The next moment, the small yellow figure and the claw suddenly intertwined, and then immediately penetrated through each other, as if passing directly through.
"Jin Bao?"
Zhang Xiaoman's mind suddenly cleared, and he looked at the little yellow fellow that had tumbled a long distance away due to missing its target, finally realizing what had just happened.
Unexpectedly, the dog that had run away in fright had now returned!
However, the shadow-like demon seemed to have no physical form, as Jin Bao's recent pounce had penetrated straight through it, apparently causing no harm at all.
Zhang Xiaoman could feel the lethal threat from those terrifying claws, but he couldn't understand why Jin Bao couldn't touch it.
This thought flashed through his mind instantaneously; the current scene left no room for him to analyze further.
"Hiss hiss hiss hiss!!"
Just then, a piercing screech emanated from the shadows on the ground.
The black claw suddenly increased the frequency of its twisting, and in just the time it took to take two breaths, the black arm that was connected to the claw extended out from within.
Next, with a forceful push against the ground by that black arm, a hideous head made of a semi-transparent shadow, along with half of a body, crawled out from the shadows.
At the sight of that head, Zhang Xiaoman's mind was struck with a violent thundering, as if his entire spiritual world had been ruthlessly impacted.
He felt as if he had fallen into an endless abyss, an oppressive darkness trying to engulf him.
"Woof woof woof!!!"
The familiar barking sound rang out again; he seemed to see Jin Bao once more lunging at that shadow.
However, just like before, Jin Bao's attack missed—or rather, it once again passed through the monster's body.
It seemed that to Jin Bao, this shadow demon was as if without a physical form, untouchable.
Perhaps due to Jin Bao's repeated attacks, the monster seemed to have been provoked.
The shadow around it fluctuated, and it violently twisted its body to face Jin Bao.
Then, under the shadow demon's body, a slender shadow rapidly reached out, and in the blink of an eye, it had spread under Jin Bao's feet.
"Woof woof woof!!!"
Jin Bao also let out a series of barks, its head swinging, but its legs didn't move an inch.
Clearly, just like Zhang Xiaoman, it too was immobilized by the monster using some method.
Nevertheless, Jin Bao's effort just now had not been entirely in vain.
As the monster turned to control Jin Bao, Zhang Xiaoman suddenly felt the pressure on him lighten sharply, and his body, which he had been holding in a fixed position, seemed to move slightly.
"No, this isn't enough!"
He screamed frantically in his mind, feeling that the force binding him had loosened a bit, yet it remained firm, and he seemed unable to take action.
"Hurry! Do something! You must do something! Even if it's just moving a finger!"
His heart roared; he understood this was probably his last chance.
"Arghh!"
Zhang Xiaoman let out a series of guttural roars, and his right hand, which had been holding the Holy Water Bottle, trembled violently, the thumb that had been covering the opening now struggled to move aside, slowly moving to the bottom of the bottle.
His eyes bloodshot, he stared deadly at the monster just a step away from him.
Suddenly, he exerted force on his hand, and the thumb at the bottom of the bottle sprang off as if flicking a coin, shooting the Holy Water Bottle toward the monster in front of him.
Accompanying this action, the transparent little bottle began to spin, tumble.
The crystal-clear liquid, like the dew of spring, scattered about, twinkling under the light of the mobile phone.
In the air, a graceful trajectory slowly emerged, as the Holy Water, with the last hope of both human and dog, silently descended towards the demon ahead.
To Zhang Xiaoman, this scene was unspeakably long, much like a slow-motion masterpiece, encapsulating a breathtaking beauty.
A meter away, the monster that had already crawled more than half of its body out of the shadow seemed to sense something too.
It violently turned its head, its eyes resembling icy flames burned as it fixed its gaze on the Holy Water splashing towards it, and began to pulse violently.
However, it was all too late.
"..."
Without a sound, the small bottle penetrated the monster's translucent body and fell into the soil...
Yet, the Holy Water that was flung out drenched its body entirely!
"Sizzle..."
A sound akin to corrosion emerged from the monster's body, followed by its terrifying and ghastly screams.
"Hiss!!! Roar!!!"
"Roar!"
"Gurgle..."
"..."
Zhang Xiaoman's body regained the ability to move the instant the monster let out its miserable scream.
He suddenly fell seated on the ground, his hands immediately clamping over his ears; the monster's terrifying howls at such close quarters were unbearably painful.
Up ahead, the Shadow Demon went through a period of frantic distortion and struggle, and gradually became still and silent.
Its voice also shifted from an initial fierce roar to a barely audible gurgling.
Zhang Xiaoman saw its body continuously boiling and churning before rapidly fading and shrinking.
After a minute, the mass of shadow that was the monster was no longer visible in front of him.
On the ground, only the crudely made small bottle and a spherical object emitting a dark hue remained suspended.
"Is it... dead..."
Zhang Xiaoman slowly climbed to his feet, warily staring at the small black sphere in front of him.
The brightness around him began to return at that moment, as if the moonlight could shine through once again.
The surroundings no longer had that previous suffocating depth and had returned to the appearance of a normal night.
He felt a sensation in his heart and looked up at the sky.
The light of the stars reconvened, the invisible curtain that had blanketed the island vanished.
Everything had returned to normal, the Shadow Illusion Realm along with the demise of the Shadow monster had dissipated on its own.
"Pant, pant."
Jin Bao too recovered the ability to move, trotted to its master's side, propped itself up on its hind legs, and fervently licked Zhang Xiaoman's face with its tongue.
Although Zhang Xiaoman was annoyed that it had run around disobediently just before, the fact that the dog had come back courageously to save him in the end moved him somewhat.
"Forget it, no more dog meat hotpot, let's call it making up for your past mistakes..."
He patted Jin Bao on the head with his hand, his gaze then shifted to the Holy Water beside him.
"Who would have thought that this so-called Holy Water could actually suppress these monsters..."
The thought that the terrifying demon from just before was so vulnerable under such a small bottle of Holy Water filled his heart with a surge of awe and excitement.
Crouching down, Zhang Xiaoman reached out his right hand towards the small bottle on the ground.
There was still some Holy Water remaining in the bottle, and with regard to such a precious item, he could not bear to waste even a little bit.
However, just then, he suddenly felt a burning sensation coming from the palm of his right hand.
He quickly raised his hand to look and saw that the Seven-pointed Star Array composed of black lines on his right hand was now emitting a faint white light.