The void stirred, shattering the chaotic silence of death.
Yongye's figure appeared out of thin air.
He merely hovered there in silence, yet everything around him began to warp.
Chaos grew more chaotic, and nothingness grew ever more voidlike.
He remained fixed in place, his gaze sweeping across the void before finally settling on that pitch-black, twisted, tar-like humanoid form.
"Da Meng...?"
His voice was soft and unhurried, yet it carried an ancient, terrifying majesty.
Master Beiku writhed and stretched, his surface transforming into face after face, each with a different expression.
"My lord, Da Meng... could not withstand the punishment and took his own life..."
His layered voice seemed to carry endless regret. "This humble monk was incompetent and failed to stop him in time..."
As his voice faded, a wisp of purple-black light emerged from his hand.
It was a mass of bubbles that constantly sprouted and constantly vanished.
Endless purple-black radiance followed the bubbles through their cycle of birth and destruction, as though it meant to drag anyone who saw it into an eternal nightmare.
"This is the core he left behind."
Master Beiku raised both "hands" and presented it to Yongye.
Yongye merely cast it an indifferent glance.
"Da Meng... what a fool!"
He waved his hand lightly, as though he found it an eyesore.
"You... handled... things... rather... neatly..."
"I'll... reward... you... with it..."
Master Beiku lowered his "head." His body writhed, and his layered voice trembled with trepidation.
"Da Meng was your subordinate. How could this humble monk dare..."
"Enough noise."
A trace of impatience entered Yongye's voice.
Master Beiku immediately fell silent. He "hesitated" several times, putting on a full display of reluctance, before cautiously storing away Da Meng's core.
"Thank you for your generous gift, my lord."
His tone was sincere as