The Opportunity for the Fourth Step

Between the chains, countless tiny lights could vaguely be seen flickering.

They were phenomena produced by the operation of the formation. Every ray of light contained enough power to slay a late-stage Three-Step cultivator.

At the center of the formation floated an enormous palm.

That palm was a thousand zhang in size, pitch-black throughout.

This black was no ordinary black, but a profound darkness that seemed capable of devouring all light.

The surface of the palm was covered in densely packed eyes.

Those eyes came in all sizes, some open and some closed, crammed together so densely that they covered the entire surface of the palm.

The larger eyes were the size of millstones, while the smaller ones were only the size of fists.

They were arranged without any pattern—some squeezed into clusters, some scattered everywhere, some piled atop one another.

Every eye glimmered faintly.

The light they gave off was scarlet—cold, filthy, greedy, and mad.

They shot in from every direction and fell upon Chu Ming.

The rays that landed on him were like countless needles, piercing his skin, his meridians, and his divine soul.

The palm's five fingers were slightly curled.

That curve resembled the claw of some creature slowly closing into a fist.

Thick chains coiled around every finger.

Those chains were thicker and more solid than the surrounding ones, their surfaces flowing with denser sealing runes.

Yet those chains had already been damaged beyond repair.

Some had snapped in half, leaving only short sections still wound around the fingers.

The breaks were jagged, as though something had forcibly torn them apart.

Some chains were covered in cracks, which spread from their centers toward both ends, dense and numerous, ready to shatter completely at any moment.

More than half the runes on some chains had already gone