Those silver motes looked pure, but hidden within them was the same chilling aura as the strange skeleton. It seemed the Yinsha Spring's mutation was most likely tied to that corpse.
"No wonder the motes appeared in the mountain stream…"
Xie Zhaolin muttered to herself. The motes were probably the lingering aura from the skeleton, cleansed by the Yinsha Spring, then carried outward through the underground water veins.
With that thought, she carefully studied the chamber's layout again. The spiritual spring sat in the very center. Complex runes were carved all over the ground, identical to the ones on the restriction. Right in front of the spring sat the eerie skeleton in meditation.
Her gaze dropped to the ground before the corpse. There, a line of tiny characters was etched. She moved closer with caution and recognized it as ancient cultivation script.
"Things from beyond, must not be touched."
The characters were already faint, but the warning they carried was impossible to miss. Her heartbeat quickened. That skeleton was something from outside the world! No wonder it had such a bizarre form, and no wonder it could twist the Yinsha Spring.
Just as she was reeling from the thought, a soft crack came from the skeleton.
Her chest tightened. One of the finger bones had broken off by itself, clattering onto the icy ground with a crisp sound. Then something even more terrifying happened. Blue flames suddenly lit up inside the hollow sockets of the skull!
The flames burned without sound, yet the whole chamber's temperature plunged. Frost instantly formed on her eyelashes, and her breath turned into white mist that froze before her face.
Crack… crack… crack…
Other bones began snapping one after another. With every break, the blue flames in its eyes flared brighter. Horror swept over her as she realized the skeleton was undergoing some terrible transformation.
"I need to leave…" She forced herself through the biting chill and turned to flee.
But right then, the spring roared violently!
The skeleton's skull swiveled toward her. All three pairs of burning sockets blazed, and an invisible force bound her in place. She couldn't move a muscle!
"At last… it's here…"
A rasping voice echoed directly in her mind, every word slicing into her Primordial Soul like a dull blade.
Boom!
With a thunderous crack, the skull suddenly exploded!
Shards flew everywhere. One fragment sliced across her cheek, leaving a cut that instantly blackened and spread like poison through her flesh. Panicked, she rushed to drive her spiritual power against it, but the black stain clung like a living thing, impossible to shake off.
Even as she struggled, a shape was forming inside the shattered bones.
A phantom emerged, twisted and long-skulled, with three pairs of sockets burning with eerie blue fire.
"Freedom… freedom…
You… will become… the new vessel…"
The phantom slowly raised an arm woven from silver motes and pointed at her.
The black mark on her cheek instantly spread, crawling over half her face and pressing toward her sea of consciousness! Her heart sank. That thing's remnant soul was trying to seize her body!
"Over my dead body!"
A ruthless gleam flashed in her eyes. Without hesitation, she detonated all the violet-blue mist within her sea of consciousness.
Wild energy raged inside her soul. Half the invading runes were torn apart. The phantom shrieked in agony, its form dimming. She seized the chance and bolted for the passage. But after only two steps, a force yanked at her ankle, slamming her hard into the floor.
"…You… can't escape…"
The phantom rose from the scattered bones, its three pairs of burning eyes locked on her.
She tried to push herself up, but her body grew heavier with every breath. Black runes crawled rapidly across her skin, almost covering her whole body. She bit her tongue, fighting to stay awake. With trembling hands, she formed a seal and forced the Yinsha Soul Locking Chains into motion.
Her consciousness condensed into chains, wrapping around the invasive black energy.
But the phantom's power was overwhelming. She felt her resistance weakening with every moment.
In that life-or-death instant, her gaze caught a flicker of silver in the spring. Her pupils shrank. The phantom, for all its boldness, wasn't going near the motes rising from the water. It was deliberately avoiding them!
"It's afraid of the motes…" The thought struck like lightning.
She didn't know why, but it was her only chance.
Ignoring the ripping pain in her soul, she bit down hard and spat a mouthful of blood into the spring.
Splash!
The blood touched the water, and countless silver motes surged up like a tide. They wove themselves into a shining net in midair.
The phantom shrieked, its flames flaring wildly as it staggered backward.
She roared in her heart, forming seals with shaking hands. Baleful qi surged out, wrapping the motes.
"Condense!"
With a sharp shout, the chains and motes fused into a sword of silver and violet light. Its blade shimmered with strange brilliance, silver starlight twinkling along the edge.
For the first time, the phantom's eyes shrank with fear. It spread its arms, summoning thick black gas that formed a heavy barrier before it.
"Cut!"
She gripped the sword with both hands and slashed down.
The blade struck the barrier, unleashing blinding light. The wall of black qi melted away like ice in fire.
"Ahhh!"
The phantom screamed as the sword split it in half.
But the nightmare wasn't over.
Instead of vanishing, the two halves turned into blazing blue flames that lunged straight at her!
At the last second, she thrust the sword across her chest.
The flames crashed against it with a sizzling hiss. Silver motes and blue fire clashed violently, spraying sparks. Her arms trembled violently. Blood streamed from her torn palms, dripping onto the blade. Every drop of blood that touched it ignited a surge of silver light. She suddenly understood. Her blood empowered the motes!
"With blood as the guide, with soul as the sacrifice…"
She murmured the most forbidden incantation of the Netherwater Art. Without hesitation, she slashed open her wrist. Blood splashed across the blade, and the sword erupted in dazzling violet-silver radiance.
The phantom's eyes finally showed fear. The twin flames tried to retreat, rushing to fuse back together. But she gave it no chance.
"Perish!"
The sword shot forward like a rainbow tearing through the heavens, piercing both flames in a single strike.