"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
He staggered back three steps in succession. With each step, a pitch-black footprint, clear beyond compare and more than an inch deep, was stamped into the ground. The edges of the prints were smooth, as if seared into being by a red-hot branding iron in an instant. No trace of brick or stone texture remained within them—only pure ink-blackness that swallowed all light.
He Qiusheng barely stabilized his virtual shadow, which was on the verge of collapsing. Slowly raising his head, he looked once more at Chen Fei, who stood holding his halberd. Chen Fei's aura had already calmed, yet he seemed even more unfathomable than before.
The madness and venomous resentment on his blurred, twisted face receded like a tide, replaced by an indescribably complicated expression. The corners of his mouth twitched with immense difficulty, as though he wanted to form some expression.
But in the end, what froze upon his face was a smile ten times uglier than a cry.
"Pfft!"
A soft sound, like a bubble bursting.
He Qiusheng's already illusory figure, together with the thin remnants of black qi around him, suddenly contracted inward at that instant before silently exploding outward.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no scattered remains flying in all directions. There were only countless black motes finer than dust, mixed with a final shrill yet nearly inaudible scream of intent, melting into the air in an instant and leaving not the slightest trace behind.
Chen Fei calmly watched the spot where He Qiusheng had vanished. The Qian Yuan Halberd pointed diagonally at the ground, while the final thread of black qi staining its shaft was quietly purified.
Chen Fei turned his left hand over. Wisps of thin black smoke, scattered pure demonic qi, and even traces of Destructive Intent contained