"Finally..."
In the silence, Ji Jue stepped across the frozen sea surface, walking step by step toward the Deepdark Shadow and the Pillar of Depravity.
After a long, long, long wait, he had finally made it to this moment.
He had finally waited for this moment to arrive.
He felt no tension, no fear.
Though he was about to fight someone to the death in the next instant, he was as indescribably excited as a born killer. He was even ravenously hungry! He smiled into the sea breeze rushing toward him.
That smile...
A stir rose within the Deepdark gloom.
The crowd gathered in the shadows shifted slightly, their expressions changing.
"Who is that? That Artisan from yesterday?"
"Ye Xian's student?"
"Ji Dang..."
Some were puzzled, while some faces gradually grew solemn. Yet at this moment, the low murmurs slowly faded away, plunging into dead silence. Looking again at that gently smiling face, their pupils involuntarily contracted ever so slightly, as though thorns were pressing against their backs.
Even though they were not the ones standing on the field.
Wariness, tension, or perhaps even utterly unprovoked...
Fear?
"Ji Jue?" Anvil Elder slightly raised the corner of his eye and remarked, "You seem to have quite high expectations of him."
Heavenly Furnace nodded. "As a Grandmaster of the Association, isn't it only natural to have expectations for the younger generation?"
"Is that so? Then why hasn't that student of yours who left your school come?"
"When the master has business, the disciple serves in his stead. Sometimes, when a teacher cannot spare the time, the student has to make the trip. Whether it means toiling like an ox and horse or charging into battle, there will be no complaint.
Shouldn't you people of the Deepdark be thoroughly familiar with that routine?