The stench of coppery blood and burning sulfur had barely settled over the devastated outer courtyards before the bedrock of the entire mountain basin began to tremble with rhythmic, seismic violence.
The desperate slaughter of the retreating Imperial Academy disciples was abruptly halted by an unbearable wave of rising heat that singed the eyebrows of every cultivator on the field.
Out from the boiling mist and rolling volcanic ash, a gargantuan shadow tore through the horizon, its footsteps crushing ancient granite ridges into molten gravel.
The titan stood tall, towering everything on sight, like an apocalyptic monolith of primeval basalt and churning magma.
Rivers of pure liquid flame coursed through the deep crevices along its chest and arms, dripping down onto the earth below and sizzling as they turned the shattered mountain soil into bubbling lakes of slag.
Upon the colossal slab of the creature's broad, molten right shoulder stood Huo Yue.
