Chapter 11 Awakening

White Stone True Man looked solemn, treating the black liquid with great caution. He waved his hand, emitting a black light that enveloped the liquid and landed it on the black ice block.

As soon as the liquid touched the black ice, it immediately permeated, quickly turning the originally black transparent ice into a pitch-black mass, even making the young man's figure inside somewhat blurry.

The old Daoist showed a satisfied expression, put away the gourd, and sat cross-legged again.

This liquid was the Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Water he had painstakingly refined from over a dozen rare materials. It could penetrate a cultivator's sea of consciousness and damage the soul, extremely insidious and poisonous.

White Stone True Man formed hand seals, and the black light spots in the ice were immediately activated. A small portion began to slowly seep toward Liu Shi's head.

He planned to draw only a little of the Soul-Corrupting Water each time, gradually erasing the tall young man's consciousness, thereby minimizing the other's instinctive resistance to ensure absolute safety.

Just as several light spots touched the young man's head, they flickered and vanished into it.

Not only that, but all the black light spots in the entire ice block became restless, uncontrollably surging toward various parts of the young man's body, each disappearing into it.

"Not good!"

The old Daoist's expression changed drastically. He frantically formed hand seals, trying to control the black light spots, but it was clearly too late.

All the Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Water vanished in an instant, yet the young man's body sealed in the ice showed no change, as if nothing had happened.

"What's going on? Where is my Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Water?" White Stone True Man suddenly stood up, his face full of shock and anger. At the same time, he released his spiritual sense to probe Liu Shi's body over and over.

But no matter how he searched, he found nothing unusual.

The old man stared intently at Liu Shi. After taking a deep breath, the shock and anger on his face quickly faded, and his brows furrowed.

"This person has no trace of magical power fluctuations; he is definitely not a cultivator! Could he have taken some heavenly spiritual medicine before, or have some rare treasure protecting him that happens to counter this Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Water..."

As he speculated, his gaze involuntarily swept toward the tall young man's chest, where there was a slight bulge and a faint glimmer of dark green light.

After hesitating, the old Daoist gave up the idea of lifting the ice seal to search his body, as once the formation was activated, it could not be easily interrupted.

After pondering for a moment, he flipped his hand and took out another emerald green gourd. Waving his hand to emit a spell, green light flashed at the gourd's mouth, and over a dozen deep green thin insects flew out.

These insects were half a foot long, as thin as hair, flying through the air with chirping sounds. As soon as they appeared, they turned into streaks of green light, like spirits, entering the ice and darting straight for the tall young man's crown, trying to burrow in.

A strange creaking sound came from within the ice.

No matter how hard these green insects tried, they could not penetrate the young man's scalp at all.

There seemed to be an invisible force in Liu Shi's head that prevented these green insects from entering.

White Stone True Man's expression changed, and he began to feel somewhat alarmed and uncertain.

"Hmph! I don't believe I can't deal with a simpleton like you." He was silent for a moment, then a fierce look surged on his face.

The old Daoist waved his hand to recall the green insects, put them back into the gourd, then gritted his teeth and began to chant incantations.

A gray light rose from his body and hovered above his head. It was a gray banner that grew several times larger in the wind.

The banner was densely covered with countless layers of restrictive runes, dazzling to the eye, but all these runes were dim and lusterless.

White Stone True Man bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood, which vanished into the banner. At the same time, his hands quickly formed seals, and streaks of black light entered the gray banner. The banner's surface immediately shone with bright light, and the runes on it gradually brightened, with a gray mist rising from its surface.

With a buzzing sound, the gray banner grew again, becoming about ten feet in size. Light flashed on its surface, and several blurry skull phantoms flew out from within—seven or eight of them—each emitting a chilling cry as they rushed toward Liu Shi in the black ice.

The sound of a hundred ghosts walking at night instantly echoed through the cave chamber!

White Stone True Man stared wide-eyed, his eyes bloodshot, fixedly watching those skull phantoms.

Just then, a startling scene occurred.

Just as the skull phantoms were about to plunge into the huge black ice, the faint shadow of the tall young man cast on the ground suddenly rippled like water, and then a mass of black stuff flew out from it. It spun around and turned into a ferocious ghost head with a green face, fangs, and two horns.

The ghost head was as big as a washbasin, laughing eerily, its eyes flickering with green flames as it scanned the skull phantoms. Then it opened its mouth wide and sprayed out a large expanse of silver mist.

"Puff, puff."

Those skull phantoms, as if meeting their nemesis, could not avoid the flashing silver light. They were all swept away by the mist and directly swallowed by the ghost head.

After doing this, the ferocious ghost head smacked its fanged mouth, looking somewhat unsatisfied. But after a flicker of green flames in its eyes, it suddenly turned around and sprayed a large mass of green gas downward, then blurred and vanished into thin air.

The green gas flashed and shot directly onto the face of the young man in the ice, silently disappearing into it.

All this happened in the blink of an eye. Before White Stone True Man could react, it was already over.

"This..."

The old Daoist considered himself well-traveled since forming his core, but such a bizarre event left him momentarily dumbfounded and at a loss.

Just then, a series of crisp cracking sounds came.

White cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the black ice. The tall young man sealed within moved his eyelids and slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were now much clearer, without the previous confusion.

After glancing around, he frowned slightly, then simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Boom!" A loud noise.

The entire black ice block burst apart from the inside out, sending gray-black ice shards flying everywhere, clattering to the ground.

The tall young man looked up at the old Daoist, his eyes flickering as if he wanted to say something, but then suddenly a look of confusion appeared on his face. He clutched his head and screamed loudly.

His bones creaked audibly, and his limbs swelled like inflating, his body expanding several times in an instant. Golden scales the size of copper coins emerged on his skin, covering his cheeks, neck, and elsewhere.

These scales seemed forged from pure gold, flowing with a cold, harsh light, looking indestructible.

Seeing this, White Stone True Man was dumbfounded. Even if he had any other ideas, he now knew things were far beyond control.

When he came to his senses, his face twisted ferociously. Gritting his teeth, he spat out a mouthful of blood, which flashed and vanished into the gray banner.

The gray banner glowed again, its surface runes writhing like living things. With a series of cracking sounds, it transformed into a gray centipede five or six zhang long.

The old Daoist then slapped his storage pouch, and seven or eight fist-sized pitch-black balls flew out, their surfaces wreathed in black qi, emitting a foul stench. Their nature was unknown.

The gray centipede let out a joyful hiss, opened its mouth wide, and swallowed several black balls in one gulp. Immediately, a large patch of black appeared on its carapace, spreading rapidly. In an instant, its entire body became pitch-black like ink, gleaming with a metallic luster as if cast from black gold, each segment shiny and ferocious.

The centipede chirped excitedly, its small eyes faintly glowing red. Its huge body slithered slightly in the cave, its scythe-like long feet scraping against the stone walls. The hard stone walls were gouged with deep marks as if they were tofu, while the surrounding rock turned pitch-black, emitting a pungent stench, indicating the claws were highly poisonous.

"Go! Kill him!"

White Stone True Man pointed at the enlarged Liu Shi opposite and shouted sharply.