The Black Tiger of the Mysterious Altar's mountain-sized starlight phantom loomed across the heavens. Its eyes, like blazing suns, remained fixed on Everjoy Celestial Lord's left palm.
Resting quietly there was a Nine-Thousand-Year Immortal Peach with purple markings and a yellow core.
For this ancient divine beast, which had clung to life since the Lost Mythic Age, the shadow of the five decays of heaven and man was like a disease lodged in its bones, constantly devouring what little vitality remained within it.
And the immortal peach before it, wreathed in rich immortal mist, was the only lifeline that could pull it out of the abyss of death.
Greed-the most primal, purest longing at the very root of life-utterly overwhelmed the Black Tiger of the Mysterious Altar's reason.
Low growls rumbled deep in its throat. It seemed that at any moment, this beast, starved for countless ages, would throw caution aside and pounce, tearing apart and swallowing both the fruit that promised life and the True Immortal before it.
As for what Everjoy Celestial Lord had just said, the Black Tiger of the Mysterious Altar had paid no heed at all. Before an absolute disparity in strength and an overwhelming desire to survive, a struggling prey's words meant nothing.
Yet at this critical moment, the ancient token, fashioned from some unknown material, naturally slipped down along Everjoy Celestial Lord's slender, pale fingers and hung directly before the Black Tiger of the Mysterious Altar's eyes.
The surrounding temperature abruptly dropped. It was not a physical chill, but a Netherworld aura that acted directly upon the depths of the soul, embodying the end of all things and reincarnation. Like invisible ripples, it spread through the starry expanse.
The token was a dark hue so profound that it seemed capable of swallowing light,