Above the main altar of the Nether Palace, ink-thick clouds churned incessantly. The blood-colored dome, illuminated by flashes of lightning, distorted grotesquely like a giant maw ready to devour all existence. With every lightning strike, the hideous totems on the dome were revealed in vivid detail: twisted faces with misplaced features bled a dark, crimson liquid from hollow eye sockets, while the scales of coiled, serpentine patterns shimmered with a ghostly blue light, looking as if they were alive and leering with blood-stained lips.
Foul-smelling black mucus oozed from the twelve dragon-coiled pillars, hissing as it corroded the ground and carved ghastly, widening trenches, as if the very earth were being flayed. Wherever the mucus dripped, white smoke hissed up, releasing a pungent stench that made it difficult to breathe. An unfortunate dark guard who stepped in it let out a shriek as the skin on his calf rotted away at a visible rate, exposing bone.
Shen Mingyue gripped her blood-stained soft sword. The webbing between her thumb and forefinger had long since gone numb, and the mixture of sweat and sticky blood on her palm and the hilt made her grip slip with every movement. The Heavenly Mystery Mirror at her waist burned, hot enough to sear skin, leaving red marks against her flesh and emitting a faint smell of scorched fabric.
Chapter 90