An endless expanse of green grassland stretched out before them. Dozens of massive craters pockmarked the ground, with several corpses lying amid them. Three men and one woman were locked in battle, while three Puppet Beasts lay on the ground, badly damaged.
"Yu Lin, I'll cover you. Go, now."
An elderly man in golden robes, his face pale, transmitted the words with an anxious expression.
"Fifth Uncle, if we leave, we leave together. I can't abandon you."
A graceful young woman in a red dress shook her head, looking as though she were prepared to live and die with him.
"You foolish girl. If we stay together, none of us will escape. Go!"
After saying this, the golden-robed elder's body blazed with golden light, which poured into a glittering golden long blade. The Golden Long Blade's radiance surged, transforming into a golden rainbow that shot toward the two men opposite him.
A tall, thin old man in black robes formed a hand seal. A black-glowing banner flared with blinding dark light and transformed into a ferocious evil ghost with long, slender fingers, a green face, and protruding fangs.
The golden rainbow appeared before the evil ghost. The ghost swung its sharp claw at it.
With a metallic clang, the ghost claw blocked the golden rainbow, though clearly visible cracks appeared across it.
The ghost opened its mouth and spewed a torrent of black ghostfire, swallowing the golden rainbow whole.
A burst of dazzling golden light erupted as the golden rainbow exploded, its radiance enveloping an area of more than a dozen miles.
Suppressing her grief, the woman in red transformed into a streak of red light and flew into the sky.
Before she had flown ten miles, the void rippled, and a murky black ghost claw materialized out of thin