This decisive battle between the Human Alliance and the Purgatory Demons went out of control from the very beginning and did not go according to the plans of the two races' demon-level powerful masters.
Including the sudden outbreak of the second mythical impact, and the blast of Cardeos' true body into a dark matter black hole.
Feeling the disappearance of the terrifying aura that made their hearts palpitate even though they were a million kilometers apart, the gods and immortal kings of the human alliance and the demon gods of the purgatory demon clan all showed horror on their faces.
"How is that possible!"
"His Majesty Cardius lost and was killed by that human?"
"Impossible, it must be fake. Your Majesty must have used some kind of bloodline magic to erase his own aura."
A demon god in the middle stage of the ancient times roared: "Your Majesty's strength has broken through the ancient limit. Even if you face a true spirit-level being, you can still resist for a long time."
"Not to mention being killed in such a short time by a human who had just broken through to the ancient realm."
Immediately, the demon gods who were shocked and dazed by the "death" of Cardeos showed hesitation on their faces, and it seemed to make sense.
Because they were too far apart, the explosions of the destruction crystals and doomsday nuclear weapons released energy that stirred up hundreds of thousands of kilometers of heaven and earth, with colorful lights and billowing smoke and dust.
Therefore, these demons could not see the specific situation over there, and could only judge the situation by the fluctuations of breath during the battle between Cardeos and Teletis.
At this moment, Tayloris's roar resounded through the heaven and earth.
"Kadios was simply careless and was trapped by Chu Batian into a black hole of destruction created by human weapons."
"Beckdiwei, Christie, stop tangling with those guys over there, come and entangle the human Qiantian, I want to go over and kill Chu Batian."
All the demons were immediately inspired, and they pressed head-on against the two demons being attacked by the eight original true turtles. Endless blood and black flames erupted.
“Get lost!”
In the hands of Christiff, the Lord of the Segundo Empire, the magic spear covered with spikes exploded and turned into nine dark dragons that were more than 100,000 meters long and exuded an ancient aura.
The nine-headed dark dragon roared, and like meteors, instantly appeared in front of Tolstoy and the purple crystal surface formed in the sky in front of it.
Boom boom boom! The nine-headed dragon exploded, releasing an endless dark impact that swept across tens of thousands of kilometers.
The earth and sky shook under the powerful force, and the entire "world" was pushed across more than a thousand kilometers, with huge cracks all over the purple crystal surface.
When Tolstoy's ten golden wings spread out, the five-layer golden wing protection formed was also torn apart.
"Where are you going? Your opponent is me."
Tolstoy roared after being knocked back by the attack. The pure golden sword in his hand shone brightly, and countless golden feathers appeared out of thin air within a range of 30,000 kilometers.
These golden feathers emitted a soft yet overbearing light, forming a group of angel-like figures with wings on their backs, surrounding Christiff in twelve layers inside and outside.
The angels opened their mouths slightly. Although there was no sound, their whispers and chants filled with holy meanings resounded through the void.
In an instant, the world illuminated by the golden light fell silent and motionless, including the shaking laws of heaven and earth and the violent energy.
Christie, who was about to tear through space and escape from the battlefield after repelling Tolstoy with one blow, slowed down his movements by more than 100,000 times.
This Lord of the Empire is powerful, but as the strongest person under the God of Light of the Tianyu Clan, Tolstoy is equally powerful.
The only difference between it and the lords of the Purgatory Empire is that the weapons in its hands are only of the top pseudo-world level, so it is slightly at a disadvantage in a head-on confrontation.
But there is no problem in not being able to defeat the opponent and hold him back.
At this time, the endless dark demonic energy behind Christiff rolled and transformed into a huge demon head tens of thousands of kilometers in size, which bit down on the angel formation that had stagnated time and space.
At the same time, Christie, who was surrounded by the angel light array, roared.
Boom! Under attack from both sides, the angel light array collapsed instantly.
Another demon god emerged from the dark demon realm, with a powerful aura of the middle ancient times emanating from him. He looked at Tolstoy and said, "Your Majesty, I will stop the descendants of the Tianyu clan."
"Leave it to you, Asdel."
Because of Qiantian's departure, the front battlefield became a situation of thirteen against eight, and with the three lords of the empire joining forces, the overall comprehensive realm was higher.
