A cold, piercing laugh came from every direction, impossible to trace to its source.
The temperature around them plummeted. Everyone present except Wang Lang felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar.
"Is this... ghostly aura? There was actually another ghost creature hiding here!" Master Huineng's expression changed drastically!
A black shadow swept past Zhu Dazhuang.
The shadow was like smoke and mist, without any fixed form. Only as it passed Zhu Dazhuang did it reveal a twisted ghostly face, opening a cavernous black mouth!
Crack!
The Demon Binding Cuffs shattered in response!
Zhu Dazhuang, gravely wounded and on the brink of death, did not even have time to scream before the black shadow swallowed him whole!
"What?!" Centurion Zhao was both shocked and enraged. He drew his blade and slashed at the shadow, but struck only empty air.
The black shadow flickered erratically, appearing before Zhu Erdao in the next instant.
"N-No! Don't! We're on the same team! You..." Zhu Erdao staggered back in terror.
"Same team? Hmph!" The ghostly face emerged again, its voice icy to the bone.
"Being on the same team as two pigheads like you is the shame of my hundred years as a ghost!"
"You two have already ruined the Dharma Protector's great undertaking. Even if you returned, death would be unavoidable. Better to become my nourishment."
Before the words had faded, the ghost mouth opened and swallowed Zhu Erdao as well!
Gulp... gulp...
A hair-raising sound of swallowing rose up as the black shadow began to churn and swell violently!
"It's growing stronger after devouring the two pig demons!"
Daoist Songyunzi was horrified. This was the first time he had ever seen such a ghost creature.
Jiang Wan knew she could not allow it to complete its transformation. Her longsword shot forth, Sword Qi like frost as it struck directly at the black shadow.
Yet every attack sank into the black shadow like a clay ox entering the sea, raising only faint ripples.
"It's useless... This is a Shadow Possession Ghost!"
Master Huineng was clearly vastly knowledgeable. Seeing everyone turn toward him, he hurriedly explained:
"This ghost is not formed from a dead soul, but a sinister creature of heaven and earth condensed from Yin energy. It can attach itself to the shadows of all things."
"Ordinary attacks can scarcely harm it! This poor monk had only seen records of it in an ancient tome."
Before he had finished speaking, the demonic aura of the two pig demons and the ghostly aura of the Shadow Possession Ghost had already merged completely in a bizarre manner!
"Hee hee hee... Hahahahaha!!"
A muddled sound came from within the black shadow, carrying both the snorting of pig demons and the shrill laughter of a ghost, twisted and terrifying.
The next moment, the black shadow exploded with a thunderous boom!
A gray-black cloud of mist, mixed with Yin energy and demonic aura, churned and condensed, gradually taking the form of an indescribable monster.
It stood six zhang tall, with a bloated body and two enormous pig heads, one on each side.
Between the two pig heads was an even more ferocious ghostly head.
Three heads and six eyes all glowed with scarlet bloodlight.
Four thick arms extended from its body. Two held cleavers wreathed in burning blood flames, while the other two were sharp claws formed from ghostly aura.
Its lower body had four legs, half pig hooves and half ghost feet, while several illusory tentacles writhed madly behind its back.
The ghostly head in the middle rolled its eyes and looked toward Wang Lang's group. All three mouths spoke at once, their voices overlapping in a chaotic blend:
"Did that... feel good just now?"
The pig head on the left grinned viciously. "Now..."
The pig head on the right continued, "It's our turn~"
The middle ghost head burst into laughter. "And I have to thank you for heavily injuring these two pig teammates of mine, so I could devour them smoothly..."
"To show my gratitude, I'll let you and this city become offerings to the Dharma Protector together!! Hahahaha!"
Its six-zhang body stepped forward, making the earth shake and the mountains tremble!
Jiang Wan and the others went pale and retreated one after another.
A monster like this was no longer something they could interfere with.
Hearing the ghost creature's arrogant words, thoughts raced through Wang Lang's mind.
If you can't find the book by searching its title, try searching for the author instead. It may have simply been renamed!
The other side had previously revealed that the two pig demons and this ghost creature were on the same team, and that there was some Dharma Protector behind them.
