The golden skull's words died in midair.
The shadow beneath Qin Chuan's feet did not stir. The chains draining his blood still rattled.
"I thought you had some way to turn this around." The golden skull laughed wildly, and the thousands of Divine Souls floating around him trembled along with him. "You're trying to shake an Origin Creation beyond God King Tier with a Saint Domain Skill? Has this altar sucked your brains dry?"
Qin Chuan ignored him.
The drain was progressing quickly. His Divine Might had bottomed out, and his health had begun to fall, but he was not worried.
Because an almost imperceptible notification had appeared on the System Panel.
[Shadow Call has taken effect.] [Establishing connection...] [An extremely high-dimensional shadow response detected.]
Qin Chuan looked down.
There was no light source in the space beneath the altar. It had been dark to begin with.
But now the darkness on the ground was coming alive.
The shadows in the corners where light could not reach twisted without a sound.
The golden skull stopped laughing mid-breath.
He looked down. A wisp of black vapor, giving off no detectable energy, had wrapped around his ankle.
No laws spilled from that power, yet his God King Tier skeleton, which had only just regrown a little flesh, shook uncontrollably.
"What is this thing?"
The golden skull jerked up a hand. Golden runes from all nine levels of the altar converged on him, trying to drive away the black vapor.
Their light illuminated it but did not dispel it. Instead, the light let that power stretch its shadow farther.
The shadow surged and swallowed the golden skull's lower body.
"Ah—"
The golden skull shrieked and stumbled backward, frantically swatting at the shadow on his body. His hands touched nothing.
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