Out in the wilderness.
Jiang Ning stood at the bottom of the pit, bending over with his palm resting on the Silver-Armored Heavenly Soldier's armor.
He exerted a little strength through his five fingers, their tendons drawing taut against the heavenly soldier's silver armor.
The silver armor felt cold, and even as he pressed harder, it still felt indestructible.
His fingers traced the fist impressions and scratches across its surface one by one.
Those impressions and scratches varied in depth, but none had truly breached the silver armor.
Then he closed his eyes slightly, sending a strand of spiritual sense through his palm into the heavenly soldier to examine it closely.
In an instant, everything became clear.
He opened his eyes, a glimmer of understanding flashing through them.
"A special stone, its energy exhausted, leaving the formation patterns dormant," he murmured. "The energy stone inside this heavenly soldier should be the Immortal Essence Stone recorded in ancient texts. It seems even these heavenly soldiers, these war puppets from the Heavenly Court of the Primordial Era, couldn't withstand the erosion of time and the changes of heaven and earth. Back in the Primordial Era, the energy stone inside one would have supported a long campaign. How could I have drained it dry in so little time?"
He shook his head and withdrew his gaze.
He knew that, regardless, he had won.
Without an energy core, the heavenly soldier was now no different from scrap iron.
He promptly exerted strength through both arms and lifted the heavenly soldier's damaged body from the pit.
At once, the taut muscles on his arms stood out in sharply defined lines.
Although this damaged heavenly soldier, more than ten feet tall, had fallen completely dormant, its weight was still astonishing.
A quick heft told him it