Chu Tian did not fall.
The instant his heart was shredded, his body stiffened for a moment. Then he lowered his head and looked at the hole pierced through his chest by the spear tip, at the golden blood pouring from it, at the golden spear still trembling.
Then he raised his head. His blood-red eyes fixed directly on Shen Ming, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Is that all?"
His voice was so hoarse it was nearly inaudible, yet every word drove into Shen Ming's ears like a nail.
Then his hands closed around the shaft of the Qingtian Divine Spear.
He did not pull it out. He gripped it.
His fingers sank into the Chaos Runes engraved on the spear shaft. Dark golden light from Proving the Dao with Force erupted from his palms and spread along the spear toward Shen Ming's arm.
That dark golden radiance contained the Dao essence of the Five Great Treasures—the suppression of the Epoch Ancient Pagoda, the slaughter of the Immortal-Slaughtering Sword, the destruction of the World-Destroying Blade, the devouring of the Chaos Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron, and the reincarnation of the Six Paths of Reincarnation. The five powers intertwined in his palm and corroded Shen Ming's arm in reverse through the Qingtian Divine Spear.
Shen Ming's pupils contracted violently.
He tried to pull back the Qingtian Divine Spear, but Chu Tian's hands clamped onto its shaft like iron pincers. His five fingers were embedded deep within its runes; he could not pull it free at all.
The dark golden light surged into his arm along the spear shaft, and the Dao essence of the Five Great Treasures exploded simultaneously within the meridians of his arm—the Epoch Ancient Pagoda's suppression crushed his arm bones, the Immortal-Slaughtering Sword's slaughter tore apart his muscles,