The instant Yi Yang's Divine Sense probed deep into the dead wood and touched that emerald ball of light-
Hum.
There was no sound, yet it surpassed any thunderclap.
The emerald vitality that had slumbered for untold years surged violently, like a cloud startled awake.
It did not reject Yi Yang's Divine Sense. Instead, like someone reunited with family lost for years, it followed his probing Divine Sense and brushed against it affectionately.
This mass of wood essence, dormant for hundreds of years, surged toward him along the guiding thread of his Divine Sense.
At first, there was only a wisp.
Soon, a second and a third followed in quick succession.
The grain on the dead wood's surface remained unchanged, but fine vibrations stirred within. His Divine Sense dismantled the structure sealing the essence layer by layer, and the vitality pent up for years found an outlet, rushing straight toward his Sea of Consciousness along his Divine Sense.
Yi Yang's heart jolted. He tried to withdraw his Divine Sense, but it was already too late.
The instant his Divine Sense touched that green light, the scene before his eyes distorted.
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in his room in Qingzhou City.
Knee-deep water surrounded Yi Yang's legs. Rotting aquatic weeds floated in it, giving off a damp, rank odor.
All around him stretched an endless marsh shrouded in thick fog.
Yi Yang studied his surroundings and found them vaguely familiar.
It was as though he had seen this place somewhere before.
Before he could think further, the sky overhead darkened.
Black clouds surged in from every direction, hanging oppressively low. Thick and rolling, they resembled boiling ink.
Crack!
A ghastly white bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, illuminating the entire marsh as brightly as