I landed lightly on the opposite bank of the river, spun around at high speed, and leapt back with force, landing solidly on the riverbank.
I stared in disbelief at my slender hands and legs. Despite my oversized head, it didn't affect my jumping at all. After trying many times, I realized I could leap quickly, matching the Tabby Cat King and Rusty without falling behind.
"Better keep practicing. If anything goes wrong at the critical moment, it'll be trouble."
Rusty said, and John Chou nodded. He looked at me with suspicion in his eyes, while the other two had no doubts about what I said. I could only explain that, due to my instincts, maybe I'd already managed to distort the state of my soul, which was why my appearance had changed.
Now, Tabby Cat King and Rusty took their nets and went upstream to a spot with animal remains to cast them. I stopped, planning to rest for a while, and John Chou came over to my side.
"Sorry, I promised..."
"No need to say anything. Brother, you're still just as bad at hiding your feelings as before. That's good in some ways, but not so good in others. Anyway, keep practicing. Once you get used to this body, the four of us will officially start training."
I nodded and stood up, continuing to leap back and forth over the river. The method John Chou came up with was highly feasible. I really didn't know what his mind was made of. Tabby Cat King and Rusty soon returned, their nets filled with plenty of food.
When we start, we'll eat until our bodies feel no fatigue at all, then move clockwise around eight locations, repeatedly releasing Specter Webs. As soon as the ghost aura is swallowed, we'll immediately eat again. After landing, we'll run a short distance and continue.
This will create a vacuum zone about eight meters long. Every meter is a jumping point.
After eating, we began practicing. John Chou and I were on one riverbank, while Tabby Cat King and Rusty were on the opposite side. Once we staggered our positions and got ready, we started jumping.
The moment I jumped, I released a Specter Web, stripping away part of the ghost aura. As the Specter Web appeared directly in front of me, I easily consumed the ghost aura. By the time I landed on the opposite bank, I'd already retracted the Specter Web. John Chou and I turned and ran to the next two points, and after running two meters, we started jumping again.
Rusty and Tabby Cat King also completed their jumps smoothly. We practiced like this, over and over, for more than an hour. Just as John Chou predicted, the river upstream began to clog, with many floating animal and insect remains unable to flow down the river. Everything he said was completely accurate.
After more than an hour of repeated jumping, we didn't feel tired at all. The rate of ghost aura depletion was much slower than before. According to John Chou's calculations, it would take only five to six hours for the accumulated ghost aura upstream to explode. As long as the explosions kept happening, the space here would definitely change. When the explosions triggered each other, the enormous force would open a passage.
While a large number of animal remains floated downstream, we managed to gather plenty of food. I closed my eyes and started eating, swallowing everything without hesitation. John Chou had said that we could stop once we felt comfortable all over, no need to stuff ourselves.
About ten minutes later, we all stood up. Anything we hadn't finished eating, we tossed straight into the river. Once we were in position, we prepared to begin.
"We're about to start for real now. Don't let anything go wrong."
John Chou spoke. We all crouched down. John Chou held a bone in his hand, and when he raised it, the bone slowly flew toward the river. With a splash, the moment the bone hit the water, we began jumping.
The process was very slow at first. We didn't need to go too slow—the smallest vacuum creation would build up to the largest. John Chou had already explained exactly how much ghost aura to release. Everything I'd practiced in the Forest of Desire could now be put to use. As long as the amount wasn't too far off, it would work.
"Pay attention. When I tell you to release more ghost aura, do it."
We'd been jumping for more than ten minutes—everything was fine. The four of us kept leaping with all our strength, without any mistakes.
"Now! Increase the amount of ghost aura."
As John Chou spoke, we released more ghost aura with each jump. The moment the ghost aura was stripped away, we each found where our own ghost aura was, opened our mouths, and devoured it. After landing, we ran and jumped again, releasing about the same amount of ghost aura as before.
"Just a short while and so much has piled up. Looks good!"
