If he seized the keys, Ji Chen's divine soul would be drained. Three worlds destroyed meant losing thirty percent of his soul's essence. His already depleted Dao Fruit would not hold out. He would die.
If he did not, Ji Chen would never obtain the origin sacred relic and could only await death. The Endmark would drain Zhou Xuan dry, too, little by little.
"Master!" The Old Woman slammed her forehead against the stone floor with a thud, blood streaming down. "You must not! This is the Divine Lord's trap! He wants to unsettle your Dao Heart! He wants you to kill the person you're trying to save with your own hands!"
Emperor Jiang Wu drove the War Glaive into the ground, shattering the stone slabs beneath his feet.
"What kind of bullshit rules are these? Master, let's muster the strength of the Four Realms and storm the Divine Court! Fight him to the death!"
Old Ancestor Xuanming shook his head, his throat dry. "Without the coordinates of the Unified Divine Prison, we'd just be headless flies charging in. The Divine Court's territory is endless. We couldn't even find its gates. There's no way out."
All three looked at Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan stood beside the jade bed.
He looked down at Ji Chen. His face was pale, his breathing shallow. The Supreme One's Heart glimmered in his chest, sustaining his last breath.
Gray light flashed violently along Zhou Xuan's right arm. The Endmark pulsed, spreading over his body.
He laughed.
Quietly at first, then louder and louder.
His laughter ricocheted through the Immortal-Burying Abyss, shaking fragments loose from the stone walls. Central Province's earth veins hummed along with it.
There was no anger in that laughter, no hint of breaking. Only contempt.
"A trap?"
Zhou Xuan turned, facing the