The Restriction

In the pitch-black space, only Spiritual Sense could perceive what was happening.

Ji Tian observed the space with his Spiritual Sense, and a sudden sense of unease welled up inside him.

What kind of space was this? It was sealed off, but where was the Death Qi being drawn from? Could there be a gap connecting it to the outside world?

No, could this be an illusory realm? Could everything here be unreal? But the stone in front of him was real. He could feel its bone-chilling cold.

A restriction. He had fallen into a restriction. This space had been conjured by the restriction. But what about the stone? Was it real?

Restrictions were, in essence, a kind of formation. The difference was that this kind of technique was more flexible. It could change in countless ways according to the caster's thoughts and intentions. Put simply, restrictions were more closely tied to spiritual intent.

The great cultivators could often set a restriction with a mere thought. Even after a thousand or ten thousand years, as long as their spiritual intent remained, the restriction would continue to operate.

Some restrictions could even form a new consciousness from the caster's lingering spiritual intent after the caster died, allowing them to continue functioning.

The many changes within a restriction were beyond the comprehension of all but its caster. There were two ways to break one. The simplest was to force it open, but that required immense cultivation. Ji Tian couldn't even move right now, so forcing his way out seemed difficult.

This restriction changed along with his Spiritual Sense, making everything he felt seem real. Could it even imitate his divine abilities? They felt just as they did when he used them, and he couldn't tell whether they would work or whether they were real. This method might not help.

The other method was to understand how the restriction was formed and what rules governed it. His knowledge of restrictions came from the Black Remnant Bone, which predated the creation of the world and didn't understand the rules of this world very well. If he could find the principles behind this restriction, he might be able to deduce some of its rules and break it.

He didn't know whether this restriction had formed naturally from the will of Heaven and Earth, or from the will of the bone that sealed him.

Ji Tian sensed the slightest changes within the restriction, letting his Primordial Spirit merge with this sealed place. The space remained, but as his Spiritual Sense spread, it gradually grew hazy and disappeared. The grasping, clawing wraiths vanished too, leaving only boundless Death Qi swirling around him.

Was the restriction weaving this space for him, or was he weaving it for himself? In the brief moments when he was conscious, he felt a bone-deep chill. Had he sensed the stone's presence, or was that cold simply the chill of the pool itself?

Perhaps he only seemed to be in a space, when in fact he was floating in the pool.

The pool—black water suddenly appeared around Ji Tian. Its icy chill felt unmistakably real.

Why had the Black Stone appeared? Was it because he wanted a reason for the Demonic Dragon's resurrection?

Or had there never been a Demonic Dragon at all? Was that just his own imagination?

When he devoured the Flying Demonic Tiger, he had learned of this pool. The bone fragment inside the bamboo had made him want to investigate it.

Now that he thought about it, perhaps it had all been a trap from the start.

Before it fell into the deep pool, why hadn't the Flying Demonic Tiger remembered it?

Why had the Flying Demonic Tiger seen a cave? Why had it taken that withered bamboo outside?

Ji Tian broke into a cold sweat. He had already fallen into someone else's scheme. No, that was impossible. Who could have planned this so long ago? The Heavenly Dao? Had it known he would be reborn in another form and arranged all this for him?

At the very least, the Flying Demonic Tiger had been an inexplicable presence. Why hadn't it cared about taking that dead branch? At least, that was what its memories showed.

If it hadn't cared about the branch, why had it taken it outside?

Could the whole point have been to lure him here and seal him away? Perhaps the Flying Demonic Tiger had only been one pawn among many. As long as he devoured Soul Flames to cultivate, he was bound to encounter it—or some other skeleton.

And the Demonic Dragon's resurrection had been meant to dispel his doubts, to make him think there was nothing suspicious about this pool.

His enemy had succeeded. He was trapped in the pool, unable to move.

Ji Tian calmed himself and examined the pool that held him captive, retracing everything that had happened. No—that Black Stone beside him had saved him. Otherwise, he would already have fallen into a deep slumber. The stone's ten-thousand-year loneliness, and the strange emotions it carried, had roused him.

Perhaps the stone held the key to escaping this restriction.

Ji Tian tried to move the Bone Arm. He had fused with the remnant soul inside it, but he still couldn't truly control it. He had merely gained an overwhelmingly powerful source of Soul Power, along with some of the Bone Arm's memories and emotions.

The Black Bone Arm was asleep—completely dormant.

The Black Bone Arm had once said that it belonged to a living being from this primordial world. That meant this trap hadn't been laid for him, but for the Black Remnant Bone.

That had to be it.

Ji Tian tried to separate his Primordial Spirit from the Black Bone Arm. If he could break free of this bond, he could refine the stone.

