The wooden tiger demon not only grew larger but now its entire body was covered in sharp thorns. Flames erupted from the tip of its tail. Its mouth and jaws were torn apart, filled with sharp fangs.
Seeing the wooden tiger demon transform into something even more terrifying, Pit Hong looked at his simple machete with disappointment. Secretly, a sense of pessimism arose in his heart.
"Even this machete installment isn't paid off yet," he thought. It seemed he wasn't afraid of the danger before him, but rather worried that his weapon would break before he could pay off the installment.
Pit Hong then took off the cloth hanging around his neck. He tore it into two pieces, then wrapped them around both of his hands. After that, he assumed a cross-legged sitting position on the ground, raising both of his hands in the air. Then he recited a mantra loudly.
"Chūlái ba Ondel-Ondel!"
From the sky, slowly descended a giant humanoid shadow. When the shadow touched the ground, its true form became clear. It had a human-like face with a smiling expression, white skin adorned with flowers on its head, and wore a satin shirt with striking embroidery.
After summoning the humanoid, Pit Hong asked Lan Ming to join him on the shoulders of the humanoid. Lan Ming complied, and they both stood on the shoulders of the humanoid.
"This is a forbidden technique passed down by my family. It requires the user to sacrifice one of their body parts. I can't use it recklessly," Pit Hong explained.
Lan Ming immediately examined Pit Hong's entire body but found no missing body parts.
Pit Hong, realizing Lan Ming's scrutiny, quickly responded to his friend's curiosity, "Lan Ming, I sacrificed my appendix, so it can't be seen with the naked eye," he said. The appendix itself contains lymphoid cells that help the body fight infection. It turns out that the seemingly useless appendix has its benefits.
Lan Ming understood, especially when he activated his clairvoyant ability, he could clearly see Pit Hong's internal organs. And indeed, Pit Hong no longer had his appendix.
In his mind, Lan Ming thought that Pit Hong was indeed daring. He was willing to sacrifice one of his organs.
"Are you okay? You've gone this far," Lan Ming said worriedly.
"There's no use regretting. If I could exchange it for a kidney stone, I wouldn't let my appendix be the sacrifice," Pit Hong said somewhat gloomily. He lifted his head and looked straight ahead. "But there's no use regretting. Let's win this battle." Pit Hong didn't want to dwell on feelings of regret because he was determined to win this fight.
Lan Ming understood and respected Pit Hong's fighting spirit. He extended his hand, forming a fist towards Pit Hong, who also extended his hand in the same way. They fist-bumped, symbolizing their strong determination.
Pit Hong then initiated the attack. He activated the explosive ability of his humanoid. The humanoid spewed out giant onde-onde balls from its mouth, which contained explosive materials.
The explosive onde-onde attack hit the wooden tiger demon. The resulting explosion was massive in scale. It burned everything around them. Luckily, Lan Ming had created a protective dome to reduce the risk of the battle.
Despite receiving the attack, the wooden tiger demon was still unscathed. It lay on the ground and created a large tree from its abdomen to shield itself from further attacks.
"It seems physical attacks won't be very effective. Do you have any ideas, Lan Ming?" Pit Hong asked after observing the unsuccessful result of his attack.
"We should use soul attacks. I can help you draw out the soul of your humanoid and transfer it to my mental dimension. Also, move the wooden tiger demon along with your humanoid," Lan Ming suggested. He stared sharply at the wooden tiger demon, which seemed passive and only fought back when attacked. For Lan Ming, his opponent's movements were very strange.
"Will that work?" Pit Hong felt doubtful for some reason. His feelings seemed to tell him that this wouldn't go smoothly.
"Let's just try it first," Lan Ming said, then closed his eyes, waved his hands in the air, and ended with both hands holding his head.
After that, the wooden tiger demon's body stopped moving. So did Pit Hong's humanoid. Pit Hong himself felt that the energy of his humanoid was no longer under his control.
Lan Ming reached out his hand to Pit Hong. He intended to invite Pit Hong into his mental dimension.
Pit Hong accepted the outstretched hand. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself in a bamboo forest.
***
Pit Hong's humanoid now unleashed a large bamboo cannon, firing its contents fiercely at its opponent.
The wooden tiger demon ran swiftly to dodge it. However, it couldn't easily avoid the fierce attack. As evidenced when its body was occasionally hit by the explosion, causing parts of its body to be destroyed but quickly recovering.
"We also have to fight back; this will be to our advantage. This dimension allows you and me to create everything just by thinking about it. This is an opportunity to fight," Lan Ming informed Pit Hong.
"Why can I do that too? Isn't this your created dimension? I thought only your mind could control everything here," Pit Hong was curious.
"That's because I've divided my energy into your body. When I brought you into my mental world dimension, I could feel that your energy has attack potential. It would be great if combined with my defensive energy," Lan Ming then paused for a moment, his index finger making a small movement, and a white thread was created. "Wind this around your pinky finger," Lan Ming handed the thread to Pit Hong.
Pit Hong took the thread and wound it around his index finger. Lan Ming then took the other end of the thread and wound it around his own pinky finger. The originally white thread slowly turned red. The change in color indicated energy compatibility. This meant that Lan Ming and Pit Hong could combine their energies.