Pa -
The entire Great River was violently stirred, the light red cloak instantly shattered into countless small pieces, each forming a small clump of red-faded black ghost air.
The black shadow was instantly slapped, separating from the ancient corpse's body, revealing two heads and two agonized ghost faces. Owen Bertram seemed to hear the black shadow making an extremely mournful scream.
Before the ancient corpse raised the command token for a second time, the black shadow opened its mouth and sucked the cloak's ghost air back, breaking free from the ancient corpse and running away.
It escaped from the cave, but had no idea that the still gun essence suddenly erupted!
Since the ancient corpse used the command token, it slightly relaxed its control on the gun essence, which immediately broke free and caused a huge wave in the river.
However, the gun essence inherently possessed only a trace of spirituality, causing a somewhat scattered attack; the ancient corpse bore the brunt of the blow, while the black shadow only suffered a small portion.
Hiss -
Half of the black shadow's body melted, emitting a rotten corpse-like odor and twisting painfully. It exerted all its energy to escape to a distance.
Owen's heart swelled with joy: It's now!
Little Loach leaped out, soared over the river surface, and sucked towards the black shadow in midair!
The two avatars tonight were no small fry, and any one of them might not be easy for Little Loach to handle individually. However, both had already suffered severe damage. As soon as Little Loach appeared, the two ghost faces changed shape.
Together, they tried to break free from Little Loach's power while struggling left and right.
Little Loach was obviously struggling, but it's a qualified foodie, always adhering to the concept: I can die from overeating, but I will never pass up delicious food in front of me!
Plop -
Little Loach's huge body fell into the river, but the force of suction from its mouth continued. The funnel-shaped vortex trapped the two black shadows, and the Evil Ghost Avatars struggled fiercely to escape. Their struggle formed a bizarre scene: Little Loach sank beneath the water surface, the two Evil Ghost Avatars floated above it, and the "bond" between them was the funnel-shaped vortex of suction.
The vortex stretched from funnel shape to becoming horn-shaped...
After a stalemate, the suction suddenly disappeared, and the two black shadows staggered without noticing the small sword pill flying towards them.
A heterotext appeared faintly on the sword pill, identical to the one in Owen's eyebrows.
The heterotext emitted blue flames and, along with the sword pill, pierced through the two black shadows.
The two Evil Ghost Avatars twisted in pain for a moment, somewhat confused as to what had happened since a physical attack shouldn't cause damage to them.
However, after the sword pill struck, they felt a hole in their bodies and their power was constantly leaking from the gap.
Little Loach slapped the water with its tail and jumped out again, opening its mouth to suck in the two Evil Ghost Avatars.
The funnel-shaped vortex of suction reappeared. This time, the two Evil Ghost Avatars only managed to resist slightly before Little Loach swallowed them down.
With a loud splash, Little Loach fell into the river. The two Evil Ghost Avatars inside its belly continued to struggle for a while, but it was nothing more than a dying struggle.
Little Loach quietly swam into a pit on the riverbank, burrowed inside, and spewed out a cozy string of bubbles. It coiled up with its eyes half-closed, and laid its two soft whiskers gently on either side of its body, ready to digest its meal.
Owen was more concerned about the ancient corpse, but seeing Little Loach's current state, he refrained from urging it to hurry up and finish eating.
...
In a cave outside the village, cold wind poured in, transforming the shadows into ghost-like figures.
A twisted humanoid figure lay on the ground like a ghost, stretching its neck from time to time and emitting a low growl. Suddenly, it lay down in pain, its whole body convulsing and slowly shrinking.
"What on earth is it!?"
"It actually devoured three of my Evil Ghost Avatars!""No matter what it is, it has already been contaminated and demonically transformed by me, accepting my control. So why is it unharmed?"
It seemed like human speech, yet like ghost language, and even more so like the howling of beasts.
...
Daybreak arrived, and Owen Bertram climbed out of the burrow with his sister in his arms, comfortably stretching his tired body.
Last night, after Little Loach had digested the two Evil Ghost Avatars, a huge surge of warmth flowed in and merged into his forehead. After that, the flame of the Bronze Ancient Lamp enlarged by one circle, changing from the size of a bean to one and a half beans in size.
The warmth in his forehead and the Responsive Object should be related to the power of his soul.
So, Owen Bertram had a very comfortable sleep last night, feeling as if he had returned to his mother's womb. After waking up, he felt like he had been reborn once again.
Verna rubbed her eyes and urged him with her finger in her mouth, "Bro, let's go out quickly."
She didn't bother making breakfast, as these past two days, delicious snacks would be delivered every time her elder brother went out.
Owen Bertram smiled and tousled her hair, then left after washing up.
At the entrance of the village, Cersei Bertram stopped them: "Don't rush to go to Hunshui River today. The Howling of the Wolf and Vajra Talisman will be delivered this afternoon."
Owen Bertram's eyes lit up, but Cersei Bertram raised her hand: "Don't get too excited yet," and then refused to reveal any more information.
With nothing to do, Owen Bertram sat with Uncle and others under a low wall at the village entrance, basking in the sun and chatting.
The life of a pearl diver had never been this leisurely, so as they chatted, everyone dozed off like a cat in the sun.
Watching from a distance, Cersei Bertram and others felt a bit of sympathy in their hearts.
Owen Bertram attached his soul to Little Loach, who had grown slightly larger. However, compared to eating demon beasts and magical instruments, the growth from devouring Evil Ghost Avatars was much less noticeable.
Little Loach swam out of the cave and happily headed towards the Giant Turtle Nest.
Then, he was somewhat taken aback.
The cave had completely collapsed, and the riverbed was covered in huge radial fissures, each more than half a foot deep. They varied in length, but there was no doubt that they were caused by the force of the spear.
Owen Bertram became even more curious about the fate of the Ancient Demon Corpse.
Under his control, Little Loach swam to the top of the cave ruins, flicked its tail, and washed away the mud on the surface with a current. Then, Little Loach skillfully pushed away the huge rocks piled up in the cave.
Owen Bertram was cautious – moving a piece and then stopping for fear that a sudden ancient corpse might jump out from within the pile of rocks... it would be terrifying.
After clearing away dozens of large and small rocks, Owen Bertram finally saw the ancient demon corpse.
It was crushed at the bottom, with a clear "spear hole" in its chest – perfectly shaped and transparent!
However, the eerie sensation from the corpse hadn't entirely dissipated. Originally, that sensation could spread throughout the cave. Now, it only reached a distance of less than a yard.
There were also a few fissures emerging on the seals and tokens in its hand.
How miserable, Owen Bertram thought to himself.
The Ancient Corpse was able to seal the spear energy within its body. If it were just one spear energy, it wouldn't have ended up in such a state. It's highly likely that the explosion of the spear energy attracted subsequent attacks from the Underground Palace Iron Spear.
Little Loach swam around the corpse with excitement, its cold blue glow re-emerging from within. Little Loach made a sudden motion like a cobra, opening its mouth wide and inhaling sharply at the corpse. The funnel-shaped vortex appeared again!