An immense, suffocating pressure descended from the sky.
It came without warning, several times more terrifying than the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power had been moments earlier. It was as though the entire sky had collapsed, the air congealing into something solid that pressed down until their chests tightened.
Even the Soul Beasts immobilized by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power instinctively curled into trembling balls beneath that pressure.
Then, an indistinct gray figure crossed through time and space and descended.
The figure was so insubstantial that he was almost transparent. His features were impossible to make out; only the vague outline of an old man could be discerned.
A gray-white halo coiled around him, as though he were a lingering image projected from somewhere unimaginably distant, ready to dissipate at any moment. Yet the aura emanating from that lingering image was so ancient that it made hearts quail, like an eternal gravestone standing silently at the end of the river of time.
An aged voice echoed through this world, each word tolling like a bell and shaking the leaves into a rustling chorus:
"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars; none in this world can stand as I!"
His voice carried the pride of one who looked down upon all beneath heaven, yet beneath it lay a desolation that had endured across countless ages.
"To think that even a wisp of this old man's remnant soul could survive!"
Electrolux of the Holy Demon Continent, the Holy Necromancer, the Undead Scourge, had descended.
After delivering that supremely grandiose declaration, the gray figure swiftly swept his senses over his surroundings. His spiritual power was utterly unlike the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's. The silkworm's spiritual power blanketed heaven and earth like a surging tide, while Electrolux's perception was as precise and sharp as a needlepoint. In the space of a single breath, he took in everything for miles around.
In an instant, he noticed two highly unusual beings in this region of space.
"Such immense spiritual fluctuations-"
Electrolux's attention was first drawn to the plump, milky-white silkworm several kilometers away. Then it shifted in another direction, fixing upon the white bead hovering before Nezha.
"A peculiar white bead!"
A trace of interest seemed to surface on his illusory face. His gray-white gaze lingered on the bead for a moment, then swept over Nezha beneath it. A hint of amusement entered his aged voice:
"To think that the moment I descended into this world, I would encounter two such fascinating individuals!"
He lifted his head, his illusory form standing in midair with his hands clasped behind his back, his gray robes stirring despite the absence of wind.
"Hahaha... very well, very well!"
His laughter was aged and unrestrained, like that of someone who had lived far, far too long and had long since ceased to care about life and death, leaving only a pure curiosity toward the unknown.
"Though even my memories of the past are now incomplete, my heart tells me-"
He lowered his head to look at Nezha below and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in the distance, his illusory gaze as deep as an abyss.
"Compared with life itself, exploring the mysteries of the unknown fascinates this old man far more!"
He raised a hand and lightly touched an illusory fingertip to the point between his brows, the gesture carrying both carefree abandon and acceptance.
"I am already a remnant soul, after all. What harm is there in breaking a little further?"
The next moment-
Under Nezha's startled, uncertain gaze and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's utterly horrified stare, the old man's illusory figure dissolved into a gray ball of light.
The ball was small, roughly the size of a fist, and gray-white throughout. Then, without a sound, it split apart from its center.
One became two.
Two smaller gray balls of light hovered in midair, trembling faintly like a pair of awakening hearts.
Then one accelerated, becoming a streak of gray light that shot straight into the distance, where the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was holding the unconscious Huo Yuhao and trembling.
The gray light entered Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness without any resistance and vanished.
The other ball of light did not pause for even an instant.
It changed direction and hurtled straight toward the point between Nezha's brows.
Holy crap, why is Electrolux coming to me?!
Nezha's pupils contracted. That single thought had barely flashed through his mind before the gray ball of light sank into his forehead.
At the same time, the white bead that had been hovering before him trembled slightly, turned into a streak of white light, and slipped back into his body, vanishing.
The instant the gray ball of light entered him, Nezha stiffened. An icy sensation poured in through his forehead and reached the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.
Forget it. Since he's here, I might as well make peace with it.
Nezha drew a deep breath, suppressed his shock and uncertainty, and closed his eyes, directing his spiritual power inward.
Six years of cultivating the Great Firmament Celestial Art had tempered his Sea of Consciousness until it was far broader and deeper than those of others his age. As his consciousness sank into it, he saw a gray ball of light hovering quietly in the center of a vast, shadowy space.
The ball of light seemed to have fallen into a deep slumber and showed no reaction whatsoever.
Nezha tentatively brushed it with his spiritual power. The ball did not move in the slightest, like a pebble sunk into the deep sea, unable to raise even the faintest ripple.
"He really has fallen asleep."
He slowly opened his eyes and let out a long breath. Electrolux's remnant soul had entered his Sea of Consciousness, but for now, it seemed that the Holy Necromancer had exhausted too much of his strength and showed no sign of waking. There should be no trouble in the short term.
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao's fusion with the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had just finished as well. The spiritual pressure Tian Meng had released receded like a tide, and the surrounding space began to recover. The frozen air flowed again, and the birdsong and insect calls in the forest gradually regained their vitality.
Ning Tian and Wu Feng slowly regained consciousness.
Both had a trace of bewilderment in their eyes, their unfocused pupils gradually sharpening again, as though someone had forcibly paused their thoughts for a moment before abruptly restarting them.
Ning Tian frowned slightly, looked down at her hands, then glanced around. She kept feeling that something was wrong, but she could not put her finger on it. Wu Feng scratched her head vigorously, her fiery-red ponytail swaying back and forth, confusion written all over her face.
"Nezha, did something happen?" Wu Feng tilted her head as she looked at him. She vaguely sensed that something was amiss, but her mind was blank, and she could not remember a thing.
"No. Nothing happened."
Nezha shook his head, his expression calm and his tone as casual as though he were commenting on the pleasant weather. There was no need to let the two girls know about this. Too much was involved, after all, and telling them would do them no good.
He raised a hand to touch the point between his brows, his fingertips faintly cool. He knew perfectly well that Electrolux's remnant soul was sleeping deep within his Sea of Consciousness, but he felt no discomfort. His Sea of Consciousness continued to function steadily, as though that gray ball of light were merely a pebble that had fallen into a deep pool and gone silent after sinking to the bottom.
And then there was that white bead. When it had entered his mind six years ago, it had brought him the Great Firmament Celestial Art. Now it had appeared again and slipped back inside, yet he still had no idea where it had come from or what purpose it served.
Forget it. There's no point dwelling on things I can't figure out right now.
Nezha gathered his thoughts and raised his head, looking toward the place where Huo Yuhao and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had been. The fluctuations of spiritual power there had completely dissipated.
"I sensed what seemed to be a Soul Master's aura over there." He turned and tipped his chin toward Ning Tian and Wu Feng. "Let's go take a look."
Ning Tian and Wu Feng nodded without objection.
Before you continue