Chapter 997: Putrid Flesh

The grand priest swept a sleeve through the air, and a white jade bed slowly rose up from within the pool in the palace.

Weeping Soul was laid down onto the bed, and there was no movement in her chest, nor was there any aura emanating from her body. It was as if she was a perfectly preserved corpse.

The grand priest strode over to the bed, then lifted the hood of his cloak to reveal a set of flawless, youthful features. However, his skin was deathly pale, giving him a rather unhealthy appearance.

He examined Weeping Soul's body momentarily, following which he requested, "Please remove the puppet restrictions you've placed upon her, Fellow Daoist Han."

Han Li nodded in response before making a hand seal, and a ball of white starlight appeared over the palm of his hand before roaming over Weeping Soul's body from head to toe.

With each acupoint that the ball of light passed through, a white bone needle would break out of her skin before being plucked away by Han Li.

After all of the bone needles were collected, Weeping Soul's brows suddenly became tightly furrowed, and her entire body began to tremble violently.

At the same time, her aura was revealed, and the grand priest's expression changed drastically as he exclaimed, "What is she?"

"Don't be alarmed," Han Li reassured. "She's not a human. Instead, she's what you would call a Xing Beast."

"I see... That makes sense then..." the grand priest mused as an enlightened look appeared on his face.

"What do you mean by that?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Xing Beasts are not a type of true spirit, but they're actually even rarer than true spirits, and they're innately born with reincarnation law powers in their bodies. I wasn't able to sense anything while that restriction was still in effect, but now that those needles have been removed, I can sense that there's a complete absence of essential power in her body. That must be why she's in her current state, right?" the grand priest asked.

"That's right. Her law powers seemed to have been stripped away during an incident many years ago, and she's been like this ever since," Han Li hurriedly confirmed.

"If I'm not mistaken, she must've been struck by reincarnation law powers during that incident, causing her own essential power to fall into a dormant state. All that needs to be done is to have reincarnation law powers injected into her dantian to awaken her essential power," the grand priest said.

"It's that simple?" Han Li asked with an incredulous expression.

"What you have to realize that reincarnation law powers are even more difficult to cultivate than the laws of space, and perhaps even more so than the laws of time. Attaining control over reincarnation law powers is even more difficult, and even the slightest mishap could result in dire consequences," the grand priest said.

"All I know is that the three paramount laws are considered to be above all other laws in the world as they reign supreme in their respective fields. As a result, they're extremely difficult to cultivate. Could it be that you're cultivating the laws of reincarnation?" Han Li asked.

"The reason why I was able to become grand priest is because I am capable of using a divination technique, and through the use of this technique, I can draw upon some reincarnation law powers to predict some future events. However, I'm still far from being able to proclaim that I've mastered the laws of reincarnation," the grand priest replied with a faint smile.

"In that case, you must be intending to use the reincarnation law powers that you can draw upon to awaken Weeping Soul's essential power, right?" Han Li asked.

"That's right. All I need to..."

All of a sudden, the grand priest's voice trailed off, and the two of them turned to Weeping Soul in unison.

She had been curled up into a ball on the jade bed, but all of a sudden, she completely relaxed and laid flat on the bed, while strands of white light began to flow out of her glabella before dissipating in all directions.

"What's going on? Why is her soul seeping out of her body?" Han Li asked in an alarmed manner.

"This is only to be expected. Without essential power to serve as an anchor, one's soul can only linger in their body for a short time before beginning to dissipate. Those needles were all that was keeping her soul locked in her body, but those needles were intended for the purpose of refining living beings into puppets, so they have a harmful effect on the soul.

Now that they've been removed, it's no surprise that her soul is dissipating at a far faster rate than before," the grand priest explained.

Han Li immediately channeled his Spirit Refinement Technique upon hearing this, and a spiritual sense threat shot out of his glabella before entering Weeping Soul's glabella, and only then did the strands of white light fade away.

"Please begin right away," Han Li implored with a solemn expression as he cupped his fist in a salute.

"I can't be interrupted during this process, so make sure to keep a lookout for me," the grand priest replied with a nod.

