A primordial dread seized Tian Yunzi, a being of unwavering resolve for millennia. The sight of the colossal hand, born of ethereal nothingness, shattered his composure. His eyes, wide with disbelief, mirrored a soul teetering on the brink of oblivion. He recoiled, a desperate retreat.

The frantic thunder of his own heart filled his ears, a frenzied drumbeat threatening to burst from his chest. Shadowed by the encroaching doom, his fingers danced through a rapid series of arcane gestures, culminating in a desperate union before him. A low incantation escaped his lips: “The Power of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper!”

At his command, the heavens themselves responded. Beams of radiant light plunged from the sky, converging in a celestial dance to form a rainbow bridge of seven colors. This bridge embraced Tian Yunzi as he fell back, his eyes gleaming with desperate hope. He thrust his hand forward, a desperate command.

The rainbow bridge erupted into a swirling vortex of chromatic splendor, a dazzling display of power. Within its chaotic heart, seven points of brilliant starlight pulsed with celestial energy!

Legends whispered throughout the realms of cultivation spoke of two celestial dippers: the Southern, presiding over death, and the Northern, holding dominion over life. Each wielded the ancient power of the stars. Whether truth or mere fable, Tian Yunzi’s incantation had called forth a phantom echo of these mythical constellations!

The seven-hued vortex screamed forward, a barrier hurled between Tian Yunzi and the approaching hand from the void. But as the vortex strained to impede its advance, the colossal hand swept through it with utter disregard. Before its might, even the most formidable of constructs were rendered as illusion, as nothing more than fleeting phantoms.

Horror twisted Tian Yunzi’s features anew. He retreated once more, his hand a blur as he gestured forward, uttering a desperate command: “Seven Stars Shatter Divinity!”

With a deafening roar, one of the stars within the vortex exploded! Simultaneously, its six brethren followed suit, unleashing a cataclysmic wave of force that surged outwards in all directions.

Yet, even this devastating assault proved insufficient. The hand continued its inexorable advance, piercing through the remnants of the shattered stars, its relentless grip reaching for Tian Yunzi!

“What… what *is* this?!” Tian Yunzi’s voice was laced with raw terror. In his countless millennia of existence, he had never witnessed such an anomaly. His soul reeled. His eyes flared with septenary light. Drawing a deep, steadying breath, he twisted his hands, completing an ancient seal. “The Art of Heavenly Distance!” he cried.

The Art of Heavenly Distance was the pinnacle of Tian Yunzi’s magical prowess, a technique reserved for moments of direst need. Rarely had a situation warranted its invocation, for it had lain dormant for millennia. But now, with unwavering urgency, he unleashed it upon the world. A primal instinct screamed in his soul – a threat of oblivion emanating from that monstrous hand.

He pointed skyward, and the very fabric of the Tian Yun Star shuddered, as if in sympathetic fear. The clouds parted, revealing the stark expanse of the heavens.

In the clear sky, as Tian Yunzi’s hand remained raised, there emerged a sight that sent shivers down the spines of all who beheld it.

A colossal disc, its circumference spanning countless leagues, manifested into existence with blinding speed. From the surface below, it appeared as a gargantuan compass, a tool for traversing the cosmos.

Upon its surface, countless rows of arcane script pulsed with a light that threatened to ensnare the very soul.

The construct dwarfed the very planet, its immense presence making the Tian Yun Star seem almost insignificant. Tian Yunzi’s eyes burned with an otherworldly light, his expression grave. Once more, he raised his hands in a mystic seal, intoning: “By Heaven’s Mandate!”

The heavens thundered in response, a sound that reverberated across the Tian Yun Star and even echoed through the void beyond. With a slow, ponderous groan, the colossal compass began to rotate, its movement exuding an aura of such magnitude as to warp the very fabric of existence, inverting reality itself.

Backpedaling, Tian Yunzi, flickered, and in the instant before the hand seized him, bolted towards the center of the enormous compass above. As he approached, his right hand blurred as he engaged in lightning-fast calculations.

The more he computed, the darker his expression became, until his face was the pallor of ash. All of this transpired in a mere moment.

“It cannot be defied!” Tian Yunzi’s eyes blazed with desperation. He swung his right hand before him, and the colossal compass spun with renewed vigor. From within its depths, ethereal energy cascaded forth like threads of silk, attempting to form a barrier before Tian Yunzi.

“Insufficient speed! I, who have trod the path for millennia, refuse to accept I cannot decipher this riddle! Art of Heavenly Distance, Unleash the Six Seals!” With this declaration, the illusionary compass shuddered violently, accelerating to an inconceivable speed.

