The eerie glow peeled away from the bottom of the pot bit by bit, gathering in midair.
In the blink of an eye, a palm-sized black flame hovered before Shi Hou.
It flickered quietly, giving off no heat at all. Even the already faint light around it was being swallowed.
The tip of the flame tilted slightly, pointing straight toward the dense black fog deep within the sea of bones.
The bone beasts around him cared nothing for this. Dozens of enormous remnant skeletons, each over a hundred feet tall, swooped down from all directions amid a sky full of shrieking ghost flames, about to bury Shi Hou completely.
"To hell with it. Get out first!"
With a thought from Shi Hou, the black heavenly cave opened above his head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Having lost their target, the bone beasts slammed into one another, bursting into clouds of bone dust. Ghost flames flashed wildly in their eerie green eye sockets as they spun frantically in place, unable to find the source of life that had driven them mad.
Clatter!
A few breaths later, those massive primordial remnant skeletons collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Their joints broke apart one by one, turning back into a carpet of pale, dry bones.
Deathly silence once again shrouded this place.
Still invisible, Shi Hou stared at the black flame before him, which had not vanished along with him.
The flame drifted lazily three feet forward, then paused, seemingly waiting for him to follow.
"Just what the hell are you?"
Ever since he had crossed worlds with this Black Pot, it had only reacted when he encountered top-grade ingredients or approached Shi Hao. Today, though, it had not only interfered with the teleportation, but was now playing guide as well.
After a moment's