Chapter 683: After Awakening Comes the Scattering of the Soul

“Crack…”

With that crisp sound of breaking, the fissure on the largest soul cocoon in the center finally ran all the way through its shell.

The sound was not loud, yet it was like a massive stone thrown into a still lake. Inside the ancient hall, the other thirty-five leaf-shaped soul cocoons resonated at the same instant and began to tremble violently.

The ten-thousand-year-old roots, densely webbed like spider silk above the upside-down ancient hall, now seemed to be forcibly compressed by some unseen power. Droplets of brilliant, golden sap raced down the grooves in the roots, falling several times faster than before.

“Splat! Splat!”

The sap struck the smooth wooden floor, splashing into clouds of golden mist teeming with immense vitality.

Su Ming did not let the magnificent sight cloud his judgment. His gaze turned slightly solemn. He tapped the ground lightly with his right foot, and instead of advancing, his whole body retreated, gliding half a step backward as lightly as a withered leaf drifting on the wind.

That half-step took him just beyond the core where the golden mist was most concentrated.

At the same time, he pinched his fingertips together, and the Like Water Art roared to life within him. A nearly transparent, deep-blue water membrane silently spread over the Xuantian ring hidden in his sleeve.

“Smack! Smack!”

Deep within the Xuantian ring, Lin Yu’s Soul Body, now shrunk to the size of a fingernail, swayed slightly in the darkness. Lowering his voice, he said, “I’ve always been steady on my feet. That just now was only because the floor here is slippery.”

Su Ming kept his eyes on the soul cocoon ahead. The corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly as he sent a message by spiritual sense. “Master is right. The sap of this ten-thousand-year-old luminous banyan is indeed slippery. But why is your Soul Body trembling so badly? Is the pressure in this ancient hall too taxing on your soul?”

“Nonsense!” Lin Yu snorted. A faint, dark-golden sheen appeared on the surface of his Soul Body as he forcibly straightened a waist he did not actually have. “I’m gathering soul power in case this damaged formation produces some unpredictable backlash. What would a junior like you know? This is called being prepared.”

Lin Yu paused, then lowered his voice further. “Just make sure you protect yourself. That biggest coffin… ahem, that largest cocoon is about to open.”

Su Ming did not respond. Instead, he turned the lifebound formation plate, covered in runes, upside down inside his wide left sleeve. His fingertips hooked around three Living Formation nodes. At the slightest disturbance, the teleportation circuit on the plate could fling him a hundred yards away in less than half a breath.

“Hiss…”

The fissure on the largest soul cocoon in the center spread outward like a spiderweb.

As the shell peeled away, that ancient thought once more descended upon the ancient hall like a mountain.

“I am Qingheng.”

The voice sounded directly in Su Ming’s Consciousness Sea, carrying the rasp of time’s long passage, like dry bark rubbing together in the wind. “I once held the position of Soul-Sacrificing Elder in the Qiming Royal Court.”

Su Ming clasped his hands and bowed deeply. His back bent at an impeccable angle as he spoke respectfully. “This junior, Su Ming, pays his respects to Senior Qingheng.”

Qingheng’s thought did not answer immediately, but seemed to sink into some distant memory.

The sound of golden sap dripping inside the ancient hall seemed especially clear at that moment.

“This Ancient Sleeping Hall has stood for ten thousand years,” Qingheng’s voice rang out again, accompanied by a long sigh. “But we thirty-six old fellows have only been beneath the roots of Greenwood Court for a mere three hundred years.”

Su Ming maintained his cupped-hands salute, while the corner of his eye swiftly swept over the thirty-five soul cocoons around him.

“Three hundred years ago, those lunatics from the Dark Current Sect finally decided to tear away the last pretense.” Qingheng’s tone was calm, as if he were recounting someone else’s story. “We had long foreseen the fall of the Qiming Royal Court. To leave the spirit races a spark of hope, before the slaughter began, the Royal Lord entrusted us old veterans, whose lifespans were nearly spent and who could only cling to life through slumber, to Woodheart, along with this Ancient Sleeping Hall.”

“That child Woodheart is a man of his word.” A rare warmth entered Qingheng’s voice. “He used the ten-thousand-year-old root veins of Greenwood Court to conceal our traces for three hundred years.”

Inside the ring, Lin Yu silently clicked his tongue. Woodheart, a mighty being with cultivation that reached the heavens, was actually being called “that child” by this old monster. The seniority in the spirit realm really was a tangled mess beyond reckoning.

Su Ming still said nothing. He quietly brought two fingers together and formed a hand seal inside his sleeve.

Deep in his pupils, a faint blue light flickered. Driven by Ruo Shui spiritual energy, Observation of the Minute transformed into countless fine, threadlike probes. Carefully skirting the terrifying pressure at the center of the ancient hall, they reached toward the thirty-five soul cocoons around it.

At just one glance, Su Ming’s heart gave a sudden thump.

In his observation micro vision, the thirty-six soul cocoons were not as brimming with life as they appeared on the surface.

Through the thick cocoon shells, carved with ancient formation lines, Su Ming saw what lay deep within their souls.

Inside the twelve soul cocoons closest to Qingheng, a relatively intact soul flame still remained. Though dim, its foundation was still there, and it was striving to absorb the golden sap dripping from above.

But inside the twenty-four outer soul cocoons, their flames had long since vanished. Only strands of dim life-thread, a hundred times finer than spider silk, remained, barely holding together as they soaked in the life-giving liquid.

Su Ming raised his head and lowered his hands.

“Senior.” Su Ming looked straight at the largest soul cocoon. His voice was not loud, but exceptionally clear. “This junior knows a little about formations and the art of reading vital energy. I venture to say that not all thirty-six soul cocoons can awaken.”

Lin Yu’s Soul Body abruptly shrank inside the ring. He cursed inwardly at his disciple’s audacity. At a moment like this, he had gone and exposed the state of their reserves. If this old monster had a violent disposition, one thought from him could crush Su Ming to death.

“Oh?” Qingheng’s voice showed no anger, only a hint of something unusual, so faint as to be almost imperceptible. “What have you seen?”

Su Ming did not hold back, and his tone remained steady. “The twelve inner-ring soul cocoons still have soul flames. If infused with vitality, they may yet have the strength to fight. But the twenty-four on the outer ring have only a thread of life left. If Senior forcibly awakens them through resonance with the inner formation, you will be trading their last remnants of vitality for a brief return to life.”

Su Ming paused, then spoke with slightly greater emphasis. “Once they awaken, their souls will scatter to the winds.”