"Ugh..." A sharp intake of breath came from behind him. Without turning around, Yu Xing could pick out the siren's voice in it.
The moment the wood in his hand left the temple door, it vanished underwater like trash abandoned by time, leaving only a patch of yellow mist that quickly dissolved into the water.
A faint sigh came from somewhere unknown. Yu Xing's mind buzzed, and it felt as though he'd been struck hard with a hammer. The pain left his consciousness stalled for a moment.
That's more like it, he thought.
Only the real River Haunt could reach a state where even its breathing carried contamination. It seemed that after he'd seen through two illusions in a row, the River Haunt had given up trying to use the surroundings to stir up more fear in him.
The next second, the temple door flew open.
Yu Xing, who felt as if the scene were a perfect repeat of when he'd opened the door not long ago, instinctively dodged backward. He didn't forget to grab Ghost Wine behind him, and the two of them plowed through the water together. What reached out from the doorway was no longer a muddy hand, but a mass of white stuff, like paint, that made his skin crawl.
It had no shape. After spilling out of the temple, it spread in every direction. The branches Yu Xing hadn't yet drawn back brushed against the white sludge. The "consciousness" in them went haywire at once, and then, amid a surge of terror, they lost their connection to him, their main mind.
The branches were dead.
Yu Xing was naturally affected too. He immediately pulled the branches back and summoned black mist to keep the "poison" in the water at bay. At the same time, blood