"During the few days we spent preparing for the Secret Realm, ... something new has changed at Painting Saint Mountain."
The Brocade-Clad Youth's words caused the atmosphere in the passage to grow tense in an instant. Though he spoke softly, his words weighed on everyone's hearts like a boulder.
No one replied, but everyone quickened their pace in unison.
The farther in they went, the more oppressive the invisible pressure became.
It was neither True Essence nor divine sense, but a strange fluctuation that defied description.
It was a mixture of decay and chaos, surging in layers like waves and battering against the edges of everyone's perception.
"Ah—!"
At the front of the group, a Dan-Holding Grandmaster wearing the standard soft armor of the imperial court suddenly shuddered and let out an uncontrollable groan.
Everyone turned toward the sound, startled.
In the blink of an eye, his once-straight figure had begun to hunch. His face aged at a visible pace, his black hair turned white, and his skin sagged, as if an invisible hand of time had forcibly stolen decades from him.
Even more alarming, the light of the badge-shaped key in his hand was rapidly dimming.
"What's going on?!" someone cried out.
"The key... Did he just stop supplying it with True Essence?" someone sharp-eyed immediately noticed.
The Dan-Holding Grandmaster's face was deathly pale. With great effort, he raised the key and shakily poured True Essence into it again.
The key lit up once more, and a gentle glow enveloped him, finally halting his aging.
However, his head of white hair and deeply lined face could no longer be reversed.
"I was careless..." His voice was hoarse, and his eyes still held the terror of someone who had just escaped death. "The power of this domain is this bizarre!"