The Deep Pool

It glimmered with a faint, dark light. At a glance, it looked like a deep, black pool whose waters never stirred. A thread of chill drifted constantly from its depths, cold enough to seep into the bone. A wisp of lively Black Qi lingered around the pool, unwilling to disperse.

Ji Tian glanced at it with cold eyes and sneered. "So that's how it is."

Ji Tian extended a bone arm that seemed both real and unreal. Its black surface shone with a strange light, one that seemed to devour the mind.

It was this bone arm that had allowed Ji Tian to travel as if no one stood in his way. No Skeleton could withstand a single blow.

This was the legendary Demon Bone.

The Skeleton Race could only tremble beneath this bone arm. Even those capable of resisting couldn't withstand its might. It was a bone arm that could fight against the heavens and contend with the Heavenly Dao. Though broken, it was still beyond the power of the Skeleton Race, even after ten thousand years of cultivation.

The deep pool wasn't empty or lifeless. Several pure-white fish swam through it.

They brought a trace of life and a sense of peace to the pool.

But all of this was only on the surface. Surface appearances were often deceptive.

Ji Tian casually swung his bone arm and sent out a probing strike. Black spiritual power gathered into a black Demonic Blade that cleaved toward the pool.

Just then, white light flashed over the fish. Their bodies flowed like mercury, joining together into a curtain of light that blocked the Demonic Blade. They continuously devoured the black spiritual power, and the blade quickly vanished.

At the same time, the restriction shot out strands of white thread. They grew like the stems and tendrils of a plant, winding toward Ji Tian and forming a giant net.

A force of confinement pressed in. Ji Tian could tell that if it ensnared him, he might struggle to break free. He would have no choice but to use the power of the Black Bone Arm, but he could only use it three times in succession before the arm fell dormant.

The restrictions blocked his attack, then turned back into white fish, swimming carefree as they gulped water and blew bubbles.

"It's rare to see a restriction gain intelligence. I wonder if I can subdue it." Ji Tian stirred his Primordial Spirit and sensed something flying toward him.

A pitch-black Bone Dragon came winding over, surrounded by billowing Demonic Mist and Demonic Cloud. It dyed the sky black, as if the end of the world had arrived.

"Could there be another strange being here? This Demonic Dragon seems unusual."

This Demonic Dragon was an extraordinary member of the Skeleton Race. Its Soul Flame had surpassed the flame stage, and it had cultivated to the level of a Primordial Spirit—the Refining Qi Transforming Spirit stage of Ji Tian's cultivation art. Its Soul Flame had completely transformed into a Primordial Spirit, which could reside anywhere in the body. The body became its own world, and the Primordial Spirit was the god within that world. With its Primordial Spirit, it could wield divine abilities of its own.

Once a Primordial Spirit awakened its Spiritual Intelligence, its cultivation was no longer muddled and aimless. It gained the desire to pursue the Dao. These were the true masters of this new world—the cultivators.

The Skeleton Kings and Skeleton Emperors were merely confused beings who had only just set foot on the path of cultivation.

Ji Tian slowly sized up this unusual creature. It had actually broken through the Soul Flame stage. It was truly a product of good fortune.

Though the creature charging toward him was powerful, Ji Tian had changed as well. He hadn't expected the Black Remnant Bone's so-called advancement by one level to mean that he would go from the Core Elixir Stage to the Primordial Spirit Stage. When his consciousness had connected with the Black Remnant Bone, he'd sensed a kindred soul merging with his own.

The Core Elixir was the foundation of Ji Tian's unusual ghostly body. He had no physical form, only a Core Elixir formed from soul power, with his soul dwelling within it.

That soul power had rapidly transformed his Core Elixir. Inside it was a sea, a black sea whose waters surged and swelled.

A strange power was growing on the seabed, forming a volcano in the endless ocean. It erupted without pause, continuously drawing up soul power and transforming it into the energy of life.

Within the Core Elixir, that soul condensed into a spirit and became a Primordial Spirit, a divine being nurtured by the boundless sea. As soon as it was born, the Primordial Spirit drew the boundless waters into itself and refined the sea within its body, turning it into a strange existence that could shift between real and unreal, known as the Sea of Consciousness. In its unreal form, the Primordial Spirit dwelled within it. It was also the source of Ji Tian's soul power.

Ji Tian discovered that he could refine the Black Remnant Bone floating above his Core Elixir. Once refined, it was like a piece of bone armor that became his arm.

The Demonic Dragon roared as it charged at him. Ji Tian sneered coldly. "You're no match for me. Take this!"

A phantom fist appeared before Ji Tian, carrying a devastating force as it shot toward the Demonic Dragon.

With a sharp crack, the Bone Dragon's entire Bone Body shattered.

Ji Tian could hardly believe it. "It's this powerful? If I collect all the pieces of that broken right arm, who could withstand one punch from me?"

The Demonic Dragon's Primordial Spirit, having narrowly escaped destruction, fled in terror toward the deep pool.

A faint black light flashed, and a Demonic Dragon as solid as a real one roared out. It seemed furious.

