Immortal Dingguang raised his eyes. His gaze pierced the void, passed over the surviving immortals below, and fixed on Master Tongtian, who was imprisoned in the sky by Taiqing's Dao Resonance.
He strode steadily across the ash-strewn ground, rose into the air in an instant, and stopped before Tongtian. Bowing his head, he spoke with steady conviction and undiminished respect.
"Master, are you all right?"
Since the fall of his ten thousand immortals, Tongtian had been consumed by the pain of their destruction and the cold of despair. His Dao Heart had nearly gone still.
But now he saw the Seven Attendants of the Immortal emerge from hiding. Immortal Dingguang stood among them, unharmed, with his strength intact. Tongtian's crumbling spirit jolted awake.
A fierce surge of joy burst through the darkness of his despair. Light blazed in his lifeless eyes, and his faltering Dao Heart caught fire once more.
The Interception Sect was not finished! Some of its strength remained!
The betrayal of the Three Pure Ones, the Four Saints' assault, the slaughter of his ten thousand immortals—hatred for it all surged through him.
He looked at the seemingly loyal Immortal Dingguang. His eyes hardened, all weakness cast aside. Through a secret transmission only the two of them could hear, he sent each word into Dingguang's ears, heavy with killing intent and hatred:
"Dingguang, quickly! Activate the Six Soul Banner at once!"
"My Interception Sect may be all but destroyed today. Its ten thousand immortals are gone, its formations broken, and the tide has turned against us..."
"But I refuse to accept defeat! I'll make Laozi, Yuanshi, Jieyin, Zhunti—all of them—pay in blood and suffer pain that tears at their hearts and corrodes their Dao!"
The transmission was cold as ice, laden with Tongtian's deepest rage and unwillingness to