"E-Elder Li, what brings you here?" Gong Chi had been brooding over something, his mind weighed down with worries. Someone approaching out of the blue gave him quite a fright.
Li Ling said, "Fellow Daoist Gong, the space between your brows is dark, and your eyes lack spirit. I fear a bloody calamity awaits you."
Gong Chi did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Why are you teasing me, Elder Li?"
Li Ling said solemnly, "I am not teasing you. I am telling you the truth."
Seeing his grave expression, Gong Chi grew nervous despite himself and asked, "What do you mean?"
Li Ling said, "Fellow Daoist Gong, you encountered the evil spirit twice. The first time, you acquired its Wood Dao inheritance without a teacher. The second time, You Heng's remnant soul possessed you directly. Could there really have been no changes?"
Gong Chi fell silent for a while, then said, "There have indeed been some changes. I... acquired another divine ability without a teacher!"
"A divine ability?" Li Ling was quite interested. "Would you be willing to demonstrate it?"
Gong Chi extended his palm and condensed black wood under the gazes of Li Ling and the others. The proliferating power of woodblight enveloped his entire body.
Gradually, a cold, sinister aura filled his body. He seemed to transform entirely into a Wooden Carving Ghost, though rather than its original skeletal appearance, he became a solid wooden puppet.
The difference was that his face and expression remained peaceful, without the previous hideous terror or blood-colored markings.
Even so, the transformation drew the others' attention. Noticing the disturbance, those happily digging at the foot of the walls stopped and cast wary looks his way.
"Elder Li, wh-what is going on?"
"Fellow Daoist Gong, he..."
"It is all right. He