The iron chain pierced through the chest of the Rule Soul Avatar. In that instant, something unexpected happened.
Strong gusts of wind surged around the Rule Soul Avatar,
forming a dense whirlwind.
Although it was hard to see with naked eyes, the tall, thin man in black noticed that wisps of silvery light were being transmitted into the Rule Soul Avatar's body along the iron chain. He could detect this through his god's sense.
The man in black frowned. He didn't know whether he should stop the unexpected development, or simply let it continue.
Darren, sitting to one side, caught his breath and struggled to recover from the pain. He hadn't noticed anything wrong with the Rule Soul Avatar.
"How did you feel just now?" the man in black asked Darren,
deciding to ignore the Rule Soul Avatar for the moment.
A Defiant Master was not allowed to believe in a supreme god. If the man in black allowed the iron chain to continue penetrating through Darren's body, piercing his heart, then Darren would certainly have died.
Of course, the tall man in black didn't actually care about Darren's life. Indeed, he wouldn't have minded at all if Darren died right now. However, he decided to extract the iron chain from Darren's body because he felt that he shouldn't let the blood of a Defiant Master stain the supreme gods' cemetery.
"I felt as though my heart was being ripped into pieces," Darren replied.
"Nothing else?"
"No." Darren still felt shaky and somewhat groggy from the pain.
The man in black frowned briefly, then said, "Please enjoy yourself. After the memorial ceremony, though, you must leave here quickly. If you are still in the cemetery when I return, I will not be polite to you again." With that, the tall, thin man in black turned away. Looking put out, he left Darren there.
Darren stayed where he was. He found the man in black to be inexplicably strange. He seemed to be hostile to him, but the hostility was casual rather than fueled by any strong anger. It was really weird.
Finally, a small smile formed on Darren's face as he shook his head and decided to stop obsessing over the man in black.
Meanwhile, the man in black marched all the way to the coast.
He eventually reached an incredibly high cliff, which rose millions of feet above the sea. It was densely engraved with a seemingly infinite amount of ancient words.
A thick black iron chain jutted out from the middle of the cliff. Every ten feet, there was an overhead hook, upon which hung human figures.
The hanging humans were not dressed in black hooded cloaks, so their faces were clearly revealed.
As the tall, thin man approached them, he also removed his cloak. The black hood fell back, revealing a handsome face and a toned, slender body.
A closer look, however, revealed that the pupils of his eyes were deep dark red. His gaze was magnetic and frightening.
None of the humans hanging on the overhead hooks moved, but a hoarse voice suddenly spoke up.
"Heath, why have you returned?"
"I encountered a bottleneck," Heath replied. As he spoke, he flew up, gliding towards the thick black iron chain.
Without hesitation, he stabbed an overhead hook through his left shoulder. "Ouch!" he muttered, his face twitching. Then he grabbed another hook and stabbed it through his right shoulder.
He was now suspended from the chain by both shoulders, but he wasn't done yet. Methodically, he began hooking up his ribs.
The two men who hung beside him opened their eyes to watch.
"Are you crazy?" said one of the men calmly, his face completely expresionless.
Heath sneered. "If you could understand, you would not have fallen behind me," he said.
Over a long period of time, numerous powerful and amazing talents had hung from the chain on the cliff, but how many of them had ever truly walked out? Only a very select few. And Heath was one of them.
"You're insane," said the man on his other side without inflection.
Then the two people on either side of Heath closed their eyes and continued to cultivate.
Despite the great pain he felt as he skewered his own body, Heath still maintained a clear mind. He raised his head and stared at the words engraved on the cliff, as though imprinting them in his memory.
'I was so close. I was almost done. Will my fate be the same as that of Shipley Dongli? Alas!' he thought grimly, lost in bitter thoughts.
Finally, a long time later, Heath closed his blood-red eyes.
Darren, on the other hand, was still where Heath had left him. He was waiting for the Rule Soul Avatar to awaken.
He had been waiting a long while when he realized that wisps of silvery light were flickering on the surface of the Rule Soul Avatar's body. The light danced across his skin like gleaming silvery snakes.
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