[The dried corpse had vanished. In its place stood a middle-aged man.]
[Lord Purple Mountain's aura had waned, forcing him out of the Myriad Manifestations All-Encompassing Realm he had just roused by force. A gaping hole pierced his chest. Gravely wounded, he was barely clinging to life.]
[He had taken human form from the Elixir of Immortality, and even the worst wounds should have healed in an instant. Yet strange black vortex patterns clung to the edges of the wound like rot to bone, blocking every current of vitality.]
[Beside him, Ao Qing had escaped a fatal wound, but she was in wretched shape. A casual flick from the Heavenly Emperor had torn apart the skin that was harder than metal. She could barely stand.]
[She had not suffered such a grave injury in countless years. Golden blood stained all her clothes red.]
[The entire Heaven-Ascending Platform still stood tall. Whatever material had gone into its construction, it had survived that earth-shaking clash without a scratch.]
[Lord Purple Mountain stared hard at the Heavenly Emperor, returned from death, his gaze burning.]
[In Ao Qing's eyes, none of her earlier composure remained.]
[She and Lord Purple Mountain had joined forces, only to be defeated with ease. And now the Heavenly Emperor's aura seemed even stronger than before, strong enough to suffocate them.]
[Beneath the Ascension Platform, the disciples of every sect looked ashen, their eyes full of despair.]
[Even someone like Lord Purple Mountain had been powerless before the Heavenly Emperor. Ao Qing, with cultivation comparable to a Supreme Grandmaster's, had failed to stop him in the slightest.]
[Now only Zhou Jing remained to face the Heavenly Emperor alone.]
[What could he possibly do?]
[The middle-aged man slowly drew his gaze away from the enormous cauldron in the void and swept