"Oh, what the heck? It's a devil?" Zhang Dabiao's wrist flicked, and the Pishandao saber was already in his hand, ready to charge.
"Brother Zhang, don't be rash, wait a moment."
I stopped Zhang Dabiao, who was about to rush forward to help. He looked at me with confusion, not understanding my intentions.
"Don't act rashly yet. Do you remember what I told you about a team of Japanese Yin Masters who came here before?"
Zhang Dabiao nodded and said he remembered. "What, you suspect the devils have become Black Fiends?"
"Perhaps. After that team of devils came, all the other devils were wiped out by the Hu family. This one should be from the group that entered back then. Japanese Onmyoji might not be strong, but they have many tricks. Bai Ling'er should be able to handle it. Let's watch for now. If you act, you'll expose yourself as a living person, and if you cause the Yin souls to riot, it'll be bad."
Huang San, standing beside us, quickly nodded in agreement. "Young Master Song is right. With Yin souls and evil spirits fighting, Master Zhang shouldn't get involved. It's easy to cause a riot among the Yin souls. Besides, with Sister Bai's strength, she should have no problem dealing with a Black Fiend."
After hearing this, Zhang Dabiao pondered for a moment, then stuck his Pishandao saber into the ground and said, "Then let's wait and see. All devils deserve to die..."
Bai Ling'er, trapped in mid-air, was stunned at first. Then, a roar she had never heard before erupted from her mouth, sounding like a tiger or a leopard. A visible ripple spread outwards from her as the center.
Bai Ling'er, initially only as long as a chopstick and as thick as a thumb, rapidly expanded like she was being inflated with air as she vented her roar. In just two breaths, she grew from chopstick length and thumb thickness to the thickness of a wrist and over two meters long.
I was so astonished I couldn't speak. I had always thought Bai Ling'er was just a small "snake," but I never expected her to transform. Bathed in moonlight, her body shimmered, looking like a small dragon.
After transforming, Bai Ling'er's speed did not decrease; it increased. After breaking free from the Black Fiend's restraint, she executed a spinning back kick, and a luminous rod several times thicker than her body appeared before the Black Fiend.
Instantly, the Black Fiend turned into a meteor once more and crashed into the ground with a 'boom.' But Bai Ling'er wasn't finished. She opened her small mouth and spat out countless white lights the size of fists. They were only fist-sized when exiting her mouth but grew to the size of basketballs as they hit the Black Fiend.
The dust from the explosion formed an earth wall several meters high, spreading outwards. The sound was deafening, with a continuous hum. I estimated that this attack would surely attract the surrounding Yin souls.
But when the dust settled, there were no Yin souls around. Instead, many Yin souls were seen fleeing rapidly, as if something was chasing them.
Zhang Dabiao brushed a fallen blade of grass from his head and looked at Bai Ling'er, who was flying in mid-air, with disbelief. He asked me in surprise, "When did she get so strong? She couldn't even beat me before."
I spat out the dirt from my mouth and shook my head, indicating I didn't know when she became so strong either. Could it be that the seal placed on her by the Fifth Prince had been broken?
The large mound of earth that was visible moments ago had disappeared. The ground was level, and even many of the surrounding trees had fallen. A pit with a diameter of thirty meters, centered on Bai Ling'er, had been created.
Huang San poked his head out of the dust with difficulty, crying out in pain. I grabbed his head and pulled him out of the dirt like pulling a radish.
"Can't you be gentler? You almost tore off my old legs."
I ignored Huang San's complaint because I noticed Bai Ling'er hadn't flown back to claim credit. She remained suspended in mid-air, her eyes shooting out white light more than a foot long, staring intently at the large pit.
"No way? Could it be that the Black Fiend didn't die from such a powerful blow?"
As I was still surprised, a patch of earthy yellow light emerged from the pit. The light formed a hexagram, with a black shadow standing at each corner. One of them was the Black Fiend that had just been blasted into the dirt pile.
Damn it, it wasn't just one devil turned into a Black Fiend, but a whole group of them.
The six devils were all Black Fiends, positioned to surround Bai Ling'er. The Black Fiend that had first fought Bai Ling'er spoke again, and the other five Black Fiends responded with a "Hi" and quickly dispersed.
The six Black Fiends all opened their arms as if to embrace Bai Ling'er, simultaneously shooting black threads from their hands, forming a black hexagram that trapped her inside.
As soon as the hexagram was formed, it ignited with green flames, burning around Bai Ling'er. Bai Ling'er tried to break free, but no matter which direction she charged, the hexagram would light up with a barrier that pushed her back.
"This is bad, Ling'er is trapped. Aren't you going to act?" Zhang Dabiao asked me anxiously.
"Let's wait a bit longer."
Actually, I was more anxious than him, but I knew that the more anxious one became, the more likely mistakes were to happen. Moreover, judging by Bai Ling'er's performance, she wouldn't be in danger anytime soon.
After crashing a few times and finding she couldn't break through the hexagram formation, Bai Ling'er stopped in the center. She took a deep breath and then opened her mouth, spitting out a large beam of white light.
A chilling sensation instantly formed a layer of frost on the ground. Even the six Black Fiends were covered in a white mist. It seemed to not extinguish the green fire within the hexagram formation, but instead made the flames inside rise a notch.
"Ha... little white snake, don't bother struggling. This is our Yin Yang Master's unique hexagram formation. Once trapped inside, no one can escape. I advise you to obediently become my ghost servant!" The first Black Fiend to appear spoke broken and stiff Chinese, word by word.
"Pah! You stinking zombie, I'd rather die than let you have your way. There's no one in this world who can be my master yet!" As soon as she finished speaking, Bai Ling'er's body grew another size. Eyebrows like leaves grew above her eyes, two small bumps appeared on her head, and four small white spots appeared below her abdomen, indicating she was about to grow legs.
But then, a gray halo emerged from within her, instantly dispelling these changes in Bai Ling'er, and her body rapidly shrank. In the blink of an eye, she returned to her chopstick length and thumb thickness.
"Caw caw—"
The Black Fiend let out a crow-like laugh and said, "I didn't expect you to be a white snake about to transform into a Flood Dragon. I will definitely train you to be the strongest ghost servant of the Great Japanese Empire. Increase the output of malevolent energy. I can't wait for her to become my ghost servant."
Bai Ling'er, curled up, could only passively defend herself, sealing herself in the white mist she had just exhaled. Being refined was only a matter of time.
"Idiot, why aren't you coming to help? If you keep watching, I'm going to die."
"Act."
Zhang Dabiao, like a black panther hunting its prey, appeared behind a Black Fiend in a few leaps. The Pishandao saber in his hand gleamed under the moonlight as a large head flew off.
As he made his move, I didn't stand idle either. I formed the Heavenly Speed Seal with my hands, injecting my Xuan Yang True Qi into the Zanxin Ding given to me by Zhang Dabiao. The Zanxin Ding, shimmering with golden light, appeared at the brow of the speaking Black Fiend.
"Baka..."