With a roar, the serpent-shaped Immortal Sword unleashed waves of sword energy, transforming into a titanic serpent, its roaring presence stirring a storm of miasma that spread across the heavens, a vortex that linked heaven and earth as it swept forward.

The Grey-Robed Heavenly Fate Elder’s face remained as stoic as ever. The ten currents of slaughter collided with the maelstrom summoned by the great serpent, unleashing a thunderous crash that revealed a transformation that sent a chill down Wang Lin’s spine.

With a flash of black light, the ten currents of slaughter morphed into ten figures of men and women, old and young. Each of their faces was contorted with rage, their eyes burning with a murderous light as they surged toward the approaching vortex.

Furthermore, countless streams of slaughter energy rained down from the sky, for each of the ten figures unleashed no less than a million currents of slaughter energy.

Thus, the sheer volume of slaughter energy that blanketed the heavens was staggering! It seemed to completely blot out the sky itself, leaving nothing but the aura of murder and the chilling howls that shook the very soul.

Wang Lin’s face paled slightly, and his right foot shifted backward. He understood the power of slaughter energy all too well, and the devastating might of the innumerable currents before him was truly terrifying.