Chapter 180 Book 4 Master I'm Free
The air under the king's castle was heavy with dampness and rot. Roots from ancient trees clawed through the stone walls of the secret passage like skeletal fingers reaching for breath. Flickering torches cast distorted shadows along the corridor, and the rhythmic dripping of water echoed with an almost taunting persistence.
Hao Gunlai stumbled mid-step, his hunched body swaying like a puppet whose strings had suddenly gone slack. His thick, clawed hand shot out, catching the stone wall to steady himself. The dim torchlight caught his face—a face marred by mutation, with twisted veins, cracked skin like dried clay, and eyes that glowed faintly yellow. His mouth parted, revealing rows of jagged teeth. But it was not rage on his face. It was confusion. And terror.
Something had been severed.