Tabby Cat King shouted with joy. I saw it too—just over a meter upstream from us, a pile of remains had already formed, and it kept growing. The dismembered limbs completely blocked the river's surface.
The effect was outstanding. An hour had passed, and the river upstream was clogged with a huge amount of animal and insect remains, along with dismembered limbs of Starving Wraiths. More and more kept gathering at an uncontrollable rate. At that moment, I noticed something strange.
"Keep going, don't get distracted, brother."
John Chou said, and I turned back and kept jumping. Now, some animal remains on the river's surface actually began to regenerate, growing slowly. These creatures' ghost souls were already dead—though it wasn't very clear, there were indeed tiny particles in the water, probably the ghost souls of those dead wraiths. Their ghost aura would automatically gather, and when it reformed into the original ghost body, it would explode, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
This chapter isn't over yet ^.^, please click next page to continue reading!
John Chou told us to increase the ghost aura for the fourth time. The moment we landed, we released a Specter Web and also increased the amount of ghost aura.
Four hours had passed. The river was piled high with animal, insect, and Starving Wraith bodies, and these things were starting to condense. Some small insects had already begun to explode prematurely. At this point, I could sense a space ahead—once you entered, there was nothing at all, and it actually felt uncomfortable inside.
By the fifth hour, John Chou shouted. This was our fifth and final time increasing the ghost aura. Upstream, the corpses in the river began to swell.
A rumbling vibration echoed, and we kept leaping with all our strength.
"Stay alert. Don't stop until the explosions are over."
John Chou shouted, and we all nodded.
With a thunderous bang, water splashed everywhere—a violent explosion erupted to my left. Without thinking, I leapt to the opposite bank, then turned and ran to the right, jumping again as soon as I got back.
The explosions grew more intense, one after another. Powerful, massive blasts erupted across the river, sending up waves of black water. More and more explosions appeared, with bursts of black, green, and red light flashing through the underground cavern.
Shards of stone flew everywhere. I saw that many spots on the cave wall had caved in, and the rumbling continued. The moment I landed, I felt a violent tremor in the ground.
We kept releasing ghost aura, and the vacuum zone we'd created was basically set. The ghost aura upstream couldn't be carried away by the Hellstream.
The explosions kept going, and even the cave ceiling began to collapse, sending down a shower of rocks.
"Keep going."
John Chou shouted.
With another thunderous bang, a huge, multi-layered explosion echoed. Inside the vacuum, it was hard to hear the blasts—the sound simply couldn't penetrate.
By now, we could barely hear the explosions—just see the ghosts' bodies bursting apart. Cracks had formed all over the cave, and the river ahead had stopped flowing. The once-clear water was turning thick and sticky.
With a screech, I heard a sharp, piercing sound just as I landed—the river was grinding against the vacuum we'd created. The noise kept growing louder, and the water became as thick as paste.
Shards of stone and splashes of black sludge flew everywhere. The Hellstream's power grew stronger, but because of the ghost aura barrier, the Hellstream couldn't advance any farther.
With a thunderous crash, we saw the distant cavern collapsing, huge boulders falling and a wailing sound echoing through the air.
"Get ready, this place can't hold much longer."
John Chou shouted, and we kept jumping nonstop.
With a buzzing sound, I felt something hit me—almost lost consciousness for a moment—John Chou grabbed me.
"We did it. Go!"
Once we landed on the opposite bank, we rushed downstream as fast as we could, running for our lives. Behind us, a huge black gap had burst open—we could already see green outside. But now, masses of upstream animal corpses surged toward us, and the blast currents were destroying every inch of land and cave wall behind us.
We had to dodge the explosion first—once it calmed down, we'd head for the passage.
A massive rumble sounded behind us. The blast currents actually pushed us forward, letting us dash out before the rocks could hit. I hadn't felt this light on my feet in ages. But now I noticed—the river had stopped flowing.
"Something's wrong, John Chou."
Tabby Cat King shouted.