Smack!
A faint sound came from the oil painting in the brass frame Tobias held in his hand.
Immediately afterward, a palm so pale it was nearly transparent, its bones clearly visible beneath the flesh, reached out from the painting.
It gripped the brass frame tightly, slowly pulling itself out of the painting.
During the brief time Tobias had not been watching or admiring it, the figure in the Painting Scroll had come to life!
It was a man in a somber black robe, his flesh transparent enough for his bones to be seen.
The man who had suddenly come alive in the Painting Scroll clicked his lips open and shut, emitting inhuman whispers.
A frigid wind suddenly swirled around them, mixed with the Language of the Dead, which sounded like sobbing and whimpering.
This sound could bypass the protection of flesh and directly affect the Spirit Body.
Cyril suddenly shuddered. He could clearly feel his mind growing weary and his body weakening. His once youthful, elastic skin was rapidly aging, sprouting age spots.
It was as though he were crossing the river of death inch by inch, dying at a visible pace.
He took a step back, and a phantom book that kept flipping appeared in his eyes.
Streams of pure golden light emerged before him, condensing into an illusory seal.
"Notarization: Invalid!"
The swirling, whimpering frigid wind stalled, then abruptly dissipated by more than half. What remained became intermittent and weak.
Immediately afterward, Cyril leaned back and spread his arms as though embracing the sun.
The phantom book in his eyes flipped rapidly.
A majestic, pure pillar of blazing light descended from the sky, enveloping the Painting Scroll within the brass frame and producing crackling sounds like boiling water poured into hot oil.
The hand gripping the brass