At this point, only three remained who could still sway the situation.
No-strictly speaking, two, plus the small fraction that was himself.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when two gazes fell on him again.
One from above, one from below, more direct than before.
Caught between those two gazes, Qing Chen felt a discomfort unlike anything he had ever experienced.
It was not fear.
He, Qing Chen, had fought his way from an ordinary mortal to where he stood today, countless lives on his hands and mountains of white bones beneath his feet. He had long since forgotten how to write the word "fear."
But this feeling was different.
It was as though someone had stripped him naked and thrown him onto a chopping block, turning over every inch of him for inspection.
Skin, flesh, bones, blood, meridians, sea of qi, true essence... each was picked out and scrutinized in painstaking detail.
He had killed beyond counting and grown accustomed to life and death, yet his heart still clenched sharply at that moment.
Just then, the Gray-Black Light Net above suddenly contracted.
Bzz!
A low hum pressed down from every direction at once, its gloomy sound making his scalp tighten.
Immediately afterward, a wisp of blood-colored mist slowly descended from deep within the furnace wall.
The mist was exceedingly dense. It paused briefly in midair, then slowly spread-as though someone had dropped a bead of ink into clear water.
Amid its roiling currents, the mist actually condensed into a blurry face.
Its features were indistinct, its brows and eyes undefined, save for a single pair of eyes.
"You refined my essence blood. That gives us something of a connection."
"To have come this far, you can be considered promising material. You haven't let my essence blood go to