Its size, already unfathomable, continued to expand, defying all comprehension.

From the starfields beyond, one could see a colossal compass overshadowing the Tian Yun Star. This compass, a tapestry of pure black and white, pulsed ceaselessly.

Beside it, the Tian Yun Star was reduced to a mere tenth of its size.

As the compass expanded and whirled, the thunderous noise rolled across the starfields. Tian Yunzi’s silver hair whipped around his face, his hand a blur as he labored over the calculations. His eyes, betraying his desperation, were laced with blood vessels.

The hand drew closer, its grasping fingers closing in on Tian Yunzi. It was but thirty leagues distant. At that precise moment, Tian Yunzi’s eyes ignited with a fierce light, and his hand froze in mid-gesture.

“I cannot discern its origin nor its purpose, but I can calculate how to resist!” Tian Yunzi hesitated, sighed, and, without a moment to lose, touched his right hand to his brow. This single, swift action contained countless permutations of hand gestures, collapsing into a single, eternal, definitive seal, pressed directly to his mind’s eye!
A thunderous roar echoed within the mind of Tian Yunzi, as if celestial drums beat a frantic rhythm within his very soul. He staggered, and from his form erupted a multitude of phantom selves. Each a perfect, spectral echo of Tian Yunzi, they swarmed around him, a dense, dizzying array of his own likeness.

“This entity craves celestial essence? Then let it feast!” The countless phantoms surged forward as one, a unified assault upon the grasping hand.

The foremost, clad in crimson robes, was instantly snared. With a shuddering explosion, the phantom dissolved, its essence drawn wholly into the colossal hand.

Boom after boom shattered the air as each phantom in turn succumbed, collapsing into nothingness and fueling the insatiable hunger. At the rear of the spectral throng, Tian Yunzi’s true form grew paler, though a calculating gleam still flickered in his eyes. “I shall see just how much you can consume!”

After but ten breaths, the final phantom imploded in a deafening burst, utterly devoured. Yet, the hand seemed unsatisfied, reaching once more towards the true Tian Yunzi.

The calculating light in Tian Yunzi’s eyes intensified. Without hesitation, he struck his own brow. With another reverberating boom, his body quaked, and a thousand more spectral duplicates burst forth, each rushing to meet the encroaching doom.

The cycle repeated. By the fourth self-immolation, as the thousand newest phantoms were greedily absorbed, the great hand faltered. Slowly, it began to withdraw, seemingly sated at last, fading back into the ether from whence it came.

This was the moment Tian Yunzi awaited. He could not abide the loss of so many phantom selves to this ravenous entity.

“Whatever power spawned you, today, you shall return every mote of essence you have stolen!” In a blur, Tian Yunzi surged forward as the hand teetered on the brink of oblivion. With a sweeping gesture, he slammed his palm against the ground beneath, near the trident-shaped mountain.

The earth trembled. Boulders dislodged from the tri-peaked summit tumbled downward in a cacophony of destruction, raising a veil of dust. Cracks spiderwebbed across the mountain’s face, threatening imminent collapse. “Tian Yun Trident!” Tian Yunzi intoned.

With a final, earth-shattering roar, the mountain shattered entirely. Amidst the cascading rubble, three slivers of silver light flashed. The ground pulsed with an almost unbearable force, sending countless cultivators scrambling for the skies.

As the last stones fell away, revealing the full expanse of the silver light, Tian Yunzi grasped at the air. With a final, monumental groan, a blinding beam of silver erupted from the depths.

The light coalesced in Tian Yunzi’s hand, revealing a trident of immense size, easily ten fathoms in length. The weapon pulsed with a cold, argent light, and radiated an aura of ancient, untamed power.

Grasping the trident, Tian Yunzi’s eyes burned with renewed intensity. With a mighty heave, he hurled the weapon forward, its passage marked by a shrill, piercing shriek, aimed directly at the hand that was rapidly vanishing.

The silver blurred, and the trident struck its target, piercing clean through the center of the hand. Immediately, a torrent of raw, celestial essence poured from the wound, a chaotic fountain of power.

The released essence surged toward Tian Yunzi, coalescing into shimmering motes and flowing into his being.

The hand, once on the verge of dissipation, now arrested its retreat. Slowly, it re-emerged from the void, reaching once more for Tian Yunzi. But the calculating light in his eyes burned brighter than ever. He retreated, summoning the trident from behind the hand.

As he prepared to strike again, the hand shifted, seizing the trident in its grasp. A thunderous crack echoed through the realm as the trident buckled under the pressure. Glimmers of silver essence leaked from the weapon and were instantly absorbed by the hand.

