Above the scorched earth of Shang Jing City, where the imperial palace had once stood, a sinister great hall had risen from nothing overnight.
The sky was shrouded in black mist, thick clouds like congealed ink rolling wantonly around the hall, giving birth to evil and strangeness at every moment.
No one knew what the hall's walls had been built from. Deathly air seeped from every corner, while the surrounding rocks were carved with twisted runes that flickered with a ghostly green light, as though whispering ancient and wicked incantations.
At that moment, a secret meeting was being held within the grim and terrifying hall.
Figures flickered in and out of sight throughout the hall. They took all manner of forms, yet each radiated an aura that chilled the soul. Red Eyebrow Great Dao Lord sat at the head of the gathering, his face concealed in the shadow of his hood. Only a pair of dimly gleaming eyes could be seen, like two clusters of burning ghostfire, revealing endless coldness and cruelty.
Red Eyebrow Great Dao Lord slowly raised a hand, breaking the suffocating silence within the hall. "How are the preparations for the demonic descent?"
His voice was low and hoarse, like a curse drifting from Nine Hells Hell, echoing through the hall.
A figure on the right rose to her feet. She was a hunched old woman, her wrinkled skin like dried bark. In her hand, she held a cane crowned with a blood-colored crystal.
The old woman let out a piercing laugh, like fingernails scraping across glass, making everyone feel wretched from head to toe. "The Profound Netherworld Devouring Demon Formation is under construction, but the martial artists we have captured so far do not have enough vital blood to sustain the entire formation's operation!"
At those