Gray-white divine radiance seeped silently from the depths of the temple, fine as dust and light as mist, soundlessly blanketing the entire broad street.
Tiny motes hung in the void, scattered through every inch of space. They resembled crumbled ashes, or powdered fossils, silent and formless, leaving no trace.
Fuxi's expression shifted slightly.
The gray-white particles were plainly before his eyes. He had watched them drift out of the temple and spread, yet when he swept the area with his divine sense, he found only emptiness. He could detect nothing.
It was as though those things did not exist in this world at all, but were merely illusions refracted from light and shadow.
He reached out and drew a wisp toward him.
The instant his fingertip touched the gray-white substance, a bone-deep stiffness erupted from the point of contact. His skin rapidly lost its color, turning ashen and rough. The softness of his flesh vanished in an instant, and his finger joints cracked as they became cold, hard stone, every texture distinct. Even the folds beneath his fingernails solidified without the slightest alteration.
The petrification spread along his finger toward his palm.
Fuxi frowned slightly. Divine power surged through his body, and an ocean of blood energy roiled up, bearing down on the petrifying force with brute strength.
With a faint crack, the stone shell fractured inch by inch, crumbling into powder that pattered to the ground. His finger returned to normal, its color restored.
He lowered his head to look at his hand, his gaze sharpening.
Had a Quasi-Emperor stood here instead of a Great Emperor, that single touch would likely have turned his entire arm to stone. Before he even had time to react, he would have been frozen in this city forever.
"So this was how they