Meanwhile, the old man murmured incantations under his breath. A flash of light flickered across his face, and strands of dark-green spirit patterns suddenly emerged, spreading at an inconceivable speed until they covered nearly every inch of his skin. Then, as though coming alive, they began darting rapidly across the surface of his body.
From a distance, the old man appeared to be entwined by countless slender green worms—an utterly eerie sight.
At that moment, one of the other two summoned a blood-red bronze gong. The instant it was struck, every strand of his white hair stood on end, then snapped off and transformed into winged, white-scaled flying snakes that hurtled straight toward the Bone-Devouring Butterflies pursuing them from behind.
The other old man raised his hand and released a pristine white gourd. After flipping it upside down, billowing clouds of black qi surged forth, then swirled and condensed into clusters of black hands—each bearing a grotesque mouth in its palm—that shrieked and charged toward the skeletal heads on the other side.
The four groups of creatures, each appearing monstrously unnatural to outside observers, collided and immediately began tearing into one another. Dense "pfft-pfft" sounds of falling bodies filled the air in short order.
Though the black hands and the white-phosphorus flying snakes appeared fierce enough, they were clearly no match for the blood-colored skeletal heads and the bone-white butterflies. Under the onslaught of blood arrows spat from one side and rolling green flames unleashed from the other, they tumbled from the sky one after another. In no time, more than half had been destroyed.
Meanwhile, only a few dozen Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies had been scattered and destroyed under the combined assault.
With every black hand and white-phosphorus flying snake that fell, the two old men—the one surnamed Wu and his companion—couldn't help but twitch, their faces twisted with bitter pain.
Yet when they saw that every last grotesque hand and flying snake had been wiped out, and the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies surged toward them once more, their expressions grew solemn beyond measure.
The two exchanged a glance, and one of them let out a mighty roar. Behind him, the illusory shadow of a colossal, octopus-like creature materialized and lunged into his body. With a sharp hissing sound, over a dozen tentacles erupted from his form.
Each tentacle was over ten zhang long, its surface covered in dark-green runes. A single strike could send entire swarms of Blood Spirits flying.
Facing the Bone-Devouring Butterflies, the old man on the other side flicked a finger. His already several-inch-long fingernails straightened like small knives, and he slashed them through the air toward his own shoulder.
A flash of blood-red light!
An arm detached and fell away, then detonated on its own, transforming into a shower of minced flesh that floated before him.
Next, his other hand tore his robe open, revealing seven or eight enormous, vicious-looking insect tattoos engraved upon his chest.
No one knew what secret technique the old man had secretly activated, but after the tattoos blazed with brilliant light, they tore free from his skin one by one, each transforming into a terrifying insect ten zhang in size. They immediately devoured all the flesh before them.
A cold gleam flashed in the old man's eyes as he ruthlessly activated his secret technique.
Instantly, the massive insects contorted and twisted. Not only did rows of silver spines sprout from their bodies, but their surfaces turned resplendent with golden light, as though they had been forged from indestructible vajra. Then, hissing and shrieking, they charged to meet the Bone-Devouring Butterflies.
Every time those tentacles struck, the runes across their surfaces flickered wildly, letting out peals of thunderous sound—so powerful they seemed capable of shattering the void itself.
Clearly, these were their trump-card abilities, and for the moment they managed to hold back the Blood Spirits and the Bone-Devouring Butterflies.
Meanwhile, under the protection of the other two, the dark-green spirit patterns on old man Yu's body intertwined and condensed, forming an extraordinarily bizarre image of an eight-armed demon that spread across every part of his body. He looked as though he were draped in a layer of green demonic skin—an utterly terrifying sight.
Suddenly, the old man let out a great shout. Countless green threads erupted from his body and instantly wrapped around him, forming a massive cocoon that began spinning wildly.
Wailing and howling immediately erupted from within the cocoon.
Then the formation below began to hum and buzz ceaselessly, belching out billows of dark-green demonic qi.
With a resounding "bang," the cocoon in the green mist burst apart, and from within emerged an eight-armed demon with a green face and fanged teeth.
The demon towered to an extraordinary height, its features unspeakably hideous, its skin suffused entirely in green. As its tightly shut eyes slowly opened, they flickered with an intensely sinister green glow.
The other two old men seemed to be struggling against the onslaught of the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies. One had nearly half his tentacles corroded by the Blood Spirits, transforming into pools of blood in midair. The other had most of his enormous insects devoured by the Bone-Devouring Butterflies.
But the moment the two saw the eight-armed green demon appear, joyous expressions broke across their faces. They retracted their techniques and what remained of their insect constructs simultaneously and shot toward their companion's side.
With no opponents left to contend with, the Blood Spirits and Bone-Devouring Butterflies surged in from both flanks, preparing to surround all three with menacing intent.
At this moment of extreme peril, the green demon finally made its move.
Its eight arms moved in a flash, bringing all four palms on each side to bear simultaneously.