The video played, and Jian Ruyan dared not even blink as she kept her eyes fixed on the screen.
She watched as the despair-inducing darkness spread incessantly, slowly creeping out of the small town and sweeping toward the nearest city, watched as the people on the night shift were devoured by the darkness in despair, turned into skeletons, and finally reduced to scattered bone ash, her heart sinking continuously.
"What on earth is this thing? Where is my older cousin?"
Jian Ruyan, watching the video, couldn't help clenching her fists, her beautiful eyes full of fear and anxious worry.
She could hardly imagine how Xiang Mantang would survive this terrifying darkness that inexorably ate everything in its path.
Suddenly, the spread of darkness in the video abruptly stopped.
And after a few minutes, the darkness began to retract.
Jian Ruyan's heart shook, knowing that this must be the turning point of the events. Otherwise, the Mesopotamian Plain would not now only have ruins, with that peculiar darkness having disappeared.
As time slowly passed, the darkness, which originally expanded its domain without end, was successfully restrained and reduced to one-tenth of its size...
Even though its range had shrunk by ninety percent, the force of the darkness was still vast, spanning a thousand miles.
Then, Jian Ruyan saw the dark world moving slowly in the video, heading towards the two rivers of the Mesopotamian Plain.
By then, the two rivers had dried up and depleted. The darkness changed direction again and left towards the barren mountains.
Jian Ruyan kept her gaze fixed on the center of the darkness in the video, where she vaguely saw a figure.
"That... Couldn't that be my brother?"
A thought suddenly sprang up in Jian Ruyan's mind, and after that, it spread uncontrollably.
She immediately called Mu Hongchen, asking her to bring in a professional to magnify the figure in the darkness that she had glimpsed in the video by a hundred times.
Soon, the enlarged video was sent back to Jian Ruyan's phone, and she saw the figure, much clearer now. Though she couldn't make out the specifics of the figure due to the shroud of darkness, she recognized the body shape - it was Xiang Mantang...
"Brother really had an accident!"
Recognizing Xiang Mantang, Jian Ruyan felt like she was on the verge of collapse.
She didn't know if it was Xiang Mantang himself who had come into contact with ominous forces, so he wandered around aimlessly, or if he had been possessed by evil spirits that were controlling his body to leave the area.
After thinking it over, Jian Ruyan felt somewhat relieved. If Xiang Mantang had truly been possessed by evil spirits, the expansion of darkness wouldn't have stopped and would have spread ceaselessly over the whole world.
Therefore, it must have been that Xiang Mantang had overcome the evil spirits, but his body was still tainted with ominous forces, which prevented him from staying among people. He had to avoid crowds as much as possible to prevent harming innocent people.
"What should I do now?"
Jian Ruyan had originally wanted to figure out what had happened on the Mesopotamian Plain and then think of a way to save Xiang Mantang.
But now that she discovered Xiang Mantang had become untouchable, she was at a loss about how she could help him.
"Ring-a-ling."
At that moment, Jian Ruyan's phone rang again.
Jian Ruyan answered the call with a sense of agitation, and Mu Hongchen's voice came through, "Ruyan, are you outside right now?"
"No, what's the matter?" Jian Ruyan asked, puzzled.
Mu Hongchen's tone was odd, with an undertone of inexplicable fear, "Then you can go outside now and look at the sky. Something about the world seems to have undergone some huge, unknown change."
"Oh, I'll go take a look."
As Mu Hongchen said this, Jian Ruyan also felt a surge of unease rising within her. She then walked over to the window and swiftly drew back the curtains.
Instantly, Jian Ruyan was stunned.
The sky, which had just brightened not long ago, now turned dusky. Above, layers of blue-black haze were continuously amassing.
There is a time difference between the Mesopotamian Plain and Huaxia, with Huaxia being five hours ahead.
Therefore, while it was just past three o'clock in the morning and pitch-dark in Mesopotamia, it was already past eight o'clock in the morning in Huaxia.
Originally, watching the video, Jian Ruyan saw how the terrifying darkness expanded in the dead of night, destroying villages and towns, merely sighing at the fragility of life without feeling much personal impact.
But now, seeing the once bright sky undergoing a gathering of haze similar to the darkness in the video, Jian Ruyan's heart sank abruptly.
Wasn't this an indication that although the truly life-devouring darkness was taken away by Xiang Mantang, the crisis had not been resolved and was still spreading across the world?
Not entirely sure and still harboring hope, Jian Ruyan asked Mu Hongchen, "Is this the haze of Capital City, or..."
Mu Hongchen's rather grave words shattered Jian Ruyan's illusion. She sighed, "It's not just in Capital City, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to come and see. This strange blue-black haze is occurring all over the world, shrouding the sky and gradually darkening it."
With a complex mix of emotions, Jian Ruyan said to Mu Hongchen, "So now, what are the thoughts and actions of other countries and the various organizations?"
Mu Hongchen replied, "We just received a notification that, with the Dragon King of Dragon King Hall absent, we must immediately dispatch a Sub-hall Master to the Mesopotamian Plain to investigate the source of this dark abnormality and find out exactly what it is."
"I'll go then," Jian Ruyan said without hesitation.
Although Mu Hongchen was only a Sub-hall Master, in charge of intelligence and foreign affairs for Dragon King Hall, at such a time, it was clearly impossible for her to go over there to investigate.
And while Xiang Mantang had previously instructed Jian Ruyan to take over as the New Dragon King in case he encountered trouble, she naturally felt it her duty to go and inspect the site herself to search for a solution.
"Hmm, bring Wu Shisan along," Mu Hongchen suggested.
"Better not," Jian Ruyan thought about it and refused, "We don't know if there's still danger there. If Wu Shisan and I both went and both fell there, Dragon King Hall would be left with only you, and that would essentially be its end!"
Indeed, if Dragon King Hall were to lose its top-tier fighters, it would no longer qualify to be listed among the Top Ten Organizations in the world.
This would certainly make Huaxia's situation even more difficult.
Hearing Jian Ruyan say this, Mu Hongchen hesitated for a moment but then agreed, "Then be extra careful."
...
Jian Ruyan was springing into action.
In the sanatorium where Mu Jinyu was.
Mu Jinyu was lying tranquilly inside the Ice Coffin. As more and more blue-black haze filled the sky, plunging the world into growing darkness, his right hand began to tremble slightly.
And then...
"Bang!"
The Jade Pendant hanging around his neck, already showing many cracks, suddenly shattered!
"Why has it suddenly grown dark?"
Just as Su Zijin turned back from the windowsill, she muttered in confusion, only to hear a strange noise coming from the Ice Coffin.