493: Insufficient Holy Power

Wind Jade and the others also walked behind Xiao Zhuo, whispering their feelings.

Soon, only Xiao Zhuo and Aunt Hua remained around the altar.

The slowly dissipating dark red light dyed the altar with a faint red edge, making it appear even more ancient and desolate.

All the offerings had been consumed.

Aunt Hua had presided over the half-day awakening ritual, yet her face showed no signs of weakness from exhausted immortal power or Mental Energy, but the heavy aura of twilight on her seemed to grow even denser.

Xiao Zhuo looked at her quietly and suddenly spoke, "Senior, the price for activating that God-bestowed altar isn't the offerings, but yourself, isn't it?"

Aunt Hua slowly turned her head, her deep eyes gazing at Xiao Zhuo, then she suddenly parted her lips, revealing a gaunt yet remarkably calm smile with almost no teeth visible: "This old body has clung to life until now, guarding this place, waiting for this very moment. To serve the Holy God's legacy with my body and guide the true power of the Holy God to descend is the greatest honor and destiny for us Spirit Shaman priests. What price is there to speak of?"

Her tone was calm, yet it carried a devotion and fanaticism akin to a pilgrim, a magnanimity that had long since cast aside life and death.

Xiao Zhuo fell silent, then solemnly bowed deeply to this seemingly withered old priest.

Regardless of her motive, this resolve and dedication were worthy of his bow.

Aunt Hua accepted his bow calmly, then pointed her bone staff at the highest, most ancient, and most central circular stone platform on the altar, which was covered with countless unidentifiable ancient runes.

"Go up, child. Stand in the position of the Holy God's Eye."

Xiao Zhuo took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and stepped onto the altar, eventually standing in the center of that circular stone platform.

The moment his feet landed, the entire altar emitted a buzzing sound completely different from before; it was no longer the greed of drawing blood and flesh, but a deep and magnificent resonance of something that had slept for eons and was finally awakened.

Aunt Hua stood below the altar, holding her bone staff high with both hands. Her body began to glow, no longer the light of the altar, but the burning radiance of her life Origin!

She began to chant.

This time, the sacrificial text was no longer an obscure ancient language, but a celestial melody closer to the Origin of the Dao, as if billions of runes were spontaneously combining and colliding!

Each syllable that sounded caused the Void Realm to vibrate, and the ancient runes carved on the altar lit up one by one, like a star map being ignited!

The entire altar began to undergo astonishing changes!

The massive black stone blocks seemed to come alive, slowly moving, rotating, and recombining! The structure of the altar began to rise, becoming steeper and more complex. Stone pillars ascended from the edges, their tops glowing with brilliant energy crystals, and beams of light shot out, weaving and constructing an incredibly complex, colossal three-dimensional Spirit Group structure in the air above Xiao Zhuo's head!

Xiao Zhuo had never seen this Spirit Group structure before, yet he felt a sense of familiarity and stirring from the depths of his Soul!

It was perfect, powerful, and contained the profound truth of creation!

Meanwhile, Aunt Hua's body, in this grand and solemn ritual, was withering at a visible rate. Her vitality, her Soul, her everything was burning, transforming into the purest sacrificial offering, merging into the altar, and flowing into the massive Spirit Group in the air!

"Holy God... protect my... Spirit Clan..."

She uttered one last barely audible prayer, and her entire being seemed to turn into light, completely dissipating on the spot, leaving only the bone staff clattering to the ground.

Boom!!!

The moment Aunt Hua dissipated, the colossal Spirit Group structure in the air suddenly solidified, then, like a falling galaxy, it crashed down onto Xiao Zhuo below!

At the same time, the circular stone platform beneath his feet—the Holy God's Eye—erupted with unprecedented brilliant light!

A pure, sacred, ancient, and immense energy, seemingly containing a trace of the Origin power that creates realms, mixed with a faint aura of Origin, surged into Xiao Zhuo's body like a bursting flood!

"Uh ah—!"

Xiao Zhuo couldn't help but let out a long howl, his body shaking violently!

Inside him, the three thousand Spiritual Root Runes condensed from Divine Thought, at this moment, vibrated and shone madly at an unprecedented frequency!

The torrent formed by the Fusion of holy power and Origin power violently yet precisely washed over each rune, cleansing, refining, and sublimating it!

Then, it propelled them, no longer illusory projections, but transforming into tangible, ancient imprints shimmering with a chaotic hue, one after another, fiercely imprinting themselves into his limbs, internal organs, Meridians, acupoints, and even every inch of his skin, every strand of hair!

Unprecedented pain and an unprecedented sense of power erupted simultaneously!

Outside the altar, the weather changed dramatically, and the entire hazy sky seemed to be stirred by this sudden sacred power, forming a gigantic vortex!

Terrifying phenomena swept out from the altar's center!

Vast holy power and Origin power poured into Xiao Zhuo's body like a celestial river reversing its flow, causing his three thousand Spiritual Root Runes to tremble violently and imprint themselves deep into his immortal body.

One, ten, a hundred... Chaos-colored runes lit up like stars, appearing continuously on his body surface and even within his immortal body, exuding an ancient and powerful Dao rhythm.

His aura climbed at an astonishing speed, and his immortal body hummed under the washing of this power, as if undergoing a deep transformation.

However, good times did not last long.

When the one thousand one hundredth rune was successfully activated and deeply imprinted into the immortal body, initially combining with flesh, bone, and even Divine Soul, the surging torrent of holy power suddenly became insufficient!

It was like a rushing river suddenly encountering a dry riverbed; the flow drastically decreased, transforming from towering waves into a weak stream, and it was still rapidly diminishing.

Xiao Zhuo immediately noticed this abnormal change.

He inwardly observed himself, only to see that the brilliant flow of light representing holy power had become thin and dim, no longer able to propel the Spiritual Root Runes that had yet to be activated.

The remaining twenty thousand-plus runes still lay dormant deep within the immortal body's Origin, like dust-covered stars, yearning but unable to receive enough power to awaken them.

"How could this be?" Xiao Zhuo was startled, fully operating his Cultivation Technique, attempting to absorb actively, but the holy power transmitted from the altar was already depleted.

Finally, the last faint wisp of holy power integrated into his body, activating the one thousand one hundred and twenty-seventh rune, before completely ceasing.

The grand Spirit Group phantom above the altar let out an unwilling hum and slowly dissipated.

The moving megaliths returned to their original positions, the raised stone pillars sank, and the altar reverted to its original ancient and deathly silent appearance, as if the earth-shattering phenomenon had never occurred.

Only the more than one thousand Spiritual Root Runes slowly fading on Xiao Zhuo's body proved that everything that just happened was real.

In the center of the altar, where Aunt Hua had originally stood, an extremely faint Divine Soul phantom, as if it could dissipate with the wind at any moment, slowly condensed.