Zhou Xuan didn't move.
He was using the system to scan every detail of the Formation Disk.
Data raced through his mind for three breaths before a conclusion emerged: repairs were possible, but would consume an enormous amount of material and had to be completed before the Formation Disk collapsed entirely.
Time window: two hours.
"Enough talk. I'll fix it."
Li Daoran whipped his head around. His pupils contracted sharply in that face aged beyond recognition.
He saw Zhou Xuan pouring things out of his Storage Ring.
One piece, two pieces, three pieces.
Top-grade resonance Metal.
It was the high-purity material Zhou Xuan had personally refined from Jade Dragon City's scrap heaps, capable of resonating with vow power. A single piece was worth enough to buy a third of the Spirit Sword Pavilion's inventory.
Zhou Xuan poured out enough to buy the Spirit Sword Pavilion three times over.
"Where did you get all this?" Li Daoran's lips trembled.
"Picked it up along the way."
Zhou Xuan divided the materials into several piles, his fingers darting over the Formation Disk as he confirmed the position of every node that needed repair.
Just then, a sound came from the Abyss.
It wasn't a roar.
It was laughter.
Extremely low, extremely slow laughter, as though something had spread its mouth into a grin hundreds of yards below.
A force was wrapped within that laughter. It burrowed into Zhou Xuan's ears and poured down his ear canals into his sea of consciousness.
Images began churning through his mind.
He saw himself standing in a golden palace, everyone's heads beneath his feet.
Jade Dragon City, the Western Desolate Region, the Northern Lands—everyone lay prostrate, crying out his name.
Vow power. Endless vow power.
As long as he wished, as long as he released the materials