The pressure on Ji Jue eased considerably. However, what happened next left him no time to loot equipment, so he pulled out the Soul-Summoning Bell and shook it furiously three times. 

Every hair on the craftsman of the Depths stood on end.

The Mercy Bone Blade shrieked as remnant spirits gathered around it. A warped, ghostly physician crawled out of the blood, its fingers sharpened into blades. It flickered in and out of view, passing through every physical obstruction as it emerged from the walls and the floor, clinging to the craftsman like a festering curse and attacking him relentlessly.

A hardened mercury bead fell from Ji Jue’s pocket into the mercury. From there a hollow suit of armor rose, swinging its four arms as it charged forward, weathering the slashes of the blades head-on.

That wasn’t all. Ji Jue’s hand kept reaching into his pocket, pulling out handful after handful of beads and tossing them into the mercury. Crude mercury spiders crawled from within until a dark, swarming mass charged toward the battered craftsman of the...