"Junior Brother."
Though Xiang Mantang had already learned from Jian Ruyan that Mu Jinyu had awoken, the sight of him lively and bouncing about still filled her with an irrepressible joy.
Had it not been for her current odd condition, she might have rushed over to embrace him in her excitement.
"Ah-Xiang, you are... all right now?"
Mu Jinyu suddenly thought of the strange shadows Xiang Mantang had just used, which were exactly the scenes from the video Jian Ruyan had shown him, where darkness had eroded an entire village.
But at that time, it had clearly been out of control, and it was about to spread globally; now it seemed that Xiang Mantang had completely mastered it.
"Yes, for now, I am all right,"
Xiang Mantang said with a light laugh, not wishing to discuss her condition further.
Then, she walked to the school gate with Jian Ruyan at a leisurely pace.
"Dragon Master."
Jian Ruyan nodded slightly to Mu Jinyu, greeting him with a smile that, possibly due to the recent reunion with Xiang Mantang, lacked her usual cold pride.
She seemed more like the girl next door, brimming with youthful cheer.
Mu Jinyu felt a myriad of emotions upon seeing this and greeted her with a smile as well.
"Amitabha, thank you Practitioner Xiang for your timely rescue,"
At this moment, Sheng Rulai also came to his senses, pressed his hands together, and thanked Xiang Mantang.
Although grateful, Sheng Rulai, too, remembered the fearsome power Xiang Mantang had just used, which had devastated everything at the site of the incident, so he felt somewhat wary of her.
Reinhardt felt the same and was quite unhappy with Xiang Mantang, the primary culprit.
However, given that circumstances were beyond his control for now, his displeasure had to remain unspoken; otherwise, if he dared to accuse Xiang Mantang outright, he wouldn't fare well if things turned hostile.
Xiang Mantang nodded to them tepidly and, as she approached, noticed Mu Jinyu's condition and couldn't help but frown slightly with a soft "hmm?"
"Junior Brother, what's this...?"
She had detected something off about Mu Jinyu's face, which seemed similar to some of the demon-controlling wrongdoers they had come across, wreaking havoc wherever they went.
Xiang Mantang did not understand why Mu Jinyu would end up like this.
But she wouldn't let him continue in this state.
Without another word, Xiang Mantang's expression darkened as she uttered a soft command. The shadow behind her carefully extended its arms, stretching out swiftly toward Mu Jinyu's face.
Sheng Rulai and Reinhardt, startled by Xiang Mantang's sudden action, feared she might be compromised like Le Le had been and were about to confront her when they realized her target didn't include them but was solely aimed at Mu Jinyu.
Their movements hesitated, unsure what to do.
In that brief moment of hesitation, Xiang Mantang, controlling the ghostly shadow, had already reached close to Mu Jinyu with her dark shadowy arms.
Although Mu Jinyu reacted, knowing Xiang Mantang meant him no harm and curious about what she intended, he didn't dodge.
Thus, the shadow arms controlled by Xiang Mantang gently touched Mu Jinyu's facial skin.
"Ah!!"
The Shadow Ghost Hand touched his face, and Mu Jinyu immediately felt a burning sting on his face, as well as those two ghostly apparitions, which had calmed down, beginning to squirm restlessly, eager to awaken. Mu Jinyu couldn't help but cry out.
But he still restrained himself and did not flee, continuing to stand his ground, enduring the pain that felt like being flayed.
"Hmph, still trying to resist!"
Xiang Mantang noticed that the two Ghost-Faced Demons on Mu Jinyu's face, sensing his intentions, were frantically trying to burrow into Mu Jinyu's face, rushing into his body. He couldn't help but sneer.
The Shadow Ghost Hand then increased its strength, seeping into Mu Jinyu's face, and, in one fell swoop, grabbed hold of the two ghost faces and violently tore them off!
"Chila!"
With a light tearing sound, Sheng Rulai and Reinhardt watched in horror as the two ghostly faces were ripped from Mu Jinyu's face by the Shadow Ghost Hand, controlled by Xiang Mantang.
One appeared to smile but didn't, its mouth corners twisted into a chilling cold smile, while its eyes were stained with tear marks, as if it were crying.
The other was a Faceless Ghost Mask, with no features visible at all.
"Chila!"
With another sound like tearing cloth, the two frantically struggling ghost faces were violently ripped off Mu Jinyu's face by Xiang Mantang.
As they were pulled off, one could see they were smeared with sticky blood, writhing as if alive...
But unfortunately, as the Ghost-Faced Demons got torn away, Xiang Mantang's movements were no longer gentle; the Shadow Ghost Hand roughly crushed them, making them vanish into nothingness.
"Hiss, it hurts so much!"
Mu Jinyu raised his hands to his cheeks, feeling a scorching pain on his face, as if it had indeed been violently stripped away by Xiang Mantang.
"It's okay, elder brother. Fortunately, you didn't merge with those ghostly things for too long. If it had been delayed any longer, I might not have been able to separate them from you. And if we tried to force them apart, I'm afraid your face might have been peeled away as well," Xiang Mantang consoled Mu Jinyu.
"Also, elder brother, don't try to master such ghostly things again. If I had a choice, I would rather not have these ghosts following me!"
As Xiang Mantang spoke, the Ghost shadow behind him, after dealing with the ghost faces, withdrew its Ghost hand and took the same pose as Xiang Mantang, as if it truly were his shadow.
But its previous actions clearly informed everyone that this Ghost shadow was tremendously problematic.
"I know these aren't good things, but I had no choice at the time. And if it weren't for these ghost faces, I probably would have died several times over these past few days," Mu Jinyu said with a wry smile.
At that moment, he felt the pain on his face lessening, so he let go of his face, only to see bloodstains on his hands.
It seemed the Ghost Faces's forcible removal by Xiang Mantang had caused significant damage to him.
Thinking this, Mu Jinyu circulated his True Yuan and cast Clear Water Art, conjuring a sphere of water out of thin air. He splashed it over his face, washing away the bloodstains.
After cleaning his face, he asked Xiang Mantang, "I'm not disfigured, am I?"
"No," Xiang Mantang and Jian Ruyan both shook their heads.
"Whew..." Mu Jinyu relaxed a bit.
Xiang Mantang said, "Don't worry, elder brother. I know you care about your appearance, so I was more careful. But the cost of that was making you experience excruciating pain just now."
Xiang Mantang's skills were impressive; the Shadow Ghost Hand only contacted the ghost faces and did not infiltrate further into Mu Jinyu's face. Otherwise, his face would have been corroded away as well.