After the Heavenly Slave at the peak of the Eighth Turn was sucked into the Ghost Realm, the realm's Law power swiftly sealed its body.
Seeing its companion sealed, the other Heavenly Slave let out a deep hiss charged with fury. It did not retreat. Instead, it lunged at the Ghost Immortal Emperor even faster, Gray-White light gathering around its claws like two sharp arrows about to leave the bowstring.
The Ghost Immortal Emperor did not withdraw his saber after that strike. He turned it with the motion, its edge tracing a graceful arc toward the oncoming Heavenly Slave. Saber light bloomed before it like a Silver-White full moon.
The Heavenly Slave stopped abruptly in midair, as though it had struck an invisible wall. The instant its claws met the blade, Gray-White light and Silver-White saber light intertwined, bursting into a blinding radiance.
But it held out for only half a breath.
Then the Gray-White light on its claws dimmed like leaves drained of every drop of moisture and shattered. The saber light passed through its claws, sank into its chest, and emerged from its back.
The Heavenly Slave hung rigid in midair for an instant. Then its body began to break apart around the hole in its chest. The Ghost Realm swallowed it, sealed it, and turned it to Stone that fell into the realm below.
The Ghost Immortal Emperor had sealed every Heavenly Slave.
In the dark-red sky above the Land of Ending, the Gray-White rift shuddered violently. Fine cracks appeared along its edges, like cloth stretched to its limit again and again, at last showing signs of tearing.
A deep whimper came from within, like the unwilling growl of a wounded giant beast in the dark. But the rift expanded no further. Instead, it began to contract,