Chapter 233: Awakening the Old Witch Master

Deep within the cave, several stone coffins were still placed in different stone chambers.

In one open stone coffin, black mist billowed like a bottomless abyss, emitting an extremely cold aura that made everyone feel a chill down their spines.

A thin, tall old man, pitch-black and withered like a thousand-year-old corpse, lay at the bottom of the black coffin.

His hair had all fallen out, his entire body was covered in crimson blood patterns, and his withered skin clung tightly to his skull and torso, making him look like a bizarre skeleton; yet, the soul aura he emitted felt as if an extremely terrifying Nether Beast were lurking within his body, ready to choose someone to devour.

Xu Chen, Feng Yi, Feng Liu, the Elder, and two others—six people in total—all stood around the coffin with solemn expressions.

Compared to the fear he felt the first time he came, Xu Chen felt much better this time.

After experiencing this unprecedented Heavenly Tribulation and a life-and-death struggle with the giant clam, Xu Chen felt his state of mind had become much stronger.

If a person does not experience the harsh beatings of society, they will not grow.

If a cultivator does not experience all kinds of dangers, they will not truly glimpse the Dao.

Although he had fallen into the Underworld twice from battles with Nether Beasts at Black Wind Ridge, his state of mind on both occasions was completely different, and he had become increasingly indifferent toward life and death; despite his young age, he had begun to have a sense and experience of the vicissitudes of life.

From the first time he went down the mountain to Jingshi, he had witnessed the vast difference between mortals and cultivators, as well as the coming and going of life and death.

Amidst the constant slaughter with Nether Beasts, people around him came and went, dying and living; he had also repeatedly experienced the painful torment and torture of life-and-death limits, eventually shedding his naivety. His mindset was no longer that of the little Kaiyuan Realm cultivator who used to carry a manure basket and pick up manure carefree on the mountain, but had finally grown to a height that many peers in the Immortal World could only look up to.

At this moment, facing the sleeping old man who had lain in the coffin for countless years, feeling the terrifying aura and the extremely cold soul fluctuations emanating from him, he no longer felt any terror or fear; his mindset was incomparably calm.

Now, his only thought was to awaken this old mummy who had perhaps lived for thousands of years, and then find clues from him on how to leave Minghuang Di Jie.

"Everyone get ready, I'm about to start!" Xu Chen exhaled gently and sent a Divine Sense Transmission to everyone.

The Elder nodded hurriedly, gave careful instructions to Feng Yi and the other three Divine Pattern Warriors, and then exited the stone cave.

Xu Chen turned his head to look at Feng Yi and the others, saying: "The four of you spread out and guard the perimeter; you are not allowed to strike without my orders!"

"Yes, benefactor!" Feng Yi and the others hurriedly cupped their hands in unison, retreated, and surrounded the stone chamber where the coffin was placed.

Xu Chen did not rush to awaken him, but instead probed his Divine Sense into the ink-black coffin, carefully scanned the old Witch Master from head to toe once more, and after discovering no changes, flipped his hand to take out a Jade Bottle. He poured out a Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill, wrapped it in Yuan Qi, and under the guidance of his Divine Sense, sent it into the coffin, pried open the old Witch Master's withered, tightly shut mouth, and then used Yuan Qi to send it directly into his stomach.

In Xu Chen's Divine Sense perception, the old Witch Master's flesh and blood had long since withered to nothing but a layer of skin, and his internal organs had been completely eroded by Underworld Qi, turning into a pitch-black mass that was almost impossible to distinguish in shape.

The only thing that let him feel the old Witch Master was still alive was that his heart would pulse slightly after a very long time, simultaneously producing a trace of life fluctuation that was almost imperceptible.

Xu Chen adjusted his breathing slightly, sent a surge of Yuan Qi into the old Witch Master's intestines and internal organs, and then operated his cultivation technique to begin refining the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill.

The white Qi in this pill was extremely weak; Xu Chen was just testing whether the old Witch Master could still absorb it.

He did not want to be too aggressive and risky, suddenly stimulating the old Witch Master's soul—which had almost no intelligence left—to wake up abruptly and end up causing a great battle.

In fact, in his view, even if the old Witch Master, who had been sleeping for countless years, were to wake up, his strength would not be much stronger than the Fourth-Rank flying lizard Nether Beast he had killed not long ago.

But humans are different from Nether Beasts; apart from instinctive combat skills, they might also possess some unexpected, strange abilities.

No one alive in the entire Feng tribe had ever seen the old Witch Master, and no one knew exactly how strong he was.

Such a super powerhouse who could almost walk sideways in Minghuang Di Jie—even if he only had a sliver of vitality—was an extremely terrifying existence; if he lost control, it would not be strange at all if he completely destroyed the Feng tribe.

As the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill was refined, a faint trace of Spirit Qi began to invade the pitch-black intestines, and the wisp of white Qi mixed within it began to burn against the dense Underworld Qi gathered in the body; a faint, five-colored halo lit up in the darkness, like a bean-sized oil lamp in the ancient night, almost invisible.

However, it was this weak stimulation that caused the old Witch Master's withered body to twitch violently, causing the heavy stone coffin to shake several times as well.

Xu Chen's expression was cold and stern, his Divine Sense like a torch staring at the old Witch Master, while he still continuously operated his Yuan Qi to refine the Spirit Pill.

Feng Yi and the other three stood around, their soul auras blocking the stone chamber like a copper wall and iron bastion.

They also felt the changes in the old Witch Master, and their expressions instantly became tense.

In the blink of an eye, a quarter of an hour passed, and the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill was completely refined.

