Tu Qiming's eyes had turned red. It wasn't fake—not at all. Even the Four Sides Heavenly Balance couldn't make an Ancestral Realm creature cooperate in a sham performance. What would they gain from that? But that thing just now was Prison Dragon, wasn't it? A creature from Divine Martial Heaven.
Lu Yin looked at Zhou Tang again. "Che Zhan, Brother Hong—what about Old Mother Dongshan? I said I'd definitely come back and told you to wait for me."
Zhou Tang finally reacted, his expression complicated. "They're dead."
Lu Yin's heart sank. He'd known this was the answer, but he'd still hoped to hear something different. Sadly, that wasn't the case.
"Just a few days ago," Zhou Tang said.
Lu Yin's gaze sharpened. He clenched his fists. "What did you say?"
Zhou Tang's voice was low. "It was just two days ago. We fought a desperate battle here. Che Zhan died then. Brother Hong died not long after you left, and Old Mother Dongshan died about ten years ago."
Lu Yin's pupils shifted. Just two days ago—he'd been waiting at the Fourth Formation Base then. If he'd arrived one step sooner, Che Zhan wouldn't have had to die.
Those people had all fallen onto the New Continent alongside him. They'd fought the Eternal Clan together, living and dying side by side. Their smiling faces still appeared in his mind. Though it had been an Absolute Land, what he remembered was their laughter.
The promises they'd made together, the dreams they'd shared, kept echoing in Lu Yin's ears.
He raised his head and looked toward the First Formation Base, an indescribable killing intent lurking deep in his eyes.
Not long afterward, Lu Yin entered the underground chamber and saw Wan Zhiyi, bound in chains and reduced to something like a dried corpse.