But that Dharma Protector might not be here.
Then this ghost creature, fused with the pig demons, was the final target that needed to be eliminated.
Wang Lang took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Centurion Zhao, all of you fall back."
"Leave this fiend to Wang."
Centurion Zhao, Daoist Songyunzi, and the others were all startled upon hearing this.
Jiang Wan's longsword trembled slightly in her hand. Unable to stop herself, she said, "Young Master Wang, are you planning to face this ghost creature fused with two second-rank pig demons alone?"
Before she finished speaking, Wang Lang had already stepped forward.
"Vajra Subdues Demons!" (Those who stand in my way! Soy milk destruction!)
His shout exploded like a clap of thunder.
The next moment, this street of Qinglin City was suddenly shrouded in golden radiance.
Within that light, Wang Lang's body rapidly grew, transforming into a three-zhang-tall giant Dharma manifestation.
Even more astonishingly, that manifestation sprouted three heads and six arms.
The central head bore the calm face of Wang Lang himself. The left head glared furiously, while the right head lowered its eyes in compassion.
The muscles on its six arms knotted like coiling dragons, containing majestic power.
The Town Mountain Tin Staff in his hand also enlarged with the Dharma manifestation, gripped steadily in one hand.
"Spirit Condensation Realm! Young Master Wang is actually in the Spirit Condensation Realm!" Song Yunzi cried out in shock.
Jiang Wan's beautiful eyes widened as she murmured, "This Dharma manifestation... is truly extraordinary."
But Master Huineng stared fixedly at the tin staff in Wang Lang's hand and the three-headed, six-armed Dharma manifestation, his lips trembling slightly.
"That tin staff... able to grow and shrink, it is already a Dharma treasure!"
"And this Dharma manifestation... could this be the Vajrakilaya Golden Body, the Dharma Protector form of the Wisdom King, said to exist in Buddhist legends?"
"But such an inheritance has been severed for a thousand years..."
Vajrakilaya, a Dharma Protector recorded in ancient Buddhist scriptures, was one of the Five Great Wisdom Kings.
Master Huineng had studied Buddhist texts from childhood and had always believed it to be nothing more than a legend. He had never imagined that one day he would witness it with his own eyes.
While everyone was still in shock, the arrogance of the fused ghost creature across from them had completely vanished.
A grave expression appeared simultaneously in the two pig heads' four eyes upon that twisted ghostly face.
"A human Qi Refiner of the Spirit Condensation Realm..." the middle ghost face rasped. "I underestimated Qinglin City."
But it did not retreat.
Instead, the black aura around the ghost creature became even thicker, and both pig heads let out low growls.
It had devoured two second-rank teammates. Its strength was no longer ordinary; it might not be unable to fight him.
Besides, if it fled now, it would be unable to answer to the Dharma Protector upon returning.
"Very well. Let me see just how much substance your Dharma manifestation has!"
As the words fell, the ghost creature transformed into a black shadow and pounced!
Dozens of ghastly white ghost hands stretched out from that shadow. Each hand bore black nails nearly half a foot long, tearing through the air with shrill howls.
Wang Lang's expression did not change. One arm hurled the Town Mountain Tin Staff fiercely forward, turning it into a streak of golden light that shot straight at the ghost creature's face.
At the same time, pure white radiance gathered around the fists of two other arms.
"Grand Righteous Qi! He cultivates both Buddhism's Vajra Qi and Confucianism's Grand Righteous Qi at the same time!" Centurion Zhao sucked in a cold breath.
The tin staff was like a golden meteor. In an instant, it pierced through layer upon layer of ghost hands and, with a muffled thud, nailed itself into the chest of the ghost creature's Dharma manifestation.
The ghost creature let out a miserable shriek, black aura surging as it tried to force out the tin staff.
Yet the golden light on the staff burned its body like a branding iron.
And Wang Lang had already closed in.
His six arms spun like the wind, fist shadows layering upon one another, every punch wrapped in Grand Righteous Qi.
This Qi possessed an innate suppressive power over ghost creatures. Ordinary physical attacks might have been evaded,
But under the shroud of this Grand Righteous Qi, the ghost creature's movements visibly slowed.
"Ora ora ora!"
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