I had thought Uwe would surrender after Antonio locked her throat. Otherwise, she'd fall into our hands, and Antonio could kill her now as easily as snapping his fingers.
Of course, I wouldn't actually kill her - not in this godforsaken place. The law doesn't allow it. She might dare to kill, but I don't. I'm not about to end up in a jail cell picking up soap. Still, I'd make her suffer. Or better yet, hand her over to Hames - then she'd truly be miserable. However this played out, she'd have to bow to me now. She lost, after all.
But Uwe suddenly curled her lips into an evil smile.
"I admit, you're the better fighter," she said. "But I am a Kuman Thong master!"
With that, she viciously bit her own lip, sending a spray of blood directly at Antonio's face.
Caught completely off guard, Antonio couldn't react in time. The blood splattered across his face.
"Hot! So hot!" Antonio suddenly screamed, clutching his face. Smoke rose from his skin as if he'd been burned by fire. Yet it was just blood - how could it scald him like boiling water?
The pain forced Antonio to release Uwe. He collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
I rushed to check on him. His face had turned an angry red, already blistering from the burns. The damage was worsening by the second - at this rate, he might be permanently disfigured.
Clearly, there was something unnatural about Uwe's blood. This had to be one of her Kuman Thong techniques.
But worse was yet to come. At that moment, something seemed to possess Antonio. He thrashed violently, even clawing at his own face. His fingernails tore bloody gashes across his burning skin.
"What the hell did you do?" I snarled at Uwe. "We showed you mercy, or you'd be dead already."
"I showed mercy too," Uwe countered. "Or he would be dead already."
"Get out of the way!" Stella suddenly shoved me aside. She pressed a yellow Taoist talisman against Antonio's searing face.
"It's a spirit lure," Stella explained urgently. "She has another ghost here. The blood was just bait - the spirit will devour Antonio through the blood on his face."
This woman was utterly vicious. No mercy, no hesitation - she meant to kill Antonio outright.
As Stella's talisman made contact, I heard an ear-piercing shriek. A black shadow detached from Antonio's face and flitted back to perch on Uwe's shoulder.
Within seconds, the shadow transformed into a grotesque little girl wrapped in tattered cloth. Her body and head were misshapen, her skin an angry red. Limbs twisted at unnatural angles, her face rotted away in patches. Black mist seeped from her form continuously, and her hollow eye sockets glowed scarlet.
I could feel... this little ghost was completely different from the previous one. She seemed exceptionally fierce.
After driving away the spirit from Antonio's face, Stella immediately pressed a handful of glutinous rice onto his burned skin.
"Ahhh...!"
Antonio screamed in pain as white smoke rose from his face. He passed out, though the burning had stopped.
"Be careful," Stella warned. "This ghost was fed SOLID-TEXTURED MEAT and BLOOD PRODUCTION."
Solid-textured meat meant human flesh from corpses, while blood production referred to fresh human blood. Ghosts raised on such nourishment would become extraordinarily savage - though if they ever turned on their master, the consequences would be unimaginable. This Uwe was truly daring to raise ghosts this way.
Uwe didn't pause. She began chanting an incomprehensible spell, her right hand forming rapid gestures. The little ghost immediately howled and charged at us.
Stella raised her peachwood sword and slashed at the ghost's head.
But unexpectedly, Stella's sword snapped again - just like when it had broken during her fight against Nuwa's Forsaken Shade.
"What a hardened body," Stella frowned. "Worthy of a ghost fed on solid-textured meat and blood production. I can't believe the peachwood sword couldn't even cut through it."
As the broken sword fell, the ghost child flew past Stella's right shoulder, leaving five deep bloody gashes before returning to hover by Uwe.
"You can't defeat my little ghost," Uwe taunted Stella.
"Let me try again then?" Stella retorted, unwilling to concede.
Uwe just laughed silently and resumed her strange chanting.
The imp attacked again. This time, Stella smeared blood on the broken sword and wrapped it with a yellow Taoist talisman.
When the ghost flew within range, Stella struck. Sparks flew as the blade connected, followed by a loud bang that sent both combatants flying apart. The talisman disintegrated, but not before leaving a bleeding gash across the ghost's chest. Thick, dark blood oozed from the wound.
"Ooooooo..." This time the ghost didn't return to Uwe. She landed on the ground, utterly enraged. Moving in a grotesque crawling posture, she advanced toward Stella step by step.
Stella's sword hand was bleeding from the blast, and her right shoulder wound looked equally bad. While not critically injured, her condition was worsening - meanwhile the little ghost grew more aggressive despite her injuries.
As the ghost reached Stella, she lunged again with bared teeth and claws. Stella barely dodged, then spun around and flicked out a copper coin.
The coin landed on the little ghost's heavenly aura point, instantly immobilizing her. She could only stand in place, screaming helplessly.
The copper coin was clearly enchanted, radiating a sacred aura.
"Stinky Roger, you underpaid last time. You'll have to pay more for this," Stella said as she interlocked her fingers, thumbs upright, forming rapidly changing hand seals.
"Wulei Incantation of Maoshan Sect!"
Stella shouted the invocation. Without anyone noticing when, blood sigils had appeared on all five of her fingers. She brought her palm down toward the ghost's chest with tremendous force.
"Dala dasia..."
Suddenly, Uwe chanted a counter-incantation, dragging two bloodied fingers across her own lips.
Stella's body immediately stiffened. Her palm froze mid-air, unable to complete its strike. She struggled violently but to no avail - it was as if she'd lost all control over her body.
What was happening? Why had Stella frozen in place? What had Uwe done?
At that moment, Uwe produced a folded paper talisman from behind her back. Wrapped inside was a strand of hair.
"I took this hair when my child wounded your right shoulder earlier," Uwe said in broken Mandarin.
"This is... a Charm Kuman Thong!" Stella gritted her teeth, clearly furious at her own carelessness.
There were many varieties of Kuman Thong - Spirit Kuman Thong and Charm Kuman Thong were just two types. Others included Love Kuman Thong, Flying Head Kuman Thong, and more.
"You know quite a bit about Kuman Thong," Uwe remarked as she approached the immobilized ghost. If she removed the copper coin from the ghost's head, Stella would certainly die - paralyzed as she was, her body seemed to weigh heavily upon her. Her pained expression showed desperate but futile struggle.
Once freed, the enraged ghost would undoubtedly tear Stella limb from limb. The little ghost's face now twisted with unparalleled fury, her expression utterly murderous.