In a flash, the hand released the trident, ignoring the damaged weapon as it lunged toward Tian Yunzi. Before he could evade, the hand closed, seizing him within an invisible grip.

Tian Yunzi shuddered. He felt as if some spectral hand had closed around his very being, squeezing the life from him.

The hand clenched, and Tian Yunzi’s face paled. From within him erupted a desperate flurry of phantom selves, but they were instantly drawn into the grasping hand, fueling its insatiable hunger.

The rate of absorption far exceeded that of his previous attempts, a loss almost unimaginable to Tian Yunzi.

After only ten breaths, the hand had become nearly solid, yet it ceased its assault. Slowly, it released its grip and retreated once more into the nothingness from which it had emerged.

This time, Tian Yunzi did not pursue. His face was ashen, his eyes glazed with a flicker of despair. He swayed on his feet, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

“Fool… First I miscalculated with Wang Lin, unleashing this entity… Now, I have erred again, provoking it to greater consumption…” Wearily, Tian Yunzi turned, retrieved his damaged trident, and with a single stride, returned to Tian Yunxing. Without hesitation, he retreated into seclusion.

“The phantom hand… it has no desire to kill. It only seeks to consume. Once sated, it will depart… Alas, I anticipated its actions, but failed to perceive that the hand was not a mindless force, but wielded by a conscious will…”

Tian Yunzi chuckled bitterly. Had he not been so eager to attack, his losses would have been minimal. But now, he could only lament his folly. “Though I was held for only ten breaths, those ten breaths would have drained any other Transcendent Void cultivator dry, leaving nothing but a hollow husk…”

With a sigh, Tian Yunzi’s face appeared older, more worn. He understood that he had lost more than mere essence. A fissure had opened in his once perfect Dao Heart.
Before this day, the celestial calculations of my life had erred but once…” Tian Yunzi returned to the Tian Yun Sect. He sat cross-legged upon a weathered stone in the hidden mountains, his youthful visage visibly withering with unnatural haste.

“The upheaval within the Elder Council… that was my first miscalculation. A fissure formed in my Dao Heart. Yet, through fate’s fickle hand, I encountered… *him!* Though but a fleeting glimpse, it brought enlightenment. The scar upon my Dao Heart, born from that initial error, began to mend. Millennia passed, and through ceaseless contemplation, my Dao Heart was made whole once more. I forged my own Heaven within, to supplant the Heaven of this world. But now… twice in a single day, I have been wrong!” A bitter grimace twisted Tian Yunzi’s ancient face.

“Wang Lin, in the Land of the Demon Spirit… though I faltered, he ultimately remained within my design. But this time… first, I misjudged him, then I failed to foresee the Hand of Soul Devourance…” Tian Yunzi shook his head, staring blankly at the heavens. After an age, he slowly closed his eyes, a sigh escaping his lips, lingering in the air, a torment destined to endure.

Meanwhile, Ling Tianhou fled in terror. Panic clawed at his sanity as he raced through the earth’s depths, the ethereal light relentlessly pursuing him. No ward, seal, or formation could impede its advance.

Desperate, Ling Tianhou plunged into the core of the Luo Star. Gritting his teeth, he pressed onward. “When I claimed this star, I knew of the residual sacrificial flame left by the Grand Spirit Soaring Immortal, who once refined it. In this dire hour, I pray it offers sanctuary!” As he entered the Luo Star’s heart, a searing heat washed over him.

Behind him, the formless light drew near. It pierced through, resolving into a colossal hand reaching to grasp Ling Tianhou.

Cold sweat slicked Ling Tianhou’s brow as he fled, howling inwardly, “What *is* this?! I merely sought to peer into Wang Lin! Why this relentless pursuit?!”

He sped onward, the sacrificial flame now in sight. But at that instant, the pursuing hand flicked its fingers.

With a deafening boom, Ling Tianhou spewed a torrent of blood. But his velocity increased, and he burst into a chamber wreathed in crimson fire – a flame that coalesced into the form of a phoenix, black as night!

Ling Tianhou bit down hard, charging towards the fiery avian. But as he neared, the spectral hand clenched from afar.

A tremendous force assailed Ling Tianhou, binding him from all sides.

The hand tightened. Ling Tianhou’s face paled. He felt his flesh, his very essence, even his soul and spirit being devoured. He struggled in vain. After only six breaths, his eyes widened in despair. He could not even scream.

Then, just as all hope seemed lost, an eerie black light emanated from his brow, surging throughout his being and momentarily halting the draining force.

And just as suddenly, the hand that held him faltered, releasing its grip and vanishing into the void. Ling Tianhou stared, dazed, consumed by the dizzying relief of survival.

