The white light dissipated.
From the collapsed hollow of Great Black Mountain, the sound of tides suddenly rose.
At first, it was faint.
Then the sound surged higher, wave upon wave.
Boom-
Black seawater surged backward out of the split mountain.
The water was fathomless and dark, cold and heavy.
It was as though someone had heaved an entire deep sea up from beneath the earth.
The seawater surged into the sky.
It blotted out the sun.
A strange suction came from the water, ensnaring the black vapor, seizing the vengeful souls, and dragging the ghostly figures still fleeing toward the rift in the sky back inch by inch.
"No!"
"I don't want to go back!"
"I was only one step away!"
The evil ghosts screamed.
Some desperately crawled toward the rift.
Some reached back and tore at their own kind, throwing them into the Black Sea just to buy themselves half a breath of freedom.
Some attacked everything around them like mad, their sharp claws scraping the mountain walls.
But one sweep of the Black Sea dragged everything down.
They were swept under, sinking.
Sinking deeper.
There was no next cycle there.
Only the deep sea and deathly silence.
Two ghostly figures tumbled through the black waves, then suddenly struggled to break the surface.
They took on the appearance of the elderly couple again.
The old man did his best to maintain his kindly face.
The old woman stretched out a withered hand, her five fingers still trembling slightly, just as they had when she held out that bowl.
"Great master!"
"Save us!"
"We only want to get out!"
"We're human too!"
Sha Wujing froze.
His feet carried him half a step forward against his will.
Little White Dragon held his spear across Sha Wujing's path.
**"Junior Brother