Perhaps the projection of Yu Dai Shan was too stable, for it took well over half an hour before the towering projection of the Jianmu slowly faded away, along with the collapse of the Stigma.
Feeling the return of Soloist and the Buried Sacred Place, Huai Shi couldn't help but want to cry.
It wasn't out of being moved.
It was because it was too unbearable...
It felt like being kicked back into a chamber filled with poisonous gas after getting used to fresh air, struggling to breathe.
The Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy was inherently overly sensitive to historical records, and with the Book of Fate on Huai Shi, remnants of history from Hell clung to his soul almost instinctively.
This severe dizziness was even more intense than before.
In the moment of recovery, Huai Shi staggered, his vision filling with darkness.
He fell back into a nightmare-like illusion.
"Just one last step to go."
A figure holding a pipe bent down, its blurred face seemingly smiling as it said, "Soon, Hell will turn into Heaven... True power will be born in your hands, eternal and undying."
He reached out a hand towards Huai Shi, who was in the mire, offering salvation.
Yet when Huai Shi firmly grasped that hand, what he felt was not bliss and peace, but an indescribable... despair.
In that instant, he fell into a deeper Abyss.
Countless distorted limbs tangled around him, pulling him downwards, towards darker depths.
"Please save me..."
A hoarse voice of prayer echoed in his ears, the screams relentless. "Please, you..."
"Enough already!"
From within the stupor, Huai Shi roared as the Axe Blade slashed down, "You all have been dead for tens of millions of years, for heaven's sake! Not even ashes remain. How is anyone supposed to save you? Do you want me to give up my body for you to reincarnate?"
The darkness shattered.
In that instant, Huai Shi opened his eyes, gasping for breath.
Yuan Yuan looked at Huai Shi's face uneasily. "Teacher, are you alright?"
"It was just a nightmare."
Huai Shi shook his head, subconsciously pressing on the needle marks on his arm.
Had it not been for the Great Grandmaster's spiritual stabilizers, he might have been dragged into even deeper layers of records, unable to escape the history of this land.
It was just like the first time he used the Book of Fate, when he almost got trapped in the library of Deep Hell.
Now, he didn't know if it was because of the increase in his power or the reactivation of the Town of Dusk, but Huai Shi found that the shattered records lingering in the air were becoming more and more active and restless.
It was as if they were radiating from a massive source of gravity.
Something was like a star, constantly radiating infinite pain and despair to all its surroundings...
"...Sun Caster!"
Huai Shi's expression changed as he suddenly realized this.
As the Town of Dusk became active and the Eternal Frozen Heart was restarted, the Sun Caster, hidden deep in Hell, must be awakening again, and might even return to its prime state from tens of millions of years ago!
An existence that leads a world to its eventual demise, if compared to Current Circumstances...
Natural Enemy?
This guess made Huai Shi's hair stand on end as he looked up at the enormous projection of the Dome Giant and the Iron Crystal Throne floating in the sky.
He didn't believe that the Great Grandmaster had not guessed this.
But what exactly did he mean?
What exactly is this place...
Chaotic thoughts kept surging in Huai Shi's mind, as if he was just a hair's breadth away from the final truth, but separated by a mere paper window, he could never truly touch it.
Time and again, his thoughts skated past a crucial point in countless considerations.
Until the final thunderous noise interrupted his thoughts.
In that instant, as the land's ascent came to an abrupt halt, Huai Shi finally arrived below the Central Tower.
And it was at that moment, the long warm-up finally came to an end.
Eternal Frozen Heart, activate!
What followed was a tidal wave, filling every gap between heaven and earth, tearing at each person's consciousness and soul, a roar that could drag every soul into Hell.
—It was the lament that pervaded all of Hell!
"What the hell is this?"
Huai Shi looked up blankly, his vision darkening in waves as he staggered forward, trying to get a closer look.
But just at that moment, as the Tower suddenly rumbled open, amidst the intricate machinery and giant structures, countless dark sludge emerged.
From fissures, from sealed cabins, from every corner.