CHAPTER 98 — When the Abyssal Ancestor Reaches In
The sky cracked.
Not thunder.
Not qi.
Not spiritual force.
Something older.
Something deeper.
Something that should never appear on a mortal world.
The clouds split into jagged patterns like shattered glass, and the crimson tear above Cloudsky Sect widened until it covered half the heavens.
The air grew heavy.
The mountains trembled.
The rivers across the continent rippled as if submitting to an unseen ruler.
A single presence descended.
And every cultivator—even those thousands of miles away—felt it.
The Abyssal Ancestor… was arriving.
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1. The First Hand Emerges
From the widening rift, a colossal hand—dark, skeletal, wreathed in storm-like abyssal qi—pressed against reality.
Its fingertips alone were the size of mountains.
Its aura crushed the land.
Disciples collapsed to the ground, choking on their own blood.
Elders' protective formations shattered like clay pots.
Mu staggered, almost falling.
Bai (spear) braced himself, veins bulging.
Dragon-Bai let out a low, trembling roar.
"Master… that thing… is a god of ruin."
Lin flew into the sky, spear in hand.
He felt it too.
A pressure so vast it made his solar system buckle inward.
The vine-heart sapling shook violently.
Aurora screamed inside his consciousness:
"LIN—PULL BACK! YOU ARE NOT READY!"
But Lin stood firm.
Someone had to.
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2. The Challenge of an Ancient Being
The abyssal hand extended further, distorting space around it.
A voice followed, echoing through every particle of existence.
> "Lin Xuan."
"Heaven's mistake."
"You grew too fast."
A second voice—the deeper, true voice—rumbled like collapsing stars.
> "You will not be permitted to mature."
Lin gritted his teeth.
"You talk too much."
He thrust his spear and activated all three of his Solar Domains simultaneously.
Solar Domain — Strength Sphere
A golden aura erupted, holding back a fragment of the pressure.
Solar Domain — Purification Sphere
White-blue flames coiled around the spear tip.
Solar Domain — Spear Sphere
Cosmic laws aligned around his attack.
He launched his strike—
"STELLAR LANCE—SECOND FORM!"
—and the heavens lit up.
But—
When the spear blast touched the Abyssal Ancestor's fingertip…
It simply dissolved.
As if it never existed.
Mu gasped.
Bai whispered, shaking:
"He erased the attack?"
Aurora choked:
"That was not even a gesture. It was a reflex… of his aura."
Lin swallowed hard.
He had never felt so small.
But he still didn't back down.
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3. The Falling of the Two Remaining Generals
The Abyssal Ancestor spoke calmly:
> "You are not worth my direct descent."
"My generals will finish you."
General Khaal-Rav (north) and General Skra-Vul (east) surged forward with renewed savagery.
But Lin moved before they reached him.
He vanished—
—appearing behind Khaal-Rav in a single instant.
His spear blazed with solar law.
"Solar Spear Art—Third Revelation…
CELESTIAL PIERCE!"
Khaal-Rav's chest exploded.
Corrupted blood rained.
Lin inhaled—
—and the brute's abyssal essence was devoured, purified, and converted into raw power.
Early Nascent Soul → Mid Nascent Soul Realm.
The generals froze.
Lin turned toward Skra-Vul.
Skra roared, hurling everything he had in a spear thrust that could split continents—
—but Lin's solar orbit shifted behind him.
"Orbit Shift Spear Art…
Fifth Movement."
His spear tore a perfect hole through Skra's chest.
The general dropped, dissolving into abyssal smoke.
Aurora gasped inside Lin's mind.
"You just devoured two generals in under a minute…"
Lin didn't celebrate.
He stared up at the enormous abyssal hand still descending.
"This is only the beginning."
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4. The Abyssal Ancestor Applies Pressure
With his generals dead, the Ancestor finally took Lin seriously.
The hand clenched—
—and reality imploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!
Shockwaves flattened mountains.
Entire forests vaporized.
