Chongming Sect.
The Zhen Shi Su Clan's ancestral grounds.
Layer upon layer of restrictions surrounded a cave dwelling inside the mountain.
Abundant spiritual energy hung thick in the air, like clouds of smoke, filling the chamber with a hazy glow.
Countless runes flickered in the void, circling the seat of honor atop the raised dais.
A stick of Spirit Incense burned in a gilded, three-legged bronze Suan Ni censer, exhaling black smoke that deepened the chill.
Su Lijing sat cross-legged in a golden crown and splendid robes, his eyes half-closed as he focused on cultivation.
Time around him had imperceptibly slowed to an incredible crawl.
The runes flickered so sluggishly that they seemed almost frozen, taking ages to flash even once. The spiritual clouds, which had once flowed gently, had stiffened like a painting. The plume of smoke from the censer held its shape, shooting straight toward the ceiling without changing for a long, long time.
Su Lijing did not notice time slowing at all. His breathing and the circulation of his cultivation art moved at exactly the same pace as everything around him, equally slow.
At that very moment, he suddenly sprang to his feet. His movements were swift as lightning, yet he abruptly interrupted his cultivation and began dancing wildly, flinging his arms and legs about.
His body had moved, but Su Lijing's thoughts still crawled at a snail's pace. For a time, he could not react at all.
Only after dancing for quite a while did he suddenly realize: his law... was gone!
Su Lijing's expression changed drastically, but his body would not stop. He danced more and more frantically, stumbling through increasingly chaotic steps as his mind grew confused, crazed, and distorted...
※※※
You Su Fen.
White mist billowed freely. The branches of withered ancient trees