I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

He stepped back slightly, touching his neck. Blood seeped from between his fingers, but his throat wasn't broken. He looked down at Qin Yuan, his red eyes filled not with pain, but with rage.

The two fought their way from the street to the city wall. Qin Yuan's left shoulder was shattered, his left hand was useless, his right hand was almost crippled, and his right leg was broken in the battle; every step he took felt like someone was scraping his bones with a knife. He switched the sword to his right hand, but he couldn't grip it properly, so he tied the hilt to his wrist and wrapped it three times with bandages.

Qin Yuan blinded three of Xu's six eyes. The first was on the street, where Qin Yuan used the tip of his sword to gouge them out; the second was on the city wall steps, where Qin Yuan rammed his head into them; and the third was on this section of the city wall, where Qin Yuan bit it with his teeth. He still had Xu's eyeballs in his mouth, soft and bloody, which he spat out.

Half of his face was covered in black blood, and liquid oozed from the hollows of his three eyes. He stopped defending; he had gone mad. He charged forward, his hands transforming into blades, slashing wildly. Qin Yuan blocked the first blow with the blade of his sword, but the blade bent; he blocked the second, but the blade cracked; the third, the sword broke.

The broken sword flew out and embedded itself in a crack in the city wall. Qin Yuan's hands were now empty. The illusory twin blades pierced towards his chest.

The moment the Void's twin blades pierced down, Qin Yuan dodged to the side, the blades grazing his ribs and tearing through his clothes and flesh. He grabbed one of the Void's wrists with his right hand, and his left hand—though shattered, it was still functional—grabbed the other. The two were locked in a stalemate at the edge of the city wall, the Void's blades only an inch from Qin Yuan's chest.

Yuan crawled out of the ruins, covered in blood, clutching a piece of the Ancestral Core. He was unsteady on his feet, each step threatening to send him tumbling. With his last ounce of strength, he threw the Ancestral Core at Xu. The core struck Xu's cheek, exploding with a dark red light. Xu's body swayed, the blade veering and embedding itself in the brick wall beside Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan kicked Xu aside and pulled the broken sword from a crack in the city wall bricks. Only half the sword remained, the blade jagged and uneven. Xu stood up, his three blind eyes staring blankly at Qin Yuan, while his three good eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Yuan tumbled down the city wall stairs and landed in the rubble below. He didn't cry out in pain; he couldn't feel any pain anymore.

Xu turned and charged at Yuan. He didn't care about Qin Yuan anymore; he wanted to kill that piece of trash who threw away the Ancestral Core first. His bladed arm pierced Yuan's chest. One hole on the left, one on the right. Light could be seen through both holes. Yuan didn't dodge; he couldn't. He opened his arms and grabbed Xu's arm. Black liquid gushed from his wounds—not blood, but malice. Malice flowed from Yuan's body, climbing up Xu's arm, seeping into the gaps in Xu's scales, and into Xu's wounds.

The scales on Xu's body began to peel off. One, two, ten, a hundred. The scales fell from Xu's body, landing on the ground and turning into black powder. Xu's power was dissipating; his cultivation level dropped from the second level of Chaos Ruler to the first level, and from the first level to the ninth level of Myriad Paths Returning to the Origin.

"You...you're devouring my power?" Hollow's voice was no longer steady, filled with fear.

Yuan didn't speak. His hands were rotting, his fingers revealing bone, but he didn't give in. His body was disintegrating, his grayish-white skin peeling off piece by piece, like plaster falling from a wall. But he didn't give in.

Qin Yuan dragged his broken leg over. His left hand was immobile, and his right hand couldn't grip the sword. He tucked the broken sword between his right arm and body, tip pointing downwards, aiming at Xu's neck, and then pressed his entire body down on him. The broken sword pierced Xu's throat, exiting from the back of his neck. Xu's six eyes closed simultaneously. His body went limp as if all the energy had been drained away, he knelt on the ground, and then collapsed. His head rolled off his neck, stopping at Yuan's feet.

Qin Yuan knelt beside Yuan. Yuan lay on the ground, two large holes in his chest, revealing the rubble behind him. His eyes were half-closed, and his lips twitched slightly.

"Have I... repaid what I owed to all realms?"

Qin Yuan placed his hand on Yuan's wound. The golden light protecting the Heavenly Dao surged in, entering from the left and exiting from the right. The wound was too large, and the bleeding wouldn't stop; the golden light couldn't stop the bleeding.

Lin Qing'er approached, leaning on her short sword. Her leg was injured, making each step slow, but she made it. She knelt down and took a needle and thread from her pocket. The needle was an ordinary sewing needle, the thread ordinary cotton thread. Her hands trembled, but she threaded the needle. She pinched the flesh of Yuan's chest together and began to sew, stitch by stitch. Yuan hadn't been anesthetized; he didn't cry out, he no longer had the strength. His lips moved, but no sound came out.

The City of Eternal Night is burning.

Qin Yuan ordered the burning of Eternal Night City. Members of the Mutual Aid Society carried oil from the warehouse and poured it on the city walls, houses, and flagpoles. Li Qing struck the first match and threw it into the oil. The fire started at the city gate, spread along the streets, climbed the city walls, and climbed the flagpoles. The skull and crossbones flag curled, turned black, and turned to ashes in the fire.

Qin Yuan stood before the burning city gate, the black cracks on his right arm spreading to his shoulder, his entire arm resembling a charred stick, his fingers curled and immobile. The firelight illuminated his face, making his eyes bright.

The sky darkened. Not from being burned black, but something had blocked the light. Qin Yuan looked up and saw a face. Black, transparent, it occupied most of the sky. The Night Emperor. His face resembled Xu's, but older, thinner, with deeper-set eyes. His six eyes weren't red, but golden.

"You destroyed my city, killed my daughter and my general. Very well. I will come myself. All realms, wait."

The sound didn't seem to come from the sky, but rather from underground, from the air, and from within everyone's bones simultaneously. Li Qing cursed at the sky, his voice not loud, but everyone in the silent ruins could hear it. The Night Emperor's projection didn't respond; he vanished.

Yuan struggled to sit up from the wooden bed, but Lin Qing'er pressed his shoulders down to make him lie back down. Yuan wouldn't listen; he grabbed Qin Yuan's trouser leg, his fingers too weak to move, just dangling there.

"The Night Emperor's true form is deeper within the Void Sea. The reason he hasn't come in person is because he's in the crucial stage of breaking through to the sixth level of the Chaos Ruler. We must find him before he breaks through, otherwise the myriad realms have no chance of winning." His voice was very soft, like leaves in the wind.

Qin Yuan asked, "Where is he?"

"Deeper into the primordial ruins. I can sense it."

Qin Yuan looked down at the black crack on his right arm. The crack had reached his fingers, and his fingers were completely immobile. He then looked at Yuan. The bandages on Yuan's chest were soaked with blood; three layers of gauze, all red. He looked at Lin Qing'er. Lin Qing'er leaned against a pillar, the wound on her leg still bleeding, the bandages wrapped from her thigh to her knee, their original color no longer visible.

"Go back and rest. Then come back."