At the same time.
Inside a secluded cave dwelling.
The cave dwelling was dark and chilly, and the ice crystals accumulating on the stone walls refracted an ominous cold light.
Master Xuanming's gaunt figure stood by the window, his murky eyes piercing through the layers of night, locking onto the fleeting streak across the eastern sky.
"Trying to escape?"
His dry lips trembled slightly, his voice hoarse like sand grinding against stone.
His twig-like fingers swiftly formed seals before his chest, and eerie blue light glimmered at his fingertips.
A wisp of black mist seeped from his sleeve, coagulating in the void into a sinister snake-shaped mark, with crimson runes faintly visible within.
"Go!"
With a low shout, the snake-shaped mark silently pierced through the stone wall, merging into the boundless night like a malignant bone-attaching growth.
