"Roar!!"
A roar rang out through the clouds.
Another thunderous crash followed, even louder than the last.
Fierce winds howled. In an instant, branches snapped, leaves crumbled to powder, and saplings as thick as a thigh were sheared straight through the middle.
Dust billowed, forming an enormous gray wave that stretched deep into the forest.
Without the slightest pause, it kept coming, like a vast gray wave.
Someone made out what was in the air: a giant ape.
Its tail swept out like a thick iron whip, scything across an entire patch of woodland and snapping the trees.
"Roar-!!"
Its enormous body twisted and leaped through the woods.
Behind it was a pitch-black iron seal, surging with magical energy as it repeatedly smashed toward the ape.
Some looked back as they ran. They had probably never seen anything like this in their lives.
Everything had been peaceful before, and they had thought the whole journey would pass without incident.
Who could have known that something this big would happen right at the end?
"Ping'an..."
Even now, Ge Erdan had not forgotten his promise to look out for Li Ping'an.
Chunks of stone kept whistling past him. Ge Erdan watched a rock streak like a meteor, carving a deep furrow.
With a bang, it slammed into the ground not far away.
Had he run just a little faster, that rock would probably have blasted his head apart.
Ge Erdan's heart pounded relentlessly. Turning his head, he spotted a familiar figure.
Li Ping'an and Old Ox stood behind the crowd.
Li Ping'an held a sheet of white paper in one hand and the Knight-Errant Brush in the other, raising the brush with a sweep.
He began writing stroke by stroke, his brush moving like the wind, completing it all in a single