At this time, under Xu Chen's Divine Sense perception, a clear space appeared in the old Witch Master's stomach, and after the faint Spirit Qi dispersed into his internal organs, he could also feel a unique aura of flesh and blood.

This indicated that the old Witch Master's body had not yet been completely corroded by Underworld Qi and Blood Poison, and there was still a sliver of vitality left.

And the old Witch Master also fell silent again after a brief moment of movement.

Xu Chen took out another Yang God Underworld-Transforming Pill, fed it into the old Witch Master's mouth, and after sending it into his stomach, he again operated his cultivation technique to help refine it.

This time, the old Witch Master's body twitched more violently, his whole body shook continuously, and the coffin made a clanging sound.

"Hold down the coffin!"

Xu Chen gave the order via Divine Sense Transmission, and four powerful soul forces instantly suppressed it, causing the vibrating stone coffin to instantly fall silent.

The main ingredients of the Shenyang Huaming Pill were all drugs unique to the Underworld, especially the Wangchuan Flower, which was an excellent medicine for purifying Blood Poison. Coupled with the white Qi's burning effect on Underworld Qi—like water and fire—Xu Chen felt it very clearly this time: as a large amount of Underworld Qi was neutralized and dissipated by the white Qi, the medicinal effect of the Spirit Pill also began to be released into the internal organs, and the decayed, withered flesh began to reveal a trace of normal color, which could be vaguely identified through Divine Sense.

Seeing this result, Xu Chen felt much more relaxed inside.

This situation at least indicated that the old Witch Master's vitality was still relatively strong; as long as the large amount of Underworld Qi in his body was slowly cleared away, his body could still recover.

However, before recovering his body, he still needed to stimulate the old Witch Master's intelligence to awaken, first by strengthening his soul.

Thus, when the Yang God Underworld-Transforming Pill was more than half refined, Xu Chen reached his hand directly into the bottom of the pitch-black stone coffin, pressed his fingers on the old Witch Master's glabella, and slowly penetrated his Divine Sense inside.

Before him was an endless darkness, so cold that he felt his Divine Sense was almost frozen; every step forward felt like sinking into a ten-thousand-year ice cave.

This kind of Divine Sense contact was an extremely dangerous affair.

In the Mortal World, unless one's strength surpassed the opponent by a major realm, generally no one was willing to take such a risk.

Because once the opponent discovered it, they would inevitably launch a Divine Sense counterattack; this was a pure soul-level consciousness contest that transcended cultivation and realms. If one were not careful, they would suffer a strong backlash—at best, their soul would be damaged; at worst, they would become an idiot. If the opponent's strength was sufficiently formidable, it would not be strange for their soul to be scattered.

Although Xu Chen believed he had the Blue Light Treasure Bottle to protect his soul, after a pure mental-level contest with the giant clam, he no longer had complete confidence in the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

In the end, one must be the master of one's own life; one's own strength is the true strength.

Any Magic Treasure, Magic Spell, or other external objects are, after all, just external objects, and in many cases, they do not work.

As his Divine Sense penetrated deeper into the old Witch Master's Sea of Consciousness, Xu Chen felt a sense of inexplicable terror, and the hairs all over his body stood on end, as if an extremely terrifying, bloodthirsty beast were lurking in the endless darkness ahead, waiting for him to walk right into the trap.

However, things had reached this point, and he had no intention of backing down at all; instead, he put his all into pushing his Divine Sense to continue forward, and finally, a wisp of Divine Sense slowly condensed into a sharp arrow, driving straight in toward the target he sensed.

"Boom—"

A long time later, the sleeping old Witch Master's body suddenly shook violently, and his withered eyes, which had been tightly shut for countless years, suddenly opened; there were no eyeballs in the two hollow sockets, only two balls of black light.

And at this moment, Xu Chen's Divine Sense had also completely penetrated the old Witch Master's Sea of Consciousness, which had been sealed for countless years, and saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A humanoid shadow wreathed in black mist was curled up inside, faintly emitting a trace of cyan-white light, like an oil lamp burning, seemingly ready to dissipate at any moment.

This was the old Witch Master's soul, which had already completely transformed into a spirit form.

This state is just like the Primordial Spirit of a great cultivator.

However, the Soul is currently almost at the point of exhaustion; once the cyan-white light completely vanishes, the old Witch Master's intelligence will be thoroughly annihilated, and in the end, it will blacken into the Soul of a Nether Beast, with no chance of resurrection ever again.

And seemingly sensing a fresh aura of a Soul, the thick Black Mist outside the phantom's body suddenly surged violently, condensing into streaks of pitch-black tentacles that rolled and surged toward this strand of Xu Chen's Divine Sense.

The moment the two strands of Divine Sense touched was the same instant the old Witch Master opened his eyes.

Xu Chen's Divine Sense was entangled by a streak of Black Mist, and an incomparably intense icy coldness suddenly penetrated along his Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness; in an instant, a layer of pitch-black ice accumulated within the Sea of Consciousness, spreading all the way to the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, and soon the outside of the treasure bottle was covered in a layer of black frost.

This feeling was even more intense than the feeling when he first obtained the Wangchuan Flower, as if he were being stared at by an incomparably ferocious Nether Beast, attempting to thoroughly devour his Soul.

Xu Chen knew that his strength could not fully withstand this terrifying Soul impact.

Fortunately, although the Blue Light Treasure Bottle was under attack, his Soul did not waver in the slightest, so he boldly released even more powerful Soul Power, and his Divine Sense also counterattacked like a tide into the old Witch Master's Sea of Consciousness, transforming into sharp swords to battle the black tentacles.

(End of this chapter)