Cold sweat slid down his temples.
There was no escape.
Shi Hou stared at the black stone altar directly ahead. The grayish-white bead at its summit resembled a pallid eye, silently looking down over this ocean of bones.
He rubbed his chin and tilted his head back for a glance.
The black heavenly cave still hovered overhead, dark and unfathomable, devouring the surrounding light. Its concealment ability, vouched for by the Willow Deity, was his greatest trump card for now. Since the other party had not immediately dealt a killing blow with a lightning tribulation or death qi, his "invisibility cloak" must still be working.
"I'm already here." Shi Hou ground his back teeth.
Grabbing with both hands, he ripped the huge Black Pot off his back and braced it firmly before his chest like a tower shield.
Humm-!
The weathered patterns of mountains, rivers, and stars on the pot's surface glimmered with a dim gray light.
The moment he raised it, the Black Pot blocked most of the terrifying death qi pressing against his heart, which had made even his breaths reek of decay. The stifling sensation in his chest, as though it had been packed with lead, vanished at once.
"It works." Shi Hou's lips twitched. He reached back and slapped his chest. "Quit playing dead. This meat patty's getting griddled whether it likes it or not."
Curled up inside his clothes, Kang rolled its eyes dramatically and clutched its pig head with both forehooves.
Shi Hou took his first step.
The black flame hovering before him, which had never given off any heat, seemed to sense his surrender and drifted leisurely half a meter forward.
One step, then two.
After just five meters, Shi Hou's expression changed.
The closer he came to the altar, the more outrageous