Therefore, the entangled Tolstoy could only watch the devil leave.
However, another lord of the empire was stopped by the eruption of Xuntian Immortal King, Zhenwu Heavenly King and two other immortal kings, Tianyu Divine King.
Boom boom boom!!
On the front battlefield which was over 200,000 kilometers wide, gods, kings, and demons who showed their true bodies of tens of thousands of meters in length fought against each other. The aftermath of the unleashed power was devastating and the momentum was tremendous.
At this time, not only the demon-level battlefield standing ten thousand kilometers above, but most of the restricted area was in chaos, with countless extraordinary soldiers fighting frantically.
The battlefields of those great demon kings, human kings and kings are spread over hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and the brilliant light of the laws shines continuously, entangled and colliding.
From time to time, the real bodies of demon kings were blown up and fell from the sky, and there were also gods who were torn apart by the two demon kings, with blood spilling all over the sky amid screams.
The sky was filled with missiles, and crystal energy hydrogen bombs were bombing at almost no cost. Under the control and guidance of the Space-Based God King, the explosions and flames spread across the entire battlefield.
Whenever a battlefield was breached, millions of Purgatory Legions would sweep in with rolling demonic energy and would be precisely attacked by more than a dozen billion-yield crystal energy nuclear bombs.
The destructive power released in an instant wipes out everything.
Even if the Demon King was bombarded head-on by a crystal energy hydrogen bomb with a yield of over 100 million, he would vomit blood and get injured.
The intensity of the destructive force released instantly by human nuclear weapons is similar to the power of ordinary mythological laws, but the quantity is dozens or hundreds of times greater.
This weapon is most suitable for large-scale cleansing of extraordinary battlefield maps.
Even when the battlefield reaches the central edge, the Sky-Based God King will detonate the doomsday nuclear weapons that have long been buried, instantly destroying everything within a radius of ten thousand kilometers.
As the dark matter energy continues to explode, the rules of the heaven and earth, which are more than 1.8 million kilometers wide and more than 2 million kilometers deep, begin to fluctuate unstably.
The destructive forces of time and space, such as the death wind, and doomsday thunder, which had originally surrounded the battlefield, were showing signs of spreading inward.
This scene was only noticed by the God King of Tianji who was observing the entire battlefield.
Just as tens of thousands of Alliance warriors and Infernal Devils were falling and dying every moment, the black holes created by the explosion of seventeen doomsday nuclear weapons also emitted strong shock waves.
Suddenly, Cardeos's unwilling roar was heard from the depths of a black hole that spread over 5,000 kilometers and annihilated all matter and space like pitch-black ink.
“I don’t accept it!” The black hole shook, and a huge black arm struggled to stretch out.
There was only a little muscle left on the arm, revealing a dark golden skeleton, with black liquid substance wrapped around it, emitting an aura that made Chen Chu feel palpitations.
Boom! The space collapsed, and a purple-gold halberd blade tens of thousands of meters long fell from the sky, tearing through the void and slashing at the broken arm.
The arm was broken by the powerful force, and rushed into the dark hole along with the purple-gold halberd light, disappearing silently. Only Cardeos's hateful screams were left echoing between heaven and earth.
Tens of thousands of kilometers above the sky, Chen Chu, who was standing with a halberd in his hand, suddenly felt his breath weaken a bit, and his expression became cold and solemn.
When suppressing Cardeos just now, the rules contained in that blow and part of Chen Chu's soul and will power were also swallowed up by the dark matter that annihilated everything.
This kind of devouring is similar to the ultimate dark devouring ability of the Destruction Emperor Dragon, which means complete annihilation.
Compared with completely destroying a great demon god, this little damage is totally a blood profit. Chen Chu sensed that the breath of Cardeos in the dark matter was falling at a terrifying speed.
Even if Cardeos's true body was tempered to the extreme and became extremely powerful after being integrated with world-class weapons, it would be useless.
Even the power of the Supreme Abyss plane pulled by Cardeos was dissolved by the exploding dark matter power, causing it to lose its last hope.
Such terrible destructiveness even showed a hint of fear in Chen Chu's eyes.
“Get lost!”
boom!
Under the domineering dark sword light, half of the world was split into two, forming a 100,000-kilometer-long abyss crack that stretched between heaven and earth.
