The messenger sent to the Devil Race was the last to return.
He was covered in wounds, his robes marked by burns.
He fell out of the teleportation array, landed on one knee, and struggled to rise. "The Devil Race... gave no reply."
"They wouldn't even let a messenger enter. I was stopped as soon as I reached the border. Then they fired an arrow. A wooden token was tied to it, with four words written on it."
He paused.
"Human Race, suit yourselves."
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Su Ming stood there without moving.
He looked at the charred tears in the messenger's robes and remained silent for a while.
"Go to the Alchemy Hall and find Su Qing Yuan. Have her treat your wounds."
The messenger nodded, then turned and left.
Su Ming stood before the star map again, his gaze sweeping over the marked locations of the Ten Thousand Races one by one.
A streak of light had flown to every location, only to return empty-handed.
It was like calling out into the darkness again and again, only to finally understand that no answering light would appear beyond that silent boundary.
The races that had once knelt before the Human Emperor and sworn an eternal alliance now refused to offer even a complete rejection.
At some point, the Peerless War King had entered and stood behind Su Ming.
"As expected."
"I know," Su Ming said.
"But a simulation is one thing. Seeing it with my own eyes is another."
He paused.
"Now I understand. It's not that they don't want to help. Once they learned of that dark-red figure's existence, they no longer dared to help. They're afraid. Afraid of provoking something even more terrifying than the uncanny."
"Then what do you intend to do?"