Those two trails flowing from the eye sockets of the towering Divine Statue were not water.
They were actual stone.
They were the grief that had frozen in place in the final moment before the Divine Statue turned completely to stone.
Zhou Xuan felt as though an invisible hand had clenched around his heart.
He bowed deeply once more to this unnamed master of the Herb Garden.
This time, it had nothing to do with borrowing seeds or making a bargain. It was solely for that guardianship and defiance that had endured across the ages.
His bow complete, he straightened and turned to begin his journey back.
Yet when he looked toward the way he had come, he froze in place.
The path was gone.
That path paved with the Supreme One Token's starlight, which had guided him through countless shattered walls and safely brought him here, had vanished without a trace.
Ahead lay only the same gray-white ruins that surrounded him, and the profound darkness that devoured all light.
Zhou Xuan's heart sank. He immediately lowered his gaze to the Supreme One Token in his palm.
The Command Token's radiance had completely died out. No different from an ordinary scrap of iron, it lay quietly in his palm, no longer responding at all.
Burning the bridge after I've crossed the river?
No sooner had the thought surfaced than Zhou Xuan snuffed it out himself.
No.
The Immortal Court's will wasn't toying with me.
The trial was over.
Ever since he had stepped into Return to Void, the Supreme One Token had served as his guide, shielding him from danger and showing him the way.
Now, he had obtained three divine objects, completed his cultivation art, and accomplished everything he had come here to do.
The guidance of the Immortal