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A few minutes earlier in Kaidō.

Bai Zhu rushed to the area where the explosion had come from and immediately saw that the ground had been blasted into a vertical shaft.

Several black Demolition Nails had been embedded along the shaft's edge.

Bai Zhu paused for half a second and looked down at the nails.

"Pretty clever."

Bai Zhu placed a hand on his sword hilt.

"All Things in the Universe, turn to ashes."

Flames continuously spilled from the gap in the scabbard.

"Ryujin Jakka."

The dampness around the shaft's edge was instantly dried away. The Demolition Nails embedded in the stone walls shrieked as their casings glowed red from the heat.

Without waiting for them to explode, Bai Zhu leaped down.

Inside the shaft, broken stone walls were stacked layer upon layer, suspended in the middle of the deep pit. Massive ring gears were embedded within the walls, some still slowly turning. In the distance, a reflective canal ran through blackstone channels. Mechanism lenses spun across the water's surface, occasionally sweeping light over the stone walls.

Bai Zhu landed on a section of stone bridge, and the slab beneath his feet cracked on the spot.

The moment he steadied himself, Nen flared from three different directions overhead.

At the upper left, a Demolition Nail pierced the load-bearing section of a broken bridge.

Directly behind him, another nail sealed off the shaft's escape route.

By the canal on the right, a third nail activated the mechanisms, and the water began to churn.

No one called out.

No one threatened him.

The Specialist Association worked cleanly and efficiently.

Bai Zhu looked around.

Thick fog rose from the canal.

Several mechanism lenses had been manually adjusted, aimed precisely at the stone bridge beneath his feet.

The shadows in the gaps of the