In that brief instant, light, like the wind, changed from gentle and warm to frenzied and violent.
The moment the sun wheel behind Huai Shi slowly unfolded, the Brilliant Light forged by the incineration of boundless Source Matter burst forth once more, becoming a surging tide that rushed into the sky and covered the earth.
It was as though everything had been cast into the deep sea.
So suffocating!
There was none of the expected radiance or warmth, only a cold, pallid whiteness drowning every soul and body, dissolving all thought and consciousness.
Beyond that, no other color remained.
Then, after that cruel ravaging, a curse-like blessing descended.
Wherever the tide passed, everything that had lost its color was left with only ash-black or silver-white metallic gleams.
Whether ravines or mountains, retreating legions or hordes—the ravines became steel gorges, while lakes and shorelines were left with nothing but mercury waves.
With a momentary thought, everything became Immortal Steel.
"I understand."
After a brief experience, Huai Shi nodded in realization. "So that's how it is."
For those present, that instant, shorter than the snap of a finger, had already felt long enough. Yet until that soft sigh spread outward, no one could make a move.
Or rather, they had already moved.
It simply achieved nothing.
Huai Shi's presence had long vanished from everyone's perception. Only an illusory phantom stood in midair; they could not sense where he truly was.
They could not even sense that distinctive dual circulation from before.
Because there was no longer any need for the Sky Dome and Return to Ruins to drive it. Everything within sight, everything shrouded in light, had become his subordinate.
And there was only one explanation for why they could sense nothing.
They had already been...
—stripped from the world before them!