"Worm, this game ends here."
The voice was vast and ancient, as though a lofty god were about to pass judgment.
Boom!
Golden light swallowed everything before her eyes.
Blazing sunlight, endless radiance, as if a sun had fallen from the sky. Its blinding brilliance nearly obscured everything in sight.
The section of river caught in the blast began boiling at once. In the blink of an eye, it had evaporated, and the vegetation along both banks was scorched to charcoal before the terrifying shockwave ripped it apart.
A massive mushroom cloud billowed into the sky, and the very ground seemed to tremble with it.
Huang Qi stood motionless. The divine halo behind her had vanished, and the enormous black-flame axe in her hand had reverted to the many-faceted polyhedron that radiated an uncanny light.
Now, however, the polyhedron was covered in cracks, as though it could shatter at any moment.
She didn't care. She merely gazed at the sky with indifference, waiting for that one chance to escape.
With the trial failed, there should be a brief gap in the Sword Venerable's seal. She only needed to seize that instant and flee this star system. Then everything could be resolved.
One second, two seconds...
Hmm?
It shouldn't be taking this long.
Huang Qi frowned slightly and couldn't help looking down.
On the dry, cracked riverbed, a figure like a skeleton struggled to its feet.
Her charred skull was exposed, with only two dark, empty eye sockets remaining. Almost all the flesh had vanished from her body, and her ruined internal organs could be seen through her ribs.
Spiritual light flowed around them. In the half of a lung that remained, a heart beat with difficulty, like the faint flame of life within her.
Yet her right hand still gripped