It wasn't until both of them had charged past him that Liou Yuan finally stopped his retreat, turned around at his own leisure, and looked back toward the wellhead.
This was his first time seeing the true form of the Star Evil beneath the well.
It was a column of water as thick as an adult's waist, completely condensed from black liquid.
Its shape was like that of a giant serpent.
The length of its exposed body alone already exceeded five zhang—around sixteen or seventeen meters.
Starlight shone down on its liquid body, reflecting a rippling, eerie gleam.
Directly in front of the black water serpent.
Dai Yao leapt high into the air, both iron hammers in hand bursting with earthy brown light, and smashed down toward the serpent's head.
Boom! The collision between the two was like a mountain waterfall striking the earth, tearing the air with that shockwave.
Under Liou Yuan's watchful gaze, the black water serpent Star Evil exploded in midair.
At the same time, Dai Yao's body, affected by the recoil force, was sent flying at great speed, finally crashing down onto the backyard ground.
Crash! The liquid from the black water serpent's explosion poured down on the courtyard like rainwater.
Liou Yuan, standing at the rear of the battlefield, was drenched clear through.
"Looks like Dai Yao has the upper hand." In the pouring rain, Liou Yuan squinted, quietly analyzing the situation.
But Liou Yuan still remembered what Mr. Ge had told him.
This Star Evil was unlike the one he'd dealt with in Ping'an's family—it was parasitizing a dead thing.
In other words, simply smashing the black water serpent was far from enough.
They had to find its real body.
Sure enough, the black water serpent, which had just been smashed to pieces by Dai Yao's hammers and scattered into a rainstorm, once again condensed at the wellhead.
The water soaking Liou Yuan's body was soon drawn away, merging back into the black water serpent.
"Hiss!" The black water serpent remained as vicious as ever.
In contrast, Dai Yao's rugged face was shadowed with gloom.
Fortunately, before taking action, Dai Yao had already learned the background of this Star Evil.
He hefted his hammers and, after a low growl, lunged again to attack.
"This can't go on. Sooner or later, Dai Yao will become exhausted." Watching from the sidelines, Liou Yuan frowned deeply.
Suddenly, his gaze shifted, his eyes starting to roam around the backyard.
Clearly, Mr. Ge had originally joined Dai Yao in facing the enemy.
So why was only Dai Yao visible in the field, with no trace of Mr. Ge?
Just as Liou Yuan was searching the battlefield for Mr. Ge,
a head of white hair suddenly emerged from the well.
It was the silhouette of Mr. Ge, exactly whom Liou Yuan was searching for.
So it turned out that while Dai Yao was tangling with the water serpent Star Evil, Mr. Ge had seized the chance to leap down into the well.
Doing something unknown down there.
Not until Mr. Ge climbed out of the well, panting heavily and collapsing to the ground,
did it become clear—those were symptoms of severe spiritual power exhaustion. Liou Yuan had experienced it himself; he understood it all too well.
This reminded Liou Yuan of the first time he'd seen Mr. Ge make a move.
Back then, Mr. Ge had also been the last one to enter, arranging a barrier in Ms. Qiao's courtyard to prevent the Star Evil's escape.
"Could it be!" Liou Yuan smiled faintly. He more or less understood what Mr. Ge had just done.
Sure enough, just as Liou Yuan had the thought, Mr. Ge's weak voice immediately rang out.
"The path of retreat has already been sealed. It can't get away. Mr. Dai, go all out."
To Dai Yao, Mr. Ge's voice was like a secret code.
As soon as the words fell,
Liou Yuan heard a thunderous, deafening roar explode in the field.
The surge of spiritual power laced in that voice shook his head into a brief daze.
By the time he regained his senses,
"Roar!" Dai Yao stood in the field, both hammers raised high, his entire body enveloped in a brownish glow. His already massive eight-foot-tall form began to grow taller at an astonishing rate.
Eight feet, nine feet, a full zhang—he looked just like a giant.
With his growing height, Dai Yao's muscles became even more terrifying and savage.
"This is definitely not just Qi Cultivation Third Layer," Liou Yuan's eyes went wide. Even as a complete novice, he could tell that Dai Yao's true level wasn't what he showed on the surface.
Sure enough, after the transformation, Dai Yao was even fiercer. With a light stamp of his foot, he left a dent in the backyard ground.
He raised his hammers high again, pouncing toward the black water serpent.
Boom!
The five-zhang-long body of the black water serpent was utterly smashed to pieces by Dai Yao's overwhelming force.
At this moment, Mr. Ge, still panting, came back to stand by Liou Yuan's side.
The three of them each had their roles clear.
One to lure the Star Evil out, one to block its escape,
and Dai Yao to face and slay the Star Evil head-on.
Perhaps noticing the astonishment in Liou Yuan's eyes, Mr. Ge took a couple of breaths and then explained, "Even I didn't know Dai Yao had already reached Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer."
"No word of this has come out from Qinghe Division. The guy's really been hiding deep."
Mr. Ge tsk-tsked in admiration, his face alight with a wide smile.
