He drew a deep breath and turned his gaze toward the black halo. Guided by his True Essence, the Sun-Moon Heavenly Crystal in his palm slowly began to glow.
Then his spiritual sense reached into the depths of the crystal like an invisible rope. Following the guiding method Elder Kong had left behind, he began awakening the power sealed away for countless years, layer by layer.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the black halo, in that space filled with darkness, twelve spectral souls had reappeared, each radiating a different light.
They were countless times weaker than before they entered the halo. Each soul was almost transparent, as though a gust of wind could scatter them.
Yet they still held their fighting stances, like twelve tattered banners that refused to fall.
Before them stood an enormous stone statue.
The statue was strangely half black and half white. Now, the white was hanging by a thread, reduced to one last thin layer of light, as though the black aura might completely blot it out at any moment.
The black aura churned and writhed across the statue's surface, trying to seep out from within like something alive.
This stone statue was the true body of the Sun-Moon Palace's master.
He had previously discovered signs that the Demon Beast's remnant soul was about to break its seal. To prevent it from escaping ahead of time, he had used his own body as a vessel and sealed the remnant soul within his flesh.
But the destructive power that the Demon Beast's remnant soul had once absorbed was far too strong. The palace master had held it at bay alone for two years, and now his lamp was nearly out of oil.
With every pulse, the frail white light on the statue's surface grew weaker