"You truly are useless."
A bone-chilling voice, neither male nor female, like an icy wind blowing from the deepest reaches of the netherworld, tore through the deathly silence of the Sky Training Ground without warning, and also ripped apart the void hollow created by the collision.
The instant the voice rang out, time seemed to be forcibly paused by an invisible hand.
Lian Guanlin's remaining body, which had been turning to ash and was about to vanish completely from heaven and earth, abruptly stopped disintegrating. Countless scattered ashes and motes of light crazily rolled back against all reason.
"Urgh... ah..."
A faint, agonized groan sounded. It was Lian Guanlin.
His aura was weak to the extreme, like a candle in the wind, worse than at any previous moment. His Heaven Origin Dao Foundation was dim and lusterless, covered in countless cracks, clearly on the verge of collapse.
Yet... he was alive. He had been forcibly dragged back from death's doorstep.
"Buzz!"
The Void above the Training Ground twisted, and a phantom slowly emerged.
The phantom had no fixed form. At times, it resembled a graceful woman; at others, a ferocious demon. The only clear feature was a pair of eyes that seemed able to see through people's hearts, indifferent to all things as they coldly watched below.
Liao Ruiheng had reversed life and death through an unimaginable method, forcibly preserving Lian Guanlin's last shred of life.
"Thud!"
Lian Guanlin's broken body struggled to adjust itself in midair before heavily dropping to one knee, his head deeply lowered. His body shook violently from pain and weakness, but his voice was filled with endless gratitude and lingering fear at having survived disaster.
"Th... thank you, General, for saving my life! This subordinate was incompetent and forced the General to intervene. I deserve