As the Broken Moon descended, ripples spread through the air.
The mountains and dense forests seemed submerged in water, twisting and shifting without cease.
"What a pity. With a way to refine it, I could forge an entire Grotto-Heaven from this."
Amid that regretful voice, an immense, majestic figure rose from the ground and, in an instant, towered between heaven and earth.
The Dao Body seemed both real and illusory. Its legs joined the mountains as though rooted deep in the earth. It raised a colossal arm to pluck the Broken Moon from the sky!
But before its huge palm could touch the moon's outline, ripples of moonlight spread outward and held it back by force.
Then a scene of utter desolation appeared within the Broken Moon—
Collapsed mountains, split earth, a Desolation-scarred wasteland.
"As expected of a Beyond-Mundane Realm. Even with its Grotto-Heaven Master dead, it still holds such power! I had no such ability before I descended to the Mortal World." The giant laughed, its voice a thunderclap. "But you're dead, and I'm still alive. I even found an opportunity in the Mortal World. That Broken Moon of yours will fall into my hands today. It is fate ordained by heaven—you cannot escape it!"
As it spoke, bloody light surged across its body. Streams of Corrosive Thought and Undying Light poured from it, becoming countless slender snakes that converged on its giant hand. Slowly, they stained the space around it and the Firmament itself with Bloodlight.
At the same time, the words it had spoken became waves of sound that swept through the surroundings like a gale.
Where they passed, the tribespeople in the forest, the beasts that had cultivated, and the wild animals that had gained awareness all had their souls destroyed the instant they heard. Only