In the white light, the South Sea Taoist was immobile, as if struck by a Body-Stabilizing Talisman. His long, slender arms were being assimilated by the light. A phantasmal hand reached into the radiance, attempting to remove the flower-face mask from his head.
Just as the phantasmal hand was about to touch the mask, the space around it distorted, forcing the hand into a solid state. It then aged with incredible speed, becoming covered in blemishes in the blink of an eye. It withered into a skeletal hand before crumbling to dust on a sudden gust of wind.
"I never thought you'd actually manage to fuse with it. Too bad you're still so useless!"
A voice drifted from the east side of the white light, and a figure materialized. It was Guan Xi of the Jimin Association. His right arm was severed at the elbow, the blood staining his long robes. At the wound, however, a fleshy growth was writhing, as though a new arm was regenerating.