A stabbing pain pierced Ji Tian's Primordial Spirit. The Black Bone Arm had grown into it as if it were part of him. Forcibly pulling it away was like cutting flesh from his own body with a knife. Pain. His Primordial Spirit shuddered from the agony.

Ji Tian gritted his teeth and kept going, telling himself over and over that he only had to endure the pain a little longer.

He had to hold on. If he couldn't even withstand this much pain, how could he fight Heaven and Earth?

He could choose to be sealed away in comfort, but how was that any different from death?

As he gradually wrested control of the Black Remnant Bone away from his Primordial Spirit, the pain grew more intense. Ji Tian felt he couldn't hold on much longer. Truly—if he kept going, his Primordial Spirit would surely collapse.

His soul seemed to be dragged into a boundless abyss, where the black depths were about to swallow him.

As the Black Remnant Bone slowly withdrew from his Primordial Spirit, a strange light appeared in the pool. Boundless pressure surged toward the Black Bone Arm. The mercury-like substance began to flow, swiftly wrapping around the remnant bone as it was being pulled free.

Just then, the phantom image of a black finger pointed at the mercury. The mercury shone brilliantly as it resisted.

A tremendous pressure crashed toward him, and his Primordial Spirit began to collapse.

At the same time, howling sounds came from every direction. The pressure was like a blade, cutting into his Primordial Spirit bit by bit.

Was he going to die?

His soul was flowing into the Black Remnant Bone. He was about to be devoured by someone else.

The Black Bone Arm erupted with a soul-shaking surge of spiritual power. A phantom black arm appeared and struck at the mercury too.

Under the attacks of both, the mercury scattered in an instant.

"So this is the soul you chose. Can he shoulder our responsibility?"

"We have no choice. It's difficult for us to return to the world on our own. We have to rely on someone else's strength. This soul is connected to us by fate, after all."

"He's lacking in ability, but he's at least clever enough to recognize the heart of the restriction: to disrupt his mind and trap him in a net of his own making. His will is strong enough."

"If he hadn't forcibly separated me from his Primordial Spirit, the Soul Power I lent him would never have flowed back, and I might not have awakened. It was a lucky accident. Inside the Black Stone, I sensed a powerful force of life. I can feel it—if we absorb it, we'll have the strength to break this seal. Could it be..."

"That's right. This pool was formed from a drop of blood from our original body. This stone condensed over ten thousand years. It should contain a trace of our original body's marrow. That trace of marrow can temporarily grant us the power of one punch from our original body."

"Good, good."

"I've been sealed in this void for over ten thousand years. I've managed to awaken only twice. I once discovered that a Nether Bamboo had grown in this pool and poured a great deal of Soul Power into it. I never expected the restriction to devour it and give birth to a spirit that became several White Fish. To avoid being devoured by the spirit of the restriction, I sealed myself away. If I hadn't sensed a call from something of the same origin this time, perhaps I still wouldn't have awakened."

"If we break this restriction ourselves, we may bring down even more of the Heavenly Dao's power upon us. Let this Artifact Spirit do it instead."

"Very well. I hope we can hold out against this restriction for another half an hour. If he can't refine the stone and absorb the marrow within it, we'll all sleep here forever. I hope he doesn't disappoint us."

Ji Tian felt another bone-chilling cold. The Black Stone beside him held his Primordial Spirit together and kept it from dispersing.

The Black Remnant Bone floated above his head, holding up a space for him.

"Refine that stone quickly. Devour the marrow inside!"

Ji Tian released his Primordial Spirit Fire. Black flames flickered.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, it was as if a wind had risen beneath the Black Stone. The black flames flared fiercely, instantly engulfing it and beginning to refine it. The temperature throughout the pool seemed to rise as well.

But the Black Stone didn't react at all. It continued to radiate waves of cold as it resisted the flames.

Ji Tian grew frantic. He knew he didn't have much time. If he couldn't refine the Black Stone, he would be sealed away forever.

It would be darkness without end, all over again.

The last time he had escaped, it was because he had exhausted the power his original body had gathered from Xuanhuang Qi.

He thought hard. What else could he do?

The black Ghost Fire—its Yin Energy was too heavy to refine the Black Stone. Right, Purple Fire. But that Purple Fire had been nurtured by his Core Elixir, which contained the patterns of Heaven and Earth. It could communicate with the power of Heaven and Earth.

How could he manifest the Purple Fire marked with those patterns of Heaven and Earth? His Core Elixir had already cultivated into a Primordial Spirit, but those patterns were deeply engraved in his Primordial Spirit.

"Move faster, kid! We can't hold on much longer."

Ji Tian looked up. The Black Remnant Bone was trembling faintly and looked ready to fall at any moment.