Beneath Broken Bridge, the night wind swept up dust and sand, carrying a chill that had nothing to do with the scent of blood.
"Devour... Authority?"
Chen Yan's heart stirred.
He could feel that the moment Miao Ye's body was cleaved apart by the Thousand Mechanism Blade, an intangible, cold, viscous force seeped out of the severed corpse. Like a homeless ghost, it instinctively lunged toward him, the only living thing nearby.
Yet as soon as the force drew close, the Chaos Qi naturally flowing around him swept over it, and it ultimately merged into his body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
Then the system's notification rang out in his mind.
[Beep! Host has intercepted a wisp of the Devouring Law. Skill (Refining All Things) proficiency +1000!]
"That saves me quite a bit of effort."
The Refining All Things skill had always been slow to improve. This unexpected windfall was worth a long period of hard cultivation.
He set aside the question he couldn't make sense of for now. Chen Yan had never been one to obsess over things.
He raised his hand and gave a gentle wave toward the still-trembling "Song Xu" in the distance.
That figure, along with the sack slung over his shoulder, faded and warped like ink dropped into water, then dissolved into countless points of light and vanished completely into the night.
From beginning to end, it had only been an illusion created with his Myriad Image Painting Heart ability—a lifelike piece of bait to lure Miao Ye into the trap.
Only after finishing all this did Chen Yan walk over to Miao Ye's corpse.
He was quite satisfied with the Thousand Mechanism Blade's power.
The cut was smooth as a mirror, without a trace of unnecessary damage.
It was