In the deepest reaches of the Spirit Ruins Secret Land.
Within a colossal crater hundreds of miles across, the aftershocks of violent energy still slowly swirled and dissipated in midair. Gullies crisscrossed the scorched earth, and everywhere lay savage scars torn open by terrifying collisions of energy.
The eighteen-meter-tall body of a demon god stretched proudly upright, crimson hair whipping wildly in the fierce wind sweeping the wilderness.
On closer inspection, the overlapping rule scales covering his body had cracked and curled back in many places. Thick, scalding blood kept dripping through the gaps, striking the burning earth and sending up wisps of white steam. The crisp patter rang especially clearly through the empty crater.
Dropping to one knee, he drove a hand covered in shattered scales straight into the hard bedrock. His five fingers abruptly hooked inward, sending broken stone flying as he forcibly dragged a mangled body out of the earth.
That mangled body belonged to none other than Bai Ji.
At this moment, the Silver King, a master schemer who had concealed himself so deeply, had long since lost his former air of aloof composure and command over life and death.
Huge portions of his flesh had shattered or gone missing. Skin and muscle had peeled away in several places, and stark white bones pierced his body, exposed to the air. Of his four limbs, only half his right leg remained tenuously attached to his torso. Half his head had burst apart in the collision, scattering brain matter and bone fragments. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest and the feeble beating of his heart proved that a final breath still lingered as he clung to life.
Lin Sheng raised Bai Ji, who hung like a lump of sludge, before him at eye level and