All Shaman Cultivators knew it was incredibly, incredibly difficult to see Ancestor Tong smile.
But there was an indescribable hint in Big-Headed Boy's smile. "So it's... my turn already?"
He had lived for tens of thousands of years, while the True Venerable opposite him was still a child not even a thousand years old. How could he fail to understand that look?
Qu Jianlei smiled. "Sorry, Senior. Please... buy me a little more time!"
"Hm?" Ancestor Tong smiled again when he heard that, and his eyes lit up too, in that genuinely happy way. "So soon? You're confident?"
"Just a little short," Qu Jianlei answered in a low voice, then gave a bitter laugh. "Confidence... does it really matter whether I have it or not?"
"True..." Big-Headed Boy nodded, then muttered, "No choice left!"
The phantom of the Giant Axe appeared again, a hundred thousand kilometers tall, but this time the process of turning from illusory to solid was exceedingly slow.
Only after a full hour or more did the Giant Axe barely manage to solidify.
The omnipresent gloom blocked most of the cultivators' senses, but everyone could still sense the faint cracks on the Giant Axe.
A trace of apology flashed through Qu Jianlei's heart, but he instantly cast it out of his mind—mercy does not command soldiers, and righteousness does not manage wealth!
In a life-and-death situation like this, even he himself was mentally prepared to fall. Where would he find so much idle sentiment to lament spring and grieve over autumn?
He did not even pay attention to the Giant Axe again, instead focusing on linking with the Dao Stele.
Around the area where the Dao Stele came into contact with the gloom, those faint ripples were still gradually spreading.
Some of the gloom within the Boundary