At the entrance to the Battle Soul Ancient Path, the "doorway" forcibly torn open by spatial cracks resembled a giant mouth split wide in agony, its edges flickering with unstable Chaos light.
Thick void sludge dripped from the gap, corroding foul-smelling pits into the ground wherever it struck.
A body covered from head to toe in strange bone-rust-colored patterns was gently wrapped in pure, domineering Power of Space and slowly dragged out through the "door."
It was Jiang Shu, gravely wounded.
His body was utterly ruined. His skin was shriveled like desiccated deadwood, his muscles withered and sunken, and the Dao foundation aura that had once contained boundless power had weakened to the point of near imperceptibility. Only a faint flicker of soul remained, proving that he had not yet been completely annihilated.
The bone-rust patterns covering his body writhed like living things, digging deep into flesh and bone. Every weak breath made the rune-light shimmer faintly as it clamped down upon his last thread of tottering vitality.
The Power of Space that had pulled him out suddenly condensed, transforming into the phantom of a giant palm with broad bones, seeming to contain the might of creation of heaven and earth.
Behind that giant palm appeared Zhan Jiuxiao, dressed in a dark-gold battle robe, his face as solemn as an ancient mountain.
His brows were tightly furrowed, his eyes sharp as lightning. In an instant, he swept his gaze across Jiang Shu's miserable state, then fixed it firmly on the giant door that was struggling to squirm shut and heal.
"Vice Alliance Leader."
A Grand Elder with white hair and beard, clad in a star-patterned Daoist robe, stepped forward, his voice grave.
"The fetal membrane of the Small World has formed. Its inner will is vicious, evil, and defiled. The