The low rumble that suddenly came from the direction of the village was like rolling thunder, or perhaps boiling magma surging up from deep within the earth. The ominous tremor in the sound instantly made Hathaway's expression change.
" The seal!" Hathaway hurried to the window. "How could this happen..."
Hao Ren hurried over as well. Looking through the narrow vertical window, he discovered that the entire village could indeed be seen from the top of the tower. However, in this Alternate dimension parallel to the real world, there was no village to be seen. At the location where the village should have been stood only a ring of enormous rocks. In the center of those massive stones seemed to be a bottomless pit. Hao Ren could not see what lay inside from the tower, but he could see a black-and-red pillar of light erupting from the pit, shooting straight into the sky and churning the dense clouds above it.
At that moment, Master Mohabun, the Demon Hunter who had remained seated in his chair like a living corpse, suddenly stood up. The joints throughout his body crackled loudly, as though his thoroughly aged and decayed body were about to fall apart. The Old Hunter raised his right hand toward the village, and several hoarse syllables came from his throat. "The boundary has opened..."
As those syllables faded, a raging blaze suddenly ignited around the Old Hunter. The silvery-white holy flames were even more powerful than the holy flames Hao Ren had seen on Bai Huo. The flames formed by burning life force rapidly rose to the top of the tower, then spread along the magic-patterned metal encasing it. In the end, the entire tower became a blazing torch, while a light that pierced heaven and earth burst from its