Ji Tian was startled. "Something's wrong. This deep pool is no ordinary place."

The moment the Demonic Dragon emerged from the water, it transformed into a black Bone Dragon.

"Cover the Sky!" A phantom giant hand reached for the Bone Dragon and crushed it to pieces.

The Demonic Dragon charged out again, but this time it didn't roar. It didn't dare. The dread it felt in its soul was overwhelming.

Ji Tian felt an urge to refine the deep pool. First, he had to break the strange restriction. The restriction had gained intelligence, and it was surely connected to the pool water.

The Demonic Dragon circled fearfully around Ji Tian, not daring to come close.

Ji Tian glanced at the Demonic Dragon and sighed. "I can't just wait around here. I'd better explore."

Perhaps if he didn't attack, the restriction wouldn't retaliate. The Demonic Dragon and the flying Demonic Wolf had both escaped being devoured, so he figured that must be the reason.

As soon as Ji Tian stepped inside, he realized something was wrong. The pool water formed a black whirlpool, its pull imbued with a powerful force of confinement.

Darkness. Not a trace of light. Endless darkness.

Ji Tian realized he couldn't escape the black prison.

"Where am I? Why can't I move?"

A complex, indescribable emotion seemed to drift from the distant past and enter Ji Tian's heart. In an instant, he felt as if he had lived through tens of thousands of years, his heart filled with immeasurable sorrow. He was startled to find himself clutching a black stone and weeping. If it hadn't felt cold to the touch, he might have lost himself in those complex emotions. They were the feelings of a mighty being at the moment of death—sorrow, helplessness...

Ji Tian calmed his mind and focused his thoughts, shutting out all distractions as he carefully sensed the strange fluctuations within the stone.

Suddenly, the strange fluctuations seemed to resonate with him. A vast power began surging within the stone. At the same time, a strange force of confinement rushed in from all around, gradually suppressing the power inside it.

Ji Tian was astonished. What kind of place was this? Had this stone been formed from the remnant bone of a Demon God? Was this where the sealed power had gathered?

Ji Tian sensed something unusual about the stone. A strange power fluctuated around it, slowly seeping inside and settling there. It was absorbing energy from this pitch-black space.

Ji Tian examined the stone closely, probing it constantly with his Spiritual Sense.

A shadow lunged toward Ji Tian. "Heh heh! Another living creature. How can this be? Why do you seem so familiar?"

The shadow made a motion as if patting its head. Never mind that.

"A death spirit!" Ji Tian exclaimed in shock. Death spirits were strange beings, formed from Death Qi. They had no souls, yet somehow gained consciousness. They were a kind of ghost.

"You recognize me? Then I'll make you stay with me forever," the death spirit cackled.

"Let me show you what death feels like. Heh heh!" The death spirit immediately dispersed like smoke.

Death Qi filled the air. It could corrode a living being's Primordial Spirit, turning them into something like a walking corpse.

Ji Tian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was being looked down on by a creature that had only just cultivated a ghostly body.

"Wind Sweep!" A faint breeze stirred, gently sweeping the Death Qi aside. None of it could get near Ji Tian; it all veered away from him.

"That's impossible! How can there be wind in this sealed space?"

Ji Tian snorted. "I managed to get in. What else is impossible? You shouldn't exist."

"Devour!" Ji Tian stirred his Primordial Spirit, and a black hole appeared in his body, swallowing the Death Qi that filled the sky, along with the death spirit struggling within it. Death Qi was something ghosts used to temper their bodies. This Death Qi wasn't particularly useful, but it was worth storing some away. It might come in handy.

At the very least, it was useful for frightening the death spirit, which was now struggling in terror.

"Don't devour me! My master won't let you get away with this! Master—yes, why do you have the aura of a master?"

Ji Tian devoured all the Death Qi. The death spirit glanced over and hurried toward the black stone in front of him. The stone kept the death spirit from dissipating, and it constantly drew Death Qi into this space.

Ji Tian was taken aback. Was this why the Bone Dragon couldn't die? Could the Demonic Dragon enter this space too? How had it gotten out?

No, it wasn't only the stone. The pool water played the same role.

This stone was no ordinary thing. Perhaps the death spirit knew something.

"I want to know who your master is!"

The death spirit was no longer as arrogant as before. It had realized that the other party was also a ghostly being, but far stronger than itself, and hurriedly replied, "Master... Master is still sleeping. Sometimes he wakes up. Master is very powerful. I've seen him send part of his soul out beyond this restriction, but I don't know why he fell asleep again."

Ji Tian asked, though he already knew the answer, "Is the restriction very powerful?"

"I'm just a mass of Death Qi in this sealed land. My master gave me consciousness. There were other ghostly beings here before, but as soon as they touched the restriction, the white light devoured them. But my master scattered that white light with a single finger."

"Where is your master?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him for a long time."

Ji Tian pondered. Was a finger sealed here? Where was that finger bone now? Could it be inside this black stone? Perhaps refining the stone would reveal some clues.