This darkness had not come from black clouds blotting out the sun.
It was more as though a giant hand had trapped the entire world beneath an enormous black bowl.
Even the Buddhist light of Cloud-Piercing Grotto, usually as bright as day, had turned a dim, murky yellow.
Little Stone had just run to a high point in Cloud-Piercing Grotto when he abruptly looked up and saw an immense figure slowly appearing in the sky.
The figure's features were indistinct, but a dazzling nine-colored halo flowed around him;
it was as though he had crushed all the spiritual energy in the World Inside the Tower and wrapped every last bit around himself.
Looking again at the giant Buddha, once so tall and imposing, even its head seemed like a clay doll before this figure.
"All living beings struggle bitterly. Let neither yourselves nor heaven and earth down."
A booming voice rang out.
Like rolling heavenly thunder, it exploded directly inside everyone's sea of consciousness.
The qi and blood throughout Little Stone's body leaped for joy beyond his control, and he found himself involuntarily leaning against the stone Buddha.
It was not out of fear, but from all sorts of feelings he could not put into words.
The Lord of Brahma!
At that moment, Lie Feng, Lian Chengbi, Duan Lang, and Bu Jingyun, the four fortress lords, all stopped what they were doing.
They stepped aside and gazed up at the figure in the sky, their faces filled with reverence and awe.
It was as though they stood before a deity who must never be profaned.
This was not their first time seeing him, yet they still found the sight soul-shaking, like a terrifying god or devil.
"I bestow upon you the gifts of heaven and earth. Cultivate diligently, that you