The aura of the dying Gray-White Giant Eel before Yi Yang was actually rising.
Yi Yang's fist remained suspended in midair. He narrowed his eyes to slits, staring at the golden light shining from the creature's two mung-bean-sized eyes.
Something was wrong.
He had clearly beaten the thing half to death. Half its skull had caved in. By all rights, one more punch should have finished it.
Yet now, some change he couldn't understand was taking place in the Gray-White Giant Eel. Bathed in golden light, its collapsed skull began swelling back into shape, its shattered scales knit together again, and even the neck he had crushed out of shape was recovering its original thickness.
Its aura was still climbing.
What the hell is going on? Yi Yang cursed inwardly.
He didn't know where this power came from, nor did he want to. But years of life at the bottom had taught him one thing-when faced with something you couldn't understand, don't try to understand it first. Kill it first.
A creature already beaten half to death suddenly recovering and even growing stronger was no good omen in any story.
Yi Yang hesitated no longer. Since his attacks couldn't kill the creature outright, he would try another method.
He released his grip on the eel's neck and retreated twenty feet, putting some distance between himself and the "reviving" Giant Eel.
Then he closed his eyes. Sensing Yi Yang's intent, the nine-foot-tall Golden-Furred Giant Ape in his Sea of Consciousness opened all three eyes, brilliant golden light blazing in its pupils.
A force of Divine Sense, condensed to the utmost, transformed into an invisible sledgehammer, crossed the boundary between reality and illusion, and smashed viciously into the Giant Eel's Sea of Consciousness.
For some unknown reason, however, the Sea of Consciousness