The ash-gray stone statue stood at the edge of the Black Sandlands, three zhang tall, a crack running from its collarbone all the way down to its knees.
But it was no longer in its original position.
Lu Chen stood atop the city wall, his Dragon Eye automatically shifting into combat mode.
His vertical pupils narrowed, and the ash-gray stone statue became a mass of dense black mist in his vision.
Only the skeleton of its humanoid outline remained. Dark-red runes crawled over the bones, throbbing like blood vessels. Deep within the statue's chest cavity, a fist-sized black core slowly rotated.
[Undead Monarch avatar. Realm: peak Longevity Realm. Status: awakening. Core location: center of chest cavity. Weakness: rune fissures on the core's surface.]
"How much did it move?"
"A quarter hour ago, it took one step toward the city wall." Tuoba Shan pressed his fingers against his sword hilt, his knuckles white. "It stopped after that one step. But when it moved, the deathly aura pouring from the crack corroded all the black sand within ten zhang into white ash."
One step. It had taken one step from the edge of the Black Sandlands toward the city wall.
"It's still waiting." Yun Qingyue's voice came from behind him.
She walked onto the city wall with that golden rune-covered bone in her hand.
The bone's color had changed again—the tip had turned dark gold once more, and the darkness was spreading toward the middle of the bone.
"After the avatar in the Western Wasteland abyss died, all the avatars lost twenty percent of their strength. It's absorbing deathly aura to make up for it. Once it has recovered enough, it will take a second step."
[Ash-gray stone statue seal integrity: 71%. Avatar strength recovery progress: approximately 30%.]