Dry-pot shrimp.
Braised fish heads.
Fifty cases of ice-cold beer, every last one drained to Emptiness.
Then came clay-pot braised beef ribs, pig's trotters stewed with soybeans, and more barbecue than anyone could count.
They switched to baijiu and kept drinking.
The members of the All Things Unity Society ate with gusto.
Suddenly, their expressions tightened.
"Did you feel that?" Bai Yuanze asked, holding a mug of draft beer.
"The power that was covering us is gone," Shen Fu said, holding up a rib.
"He withdrew his time-based Mystic Arts... This is trouble. Does he think someone else can still hold Xu Chengan back?"
Qi Canghai wore gloves and gripped a crayfish, his expression grave.
Too much hinged on this.
If Xu Yuan had not prepared in advance, they would soon have to face Xu Chengan.
And Xu Chengan had the Nine Old Gods inside him!
Someone suddenly appeared before them.
Xu Chengan.
He had really come!
But the instant he appeared, a mature man in a top hat and yellow formalwear appeared before them too.
No Mystic Arts, no killing intent, no unnecessary movement—
"Keep quiet. Don't cause trouble."
The man in formalwear spoke with a somewhat weary expression.
Mouths sprouted all over Xu Chengan's body and cried out in unison:
"Overseer—"
"I spent so long planning this! The Bloodline bearer I chose was capable of building a passage between Ninefold Nether and the Mortal Realm. I would join them into one world, and humanity would become my eternal granary!" "You can't stop me!"
An intangible, formless aura, boiling and vast as the sea, had barely risen from him before it vanished without a trace.
All because the man in yellow formalwear raised a hand and formed a Spell Seal.
He held the Art ready without releasing it.
But