"What did you say? The Earthly Baleful Force you gave me before... it's all gone?" Deep beneath the glacier in Snow Mountain Canyon, Pan Long stared at Yellow Springs' Incarnation, his eyes wide with anger. He could barely keep from shouting. "That was the Earthly Baleful Force of an entire planet! How could it be gone already?"
"There was not much of that kind of turbid energy," Yellow Springs' Incarnation replied in a voice as grating as a cat scratching glass.
Pan Long took several deep breaths before he managed to suppress his frustration. "Then what kind of Earthly Baleful Force can I use next?"
A gloomy, foul Killing Intent surged from the underground river, though it was not nearly as dense.
Pan Long could tell at a glance that this Earthly Baleful Force was roughly the same quality as what he had used in his experiments.
"Isn't there anything better?"
"No."
"Then there isn't enough time!" he burst out. "My time was limited to begin with. Even if I used nothing but high-quality Earthly Baleful Force, it might not have been enough... If I have to switch to this, there definitely won't be enough time!"
"I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do."
Pan Long drew a deep breath and pressed a hand to his forehead. He felt a little dizzy.
"Maybe... I need to think of another way..." he muttered.
This low-quality Earthly Baleful Force was less than one-tenth as effective as the high-quality kind. Completing the Sky-Mending Plan as intended with it was now utterly impossible.
He had to find another way.
He sighed, stored away the Earthly Baleful Force he had received, and, instead of immediately heading skyward, returned to the nearby Snow Region Town. He went to the hotel the Tower of Babel had