[RANK 9 PSEUDO-GALACTIC SLAUGHTER SYSTEM — 99.6% LOADED!]
[TIME REMAINING UNTIL HOST SOUL-BINDING: 24 SECONDS!]
Inside the front wall of the Ten-Layer Heavenly Script Absolute Defense Barrier, Headmaster Hong stood atop his golden altar with his eyes closed and his arms spread wide. Above his head, the three-foot-wide crimson sphere of the System Orb throbbed like a miniature blood-star, preparing to descend and fuse with his glabella at the one hundred percent mark.
“Twenty seconds left!” Headmaster Hong breathed in ecstasy, feeling the vast, stolen fortune of a thousand suns and ten thousand reserve Halos humming inside the furnace behind him. “In twenty seconds, this Rank 8 Peak clone body will ascend to Quasi-Rank 9 Galactic Erasure Authority! Not only will I erase Gu Changsheng and his annoying brats, I will refine this entire star sector into my personal blood-pill!”
Then, at ninety-nine point seven percent—just eighteen seconds before completion—Headmaster Hong twitched his nose.
Wait a second.
Why did the air inside his sealed, continent-sized alchemical furnace suddenly smell like... boiled ten-thousand-year rhubarb, fermented black prunes, sour tamarind, and spicy black licorice?!
And why was there a cool draft blowing against the back of his ankles from the rear of the furnace?!
