Wen Ning said nothing and turned to look at the Howling Celestial Dog. The Howling Celestial Dog leaned against the temple doorway with his arms folded, his expression grim. He met Wen Ning's gaze and nodded.
Wen Ning glanced at Lu Ming and Feng Dema as well. Both stood quietly at the back.
Feng Dema pressed his lips together, his eyes still stinging. Lu Ming's face was somber, and he gripped his backpack strap tightly.
Wen Ning turned back to Wang Jin.
"You've been crouching here for over a decade. If you want Mingzhu to be all right, we have to get rid of that thing underneath first."
Wang Jin's figure trembled.
"Can you get rid of it?"
"We'll try."
Wen Ning turned, walked to the middle of the temple, and crouched down, pressing his palm against the ground in front of the clay statue.
The earth was cold and hard, carrying a stale dampness. He closed his eyes and extended his senses down through the ground.
The thing beneath them was weak, so weak he could barely detect it.
But it was there. Directly beneath the clay statue, roughly three or four feet down, a mass of murky gray energy huddled into a ball. Like Wang Jin, it was barely clinging to life.
Wen Ning opened his eyes, stood, and brushed the dirt off his hands.
"It's underneath. Not deep, but we'll have to dig it up."
The Howling Celestial Dog came over, crouched down to probe as well, then stood and brushed off his hands.
"I'll do it. Back when my master and I wiped out the Five-Power God, this thing slipped through the net. Today, I'll finish the job."
He walked over to the clay statue and pushed it aside.
The waist-high clay statue was already battered