Awakening

Perfected White Stone's expression was solemn and he was very careful with how he used this black liquid. He waved his hand and a black light appeared and wrapped itself around the liquid, before it landed on the block of ice.

The moment the liquid touched the black ice block, it immediately seeped into it, quickly turning the originally pitch-black and transparent ice to raven-black. Even the figure inside became a little hazy.

The elderly Daoist put away the gourd and sat down on the ground with a satisfied expression.

This mysterious liquid was a Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Liquid that he had meticulously refined from more than ten rare materials. It could penetrate into the consciousness of cultivators and hurt their souls directly. It was extremely sinister.

Perfected White Stone drew hand seals with both hands and the spots of black light in the ice immediately moved and a small part began to slowly seep towards the head of Liu Shi.

He intended to gradually wipe out the consciousness of the tall youth by only using a little bit of the soul-corrupting liquid at a time. This was a foolproof way to dull his natural survival instincts as much as possible and to ensure the best possible chances of success.

The moment that several spots of light touched the youth's head, they suddenly disappeared into it.

Not only that, all the black spots of light in the ice block moved around and uncontrollably rushed all over the body of the youth.

"Not good."

The expression of the elderly Daoist changed and he created hand seals in a crazed manner, wanting to regain control of the black spots of light, but it was too late.

All of the black corpse soul-corrupting liquid disappeared in the blink of an eye, but the youth in the ice remained unaffected.

"What's going on? Where's my Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Liquid?" Perfected White Stone stood up, his face full of shock and anger. At the same time, he released his divine sense and scanned Liu Shi over and over.

But no matter how many times he scanned him, he found nothing strange.

The old man stared fixedly at Liu Shi and after taking a deep breath, the rage on his face disappeared as his eyebrows furrowed together.

"There's no fluctuations of magic from this person. He's definitely not a cultivator! Could it be that he has taken some natural spirit herb or has some special artifact that imbues him with protection that can restrain this Black Corpse Soul-Corrupting Liquid…"

He came up with several hypotheses before dismissing a few of them and his gaze could not help but sweep towards the chest of the youth. There was a slight protrusion and there was a faint flash of dark green light.

The elderly Daoist hesitated for a moment and gave up on trying to lift the ice seal to search the youth's body. After all, once this circle was activated it could not be stopped that easily.

After he pondered for a while, he took out a green gourd. With a wave of his hand, he made a gesture and the mouth of the gourd flashed with a green light and a dozen dark green insects flew out from it.

These insects were half a foot long and flew around the air making humming noises. As soon as they appeared, they turned into spiritual body-like green lights. They dove into the ice and attacked the top of the youth's head, trying to drill in.

A strange cracking sound came from the ice.

No matter how hard these green insects tried, they could not penetrate the youth's scalp.

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

Perfected White Stone's expression changed and finally showed signs of panic.

"Humph! I don't believe that I can't deal with a fool like you." He was silent for a moment, his face full of confidence.

The elderly Daoist called back the green insects and put them back into the gourd. He then gritted his teeth and chanted. A gray light flew from his body and onto the top of his head. From the gray light a small gray banner manifested and was growing in size over time.

There were many layers of terrifying forbidden runes on the banner, but they were currently all dim.

Perfected White Stone bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood which quickly seeped into the banner. At the same time, he made hand seals with both hands and rays of black light went into the gray banner. The gray banner gave out a bright light, the runes on it started to gradually light up and a gray mist rose from the surface.

With a buzzing sound, the gray banner grew in size again and became about a few feet in size. The light on the surface flashed and faint skeletal shadows flew out from it. There were seven to eight of them and each one made a chilling cry before rushing towards Liu Shi who was still in the black ice.

The terrifying shrieks of a hundred ghosts reverberated in the cave!

Perfected White Stone widened his bloodshot eyes and stared at the shadows.

Just then, a shocking scene appeared.

When the skull shadow was about to plunge into the black ice, the faint shadow of the tall youth that was reflected on the ground suddenly rippled and an unknown black thing flew out. It turned around revealing a fierce ghost with two horns.

The ghost's head was the size of a basin and there was a strange smile on its face. Its eyes that were like green flames swept over those skull shadows and it opened its mouth, a large silver cloud menacingly shot out.

"Puff, puff."

It was like those skull shadows had met their nemesis. They could not avoid the flashing silver light and were swept away by the rays of light before they were swallowed by the ghost.

After the fierce ghost had finished its meal, it smacked its mouth full of fangs and looked around with an unsatisfied expression. But after a green flame flashed in its eyes, it turned around, spewed out some green gas, and then disappeared.

The green gas flashed and shot at the youth in the ice and disappeared quietly.

Everything happened so fast that Perfected White Stone had not been able to react to the first series of actions let alone the entire sequence and was left stupefied.

"This…"

The elderly Daoist had seen a lot of things since his Core Formation days, but was stunned silly by these incredulous events.

At this moment, sounds of cracking once again reverberated in the hall.

The surface of the black ice suddenly cracked and the eyelids of the tall youth trapped in the ice moved and he slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were clear and were no longer dazed.

After sweeping his eyes around, he frowned slightly and his shoulders moved slightly.

There was a loud bang!

The whole block of black ice burst open from the inside and the grayish black icy debris exploded across the room.

The tall youth raised his head and looked at the elderly Daoist. His eyes flashed as if he wanted to say something, but in the next moment, there was a trace of blankness on his face and he held his head with his hands and screamed out in great agony.

The bones in his body cracked, his hands and legs grew as if they were pumped with air and his body expanded several times in the blink of an eye. Golden scales the size of a copper coin appeared on the surface of his skin from his cheeks, neck and so on.

These scales were made of pure gold and shone with the cold light of a wintry forest that made them look indestructible.

When Perfected White Stone saw this, he was stunned. Even if he had any more ideas, he knew it would no longer be of any use. Things had rapidly spiralled out of his control.

When he regained his senses, there was a change in his expression. He gritted his teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood which once again seeped into the gray banner.

The gray banner flashed and the runes activated again. After some clicking sounds, it suddenly turned into a gray centipede which was around 50 to 60 feet long.

The elderly Daoist patted the storage pouch at his waist and seven to eight fist-sized black balls flew out. A black air surrounded them and it gave out a pungent smell.

However, the gray centipede made a joyful hiss and opened its mouth and swallowed several of the black balls. A huge area of its exoskeleton turned black immediately which spread rapidly across its body. In an instant, its whole body became as black as ink, shining with a metal-like luster, as if it were cast from coal, each section shiny and ferocious.

The centipede called out happily, its pair of small eyes glowing with a red glint. Its huge body moved slightly in the cave and its sickle-like long legs scurried along the wall. The sturdy wall was like tofu as lines of deep marks appeared on it. At the same time, the surrounding stone wall was dyed black and gave out a pungent smell. Obviously, the claws were highly toxic.

"Go! Kill him!"

Perfected White Stone pointed at Liu Shi and shouted.