“—ER..."
Amid this chilling chorus, the black and red fragments trembled, moving and gathering together as if they were alive.
Amid a cacophony of grinding and crunching, the pieces slowly fused into a single mass.
"THAN..."
A powerful sense of crisis screamed within Li Fan's heart.
He abruptly accelerated, shooting toward the cave dwelling's exit.
As he passed the still-stunned Zhang Haobo, he altered his course slightly, grabbing him.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, we must flee!"
To prevent any struggle, Li Fan instantly activated his Insect Binding divine ability, immobilizing him.
Zhang Haobo, who had still been gaping at the bizarre state of the puppet fragments, suddenly heard a voice and then found his body completely paralyzed.
Terror gripped him, but hearing the other's words, he felt a sliver of reassurance.
He looked toward his captor, but the figure had concealed their appearance, and their form was indistinct.
Yet, the fact that they could restrain him so effortlessly with a single gesture, leaving him no chance to resist, meant their strength was likely unfathomable.
A chill ran down Zhang Haobo's spine, and he allowed this mysterious figure to pull him along, through the lava, out of the volcanic crater, and back to the depths of the sea.
“OTHERS...”
As the puppet fragments finished reassembling, a massive, black hand crisscrossed with cracks manifested before the crowd.
A dazzling, sinister crimson light swirled within the fissures of the gigantic hand.
A mechanical yet furious roar erupted from it.
"TIAN... YANG... IS... NOT... WEAKER... THAN... OTHERS..."
Like the roar of a vicious primordial beast, the giant hand clenched its five fingers into a fist.
It swung forward.
Li Fan, who was fleeing at top speed with Zhang Haobo, grimaced and pushed his speed even further.
A thunderous explosion erupted from the volcano.
Amid the violent blast, billowing thick smoke shot upward from the seabed, breaking through the sea's surface and soaring into the high heavens.
After a moment of silence, an even more violent roar erupted from the sea’s depths.
Rolling black clouds surged from the seabed, churning as they spread in all directions.
Waves crashed forward with frantic, wild momentum, like a stampeding horde of beasts.
Explosions rang out incessantly; with every blast, the expanse of black clouds visibly doubled in size.
Within the immense pillar of smoke connecting sea and sky, crimson streaks shot outward, arcing across the chaos.
Li Fan fled desperately, finally bringing Zhang Haobo to a safe location.
He looked back at the raging earthfire, a lingering fear gripping his heart.
Yet, this seemed to be only the beginning.
Heaven and earth shook, and the entire Congyun Sea trembled as if convulsing.
Starting from Tian Yang’s cave dwelling, plumes of volcanic ash erupted in a chain reaction, igniting one after another like signal fires!
Amid this apocalyptic scene, the mechanical puppet's furious roars somehow managed to drown out the eruptions of underwater volcanoes.
""
A mechanical puppet, buried deep within the earth’s veins for thousands of years, ceaselessly absorbed earthfire energy, tempering itself.
It tore through the layers of underwater mountains and rose from the Congyun Sea!
Towering between heaven and earth, it roared with defiant pride!