The moment he made his decision, the animal-hide cloak on Fan Gan's shoulders vanished, and his strange, ever-shifting appearance dissipated with it.
His aged features finally appeared before the Filth-Taint Spirit.
Target locked!
Countless eyes opened within the mist, seething and shifting.
His aura was clearly feeble beyond measure, yet those faintly amused eyes instinctively made the Filth-Taint Spirit hesitate. It once again demanded analysis and observation from the Myriad Text House within it.
And so, amid the circulation of countless chaotic phenomena, a new conclusion emerged:
[Physical deterioration, impure Spiritual Substance, incomplete qualitative transformation, and an aura as weak as an infant's. Those old arms and legs have no strength at all. Too weak. Absolutely no threat whatsoever. You're guaranteed to win. Charge without fear]!
It grinned soundlessly, ravenous and frenzied.
Without a second thought, it pounced.
Following the countermeasure developed by the Myriad Text House, the amorphous, writhing mist once again assumed the form of a young girl. Eyes lowered and smiling, it approached its original archetype from the inside out, bypassing the alchemy aimed at it.
But immediately afterward, Fan Gan gave a cold laugh. His body shrank, his white hair turned black, and he became a small child, raising a slingshot to take aim.
Manifesting as Cupid from The Golden Ass, he attacked the girl. Unfortunately, the slingshot held not a golden arrow, but an utterly ordinary pebble!
Before the incoming pebble, the girl abruptly took root, transforming in an instant into a bizarre dead tree that blotted out the sky...
Flames, mire, venomous snakes, flowers...
Within a few brief moments, both sides repeatedly altered their essence and manifestation to counter the other's changes. Countless urban-legend forms and source texts switched in an instant, transformations cascading one after another. Inverse Scale, shoved aside, could