The stone carving hit the ground and grew larger. The deformed beast let out a low growl at the white-haired old man.
The old man was terrified. The ghost infant on his shoulder suddenly looked sinister, its ugly face scrunched up. Its mouth opened in a wail, baring sharp teeth, and it lunged to bite the stone carving.
To everyone's surprise, the stone beast couldn't withstand a single bite and shattered with a crash. Chunks of stone scattered across the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
The white-haired old man felt the pressure around him lift and stumbled backward several steps. He shouted,
"Sister Xue, what are you doing?"
As he yelled, he glanced over his shoulder. The young master was standing right where he'd been, apparently unsurprised and with no intention of stepping in.
Damn it!
The white-haired old man cursed inwardly. The young master was waiting to see what happened to him.
He'd known it. Sister Xue had raised the young master for a time when he was little. No matter what, they were on the same side. After seeing through his little scheme, the young master was surely just waiting for Sister Xue to finish him off!
He couldn't count on the heartless young man. The white-haired old man could only turn his attention back to Sister Xue, whose condition was strange, and focus on keeping his guard up.
Strange. Far too strange.
Sister Xue being alive was strange, her current state was strange, and the stone carving shattering with one bite from the ghost infant was stranger still. That was a stone beast from the Town Stone school, as heavy as a hill. How could it be so fragile?
Unless the person using the Town Stone method couldn't control the stone, causing the technique to fail.