Black Face

The Order Dao Ancestor walked to the center of the formation.

He placed the black crystal at the formation's core.

In an instant, the entire formation lit up.

Golden radiance surged from the formation, illuminating the entire void.

Wherever that light passed, shattered void began to heal, torn rifts began to close, and chaotic laws of chaos began to return to order.

The Dao Ancestors watched it all, complex emotions flashing through their eyes.

There was relief, and also...

Fear?

The Order Dao Ancestor turned and looked at them.

His gaze swept over every face before finally stopping somewhere in the void.

There was nothing there.

Yet as he looked at that spot, his expression grew complicated.

Then he spoke.

There was no sound from the mural; only the movement of his lips could be seen.

Chu Ming stared at those lips and read them out, word by word.

"The rest... is up to... you..."

After saying that, his figure began to dissipate.

Starting from his feet, he slowly turned into specks of golden light.

Those specks peeled away from his body, drifting through the void before being absorbed by the formation and merging deep into those chains.

The motes of light grew more numerous, denser and denser.

His legs vanished, then his torso, then his arms.

In the end, only his head remained.

That head floated in the void, its eyes half-open and half-closed, its expression peaceful.

He looked at the Dao Ancestors, a faint smile curling across his lips.

Within that smile was relief, comfort, and a barely perceptible trace of...

Reluctance.

Then his head, too, turned into golden motes and vanished completely.

The mural should have ended there.

But Chu Ming's gaze fell upon a corner of it.

There was another small image there.

It was tiny,