Seeing that there were at least seven or eight of these ethereal spirits, I racked my brains for a moment, then threw my head back and laughed. The sound startled all the ethereal spirits into stopping where they stood. Taking advantage of that pause, I said coldly, "What? We haven't seen each other for so long that you no longer recognize me?"
"This... This is impossible! Weren't you supposed to have..." One ethereal spirit was stunned, and his shock frightened the others into freezing in place as well.
"No... I clearly saw him leave this place... How could this be?" another female ethereal spirit said, voicing her confusion.
"I think he's just trying to trick us! We'll know if we try to possess him!" another ethereal spirit said, more concerned with results.
While they argued heatedly, I took the opportunity to speed up the repair of the Boundary-Suppressing Cauldron. At the same time, I pretended to be the old monster they were talking about and said in a sinister voice, "This time, I finally found an opportunity and seized the body of this human immortal who trespassed here. At last, I can use the essence and blood of a human immortal's Dao body to repair the cauldron. You bunch of scum, do you really think I'm some ignorant human immortal? Can't you see what I'm doing? I'm repairing this giant cauldron. Only by repairing it can I take you out of here! If you dare come near and ruin my work, I'll make sure you never know peace again, and spend the rest of your lives in unimaginable agony!"
Sure enough, my words frightened the group of ethereal spirits once more. After all, my explanation was perfectly reasonable. The old man had spent all these years building up such fearsome