Another short half-incense stick's worth of time passed.
Footsteps sounded in the passage. Ji Chen strode out, carrying a stack of things in his arms, and his gaze lingered on the two Old Ancestors for a moment.
"Old Ancestors, the Token Master summons you."
Old Ancestor Hunyuan and Old Ancestor Wuji raised their heads together and exchanged a glance.
"Bring the remains. Follow me." Ji Chen turned and left without giving them time to react.
Old Ancestor Hunyuan's knees cracked twice. When he stood, his legs felt as though they were floating.
After kneeling for over six hours and enduring the shock of that pillar of light's aftereffects, his Dao Fruit was still faintly trembling.
Holding the Ancient Demon's remains, the two followed Ji Chen into the passage.
The deeper they went, the heavier the air became. The lingering resonance left by the interwoven three law powers had yet to dissipate completely. It wandered along the stone walls, pricking their skin like needles whenever it touched them.
Old Ancestor Hunyuan unconsciously softened his breathing.
Old Ancestor Wuji was even worse. His steps grew slower and slower until he was practically inching forward.
There should have been a stone door at the end of the passage.
The door was gone. So was its frame.
Even the surrounding rock walls, two zhang thick, had turned entirely to powder. Only a neatly squared opening remained, its rocky edges coated in a layer of glassy, scorched-black marks.
Those marks had been left by searing heat taken to its utmost extreme.
Old Ancestor Hunyuan's pupils contracted.
Beyond the opening was a spacious stone chamber. More than half its vaulted ceiling had cracked. The rubble had been cleared away, but the fissures remained.
Light leaked through the cracks in separate shafts, falling onto the heaps of