The way the Arch-Emperor smiled made him seem very different from before. His left eye had been dug out, seemingly by himself. Normally speaking, he shouldn’t have aged so dramatically, but because of his years of imprisonment, and the brutal ways the Vile-Prince had used him for research purposes, he had.

He was the magnificent reigning Arch-Emperor. Back in the Wildlands, the Grand Heavenmaster had turned him into a puppet ruler, but formally, he was still the most respected ruler in the world, a person toward who innumerable citizens offered worship!

But now… his bleak and battered state caused Bai Xiaochun to tremble. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but his words stuck in his throat as he thought back to what the Arch-Emperor had been like back in the Wildlands. Right now… he looked like a completely different person.

Never could Bai Xiaochun have guessed that he might see the Arch-Emperor right here and now...