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"Ah—!" Yvette Liu and Jenny Choi were already so terrified that their faces lost all color. They were shaking all over and could barely walk.
"Quick, hide behind me!" Shawn Young hurriedly stood up and shouted.
As he shouted, Shawn Young reached out and pulled the two girls behind him. He had just turned around and freed his hands when two ghouls at the front, their mouths oozing black slime and making creepy 'grrk grrk—' noises, lunged at him with clawed hands. Shawn could even smell the disgusting stench of rotting corpses coming from their mouths!
In a panic, Shawn didn't have time to form a hand seal or cast a spell. Without hesitation, he channeled his true energy into his legs and kicked out twice, each kick packed with raw force. His feet landed squarely on the ghouls' bellies—"thud—thud—" with two muffled booms, sending them flying several meters away!
But to his surprise, the two ghouls just rolled on the ground and then got up again, continuing to howl and charge at Shawn!
Shawn's heart tightened, and he felt a chill run down his spine. Those two powerful kicks were packed with true energy and easily carried over a thousand pounds of force—if they'd hit normal people, their spines would have snapped. But these ghouls acted like nothing happened at all. Their defense was freakishly tough!
Before he could think any further, the lead ghoul opened its mouth—"Pfft!"—and spat a jet of foul, black saliva at him. Shawn quickly retreated several steps, barely dodging it. The black liquid splattered on the ground, writhing and suddenly transforming into a swarm of scattered Nether Wyrm larvae! Creepy as hell!
Shawn was shocked. He instantly realized—these three ghouls were hosts controlled by the Nether Wyrm, and on this night of the full moon, it was their prime hunting time!
At once, Shawn focused his mind, interlaced his hands, thumbs touching and the other eight fingers locked together, forming the Lightning Seal. He gathered all his Celestial Essence into his palms, channeling his strongest power, and rapidly chanted: "Starshift Supreme, cosmic cycles turn, six senses spin, thunder shakes the heavens, Supreme Dao Master, Heavenstrike from nine realms, gather to my form, by law and command—Break!"
Then, with a flip of his hands, a surge of divine power rose from his Second Sight, and a burst of intense blue light shot out from his body, enveloping him completely. In an instant, Shawn was wrapped in swirling blue lightning, his hair and clothes billowing wildly, looking like the god of thunder incarnate. As he shouted, two dazzling spheres of lightning formed in front of his chest and shot out—
"Boom! Boom!" With two thunderous explosions, the two ghouls at the front were blasted apart, their bodies torn to shreds and limbs flying everywhere. The black liquid from their hollowed-out, Nether Wyrm-infested organs splattered all over the ground!
This spell was the mighty Heavenstrike Invocation—its spherical lightning was insanely powerful and drained a ton of energy. Luckily, Shawn had just broken through his Celestial Essence limit; otherwise, he couldn't have cast it at all.
The last remaining ghoul saw things going south and twisted around to flee—moving shockingly fast! Looks like the Nether Wyrm controlling these ghouls left them with a bit of human cunning.
Shawn dashed after it, ready to fire off another Heavenstrike Invocation and finish the job. He'd barely sprinted a few meters when Yvette Liu and Jenny Choi's screams rang out behind him. He stopped in surprise and turned to see the two girls trembling and hugging each other, pointing at the pile of mangled flesh and black corpse fluid on the ground.
Shawn rushed back to check. The scattered, not-quite-dead Nether Wyrm larvae were writhing and struggling, gathering together like a tide, crawling straight toward the girls—clearly hunting for new hosts to infest!
Shawn dashed over in a flash and said, "You two, get back—leave this to me!"
"Oh—oh—" the girls stammered and hurriedly backed away. Shawn flicked a drop of blood from his bitten left middle finger onto the ground ahead. Instantly, the remaining Nether Wyrm larvae sensed the yang energy in the blood and swarmed toward it!
Taking advantage of the moment, Shawn slid his left palm forward, traced a 'Z' pattern with his right hand in front of his chest, then pressed both palms together at his chest and spun his body. Pale blue lightning snaked around him. With a roar, he flung his palms wide: "Break!!"
A ball of dazzling lightning arced down, crackling as it struck the ground and swept over the clustered Nether Wyrm larvae. As the electricity sizzled, acrid black smoke billowed up, and those tenacious little monsters burst one after another, vanishing into ash in seconds!
"All right! We're safe for now—" Shawn Young withdrew his power and let out a breath, then turned to the girls.
But he quickly noticed Yvette Liu and Jenny Choi staring at him, utterly dumbfounded. Then Jenny suddenly asked, "Am I dreaming? Are you some kind of demon-slaying master!?"
Shawn was taken aback. In the heat of the moment, he'd used Daoist arts that looked totally freaky to normal people. He waved his hands to hush them, then made up an excuse: "It's just a family Daoist technique—never thought I'd actually need it today. Don't get too worked up."
"Wow—Daoist magic! Shawn, you were absolutely amazing just now—so cool!" Yvette Liu's eyes sparkled as she rushed over, hugged Shawn's neck, and planted a big kiss on his cheek, beaming with joy. "Hehe—you're my protector now, okay?"
"Uh—mister—there's still one that got away!" Jenny Choi said, blushing as she watched.
"Oh—I'll go chase it down right now!" Shawn replied, then turned and sprinted toward the riverbank.
When he reached the riverbank, the last ghoul was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a trail of messy footprints in the grass. Shawn followed the tracks and realized the ghoul had escaped into the water—he had no idea where it had gone!
But Shawn soon noticed, in a tangled clump of grass by the river, two people lying there. As he got closer, he saw it was Vivian Wei and another girl—both soaking wet, eyes shut, and faces deathly pale. Shawn quickly knelt to check their breathing, only to find they'd already stopped breathing—dead!
A chill ran through Shawn. He turned over the two bodies for a closer look—the backs of their necks were bloody, with the big arteries by their spines ripped out. But Shawn quickly saw that, aside from a small puddle of blood in the grass, there wasn't much blood at all. He instantly realized—the escaped ghoul must've drained all their blood before fleeing into the water!