Under the slash of Tayloris who was as violent as a madman, a blazing white flame burned. Qiantian, whose body had become somewhat transparent, groaned and was directly chopped back.
Even the Yin-Yang Divine Wheel in his hand was cut with a crack.
From the time the burning broke out until now, Qiantian's aura inevitably began to decline after maintaining its peak for half a day and entangled Taylordis.
"Christopher, I leave this human to you."
Taylorides, who was 100,000 meters tall and looked like a big devil from the abyss, exuded tremendous demonic power and rushed towards Chen Chu with a magic knife that had fused with his arm's flesh and blood.
The lord of the empire, Christie, who came from the front battlefield, stood in front of Qiantian.
Looking at the ferocious demon god whose real body was 50,000 meters tall and standing in the endless dark demonic energy, Qiantian, whose long hair as white as snow was flying in the white flames, laughed loudly.
"I didn't expect that at the last moment of my life, I could take away a Lord of the Empire."
Ten thousand kilometers away, Christie's eyes were cold and his voice was low and cold: "I'm afraid you don't have the strength, human. In your current state, I only need to delay for a while and you will turn into ashes."
"Before that, beheading you will be enough."
Boom! The flames burning on Qian Tian's body surged, and the whole person split into two, and a Qian Tian with long black hair walked out of his body.
The moment the black-haired Qiantian appeared, the burning speed of his real body increased by dozens of times. The light was dazzling, and the shadow of an extremely prosperous civilization vaguely emerged around him.
The most important thing is that as Qiantian split into two, the rules of life and death he mastered also split into the rules of life and the rules of death.
Christie, who didn't expect Qian Tian to have a backup plan, showed anger on his face: "Don't think that you are the only one who has the secret method of explosion."
roar!
Christiff's real body exploded, turning into a blood mist that merged with the dark magic domain. In an instant, the magic domain within a range of hundreds of thousands of kilometers was shaken, and endless dark magic energy and the power of the ancestral rules of Purgatory gathered.
The violent demonic energy rolled, and a three-headed dark dragon with a body length of 100,000 meters emerged, exuding an extremely terrifying and ferocious aura.
Faced with Qian Tian who wanted to take it with him before he died, Christie also chose to burn his bloodline power and use his bloodline magical powers to show his strongest form.
Roar, roar, roar! The three-headed demon dragon roared, and the six wings behind it spread out angrily, sweeping the sky with dark demonic energy that covered the sky that was as bright as day.
“In front of me now, it makes no difference whether you explode your bloodline or not since you haven’t broken your limits.” The two Qiantian sighed softly.
In his hand, the Yin-Yang Divine Wheel split into two, transforming into a white and black divine light and merging into his body. Suddenly, endless black and white light enveloped the sky and the earth.
"Yin and Yang, life and death, the heavens are forever silent."
Puff! !
The three-headed demon dragon screamed, and the dark demon domain around it and the world were instantly torn apart, split into two by the pure black and white light.
From a distance, it looked like an X-shaped figure 30,000 kilometers high appeared between heaven and earth and lasted for a long time.
The torn fault was filled with endless pure yin and yang and the rules of life and death. Yin and yang were erased, life and death alternated, and the torn part of Christie's real body and soul directly perished.
This is the power that Qiantian bursts out again, breaking through the limit and entering the true spirit level.
There is nothing that can resist it without a true spirit. It cannot be stopped.
The later one cultivates, the greater the span of power levels becomes, and the boundary between the true spirit and the ancient times is like a natural chasm. In the entire Purgatory Demon Clan, only two extremely gifted and wicked demons in ten thousand years can break the shackles.
Boom boom boom!!
In front of Qiantian who was burning to the extreme, the real body of the demon god Christiff who was so high-spirited just now was shattered again and again, and the demon god's blood sprayed and dyed the sky red.
The aftermath of the powerful force destroyed everything within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
And under Qiantian's intentional control, the two of them moved quickly towards the front battlefield and soon appeared in the central area of the restricted area. Suddenly, all the demons changed their faces.
The demon priest Constantine shouted: "Kalodis, Bectiv, stop that human."
Boom! The two demon gods repelled their opponents and turned to pounce on Qiantian, which was more than 100,000 kilometers away.
