Chapter 234: Soul Struggle

"Roar~"

The withered body of the Old Witch Master, originally lying flat in the stone coffin, struggled and shook even more violently; suddenly, he actually sat up, his arms grabbing aimlessly in all directions, and the heavy stone coffin was struck so hard that stone chips flew everywhere.

"Hold him down!" Xu Chen roared.

Feng Yi and the other three were also terrified at this moment; amidst Xu Chen's roar, a rune flashed between Feng Yi's brows, and a cyan dragon shadow spiraled out, rushing into the coffin to bind the Old Witch Master tightly. At the same time, a cyan mountain phantom also appeared, slamming the bound Old Witch Master back into the coffin.

"Roar~ Roar~~"

The Old Witch Master struggled frantically inside the stone coffin, black mist spraying from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, emitting violent roars exactly like a Nether Beast, causing the entire stone cave to tremble and shake violently.

The sound pierced through the thick mountain walls to the outside, making everyone guarding the cave entrance—the Elder, the Clan Leader, and the others—feel terrified, their faces pale and trembling.

This situation indicated that the Old Witch Master was truly still alive.

But the terrifying aura and sounds released told them that the Old Witch Master had already reached an extremely severe stage of Nether-transformation.

According to the tribe's ancient traditions, once an overly powerful warrior fell into a deep slumber, they were absolutely forbidden from being awakened; they could only be suppressed in a stone coffin to wait for them to slowly and completely decay, eventually dissipating into Underworld Qi.

And every powerhouse qualified to be suppressed alone in a stone coffin was almost always a genius who appeared only once every countless generations of the tribe.

Once a powerhouse of this strength was released during the process of Nether-transformation, it was absolutely a catastrophic disaster for the entire tribe.

In history, countless Nether Human Race tribes had not disappeared under the attacks of brutal Nether Beasts, but were destroyed at the hands of these powerhouses who had been resurrected through Nether-transformation due to poor management.

The Feng Clan had taken a huge risk by awakening the Old Witch Master this time.

Of course, it was also because Xu Chen's miraculous methods brought them a tremendous amount of courage and hope.

However, looking at the current situation, the Old Witch Master's state was extremely dangerous, and it was unknown if Xu Chen and the others could resist.

"May the Wind God and the ancestors of the Feng Clan bless our benefactor to successfully awaken the Old Witch Master; the Feng Clan is willing to remember the ancestors' last teachings, guard Minghuang, fight against the Nether Beasts, pass down through the ages, and never forget their legacy..."

The Elder knelt down, prostrating and praying toward the dark, deep cave.

"May the Wind God and the ancestors bless our benefactor to succeed!" The Clan Leader and the crowds of Feng Clan men, women, and children all followed suit, kneeling and prostrating, their eyes filled with immense piety.

If the Old Witch Master could successfully awaken, it would not only be a rebirth for the Feng Clan, but also a great inspiration for the nearby Nether Human Race, who would henceforth be protected as the various tribes of Minghuang flourished and developed in this region once again, becoming incomparably powerful.

At this moment, in the stone chamber deep within the cave.

Xu Chen and the Old Witch Master had already begun a life-and-death struggle of the Soul within the Sea of Consciousness.

Although Xu Chen's Soul strength was far inferior to the Old Witch Master's already out-of-control Soul, because the Blue Light Treasure Bottle stabilized his Soul, he had no worries in the rear and could exert his full strength to continuously launch attack after attack.

Flying Swords condensed from Divine Sense slashed through the sky-filling, swirling black mist, rushing like a rain of swords toward the faint white light flickering within the mass of black mist.

The sky-filling Black Wind surged and rolled, and the Old Witch Master's body struggled and roared in the stone coffin like an Ancient Fierce Beast.

Feng Yi and the other three took turns releasing Divine Pattern Battle Techniques, pinning the Old Witch Master's body to the bottom of the stone coffin.

The black mist that had originally permeated like Black Water was completely dissipated by the powerful aura impact, and even the black mist that had previously gathered above the stone coffin was shaken away, leaving the entire stone cave filled with black mist.

Under this violent shaking and impact, even the stone coffins in other stone chambers began to jump; on the surfaces of the stone coffins, the rune lines that had been sealed for countless years began to vanish, and some stone coffins began to crack, with wisps of black mist like ink flowing out.

Time passed continuously; perhaps it was a day, or perhaps longer.

The shaking deep in the cave became more and more violent, and the roars became more and more fierce and overbearing; waves of black mist surged out from the depths of the cave, rushing out of the entrance along the long passageway, permeating the valley like thick smoke.

"Retreat quickly!"

Watching the terrifying scene before them, the Elder and the Clan Leader roared orders for everyone to withdraw from the cave area, all retreating to the center of the valley to watch in terror.

Closer... even closer...

Xu Chen had entered a state of complete self-forgetfulness.

He knew that if he stopped halfway or could not suppress the Old Witch Master's Soul counterattack, this resurrection ritual would fail completely.

Under his full-force Divine Sense impact, the dense rain of Flying Swords shredded the black tentacles coming from the sky, finally getting closer and closer to the Soul emitting a faint cyan-white light.