"Rest assured, you can count on me," Han Li vowed with a serious expression.

The grand priest didn't waste any more time as he made his way over to the end of the jade bed where Weeping Soul's head was resting, then joined his palms in front of himself as if in prayer before spreading his hands apart.

Five crimson plum blossoms flew out before dropping down onto Weeping Soul's forehead, and a series of twisted lines also appeared on the palms of his hands.

At the same time, a burst of hazy red light rose up from behind him, and his cloak began to flap around him as a burst of familiar law power fluctuations surged out of his body.

As soon as Han Li caught a glimpse of the sections of the grand priest's skin that had been revealed under the cloak, he was immediately struck by a visceral sense of disgust.

As it turned out, his entire body was riddled with massive scars and festering sores, most of which were leaking brownish-yellow pus, presenting a nauseating sight to behold.

It was clear from a glance that most of these scars were very old, and some of them had already completely sealed over to form tumor-like growths, while others were still yet to fully heal and were oozing pus incessantly.

The grand priest's body appeared to be quite rotund, but in reality, that was only due to all of the tumor-like growths that riddled his entire body.

Earlier, the grand priest had been submerged in that medicinal path, so Han Li wasn't able to smell anything aside from a strong, medicinal aroma, but he was now beginning to catch a whiff of a putrid odor from the grand priest's body.

Right at this moment, the grand priest's voice suddenly rang out in Han Li's mind.

"If the smell is too much for you to bear, then you can go and keep a lookout outside. The treatment is going to take at least two hours."

"It's fine," Han Li replied in a concise manner.

However, a short while later, Han Li's brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he said, "Looks like I will have to go outside, after all..."

"Leave everything here to me, Fellow Daoist Han. Just make sure no one gets in here," the grand priest said.

Han Li cupped his fist in a grateful salute, then appeared outside the palace in a flash.

Several streaks of light were piercing through the distant night sky, and they soon arrived no more than two hundred feet away from Han Li.

The group was led by none other than Shi Pokong, and he was accompanied by a pair of devilish men, one of which was around ten feet tall and built like a steel tower.

There was a metal visor that concealed the lower half of his face, leaving his fearsome, bloodthirsty eyes exposed.

The other figure was a benevolent-looking azure-robed elderly man, and there was a faint smile on his face as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking no different from a mortal schoolteacher.

Han Li released his spiritual sense throughout the surrounding area, upon which he discovered that these three were the only ones who had come to confront him, and that there were no other powerful cultivators in hiding nearby.

The brawny man with the metal visor on his face was giving off the most pronounced aura, but his cultivation base was the lowest of the three at only the mid-High Zenith Stage. Shi Pokong was also only at the mid-High Zenith Stage, but his aura was slightly superior to that of the brawny man.

As for the elderly man, he had the most harmless appearance of the three, but his cultivation base was at the late-High Zenith Stage.

"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Li," Shi Pokong greeted with a smile as he cupped his fist in a salute.

"Indeed, Your Highness," Han Li replied with a smile of his own.

"Now that you've returned to the Holy Realm, Chuankong must be back as well, right? Where is he right now?" Shi Pokong asked.

"Are you still not willing to let him go? Fellow Daoist Shi has always cherished you as his brother, and he never had any intention of competing with you. Don't you think you've gone too far?" Han Li asked.

A hint of dejection appeared on Shi Pokong's face upon hearing this, but it quickly faded as he replied, "You're a smart man, Fellow Daoist Li, so I'm sure you're aware that there are certain things that are simply out of our control. Essentially, it doesn't really matter whether he wishes to compete with me or not."

"In any case, I do not wish to get involved in your conflict with Fellow Daoist Shi. As long as you don't interfere with my plans, I won't interfere with yours," Han Li said in an indifferent manner.

"That's fine by me, as long as you're willing to tell me what happened in the Scalptia Spatial Domain during your time there. Why is it that all of the pawns that I've planted in there have suddenly gone silent?" Shi Pokong asked as his brows furrowed slightly.