With Qiantian's return, he fought alone against the rulers of the three empires, and the pressure on the alliance on the front battlefield was immediately reduced. But at this time, the Original True King let out a long roar.
"Everyone, there have been changes in the world within my clan, and we need to rush back immediately. The battlefield here is left to you."
After saying this, without waiting for Xuntian Immortal King and others to speak, the Original True King repelled his opponents, tore through space and flew towards the rear of the human race.
Also evacuated at the same time was Yan Kuang, the most powerful king who was suppressing a great demon king of the ultimate realm. When the attack broke out, they needed to go back and take charge to prevent Luo Fei from failing to support the sky.
Suddenly the battlefield became a little chaotic.
However, Qiantian, the strongest person on the human side, fought desperately and held back the rulers of the three empires. Under such tragic momentum, Xuntian Immortal King and others had nothing to say.
In order to make a statement, some even burned their essence for the second time.
As the three lords of the empire joined forces, Qiantian's unstoppable power was immediately suppressed, and his aura weakened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
But at this moment, Qiantian suddenly looked at the battlefield hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, and the voice of his soul and thoughts shook the heaven and earth under the power of rules.
"Talrod, although I am about to die, my promise remains unchanged. After this battle, my entire race will protect you and help you enter the realm of the ancient gods."
Qiantian’s words made Talrod pause.
"I naturally believe in your human race's promise."
For the sake of their tribe, strong men of Qiantian's level would fight to the death and burn to the last step.
A monster like Chen Chu fought alone against two great demons and fought desperately.
There were also those human kings and heavenly kings who fought to the death in the face of multiple enemies. Such strong cohesion and racial dedication could move even someone like Talrod.
More than 100,000 kilometers away, the incarnations of the gods that were fighting between Talrod and another ancient demon god disintegrated and turned into golden light that spanned time and space and merged into Talrod's real body.
boom!
An aura comparable to that of a half-step true spirit burst out from its body, and endless golden light spread out, turning the world within a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers into a golden ocean.
In the light, Talrod's true body suddenly grew to a height of 100,000 meters, with densely packed golden eyes all over his body, appearing extremely tall and terrifying.
Suddenly the entire battlefield shook again.
No one expected that Talrod, the old God King who had guarded the Gods Alliance for who knows how many years, was hiding so deeply.
Its realm had long been on the verge of a breakthrough, but for some unknown reason it had been enduring it, even dividing its power to suppress its own realm.
At the moment when those demons lost their minds, a huge golden eye slowly emerged around the demon who was fighting with Talrod's clone.
This golden eye was like an illusory world, covering the demon god and the surrounding rule field, wrapping it up, and then shattered silently.
boom!
Under the terrifying force, the space within an area of more than 10,000 kilometers collapsed, the void exploded, and the real body of the demon god was torn to pieces and exploded.
This is the power of a strong man who has truly reached the realm of half-step true spirit.
Talrod, who blew up the true body of the demon with one blow, stretched out his right hand, reached into the void, and turned into an extremely huge golden palm that covered the shattered heaven and earth.
A faint aura of immortality wafted from that pure golden palm, suppressing the rules of heaven and earth.
Boom boom boom! Under the golden light that contained part of the power of the true spirit, the basic space of the heaven and earth was cut, collapsed and compressed madly.
"stop!"
The Lord of the Empire, Brihades, roared, and the black magic flags held by his eighteen arms behind him suddenly grew in size, forming flags that reached the sky and the earth and stood in all directions.
As soon as the eighteen dark magic flags were unfolded and their power was not revealed, the densely packed eyes on Talrod's body suddenly lit up and emitted countless beams of light.
Puff puff!!
These golden beams were extremely sharp, containing the power to penetrate everything. They formed tens of thousands of tiny dark passages between heaven and earth, which lasted for a long time.
Such power made Blihadis's face change slightly. The weapon in his hand, which looked like a sky hammer, burst out with magic light and blocked it in front of him.
In front of Talrod who showed his true strength, the three powerful demons were suppressed in an instant.
One of them even had its true body blown up, and under the angry gazes of the two demon gods, the space of ten thousand kilometers was cut and shrunk into a miniature world of a hundred kilometers in size, which was caught in Talrod's hand.
The interior of the microcosm was filled with terrifying destructive power, which was gradually destroying the true body of the demon god.
