Two of the three young men who served the temple, Kevin and Tae Kuo rushed over to help Gloria pull back Mick’s parents. They earned a few scratches, punches and shoves in the process. The elder herself followed them out, and almost in an instant, she located what the problem was - literally.

The Elder chanted a spell with a low voice, then made a hand seal: “By the name of Virupaksa, Guardian of the West and the Heavenly Warlord of True Sight. Show yourself!” As she dropped her last word, her finger pointed right at the blob of a shadow, a ring of light exploded around it, revealing its true and more detailed form.

It was a worm-like creature, whose entire body was an amalgamation of small, child-like fingers. Crooked eyes and mouths of different sizes were randomly scattered on its elongated and winding body, opening and shutting as if they were blinking and speaking or heavy breathing. Tendrils protruded from various polyp-covered parts of the body, swaying, twiching and twisting. And clutched tight at the “belly” of the creature’s raised upper body, was a small, glowing sliver, like a torn, iridescent piece of silk.

“Oh.” Tae Kuo narrowed his eyes: “This is not good.”

“What is it?” One of the young men asked, frowning: “I - I think I’ve read about it - ”

“Wartorn Potential, or Obscured Curiosity.” The elder responded, frowning as well: “Basically, an amalgamated spirit formed from the broken souls of the young. They crave - well, everything, but especially the love and embrace of parents.”

“What can we do then, Elder?” Gloria asked: “We can’t just let it keep it - that’s Mick’s soul it’s holding.”

“Yes. But we can’t act rashly either.” Tae Kuo let out a long exhale: “Wartorn Potentials are very violent when agitated - just like tens, hundreds or even thousands of young children throwing a big tantrum at the same time. It could easily kill a whole village of people. Not to mention that piece of broken soul.”

The elder thought for a moment, while the worm-like creature floated towards them, inch by inch, while its body was gently waving in the wind. “Let’s guide it to the young man.” She pointed at the two young men, after making a decision: “Ming, Yu, you go inside, open a passageway for it and start to prepare for a Ritual of Deliverance.”

Yu cautioned: “But Elder, we don’t really have enough things to perform one for this kind of spirit - ”

“We’ll have to try. No time for anyone anyway.” The Elder interjected: “Go!” Then she turned to the rest of the group: “Bring the parents in, we need them alongside the young man.”

“Understood.” Gloria nodded and signaled to Tae Kuo and Kevin, each of whom held one arm of Mick’s father and carried him back into the temple, while she dragged Mick’s mother back in, despite her screaming and kicking. The worm-like creature followed, but rather carefully and always maintaining a distance. It stopped for a while at the gate of the temple, but it still went in, right between two lines drawn on the ground by incense ash mixed with water and spit - the passageway the Elder demanded.

As they went back into the sanctum, the three young men had already laid a round enclosure using red ropes around Mick. Two more incense burners were placed on his left and right, while a long wooden table was placed in front of his head, with a larger incense burner on it. Three long and thick incense sticks were burning in this larger burner, ash almost falling onto Mick’s forehead.

The Elder rushed behind the table and picked up a string of beads and a small jar of oil from underneath: “Quick! Pull them behind me!”

Gloria, Tae Kuo and Kevin did as the Elder asked; Keryn, Kelvin went over to help them keep the parents at bay, the three young men all stood around the circle, with wooden swords tucked behind their backs.

After a short while, the worm-like creature gradually floated through the door of the sanctum. Inch by inch, it approached Mick, more specifically, his chest area.

“Ready.” The Elder nodded at the three young men, before grabbing a handful of sticky rice with her left hand and poured some oil over it. After chanting a short spell, she threw the oil-soaked sticky rice into the air. The grains gave off bright, warm but short-lived flashes of white and red light in the air.

The eyes on the worm-like creature fixed on the grains in different directions. Its body stretched and expanded - the different parts of its body all tried to go for the light coming from different directions. As a result, its grip on the iridescent sliver - the piece of Mick’s soul, loosened.

The Elder made a hand seal with her right hand and pointed at the sliver with her index and middle fingers. She pulled her fingertips towards Mick’s forehead as fast as she could. The piece of soul was instantly sucked over and disappeared between his eyes.

“Now!” The Elder screamed.

The three young men lunged at the worm-like creature at the same time, thrusting their wooden swords in a tri-pronged formation. Two yellow talismans were impaled on each of the wooden swords, and they burst into flames the moment the tips of the swords struck the worm-like creature’s body.

The creature let out a deafening screech, violently rolling in the air and flailing its body about. But a ball of flickering light red energy had already enclosed most of its body, cutting off some of its tendrils and tip of its tail.

“The warlords in heaven. Bless me and my apprentices.” The Elder chanted with a stern voice before jumping over the table and directly over Mick’s body, thrusting her right palm forward with the beads wrapped tucked by her thumb: “Tai Shang Lao Jun, Daode Tianzun, we as your student ask for your assistance in this ritual. ”

Her palm strike left a complicated orange symbol on the ball of energy, strengthening its containment power. But almost right at the next moment, the wooden sword of one of the young men on the Elder’s right side broke. Three fleshy tendrils broke through the weak point on the wall and pierced through the young man’s right shoulder, throwing him to the foot of the wall behind.

“Ming!” The Elder and the other young man, Yu, on the right yelled at the same time. The Elder immediately rushed over, while the young man was only a step behind.

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