"Your Majesty, this is the human." The black mist saw Lin Yi's spear through the dark veil and instantly shrank into a ball. Its voice trembled. "His weapon..."
"Enough." The dark-red eyes cut it off. The voice was deep, like an echo rising from underground. "I know."
The black mist fell silent at once.
"Go." The eyes spoke slowly. "Give him as much trouble as you can. Don't let him reach this place."
The black mist froze for a moment, then hurriedly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. I understand."
With that, it drifted out of the hall.
Silence returned to the hall.
The dark-red eyes stayed fixed on the veil ahead, on the young man a hundred li away who held the Golden Spear.
"His Soul Power Level is only fifty-five?" it murmured, a trace of puzzlement in its voice. "Then why does he carry the aura of that thing?"
It fell silent for a moment, as though considering something.
"Did he come here on its orders? Or is there another reason?"
No one answered. Only a red light flickered beneath the black-armored puppet's visor.
"Whatever the case." The eyes slowly closed, and the voice sank lower. "This is no place for a level-fifty-five brat."
The hall fell still.
At the edge of the ruins, meanwhile,
Lin Yi knew nothing of what had happened in the distant hall.
He had sat down cross-legged to recover as soon as things turned strange.
But half an hour had passed, and nothing else had happened.
So he got up again and glanced toward the depths to the north.
I'll try going a little farther in. If it doesn't work out, I can retreat.
Lin Yi muttered to himself and started forward.
He had taken only a few steps when a faint tremor ran through