A secret chamber inside the
Outside the chamber door,
Day after day, night after night, they had wept until their tears ran dry. How desperately they hoped that Ye Zong would come back to life.
Inside the chamber, stone walls surrounded the space on all sides, covered with all manner of mysterious runic patterns inscribed by Nie Li. These patterns radiated dazzling light, illuminating the entire room.
Nie Li held the
That soul essence felt so familiar, so dear.
Nie Li gazed into the Soul Mirror, and faintly, as though through a haze, he seemed to see Ye Zong. Though Ye Zong had always appeared stern on the outside, within he was gentle. In his heart, Nie Li had slowly come to accept this father-in-law.
Suppressing the tumult of emotions surging within him, Nie Li formed hand seals one after another. Stream after stream of Soul Power gathered into the Soul Mirror, and suddenly it erupted with blinding radiance.
He quickly produced the Spring of Life. The glowing liquid began to spin, then slowly rose into the air before rapidly condensing together.
Ye Zong's soul flew out from the Soul Mirror and swiftly merged into the Spring of Life.
The Spring of Life continued to condense, gradually taking on the shape of a person, as though a new life were slowly being formed within.
Day by day, time passed. A full five days.
The chamber's door remained sealed shut. Ye Ziyun and Ye Mo kept vigil outside, anxiously staring at the door again and again.
"Why hasn't Nie Li's ritual finished yet? It's already been five days," Ye Mo said, his anxiety mounting.
"Grandfather, Nie Li said the resurrection ritual would take five or six days," Ye Ziyun replied firmly. "He can do it. I believe in him!"
"It's not that I don't believe him—it's just driving me mad with worry," Ye Mo said, fidgeting restlessly. The chance to bring his son back from the dead had his emotions in a turmoil, but the time was dragging by unbearably slow.
Inside the chamber, Nie Li's ritual finally reached its end. The surrounding light gradually dimmed.
A child of three or four years old stood in the center of the chamber. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. "Where am I? I was already dead, wasn't I?"
His gaze gradually focused on Nie Li before him, who had collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath from sheer exhaustion.
"Nie Li, what's going on?" the child asked in bewilderment.
Looking at the small child before him—who appeared to be only three or four years old—Nie Li felt a strange sensation rise in his chest. After a moment's thought, he couldn't help but say, "Father-in-law, in order to resurrect you, I've completely drained my Soul Power."
This child was none other than Ye Zong. Though his soul was decades old, he now inhabited the body of a three-year-old, for this body had only just been freshly reconstituted.
"Resurrection? Does such a thing—coming back from the dead—truly exist in this world?" Ye Zong looked at his own hands and realized they had shrunk to the size of a child's. He nearly exploded with rage. "Nie Li, what have you done?"