The stronger Dai Yao was, the better it was for them.
After all, the stronger he was, the better their odds of eliminating the Star Evil, and the safer they would be.
Coincidentally, Liou Yuan was thinking the same thing.
The old and young exchanged a glance and a smile.
Liou Yuan then took the chance to ask, "Mr. Ge, what do you think of this Star Evil's strength?"
"Should be about Qi Cultivation Third Layer. With the city moat in place, it's rare to have any Star Evil at Third Layer or higher break into the city."
Mr. Ge didn't even have to think before answering, "Under the Evil Star, Star Evil does get stronger, but not enough to reach the Fourth Layer. Dai Yao is more than enough to kill it."
That's how Star Evil always was—fleeing before Auspicious Stars, but running rampant when under an Evil Star.
Liou Yuan nodded thoughtfully. If Mr. Ge was right, then Dai Yao really shouldn't have any trouble killing this Star Evil.
The field situation supported that as well.
Dai Yao smashed apart the water-form Star Evil three or four times in succession.
Each time, the Star Evil seemed able to reconstruct its body,
but each time, the process of recondensing became noticeably slower.
By Liou Yuan's estimation, one or two more strikes and the Star Evil's power would be just about spent.
Even so, it was enough to show just how tricky this Star Evil was.
Dai Yao was much stronger than the Star Evil, but it still took him so much effort.
If a cultivator of the same level had to face such a Star Evil alone, things would likely turn out badly for them.
"It's still easier to deal with a Star Evil that parasitizes a living thing." Watching the fight ahead, Liou Yuan secretly reminded himself: in the future, if he ever ran into a Star Evil like this, parasitizing a dead thing, it was best to steer clear and stay alive.
While pondering, Liou Yuan never looked away from Dai Yao and the Star Evil's fight.
Because he'd cultivated the Five Mansions Star Gazing Breathing Skill—a second-grade, low-ranked cultivation technique—
his five senses were much more acute than those of average cultivators.
Sharp ears and keen eyes, he could discern details even more thoroughly than Mr. Ge.
Soon enough, he noticed something was amiss.
Namely—the pair of hammers Dai Yao used to bash the Star Evil, as the fight went on, the magical light Mr. Ge had cast on them had almost faded away completely.
And the color of the hammers themselves was changing.
From silvery white, they gradually began turning black.
The effect was as if something had corrupted or decayed them.
Liou Yuan narrowed his eyes. When facing Star Evil, he didn't have Mr. Ge's level of experience.
"Mr. Ge, something's not right." He spoke up, just about to warn Mr. Ge of the issue he'd noticed.
But before he could finish the words—
The battlefield changed dramatically in an instant.
Crack! Crack!
After Dai Yao smashed apart the black water serpent's true body one last time,
the pair of hammers he gripped tightly in his hands also exploded apart with two sharp bangs.
"Not good! The Star Evil's water corrodes weapons!" Mr. Ge realized too late and gave a loud cry.
But by then, it was already too late.
Dai Yao had lost his weapons, left with only his bare body to fight—the previous overwhelming advantage was gone.
He might well be suppressed by the Star Evil in turn.
Dai Yao was a tough man—or maybe it was that all cultivators from Qinghe Division were hardened by countless battles.
As his hammers shattered, the Star Evil itself also broke apart.
After so many rounds, Dai Yao had, from tracing the rain of liquid, gotten a rough idea of where the Star Evil's true body was hiding.
As soon as the hammers broke, a look of decisiveness flashed across his face. He threw aside the weapon handles and dove at a patch of liquid in the southeast corner.
One scoop with his hand, and he seized a nearly transparent glob of liquid.
"The Star Evil's true body!" Liou Yuan recognized the form. He'd seen the real body of a Star Evil on Ping'an's body once before.
The color was different, but Liou Yuan was certain—this was the Star Evil's true body.
"Ha, got you now!" Dai Yao's face twisted in a fierce grin; gripping hard with both hands, he prepared to crush it in his palms.
But at that very moment—
Dai Yao's laughter abruptly stuck in his throat.
It was as if something had constricted his windpipe.
Even his massive body stiffened up, standing frozen in the middle of the courtyard, motionless as a stone statue.
"Mr. Dai, do it! What are you waiting for?!" Mr. Ge saw Dai Yao only holding the Star Evil's true body, unmoving, and anxiety flooded his old eyes.
Star Evil's true forms were extremely cunning, and each possessed their own unique ability—akin to the magic a cultivator practiced.
Even the smallest hesitation could shift the tide of battle.
But Mr. Ge, his spiritual power depleted, could only fret helplessly on the side.
Liou Yuan, at first just puzzled, gazed over Dai Yao until his vision landed on a detail that made his scalp tingle.
On the backs of Dai Yao's hands, where he held the Star Evil, black threads began to emerge one by one, wriggling outward.
Looking closer, those threads didn't just wrap around his hands—his bare upper body was also threaded through with hair-fine black lines.
There was no need to guess. It was precisely those black threads that had immobilized Dai Yao, turning him into a clay statue on the spot.