"Why?" Jue struggled to utter these words. He couldn't understand why Sorres would strike at this moment, and yet there was no expression on Mr. Rui's face behind Sorres. With Mr. Rui's capabilities, it was impossible for him not to notice Sorres' little move.

"Mr. Rui is in danger, so of course, you should block it for him first." The ferocity on Sorres' face hadn't faded, yet his mouth spat out icy words with a tone that bred despair.

Mr. Rui still showed no change of expression. He stood a little further away, watching coldly, as if everything before him had nothing to do with him. He neither scolded Sorres nor stepped forward to drag Jue back. He simply watched the scene like an outsider, devoid of any emotion.

Sorres wanting to kill him was understandable to Jue. But Mr. Rui's cold indifference was intolerable. While enduring the pain and the powerlessness from blood loss, a bright blue light suddenly burst from Jue, accompanied by an overwhelming wind force. However, it seemed Sorres had anticipated Jue would do this. Just as Jue was about to erupt, Sorres swiftly drew a knife and rolled to Mr. Rui's side. Even though Sorres was not a superpower user, having been with Mr. Rui for so long, he had some means to protect himself and preserve his life.

The blue light flashed from Jue, the howling winds endlessly devouring surrounding sounds, yet bright red blood continuously gushed from his chest. Sorres had struck a major artery on Jue's body with his blade, and combined with the wounds that penetrated his body, bright red blood gushed out like it was free.

The loss of blood made Jue feel his strength rapidly diminishing, his internal energy also fading at a horrifying pace. His face turned pale, his eyes blankly staring ahead, but everything was dim and blurred before him. He wanted to roar, but his throat felt choked, unable to produce any sound. His hands scratched weakly before finally dropping limply, occasionally twitching.

The wound on his chest spewed blood.

As if attracted by the smell of blood, the white shadow let out an excited, eerie cackle and lunged at Jue, surrounded by blue light. As it approached Jue, the white shadow's claws suddenly stretched forward. Without any flash of light, the blue light around Jue dispersed instantly, turning into tiny blue sparks and disappearing in the air, while the white shadow made a sound akin to a cheer and, with arms wide open, embraced the dazed Jue.

Despite appearing incorporeal, the moment the white shadow hugged Jue, it transformed into a white rope, tightly binding Jue. The Blood Ball connected to the white shadow made a heavy thump, shocking everyone on the mountaintop, and then the white shadow dragged the pale, blood-drained Jue toward the Blood Ball.

As Jue's body approached the Blood Ball, the intricate, vivid patterns on the Blood Ball popped out and directly penetrated the wound on Jue's chest. In a whish, the Blood Ball burrowed inside. Meanwhile, the white shadow coiled around Jue let out an eerie cackle and followed the Blood Ball into Jue's body. The blood that had previously spurted out seemed to be summoned, rising from the ground and pouring toward Jue.

Without the blue light or the support of the wind force, Jue still hung in mid-air above the stone statue, his eyes vacant, his face pallid, his body suspended midair. The wound on his chest swirled with fresh blood, as if something was moving inside. There were no cries of pain, no motions of resistance. Jue hung like a puppet in mid-air, his eyes blankly gazing into the distance.

A terrifying sound of consumption emanated from within Jue, his once-plump body withering visibly to the naked eye. In the end, he was reduced to bones with skin hanging over them, a truly grisly sight.

All of this occurred too quickly, too bizarrely. Even Sorres, who had struck Jue, couldn't help but cry out in surprise when he witnessed this scene, collapsing on the ground.

It seemed the sound attracted Jue's vacant eyes, which suddenly shifted focus. His previously tilted head slowly lowered, with eerie cracks of moving bone resonating from his body. Those dust-veiled empty eyes fixed upon Sorres, devoid of any emotion.

Being stared at as if he had seen something terrifying, Sorres let out a meaningless shriek, and immediately began crawling backward, hands pressed against the ground. Real or imagined, Sorres felt that Jue's dry visage seemed to smile at him, a smile so eerie and grim that it sent a chill through him. Yet when Sorres took a closer look, Jue's face bore no expression; the dry face held no sign of blood, and the ashen eyes were lifeless and emotionless. At this point, Jue was merely a dried corpse suspending in mid-air.

Mr. Rui's gaze never left Jue's body. When Sorres had attacked Jue, Mr. Rui had already noticed, but for some unknown psychological reason, he did not intervene. Now, witnessing Jue become a dried corpse, he still did not see what he had hoped for. Was the legend a lie? Mr. Rui began to doubt the information he obtained from the Ancient Book, but clearly now was not the time for doubts, so he cast the question aside, his gaze unwaveringly fixed on Jue. At this moment, he did not want any additional out-of-control issues to arise.

Jue, having transformed into a dried corpse, his body stripped to just bones and skin, yet, in stark contrast to his shriveled form, his chest wound was covered with intricate red patterns, the Blood Ball pulsating in Jue's heart as if it were Jue's heart itself. Each pulse of the Blood Ball added more patterns to Jue's body, slowly spreading outward along the wound.

Merely dozens of breaths later, Jue's body was covered with dense, intricate patterns, with bright red blood flowing through them, resembling veins laid over Jue's exterior.

A dried expressionless face, ashen eyes devoid of life, coupled with the vibrant red intricate patterns, Jue's appearance now exuded a chilling mystique. He remained suspended above the stone statue, those emotionless gray eyes seemed to stare intently at Sorres, as if seeing through him.

When all the patterns on Jue's body connected, a voice expressing satisfaction came from his slightly parted mouth.

This sound emerged so suddenly, and what's more terrifying was that it originated from Jue's mouth. People had known that when the Blood Ball plunged into Jue's body, his aura had vanished from the mountaintop. Yet now, he emitted a sound of satisfaction—what was going on?

Jue struggled slightly, as if unaccustomed to his current state. At his first movement, his joints emitted a cracking sound, akin to an old machine starting. It was a bizarre scene, a corpse with red patterns suspended in the air moving its joints. Jue first moved his limbs' joints, then the neck, each movement accompanied by crackling sounds.

As his joints loosened, Jue's movements became smoother, no longer like a puppet's stiff gestures. He swung an arm, twisted his waist, and although his eyes remained ashen and lifeless, his movements were no different from a normal person. If not for the intimidating red patterns on his body, Jue seemed entirely human now.

After some activity, Jue seemed quite satisfied with his physical condition, a sudden smile appeared on his dried face—a smile warped to the extreme. With those lifeless ashen eyes, he glanced once at Mr. Rui and Sorres on the ground, then slowly descended, landing steadily on the stone statue. Then, slowly opening his mouth, he took a deep breath; his once shrunken chest swelled like a balloon, the red patterns spreading hideously across his chest. The Blood Ball, initially slowly pulsating, began beating rapidly, an icy, sinister aura surging from Jue's body.

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