Clearly, after this battle of wills, Lord Taisu had finally backed down.
His expression crumpled completely at that moment.
The wrinkles on his aged face seemed to deepen, his eyes lost their light, and he seemed to age billions of years in an instant.
He drew a deep breath, then let it out just as deeply.
Then he spoke slowly, his voice so very faint that a passing breeze seemed enough to scatter it.
"What exactly... do you want?"
Just a few short words.
There was no anger, no threat, no fierce front masking a trembling heart.
Only a kind of... helpless resignation.
The dejection of a cornered beast that had struggled to the last, only to finally face reality.
He had yielded.
This supreme being, one of the five pre-heavenly ultimates, the beginning of substance, possessing substance within form but not yet a body, bowed before Gu Changqing the head he had held high for endless ages.
Not because he feared death.
The five pre-heavenly ultimates existed alongside the Dao, undying and indestructible.
But because he feared... being trapped here forever.
Forever.
At those words, the Dao rhythm gathering in Gu Changqing's hand faltered slightly.
He tilted his head and gazed into the depths of the Secret Realm through drunken, hazy eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting into a meaningful smile.
There was no triumph in that smile, no mockery, only a kind of... understanding that this outcome had been inevitable.
"Hic..."
He burped and slowly withdrew his right hand, the Dao rhythm gathered at his fingertips gradually dissipating with it.
The overwhelming pressure receded like the tide, and deathly silence returned to the Outer Chaos Region.
Seeing this, Lord Taisu inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could finish exhaling, his heart tightened again.
Because