Unbeknownst to him, had Tian Yunzi not suffered such grievous losses, he would have been utterly consumed.

Even so, those six breaths had drained much of Ling Tianhou’s life force. With a rueful sigh, he vowed never to venture out again and would focus solely on restoring his depleted power. He knew nothing of the events that had transpired with Tian Yunzi, but he had no desire to face that horrifying hand again. The thought of seeking vengeance upon Wang Lin was immediately banished from his mind.

Wang Lin sat cross-legged outside the towering spire of the Luo Sword Sect. The sea of fire within him had long since vanished, replaced by the radiant glow of the Heaven Defying Bead.

He felt, as the bead’s light flared, two distinct beams of energy depart. One streaked towards Ling Tianhou within the tower, the other vanished into the unseen, its destination unknown.

Moments later, both beams returned, merging into the Heaven Defying Bead within his spirit. The bead shuddered!

Upon its surface, the sun and moon emblems shifted. The sun seemed to awaken, its radiant light pulsing outward. The two returning beams accelerated its revolution.

None but Wang Lin witnessed this occurrence. The disciples of the Luo Sword Sect, scattered throughout the sect due to Ling Tianhou’s near-death experience, wore expressions of bewilderment.

Wang Lin remained motionless, his exterior betraying nothing of the tempest raging within. As the Heaven Defying Bead absorbed the extreme Yang energy, a cataclysmic storm erupted within him!

The sun emblem spun faster and faster, until it became a vortex of light that swept across Wang Lin’s spirit and consciousness, engulfing his entire being.

The light carried a soothing warmth, and Wang Lin felt no discomfort. His mind stilled as he bathed in the glow.

The flow of his elemental energy accelerated. With each revolution, a sliver of the light merged into it, and Wang Lin’s energy began to pulse with an almost unbearable heat!
As the ethereal energies shifted, Wang Lin’s nascent soul followed suit. Bathed in celestial radiance, it greedily absorbed the ambient power. Once the form of an Ancient Thunder Dragon, a crimson, flocculent cloud began to coalesce above its draconic head. This swirling vapor, fed by the radiant energy, grew ever larger.

Not only his soul was transformed, but his very flesh also felt the light’s influence. An Ancient God’s body was already a formidable vessel, but these celestial rays amplified its strength to unimaginable degrees.

Wang Lin’s skin, with each passing moment, took on a rosy hue. Beads of crystalline sweat emerged, evaporating in the breeze, yet he felt no chill.

Within a hundred paces of his meditative pose, an aura of intense heat radiated, forcing any who dared approach to halt. Those who stubbornly persisted would find their souls and bodies annihilated within a few steps!

In this serene sanctuary, Wang Lin remained seated for ten days, unmoving, his entire being submerged in the tempestuous transformation within.

His cultivation had been poised at the cusp of the mid-stage of Spirit Void ever since the war between the Alliance and Luo Tian, lacking only the final spark of insight. Yet, these ten days brought no such revelation, for enlightenment cannot be forced. However, on the eleventh day, the Celestial Jewel within him stirred once more, and the stagnant waters of his progress began to churn!

The sun-like symbol that perpetually spun upon the surface of the Celestial Jewel within him slowed its revolutions until, at midday, it came to a complete halt. At that frozen instant, Wang Lin’s third eye, etched upon his brow, snapped open!

A crimson beam erupted from within, carrying the totality of its primal power, weaving through his flesh and merging with the sun-like symbol of the Celestial Jewel.

The source of Wang Lin’s primal power was twofold: a large part from the War Glyph, and a smaller portion gleaned from the Rune Clan upon Vermilion Bird Star. Both energies, being of the purest primal essence, were perfectly compatible. They remained coiled within his third eye, his ultimate defense, a last resort against any foe.

Now, this precious reserve of power poured into the Celestial Jewel, like a key turning in a celestial lock. The Jewel shuddered violently, unleashing a force that enveloped Wang Lin’s consciousness and dragged it into its inner depths. Reality blurred, then cleared, revealing a familiar, awe-inspiring vista!

He stood in a seemingly infinite void, dominated by a colossal gate, so immense that it dwarfed Wang Lin to the size of an ant.

He gazed upon the gate, awestruck. Every encounter with this edifice filled him with an inexplicable sense of wonder, especially from the time the gate had opened, ensnaring him within its mysteries, after which he awakened with a dim understanding of primal origins.

After a long pause, Wang Lin floated forward, drawing closer to the gate. As he neared, it emitted a deafening rumble and a sliver of a gap cracked open before him.

