We stopped once the swamp's check-in station was in sight. "Uh-oh," said Xiao Min, "compared to when we were here before, the Demon Energy ahead has decreased dramatically."
"That's a lot stronger evidence for a Demonic Beast being imminent than before, I'd say," said Huaizhong, "depending how long this stage has been going on, we may not have a choice but to deal with it after it finishes the transformation.
Yuansu Suzhen turned to the four humans to explain. "The demon energy level suddenly going down this much means it's being drawn into something, and that's exactly what happens when an Ascended Beast reaches the final stage of transforming into a Demonic Beast. It can take hours or days…but we've been gone for days."
