Bai He's face went pale.
He had lived so long and witnessed countless inconceivable things, but the scene before him lay beyond anything he could comprehend.
The gray-blue planet had vanished.
In its place was an enormous mass of churning black mist.
It had no fixed form. Like a breathing behemoth, it swallowed more of the void with every expansion.
"Imperial Lord... what... what is that?"
Behind him, Chen Yong, Mo Xuan, and Yue Hua, the three Immortal Kings of Purple Firmament Heaven, were equally ashen-faced.
It was not merely the eerie sight before them. More importantly, another Immortal Emperor had appeared!
The cultivators of Purple Firmament Heaven aboard the surrounding Starships were already in disarray. Some instinctively backed away, while others froze where they stood. A young cultivator dropped the formation flag he was holding and bent to retrieve it, but his hands shook so badly that it took him three tries to pick it up.
No one laughed at him, because everyone was trembling.
Si Chen merely cast a faint glance at that Immortal Emperor before turning back to study the eerie planet.
He had seen that hand before.
On the day of the Gathering of Immortals, it was this very hand that had seized Gu Hong as he was dragged into the darkness.
Si Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, then returned to their calm state.
"Take those mortals away. You needn't involve yourselves in what happens here," he said flatly, a world apart from his usual gentle, refined manner.
His tone was so cold that even Jiang Ling felt a jolt of alarm and glanced at his back in surprise.
She kept feeling that some terrifying change had come over Si Chen.
Bai He, too, froze for a moment.
Si Chen's face held no expression. His eyes were