The sky hung low and oppressive. A faint, blood-red glow seeped through the gloom. A bolt of lightning flashed by, startling a flock of black birds into fleeing in panic from behind a mound of earth. Strange, sharp "rock spires" stood across the ocher-brown ground, which was cracked and riddled with ravines.
A ferocious lizard-like Monster Beast, covered in armor and bristling with spikes, crawled lazily out of a ravine. It was a Qi Refining High Stage beast, and its cold, vicious eyes fixed on a strange little creature. It darted out at incredible speed and snatched the little beast in its jaws with astonishing agility, heedless of its bloodcurdling cries. Just as the strange lizard was about to drag it back to its cave and enjoy a delicious dinner—
A vast shadow swept down from the sky like a gust of wind. From afar, they could see that its talons had already seized the struggling lizard. Looking closer, they saw a black bird of prey with a wingspan of several zhang.
Raw, unvarnished survival of the fittest played out in the Netherworld every moment, everywhere.
Another thunderclap exploded. The ever-churning dark red clouds seemed to split open, then spun violently, as if a wound had opened in the sky. Space warped along with them, forming a vortex.
A mighty Ghost General shot out of the vortex. After darting around to survey its surroundings, it seemed to send out some kind of signal. Before long, several figures emerged one after another from the vortex. There were men and women among them, all clad in exquisite spirit armor. They looked spirited, valiant, and imposing.
What made them particularly unusual was that each of the men and women was accompanied by two Ghost Generals and a Golden Core level Battle Pet, all