"Elder Li, what's wrong?"
An Qinglong had yet to realize the gravity of the situation. A Core Formation Cultivator like him certainly possessed some strength, but without a sufficiently powerful soul, he could not control his fate at the critical moment when life and death, fortune and disaster hung in the balance.
Luo Jingwei, by contrast, was already trembling, his voice distorted. "Brother An, listen to Elder Li. Whatever you do, don't move!"
The other cultivators exchanged bewildered looks.
What exactly had happened?
Seemingly blocked by the evil-repelling incense, the hazy figure circled them once without finding an opening.
Just as everyone thought it would leave, a sudden change occurred.
A grayish-brown light emerged within the black shadow, revealing something like a heart carved from wood.
It seemed to contain abundant Wood Dao origin energy, which swiftly circulated throughout the figure, filling it out.
Within a few breaths, a middle-aged man with a refined bearing appeared before them.
Yet this was no normal body of flesh and blood, but a human likeness carved from rotten wood.
Though his body had become solid, his expression remained frozen in faint sorrow, as though he were remembering his homeland with boundless longing.
Along with this transformation, everything around them slowly rolled backward, as if time itself were reversing.
The demonic shadows they had killed earlier did not reappear. Instead, the scenery grew clearer, ruined structures became whole, and disorder gave way to order, allowing everyone a glimpse of what these palace halls had looked like many years ago.
Amid the crumbling walls, scenes emerged like interwoven light and shadow, at once illusory and real. The pavilions and towers before them, and even the distant sky, gradually revealed their original appearance.
Just then, points of light like fireflies appeared, swirling in a vortex as