The dead silence was broken by the sound of scuffling footsteps emerging from the edge of the rubble.
“Someone’s coming!” Rhydian snapped to attention and let out a low warning. The surviving guards instantly closed ranks, forming a protective shield in front of Grace.
Dustin lifted his gaze slightly, his divine sense sweeping over the rubble. He relaxed almost immediately, as if he had been expecting them.
Through the haze of smoke and fallen columns, a group of figures moved cautiously. Leading them were Tristan, Matthias, and Nathaniel, who had been separated from them on the island for some time.
The soldiers trailing behind were noticeably fewer in number. Every one of them bore injuries, their clothes torn to rags, faces haggard with exhaustion.
Whatever they’d encountered on the way here had clearly been brutal. The three brothers looked disheveled. Their fine robes were torn, crowns sat crooked, and their faces were smeared with grime and blood.
Following the tremors from the earlier cataclysmic battle and the final eruption of the seven-colored immortal essence light, the group expected to find a rare treasure or the aftermath of a titanic clash. But what they never could have imagined was a scene of total, utter destruction.
As far as their eyes could see, everything was in ruins-palaces reduced to rubble, stone melted into molten streaks, the earth scorched black, and fissures gaping into unfathomable depths.
This was no longer a distant, immortal island. Instead, it looked like a land freshly ravaged by an apocalyptic disaster.
At the center of the ruin stood a solitary figure in white. Beneath him, a charred form was pinned by strange, seven-colored sigils, still radiating a faint but terrifying energy. The sight struck the three brothers to the core.
“What… What happened here?” Matthias asked, staring at the rubble before him in disbelief.
The sight of Malthor, pinned beneath the strange seven-colored sigils, made his heart pound. Even at the brink of death, the lingering pressure of his presence sent chills through Matthias.
Nathaniel’s eyes swept over the wreckage attentively before settling on Dustin. Disbelief and intense scrutiny warred across his face.
He recognized the tattered dark battle robe on Malthor. Its style reminded him of the fearsome Thymaleon, but the lingering energy wave far exceeded anything Thymaleon had ever radiated. Still, Nathaniel couldn’t believe Dustin was capable of such a feat.
Tristan appeared calm, but his fingers trembled slightly. The scene before him was too shocking to process. After all, the once-massive palace had been reduced to ruin.
“Mr. Rhys, has the danger here been eliminated?” he asked tentatively.
Dustin nodded slightly in response. He said calmly, “The demons here have been suppressed, and the turmoil has temporarily subsided.”
Such an offhand remark struck the three brothers like lightning. It hit them that Dustin was the one who single-handedly brought order to the palace and subdued this terrifying existence that was comparable to a demon.
Tristan, Matthias, and Nathaniel recalled how Dustin had intercepted Thymaleon’s golden light back in the canyon. They suddenly understood that what Dustin had displayed then was probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Grace stepped forward and quickly filled her three brothers in on what had happened, but left out many details.
She simply explained that Malthor and his group were rogue cultivators who had taken root in Elysium Isle. They intended to act against the natural order, and that Dustin, with the help of two other reclusive masters, had stopped them. Those two masters had unfortunately died in the battle.
Grace didn’t mention the Void-Tyrant Dragon, the core secrets of the seal, or the origins of the immortal essence tablet. She simply said Dustin had refined the spiritual herb to save their father.
But the word “spiritual herb” immediately caught the brothers’ attention. Their eyes flicked onto the milky-white tablet in her hand, from which a soft light and a soothing fragrance emanated.
To them, a tablet personally crafted by Dustin after a great battle between immortals and demons couldn’t be ordinary. Considering Dustin’s unfathomable strength, the three brothers couldn’t even begin to imagine what this tablet could do.
Tristan took a deep breath to suppress the turmoil in his chest. He tried to keep his tone calm.
“Mr. Rhys’s abilities are truly profound. You’re even skilled in alchemy? What exactly does this tablet do?”
Dustin glanced at him and replied indifferently, “This tablet is called the immortal essence tablet. It was forged from the residual spiritual energy of this place and the purified essence of the demons. It strengthens one’s vital essence and extends one’s lifespan.”
The moment those words left his mouth, all three brothers’ breathing quickened. If Valon sought immortality, it was only natural that the three brothers would want the same immortality and more time to secure their power.
A flash of undisguised fervor crossed Matthias’ eyes. He couldn’t help pressing further, “Extends lifespan? By how much?”
He’d faced death on countless battlefields without fear. But if he could live ten more years, he might conquer even greater territories.
Dustin’s gaze swept across the three brothers, taking in the barely restrained greed and desire in their eyes, and he calmly replied, “Ten years.”.
For men like them, living in the shadow of the throne and a thousand daggers in the dark, ten years was an eternity. There was more time to plot and more opportunities to seize power. It could be the difference between dying a prince and living long enough to become a king.
The ruins fell into strange silence. Only the faint, low hiss from the distant sealed fissure remained, along with the three brothers’ heavy breathing.