Seemingly sensing an increasingly strong threat, the Soul of the Old Witch Master, already on the verge of Nether-transformation, became even more restless and resistant, actually slowly condensing into a giant insect phantom, with six black light wings on its back, eight giant claws under its abdomen, and a spike-like tentacle on its forehead, flickering and swirling with black light, its pair of pincer-like mouthparts opening and closing violently, emitting a screech that pierced the Soul.

"Damn it, it actually underwent Nether-transformation at this moment!"

Xu Chen felt his heart contract violently.

But at this moment, he had even less of a way out; once fully Nether-transformed, the Old Witch Master would completely degenerate into a humanoid Nether Beast with no intelligence or humanity, and could even completely abandon his physical body to escape the cave.

Once that happened, his wish would be completely dashed.

Because apart from the Feng Clan, there were no other super-powerhouses of equal strength still in slumber among the nearby Nether Human Race tribes; he had no second test subject.

At this moment, the abdomen of the giant insect that was gradually taking shape was that faint cyan-white phantom, which was the Old Witch Master's residual intelligence.

Xu Chen also let out a violent roar of Divine Sense, rolling waves sweeping toward the Nether-insect layer upon layer; at the same time, countless Divine Sense swords mixed in the rolling waves of Divine Sense, crashing into the illusory giant insect like a violent storm.

Boom-boom sounds like thunder rang out from the Old Witch Master's body, and streaks of white light and black mist sprayed from his seven orifices.

The moment the Divine Senses collided, Xu Chen felt as if he had crashed into an iceberg; a wave of irresistible, cold, yin energy instantly sought to freeze his Divine Sense, and at the same time, a large amount of black ice shards appeared in his Sea of Consciousness along with the Divine Sense, and a layer of pitch-black ice armor quickly froze again outside the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

"Open~"

Xu Chen suddenly opened his eyes and roared, and a burst of Blue Starlight exploded from the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, the black ice armor piled up outside being blasted into sky-filling ice mist.

The moment his Soul relaxed, the frozen rain of Divine Sense swords suddenly spun wildly, crashing through the giant insect phantom like a sharp drill.

Immediately, a white light appeared out of thin air inside the giant insect phantom.

The moment the white light appeared, it was like a red-hot iron rod poked into an ice block; accompanied by a 'pula' sound, a multicolored, misty light pierced through the giant insect's body like a thunderstorm, charging directly into the faint Soul light in its abdomen.

Stimulated by the white energy, the Old Witch Master's Soul light, which was on the verge of extinguishing, suddenly surged, and a thick Soul aura began to rise like a tide.

"Senior, wake up quickly!"

Xu Chen released a Divine Pattern Wind Whisper transmission, the sound like thunder vibrating and ringing within the Old Witch Master's Soul.

"Umm~~"

Accompanied by a low sound like one that had been sleeping for ten thousand years, scenes of darkness and desolation appeared in the Sea of Consciousness like fleeting shadows, flickering like flowing light and lightning.

These were the memories buried deep in the Old Witch Master's Soul.

Although they flashed by in an instant under Xu Chen's Divine Sense perception, he could still see many scenes of battles with giant beasts; the mountain-like giant figures and the aura released by the battles were enough to make one feel that those giant beasts were all extremely fierce, not one of them weak.

If one such Nether Beast appeared in the Mortal World, I fear even a Spirit Transformation Great Cultivator would flee at the sight.

"Hiss hiss~~"

The massive phantom of the insectoid parasite let out a shriek that pierced the Soul, its body rolling violently as its sharp claws attempted to tear the awakening mass of the Soul into shreds from the ruptured abdomen.

However, it was already too late.

The white light channeled by the Demon Refining Art carried an incomparably intense vitality and strengthening power; in just a fleeting moment, the Old Witch Master's Soul grew several times stronger, and at the same time, memories began to awaken.

At this moment, Xu Chen ignored any Soul Impact or resistance from the insectoid parasite, instead continuously pouring white light into it through the opened passage.

It lasted no more than a few breaths, and accompanied by a deafening explosion, a blinding light burst open in the giant insect's abdomen; the giant insect phantom was blown to pieces, and at the same time, an irresistible, thick aura of living spirit began to surge wildly, subsequently growing into a massive humanoid phantom flickering with white light throughout its body, with a fist-sized mass of cyan light condensing at the center of the phantom's brow, constantly flickering and flowing.

"My clansman, was it you who awakened me?"

The Old Witch Master's awakened consciousness seemed still somewhat dazed and bewildered, but having sensed the familiar human aura emitted by Xu Chen's Divine Sense, it let out a thunderous voice.

"This junior is not of the Wind Clan, but senior has been slumbering for too long, and your body has completely decayed; you had best not move about, continue lying in the coffin, so that I may restore your body!"

Xu Chen's Divine Sense withdrew from the Old Witch Master's Sea of Consciousness like a receding tide, while he simultaneously employed the divine pattern Wind Whisper to transmit a warning.

"Hmm, very well, my body is indeed in terrible shape..."

It seemed that in an instant, the Old Witch Master also sensed that their body was indeed failing, so there was no questioning or opposition; instead, after transmitting a voice, they fell silent.

(End of this chapter)