"This is..."
Watching Laozi and Yuanshi fail to kill Tongtian even after so long, coupled with Gu Changqing's mad antics, Hongjun had already begun to feel uneasy.
At that moment, although he sat within Zixiao Palace, his divine sense remained linked to the Sage-Transforming Furnace.
Just moments before, Hongjun had distinctly sensed an unfathomably profound yet incomparably vast aura drifting out of the Sage-Transforming Furnace.
That sensation... was exactly the same as what he had sensed from Gu Changqing.
In that instant, Hongjun's heart sank sharply.
A thoughtful look crossed his face, as though he had realized something.
A moment later, Hongjun's expression changed again.
"No..."
With an angry shout, Hongjun vanished completely from Zixiao Palace, heading toward the Primordial World.
Of course, no one knew how Hongjun had reacted.
At that moment, hundreds of quadrillions of gazes had converged upon the Sage-Transforming Furnace without exception.
They could not make out exactly what was happening inside.
But they could see that, following the first sword strike from before,
one ferociously violent, incomparably sharp surge of sword intent after another erupted ceaselessly from the Sage-Transforming Furnace.
With every rampaging flash of sword light, the cracks across the Sage-Transforming Furnace spread farther.
Eventually, when they looked closely, densely packed cracks covered almost the entire body of the furnace.
The aura pouring out from within left everyone even more alarmed.
"Is... is that Saint Tongtian's aura?!"
"Why has it become so powerful?!"
"Yes, exactly! What a terrifying aura! It's even more soul-shaking than before."
"Hiss... could Saint Tongtian have broken down and risen anew within the Sage-Transforming Furnace after his Dao Fruit was refined away?"
"A rebirth... did he find life in the face of death and become even stronger?!"
Everyone discussed it in bewilderment.
They could hardly have been more familiar