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The young man in black and the Lean Tiger and Fat Dragon brothers were gradually losing ground, looking utterly disheveled. Suddenly, Shawn Young darted out from the corner with a loud shout, startling all three of them.
"Hey—did you see that? These rats are terrifying! Better back off, or you'll lose your life!" The young man in black hurriedly warned Shawn.
"Step aside, you won't be able to kill them all like this. These are Marsh Rats—leave it to me!" As Shawn spoke, he planted his feet and activated his Heavenly Gang Pure Qi. The three in the alley quickly brushed off the rats clinging to them and rushed behind Shawn. Just as they reached him, Shawn overlapped his hands, thumbs pressing against middle fingers, slightly bent, and formed the 'Vastness Seal.' He swiftly chanted: "Heaven is round, earth is square, foul air disperses, divine power from all directions, let me be natural, expel evil, bind spirits, earth vastness, divine fire soldiers, hurry as the law commands—grant!"
Immediately, he flicked his middle fingers toward the alley—"Whoosh—whoosh—" Two bright yellow beams of light surged from his hands, transforming into rolling golden mist that quickly spread, sweeping over the rats on the alley floor. Wherever the golden mist passed, the frenzied rats were struck, instantly petrified, turning into lumps of yellow earth. In no time, all the densely packed rats in the alley were immobilized.
The two streams of swirling mist shot toward the lifted manhole cover at the alley entrance, condensing into a golden cloud. At Shawn's clear shout, the golden cloud enveloped the shattered stone wall beside the manhole. The ancient carved runes on the wall reformed and then sank into the open sewer entrance—"Boom!" With a muffled bang, a strange scene appeared—the rampaging demon rats stopped emerging, sealed once more below the sewer.
Shawn flipped his hands, stowed away the spell, exhaled, and said, "Alright! The Five Elements Vast Earth Seal has temporarily held!"
Seeing Shawn take control and halt the rat disaster, the young man in black and the Lean Tiger & Fat Dragon brothers watched in awe. The black-clad youth stepped up to Shawn, scrutinizing him with razor-sharp eyes before speaking: "Thank you for your help, brother. I am Ken Lin, Captain of Team Three, National Paranormal Task Force. May I ask which prestigious sect you hail from? For someone so young to wield such masterful magic—impressive! Truly impressive!"
"Uh—I'd rather not say," Shawn replied, not intending to reveal the origin of his skills.
"Oh! That's fine, I won't press you. But our National Paranormal Task Force is a Category Six unit—the strongest out there! Not only do we have excellent benefits, but also supreme honor and unimaginable authority. Today, on behalf of the Task Force, I invite you to join us. With your extraordinary skills, you’re no ordinary talent. If you join our nation's strongest secret organization, you’ll surely shine and achieve great things!" Ken Lin said earnestly.
"Oh—I'm not interested for now, I've got my own things to take care of—" Shawn refused directly, but didn't shut the door completely. After all, Ken Lin was from the National Paranormal Task Force, backed by the state—Shawn couldn't afford to offend him.
"Oh! Well, alright then! You really helped us out big time. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to clean up this mess, haha—" Ken Lin was tactful, knowing most people with special skills disliked being controlled. As long as they didn’t threaten national or public safety, the Task Force wouldn’t bother them, but would keep a special file just in case.
"Uh—those demonized rats were just minions. The real boss is still down there—it's a Millennial Blackblood Marsh Rat that was sealed here in ancient times! Looks like it's been cultivating for at least a thousand years! I just temporarily resealed it with the Grand Five Elements Earth Seal, but the original seal was somehow broken. That let the monster secretly absorb a lot of human life force to strengthen itself. Who knows how powerful it is now? If it breaks free again, things will get way worse—" Shawn changed the subject.
"Ah—a Blackblood Marsh Rat! A water-type demon spirit! No wonder I couldn't handle them—We got a tip that the sewers here were being remodeled, and then creepy stuff started happening. Right under this cold storage, we found a dozen human skeletons—not murdered, but gnawed to death by animals. The department sent me over, and these two partners came to help, but we still couldn't figure it out. Almost messed everything up! If you hadn't shown up, we'd have lost face big time—" Ken Lin laughed awkwardly.
"Damn, so it's a thousand-year-old rat demon! No wonder it's so tough—just its offspring nearly had us running for our lives. Good thing this young bro stepped in, or we'd be streaking outta here—" Fat Dragon Zhu, his clothes in tatters, spoke with lingering fear. He and Lean Tiger Geng hadn’t recognized Shawn, since he had disguised himself using Rain Han’s Thousand Faces technique.
Lean Tiger Geng asked, "So the thousand-year-old rat demon isn't dead yet—what do we do now?"
Shawn thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Marsh Rat—water nourishes, earth depletes, king among rats! Lives beneath ice, both male and female, gathers rats when pregnant, loves eating people, uses human blood to feed its young! This Blackblood Marsh Rat was sealed here by ancient masters, and after all these years of cultivating, it’s much stronger now. The Grand Five Elements Earth Seal looks like it was deliberately sabotaged—no idea by who, but it’s seriously malicious! We don’t have clues or time to investigate. If that rat breaks free again, the whole city is doomed! While it’s breeding, it needs human blood more than ever—"
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"Ah! You mean—someone let this monster out on purpose?" Ken Lin frowned.
"That's right. The Grand Five Elements Earth Seal was forged from ancient five-colored earth, super tough and cleverly anchored below. Unless someone broke it on purpose, it wouldn't have shattered like that!" Shawn said firmly.
"Damn, which bastard did this? What the hell was their motive?!" Ken Lin asked worriedly.
"Uh—I haven't figured that out yet, but whoever it was, they're bad news. Only someone practicing dark arts would do something so twisted! But we don't have time to chase down who did it. Let's deal with the monster first!" Shawn said.
"Oh! Okay! Then let's not waste time. We'll call for backup and go down there to wipe it out!" Ken Lin said.
"Wait—if you do that, it'll get spooked. It's still a rat, and these sewers are a maze, all connected. If too many people go down, it'll escape, and then we'll never find it!" Shawn said quickly.
"Uh—good point. So, brother, how do you think we should handle it?" Ken Lin asked.
"The monster won't leave right away. First, let's clear out the rat corpses and seal this place off. We need to prep some stuff, then lure it out and kill it!" Shawn said.
"Alright, we'll do as you say. Honestly, I can't handle that thing by myself. Let's team up and finish it off—" Ken Lin said, pulling out his phone to make a call.
Soon, two military trucks arrived. Soldiers from the armed police unit got out with tools, loaded all the rat corpses from the alley onto the trucks—enough to fill one—and drove off. Then the soldiers sealed off the scene.
Meanwhile, Shawn teamed up with Ken Lin and the Lean Tiger & Fat Dragon brothers to get ready—going out to buy the supplies Shawn listed on a checklist.