Storms exploded outward.
The Cloudsky Sect barrier shattered into motes of light.
Even Shengyuan inside the inner world staggered.
The Saint roared:
"Lin Xuan! If you die, this world dies with you!"
Lin dug his heels into the void, spear braced, golden rings orbiting madly.
He could barely stand.
The pressure alone was enough to kill a Nascent Soul cultivator instantly.
He forced his solar systems to stabilize.
His meridians almost ruptured.
His bones cracked.
Blood streamed from his eyes.
"Not… today…"
He grit his teeth as the hand pushed toward him—
Every inch closer felt like surviving a thousand worlds collapsing.
---
5. Cloudsky Sect Fights for Its Life
Below him—
Chaos erupted.
Enraged by the Ancestor's power, the abyssal horde surged in a frenzy.
Elders vs. Abyssal Fiends
Elder Zheng was torn apart.
Elder Luhan lost an arm but continued fighting.
Dozens of disciples died in an instant.
Mu and Bai (spear)
Held the eastern ridge, flaming arrows and spear shadows tearing through waves of abominations.
Wen
Fought a dozen assassins at once, blades flickering like death itself.
Dragon-Bai
Unleashed golden flame storms, desperately trying to shield the weakest disciples.
But the horde felt endless.
Cloudsky was being overwhelmed.
Mu screamed:
"LIN! WE CAN'T HOLD—!!"
And Lin saw it.
The blood.
The dying.
The hopelessness.
He had been protecting on three fronts—
But it wasn't enough.
Something inside him snapped.
---
6. Lin Takes the Gambit — Earth Split & Fusion
Lin activated a forbidden move.
He split two of his solar sub-systems—
—and then fused them violently.
Aurora screamed.
"LIN! You'll collapse your soul!"
But Lin ignored her.
He held the two solar systems together like colliding stars—
—and forced them into one.
The resulting explosion of law nearly tore his body apart.
But his cultivation surged:
Mid Nascent Soul → Late Nascent Soul
Late Nascent Soul → Nascent Soul Peak
Vine-heart roots spread wildly, stabilizing the implosion.
His solar spear grew heavier, brighter.
Cosmic fire danced around him.
Dragon-Bai shrieked:
"MASTER IS INSANE—BUT MAGNIFICENT!"
---
7. Lin Charges the Abyssal Ancestor's Hand
He looked at the monstrous hand descending upon the world.
He raised his spear.
"Solar Spear Art—
Seventh Revelation…"
Planets aligned behind him.
Stars bent toward him.
Aurora whispered, terrified and awestruck:
"He's about to use a world-ending move…"
Lin roared:
"SUPERNOVA IMPACT—!!!"
He stabbed upward.
The heavens exploded.
KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-THOOOOOM—!!!
The spear crashed into the ancestor's fingertip—
and for the first time…
The Abyssal Ancestor moved.
Not retreating.
But adjusting.
As if acknowledging the hit.
A voice like the collapse of galaxies boomed:
> "Impressive."
"You have my attention now, Lin Xuan."
"I will descend fully… soon."
Then—
The hand withdrew.
Not defeated.
But testing.
Judging.
Leaving the world trembling behind.
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8. The Aftermath — A Delayed Doom
With the Ancestor's departure:
The sky slowly mended
The abyssal horde lost coordination
The remaining assassins fled
The surviving demonic cultivators retreated in terror
Cloudsky Sect was left standing—
but barely.
Hundreds dead.
Elders grievously wounded.
The land scarred.
Lin floated above the battlefield, exhausted, bleeding, but unbroken.
Behind him, dragon-Bai's voice rumbled:
"Master… the Ancestor wasn't trying to kill you."
Lin nodded grimly.
"I know."
Mu landed beside him, trembling.
"Why? Why hold back?"
Lin looked toward the fading abyssal rift.
"Because he wants to see… how far I can grow."
Aurora whispered:
"And because he plans… to devour you."
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