Suddenly, the shrill scream from that demon god resounded through heaven and earth, making the demon gods on the front battlefield extremely frightened and angry.
It is clear that they have the upper hand both in terms of numbers and overall strength, but why have they not achieved much since the war began, and instead suffered huge losses?
And this damn alliance is actually hidden so deeply.
Just as the situation here was in a stalemate of equal strength, an even more terrifying war was breaking out a million kilometers away.
Boom boom boom!!
Surrounded by two powerful rules, Chen Chu was like an ancient true god. Every move he made had the terrifying power to blow up the world. He confronted Tayloris who was holding the dark magic knife.
Time around the two men was distorted and stagnant, and they fought madly through time at a terrifying speed, fighting hundreds of thousands of times every second.
The halberd's radiant light shone across heaven and earth, while the dark devil's sword cut through all directions.
The invisible and pervasive power of rules shook the heaven and earth and trembled the entire restricted area battlefield.
However, this time, even though Tayloris roared and his burning origin exploded, he was unable to suppress Chen Chu, who was burning his vitality to the limit, let alone defeat him.
Tayloris's eyes were fierce and terrifying, full of murderous intent: "Human, even if Cardeos dies, it cannot change the fate of your destruction."
"So what?"
boom!
The halberd in Chen Chu's hand swept across, shattering time and space, and set off a dark tide of more than 100,000 kilometers that submerged Tayloris. The powerful force swept across and flattened everything.
When Chen Chu defeated Taylor with a halberd, he did not pursue him, but stood in front of seventeen dark matter black holes.
Watching this scene, Taylordis, who was tens of thousands of kilometers away, showed an inexplicable impatience and a hint of uneasiness in his eyes. Then he let out an even more angry roar and pounced on Chen Chu.
The horrific aftermath of the war made everyone afraid to approach this place.
For a moment, the entire battlefield was shrouded in a tragic atmosphere. Countless people and true demons were fighting frantically, and they seemed more and more bloodthirsty and crazy under the light of the blood moon.
I don’t know how long it had passed, but suddenly a strong rule burst out, merging with the sky and the earth, forming a blood moon with a diameter of ten thousand kilometers above the battlefield.
The moment the blood moon rose, everyone knew that the great demon god Cardeos had fallen completely.
Boom! Tens of millions of kilometers away, an invisible shock wave spread out from the depths of the Purgatory Territory, instantly spreading across hundreds of millions of kilometers.
From the earthquake that shook billions of dark demon realms, all the true demons of Purgatory felt an imperceptible but extremely terrifying will.
That weak will was very vague, revealing a faint sense of doubt.
"It's the ancestors. The will of the ancestors has been awakened." On the front battlefield, the demon priest Constantine showed fanaticism and excitement on his face.
The other demon gods were all shocked as well. The masters of the four empires had solemn and surprised expressions on their faces, as if they did not really want the ancestor of Purgatory to revive.
However, that weak will only flashed by, and there was no further action, which made the strong men on the human side breathe a sigh of relief.
Everyone, including Chen Chu, was shocked. It turned out that the anxious and uneasy aura emanating from Taylordis was because of this reason. These two great demons did not seem as simple as they seemed, and had a deeper connection with the ancestors of Purgatory.
But even so, it still couldn't stop Chen Chu's determination to kill it.
But at this moment, the Qiantian aura that had exploded up to now suddenly weakened.
Boom! Carlodis subconsciously burst out with a slash, and in an instant, half of Qiantian's true body in front of him collapsed, and the Yin-Yang Divine Wheel in his hand was also blown away.
The sudden change brought smiles to the faces of all the demons, and this human finally couldn't hold on any longer.
Without Qiantian's restraint and the departure of the Original True King, the front battlefield became dangerous due to the decline of the situation, but they seemed to have forgotten that there was still one person.
Boom! Boom! In the distance, time and space shook violently. Two demon gods pierced through the sky and earth, flew over a hundred thousand kilometers and slammed into the dark demon realm. In the endless golden light, Talrod slowly walked over, his voice low and majestic: "You seem to have forgotten about me."
Bang! The phantom in Talrod's hand, which looked like a small world, was crushed by it. Suddenly, the surrounding rules converged, forming a blood moon with a diameter of a thousand kilometers in the sky, emitting light that illuminated the world and slowly fell.