From that fissure surged an unimaginable force, invisible yet palpable, instantly striking Wang Lin. He reeled, his progress halted, and once more, he lost his senses, succumbing to oblivion.

But this time, as he began to fade, a searing heat emanated from the gate and infused his body, tethered just outside its threshold. Wang Lin’s mind jolted back to clarity. “Extreme Yang!” he realized. The heat was the power that the Celestial Jewel had absorbed! Understanding dawned within him.

“Attaining full mastery of the Five Elements can manifest this Celestial Gate, but only in its basic form. True entry remains impossible, as I learned long ago, halting at the threshold and losing myself within its depths.

“Beyond the Five Elements lies the realm of Yin and Yang. Now that the Celestial Jewel has absorbed the Extreme Yang, my mastery of Yin and Yang is nearing completion, which is why I regained consciousness just as I was fading. I wonder, what role does Extreme Yin play…? And what will happen when Yin and Yang are in perfect balance…?” Wang Lin pondered for a long while, then fixed his gaze upon the Celestial Gate and drifted forward.

This time, though his eyes were drawn to the fissure, he resisted its enthrallment. He grew ever closer until he stood at the very edge, a single step from the chasm. The feeling of insignificance before the monumental gate returned, crushing his spirit.

Determination hardened Wang Lin’s gaze. He raised his foot and stepped into the fissure that rent the heavens and the earth!

“I must know the true secret of the Celestial Jewel!” As his right foot landed within the crack, his entire being trembled as if a frigid wind ripped through him.

With a deafening roar, Wang Lin felt as if his very soul had been torn loose, driven backward on the freezing winds, vanishing into the infinite void.

He hurtled backwards, his mind in turmoil, shrinking through time. A millennium of life unraveled in an instant, his memories racing in reverse, culminating in his infancy, cradled within his mother’s womb.

The rhythmic thud of her heartbeat echoed in his ears, filling him with the long-lost warmth of parental love. But this moment was fleeting, swept away by the backward-driving wind.

Wang Lin sensed himself being forced further back, a strange force attempting to impede his retreat. But against the tempestuous wind, it proved woefully insufficient.

With a resounding crack, the resisting force crumbled. Wang Lin beheld an unbelievable sight, a scene so shocking that it surpassed even the most extraordinary moments of his thousand-year journey! “This… this is…” Wang Lin murmured. He saw the azure sky, the billowing clouds, and beneath them, a bird soaring on outstretched wings.
A feathered jewel, the avian creature painted the sky with strokes of vibrant hue. Its flight, a dance of effortless grace, traced the very arc of celestial law as it dwindled into the azure vastness.

Lost in the departing silhouette, Wang Lin felt a pang of recognition, a haunting echo of self. *This bird…it is familiar, achingly so.*

He glimpsed the swift tapestry of its life, a span seemingly mundane, yet to Wang Lin, it resonated with long-lost memories, stirred from the slumber of countless forgotten rebirths. “The Origin…this…this is the Origin!” A thunderclap of understanding echoed in his mind, a fragile thread grasped from the unraveling tapestry of existence.

The bird’s ephemeral existence, a mere score of years, ended abruptly in the jaws of a serpent. A wave of sorrow washed over Wang Lin as the creature’s final gaze, piercing the veil of illusion, met his own, unlocking chambers of memory he thought forever lost.

With a jolt, Wang Lin stumbled backward, driven by an unseen wind, until he met an inexplicable force, a barrier against his retreat. This time, the resistance was immense, unyielding to the wind’s fury. The two powers clashed in a silent roar, echoing through the fabric of reality itself.

At long last, a hairline fracture appeared in the ethereal barrier. As Wang Lin slipped through the chasm, he was engulfed in a searing crimson light. Before he could comprehend its source, an unimaginable force hurled him outward, tearing him asunder.

He shattered, fragmented into a million pieces, yet in that moment of utter annihilation, Wang Lin’s eyes snapped open. He stood once more beneath the colossal gateway of the Heavenly Defiance, his right foot poised to cross its threshold.

A deep breath stilled the tremor of his shock. The events he had just experienced were compressed into the instant before his foot fell.

The rift in the gate of Heavenly Defiance slowly sealed, fading into an illusion, then vanishing altogether.

Back within the Great Luo Sword Sect, Wang Lin, seated in meditative repose, slowly opened his eyes. He gazed upon the familiar surroundings, his brow furrowed in contemplation. A long sigh escaped his lips as he rose to his feet.

The instant he stood, a torrent of power erupted from within, an aura of such magnitude it reached the very apex of the Mid-Stage Spirit Void Realm! “So this…this is the Origin…”