After the thread had fully turned red, it disappeared. And as the thread vanished, Pit Hong could feel the energy within his body growing stronger. There was a kind of heat that filled his body, evident from the goosebumps on his skin, signaling how powerful the energy entering his body was.
Lan Ming then performed an eagle dance. Bamboo leaves adhered to his back, creating wings resembling those of an eagle. From above, Lan Ming shouted to Pit Hong below.
"Pit Hong, imagine anything in your mind, and create something that can be used to attack the wooden tiger spirit!" he yelled.
Pit Hong imagined a giant spinning top in his head. Then, a large spinning top made of bamboo appeared, attached to his humanoid's head. Pit Hong climbed onto the shoulder of his humanoid. To his surprise, as he climbed onto his humanoid's shoulder, he was absorbed into the creature's body, ending up right in the heart of the bamboo humanoid, which was capable of beating like a human heart.
Observing Pit Hong entering his humanoid's body, Lan Ming understood that Pit Hong had merged with his creation. This was evidenced by the thread that had previously bound only him and Pit Hong now also wrapping around the heart of the humanoid. This happened automatically because Pit Hong had merged with his humanoid.
The wooden tiger spirit split itself in two. Then it ran towards the bamboo trees and knocked down the bamboo stalks nearby. Smoke emanated from its body. The fallen bamboo stalks adhered to its body, forming cannons. The bamboo cannons were ignited using the fire tongues on the wooden tiger's tail. They fired bombs containing poisonous thorns from its body. Moreover, the wooden tiger's speed increased even further due to the explosions caused by the cannons attached to its body.
The cannons bombarded Pit Hong's humanoid. Lan Ming was also targeted, but due to his smaller size, he managed to evade them quickly. Lan Ming then flew higher. White threads attached to Pit Hong's humanoid, turning it into a puppet that Lan Ming could control.
"Pit Hong, I will assist your movements from the outside while you control from within," Lan Ming communicated telepathically, a communication easily grasped by Pit Hong due to their shared energy.
Pit Hong, now inside the heart of his humanoid, clearly received the telepathic signals sent by Lan Ming. Before controlling his humanoid, he remembered to take out some dodol from his pants pocket.
This dodol wasn't just any dodol; it would enhance his stamina when controlling his humanoid. When controlling the humanoid, all his stamina would be depleted because of that, he needed the dodol. However, the dodol couldn't be consumed carelessly. If he ate the dodol without controlling the humanoid, his body would explode due to the accumulation of unchanneled energy.
Pit Hong's humanoid followed Lan Ming's movements outside. Meanwhile, Pit Hong focused all his concentration on trying to control his humanoid to keep it stable.
The wooden tiger spirit transformed the thorns on its body into wings, large and sharp. It continued to bombard Pit Hong's humanoid brutally.
Pit Hong, inside the heart of his humanoid, struggled to maintain control despite the external shocks. The effect of the attacks even severed one of the controlling threads previously tied by Lan Ming. It seemed the explosion was large enough to disturb the energy channeled into the humanoid.
Lan Ming, also in the air, struggled to evade the attacks. He pulled the threads tied to the humanoid, then made a throwing motion upward, causing the humanoid to spin in the air.
"What are you doing, Lan Ming? Why did you throw me upwards?!" Pit Hong panicked telepathically.
Lan Ming didn't respond; he remained focused on controlling the humanoid. In fact, he intentionally made somewhat rough movements, disregarding Pit Hong inside the humanoid to avoid the brutal attacks of the wooden tiger spirit.
The wooden tiger spirit aimed its cannon at Lan Ming. Knowing that Lan Ming was tasked with controlling the external attacks, it fired. Lan Ming tried to evade, but he almost forgot that Pit Hong, responsible for controlling from within, was experiencing shock from the outside.
As Lan Ming intended to jump and mount the wooden tiger spirit, Pit Hong unexpectedly increased his energy, halting Lan Ming's movement. Pit Hong kicked towards the wooden tiger spirit and pummeled it repeatedly until the wooden tiger spirit retaliated, unleashing sharp thorns towards Pit Hong's humanoid hands.
Pit Hong screamed in pain as he felt the sharp thorns pierce his hands. Because they shared energy, anything that happened to the humanoid would be felt by Pit Hong. His pain increased as the energy continued to deplete.
Seeing Pit Hong under attack, Lan Ming attempted to launch his own attack. However, to everyone's surprise, Pit Hong still wasn't ready to strike. Pit Hong grabbed hold of the wooden tiger spirit and forcefully slammed it down.
One of the wooden tiger spirits, hidden from sight, fired at the back of Pit Hong's humanoid, creating a large hole.
Pit Hong, inside the heart of his humanoid, felt an intense pain in his back.
"Pit Hong, are you okay? Please calm yourself. Don't act recklessly!" Lan Ming called out telepathically. He too was struggling to control the external parts of the humanoid, almost getting hit when trying to help Pit Hong's humanoid avoid sudden attacks from behind.