Guixu Relay Station.
Outside the barrier.
Viscous black fog, like rotting grease, was squeezing in inch by inch from the edge of the void.
The relay station's formation core emitted a teeth-grating screech.
The jade command token in the steward's hand had already cracked three times. His fingertips had turned deathly pale from exertion, and his legs trembled uncontrollably inside his full armor. The plates knocked together, producing a string of fine "click-click" sounds.
"It's coming... That is 'Nothing'! The 'Nothing' that can chew even karma to pieces!"
The steward's voice squeezed from his throat, hoarse as sandpaper scraping. Watching the barefoot figure step down from the black ship, he swallowed with difficulty, forcing down a mouthful of blood-streaked saliva.
Chu Qing did not turn around.
Barefoot, he stepped onto the bluestone slabs.
With every step, a dark-red scorch mark was left where the sole of his foot landed.
At that moment, the Purple True Blood within him abruptly accelerated. His heartbeat pounded heavily as if war drums were being beaten, stirring echoes like muffled thunder.
[Profession Column: Chu Qing] [Status: WorldShatterer · Activated.] [Current Enhancement: Dragon-Defying Tyrant Body · Unyielding.]
Dark-red light seeped from Chu Qing's pores.
Under the pressure of the black fog, that red light did not disperse. Instead, it became like red-hot steel blades, forcibly carving out a vacuum zone amid the tide of "Nothing."
Boom—!
A gigantic shadow suddenly thrust out from the depths of the black fog.
It was a tentacle.
No, it was the tongue of some colossal beast, covered in densely packed suckers. Every sucker spat and swallowed nauseating black-red mucus.
The tentacle swept through the void with a shriek like tearing silk, lashing straight toward Stone Ridge Mountain's Vague Phantom.
(Motive): The great tribulation was attempting to devour Stone