This scene made the entire battlefield silent. After only two days of fighting, the Purgatory Demons, who clearly had the upper hand, had lost two demon gods in succession.
Qiantian's figure had become transparent, and he smiled as he expanded to hundreds of thousands of meters in the blazing flames. He slowly said, "Everyone, I'll go first. Although the road to eternity is illusory, Qiantian wishes everyone to have the moment of ascending to the origin and stepping into eternity."
Qian Tian's eyes swept across the entire battlefield, from the venerable kings and the kings of heaven, and smiled at these old friends: "You don't have to be sad or miss me after I leave. The mountains are high and the roads are long. In reincarnation, there is eternal life. Maybe we will meet again one day."
A faint voice resounded throughout the heaven and earth. At the same time, a bright moon appeared in the sky, then fell and turned into white spots all over the sky and dissipated.
Countless human warriors who saw this scene were filled with grief and could not stop crying.
The first speaker has fallen.
The Secret Sea of the Void is an absolute secret belonging to the human race. Only the three most powerful people, Chen Chu, and the Zhenwu Heavenly King know about it. Therefore, apart from them, all the allied strong men including the Xuntian Immortal King thought that Qiantian had completely fallen.
This battle has been extremely brutal so far, with countless casualties.
"Constantine, what are you doing!?"
The roar of Blihadis shook the battlefield. On the side of the Purgatory clan, the demon priest Constanti appeared behind an ancient demon in the rolling dark magic energy. He held nine thousand-meter-long nails engraved with strange magic patterns in his hands and drove them into the body of the demon.
The sudden change surprised all the demons, including the Golden Winged God King Tolstoy and others.
Looking at the three demon gods surrounding it, Constantine had a cold expression with a hint of madness in it, and roared loudly: "Don't you see that if the ancestors don't revive today, we will definitely fail and be defeated by this newly rising alliance?"
"That human being, who was only at the early stage of the ancient times, actually killed Cardeos. Don't you feel anything about this evil monster? He is the original reincarnation of the fall of this world. He must die today, otherwise our race will be destroyed in his hands."
Boom! All the demon gods felt their brains roaring.
Original reincarnation!
Yes, this is the only way to explain why that human’s cultivation speed is so terrifying and his combat power is so exaggerated.
So that's it. It's not that they are weak, but that human being is essentially not on the same level as them. Even if our ancestors were in the ancient realm, they would not be a match for this monster.
Because the news was too shocking, when Constantine dragged the demon god that was sealed by the ancient demon nails back into the dark demon realm, the demon gods only showed hesitation in their eyes but did not stop him.
No one is stupid. After witnessing Chen Chu's terrifying potential and combat power, Constantine found an opportunity and decisively took action to seal a demon god on their side, preparing to sacrifice him to forcibly awaken the ancestor of Purgatory.
At this moment, the angry roar of Tellidis came from a distance: "Idiots, do you want to die? Why don't you stop Constantine?"
"...But." Carlotis looked solemn and hesitant.
"Bocuta, I order you to go in and stop it immediately."
"Yes." Compared with other demons, another demon of the Dark Sky Empire did not hesitate and rushed into the dark demon realm under the order of Taylordis.
Boom! The blood-red blade light burst out, beheading the demon god. Carlodis stood in front of all the demon gods, his eyes cold: "Constantine is right, that human must die today."
Because he had come into contact with Chen Chu before, Carlodis knew more clearly how terrifying Chen Chu was. That kind of despair was unimaginable for a demon god who had not had a direct encounter with him. Therefore, today he would not allow any demon to prevent the ancestor from reviving.
From the sudden internal strife among the Purgatory Demons to the demon god being dragged into the dark demon realm, everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Without waiting for the human race to react, Constantine in the depths of the Demon Realm had already torn apart the true body of the Demon God and placed it on a huge black altar that had been built at an unknown time. Countless blood of the Demon God flowed along the altar, dyeing the strange magic patterns engraved on it red.
These magic patterns were like a hideous evil ghost's face. When they were all dyed red by the blood of a demon god, they inexplicably revealed a hideous and strange smile.
Suddenly, in the depths of the center of the dark demonic realm tens of millions of kilometers away, a terrifying will erupted in the distant sky and began to revive.