The ink-black sea lay heavy as iron.
The sky hung low, as if it were within reach.
Between sea and sky, a solitary island stood in silence. Red and white roses bloomed wildly across it, blazing like fire.
At its center, a colossal Mulberry Tree towered into the clouds.
Its branches and leaves spread wide, covering the entire island. Amid the bitter, howling wind, only the rustling of leaves could be heard.
White mist churned like a tide. Beneath the tree, whose trunk was immensely thick and ancient in its bearing, a giant as tall as a mountain strode forward.
The giant wore a grass-fiber skirt around his waist and had his chest bared. Colorful runes were painted across his rock-hard face, and the pattern between his brows was especially intricate and archaic, radiating strange ripples.
The moment he approached the ancient Mulberry Tree, countless eyes opened across its trunk.
The giant asked in a booming voice, "Has the inheritor of Zhou still not come out?"
Ever since Gui Sang had told him about Zhou's inheritor last time, he had returned every so often to ask about that inheritor's situation.
Gui Sang's many eyes stared unblinking at the giant before him. In an ancient voice, it replied, "He is still within the third gate."
The giant pondered briefly, then said, "I understand."
"If Zhou's inheritor comes out, tell me at once."
Gui Sang fell silent. Only after a moment did it speak in a low voice. "...He may not be able to come out."
The giant's expression instantly turned grave. His aura erupted, and in the blink of an eye, he seemed to transform from a powerful foreign tribesman into a ferocious beast from the ancient Primordial Wilderness. His savage, violent presence surged like an invisible tide.
After a long