Darkness swallowed Shen Xiu's vision, but it was not the pure, empty kind of darkness. It was a heavy, tangible darkness, as though he had stepped not into a void, but into a pool of thick ink. He could feel the darkness flowing across his skin like countless icy little snakes, trying to burrow into his body through his pores. He circulated the Thunder Origin, and violet lightning flowed over his body, keeping the Dark Power at bay.
Lin Fan walked behind him at an unhurried pace, his gaze sweeping over the darkness around them, his expression calm as still water. There was no lightning around him, only a faint layer of white light. Though weak, that light made the surrounding darkness recoil as if it had encountered its natural nemesis, avoiding him from afar.
The two walked through the darkness for about the time it took an incense stick to burn before the darkness ahead suddenly began to thin, and their vision gradually cleared.
Shen Xiu found himself standing in a massive underground space. It was larger than any he had seen before. The vaulted ceiling rose beyond sight, as though it stretched all the way to the surface; the ground was dark red and covered in countless cracks, from which black mist continuously seeped and drifted through the air. At the center of the space stood an enormous black palace. Its design was bizarre and savage, its walls carved with countless twisted faces, every one of them screaming soundlessly.
"The Dark Church's main headquarters." Lin Fan's voice sounded behind Shen Xiu, carrying a trace of gravity. "So it really is here."
Shen Xiu shifted his gaze from the black palace and surveyed the surroundings. Hundreds of smaller structures were densely scattered around the palace—towers, pavilions, altars, and barracks—forming