Zhou Heng was crouched by the third claw on the Kitten statue's left hind foot, quietly refining its little foot.
He had become extremely proficient with the engraving knife. Every stroke was precise and fluid, leaving fine, even patterns.
It was utterly quiet, utterly peaceful.
Just then, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to shake. The mountain-like cat paw directly ahead was slowly lifting off the ground.
Zhou Heng stopped what he was doing and looked up...
He discovered that it was not just the statue where he stood. Every Kitten statue he could see in the distance, regardless of size or whether it was finished, rose into the air at the same time.
The sight was spectacular beyond measure.
Countless Kitten statues a million zhang tall rose like immense peaks uprooted from the earth, carrying rubble and dust into the sky.
Their enormous silhouettes blocked the sunlight, plunging the entire land briefly into shadow.
Beneath the statues, countless followers of Compassion wore expressions of shock.
They craned their heads and gaped, watching the statues they had engraved day and night, pouring countless hours of painstaking effort into them, simply being carried away by an unseen force. Their shock mingled with bewilderment, incomprehension, and an instinctive awe that came from the depths of their souls.
Then everyone knelt.
One after another, like wheat flattened by the wind, the followers of Compassion across the entire wilderness fell prostrate in unison.
They pressed their foreheads to the ground, murmuring the Lord of Compassion's name with utmost devotion, for in their understanding, only the great, supreme Lord of Compassion could do such a thing.
The great Compassion surely had a profound purpose in taking the statues away.
Mortals must not presume to discuss it. They could only kneel in devotion.
This was