The symbols were tiny, almost microscopic, but he could discern them. Each one was a stylised representation of a human, an animal, a plant – a living being. And from each symbol, a faint, golden thread ascended, converging into the conduits.
"Life force," Xiaochen whispered, a cold dread creeping into his Hell Core. "They're siphoning off the life force of everything on the planet."
Precisely. Every breath, every heartbeat, every bloom of a flower, every birth, every death – it all generates what they call 'Primal Essence'. That essence is drawn through these subterranean networks, purified through the planetary core, and then pumped upwards through the Pillars. It is the raw material of their immortality.
Xiaochen pointed to a section of the diagram that showed the Pillars piercing th
