Song Wen traveled stealthily through the depths of the earth, returning to a spot roughly twenty thousand li outside Upper Water City.
After hollowing out a cramped space barely large enough to hold him, he concealed his aura completely and remained motionless.
Time trickled by. Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
That day.
The blazing sun hung overhead like an overturned furnace. Waves of heat rose from the earth, making even the shattered walls appear hazy and distorted.
The stench of rotting corpses grew still stronger in the sweltering heat.
A streak of flight light tore across the sky and stopped above the city.
The newcomer was Li Jiuyuan.
He lowered his gaze to the figures rummaging through the ruins below, disdain flashing in his eyes.
"A pack of insatiably greedy, pitifully weak rats."
Li Jiuyuan looked around and called out in a ringing voice.
"Sect Master Extreme Yin, the appointed hour has arrived. Why have you not shown yourself?"
Li Jiuyuan's voice boomed like thunder, shattering wind and splitting clouds. The ruined walls below trembled, and rubble cascaded down.
The low-level cultivators engrossed in scavenging felt their blood churn under that thunderous shout. Some even bled from their ears and noses and collapsed on the spot, staring in terror at the figure in the sky whose oppressive aura weighed upon them like a mountain.
Yet Li Jiuyuan's words received no response.
He was in no particular hurry and simply hovered there, waiting in silence.
After roughly a quarter of an hour, with still not a single figure appearing nearby, Li Jiuyuan's brows gradually drew together.
"Sect Master Extreme Yin, if you refuse to appear, I shall take my leave!"
These words, too, received no response.
"Could it be... Extreme Yin really hasn't come?" Li Jiuyuan murmured.