Dawn had just broken, a fish-belly white quietly spreading across the horizon. The clamor of Dark Ghost City had faded with the night, leaving only desolation.
In one of the city's central districts, the once-majestic headquarters of the Heartless Tower had been reduced to shattered walls and rubble, scarred beyond recognition, as though the hand of fate had swept mercilessly across it.
The glory of its former master, Situ Taiyuan, had vanished like clouds and smoke. His fall had been as silent as a star dropping from the heavens.
And its current master, Bing Huo Douluo, whose wings of interwoven ice and fire had once soared at the pinnacle of power and strength, now bore countless arrow wounds. Like tattered leaves torn by a winter gale, those wings had been mercilessly pinned by the light of the Seven Kill Sword to a ruined wall dozens of meters high, becoming the cruelest footnote to this struggle for power.
Within the Heartless Tower, every treasure and precious artifact was gone. Only emptiness and desolation remained, telling of yesterday's splendor and today's ruin.
Meanwhile, in a lush grove a dozen or so li beyond the outskirts of Dark Ghost City, morning light filtered through the treetops, scattering patches of sunlight over a figure.
He was a refined middle-aged man, walking unhurriedly with his hands clasped behind his back. With bright eyes, elegant brows, and a spirited gaze, he exuded a cultured brilliance that made anyone who saw him forget the vulgar world.
Had a knowledgeable High-Rank Soul Master been present, they would certainly have recognized him as the Soul Fighting City Lord, Chief Steward Chen Weining, the level 95 Mysterious Heaven Douluo.
Beside him stood a middle-aged man in Blue Swordsman Attire. A faint sword intent wreathed his body like thin mountain mist,