[Chapter 262: A Murderer Selfish to the Bone]
Daniel stepped forward and made a grasping motion in the sky with his right hand.
A surge of energy perfectly supported Mrs. Green's waist, lifting her from the icy pool and gently placing her on the lawn.
Even unconscious, it was clear Mrs. Green was incredibly well-maintained, just as Liv had said. Her soaked nightgown clung tightly to her voluptuous body, outlining her distinct curves.
Daniel looked straight ahead, pressing his hand firmly against the center of Mrs. Green's brow. A wisp of pure magical energy instantly infused into her.
Cough! Cough, cough!
Mrs. Green suddenly spat out several mouthfuls of black water, her eyes snapping open in terror.
She glanced around blankly, then, as if remembering something horrifying, began to scream shrilly.
"My children! My Anthony! Emma!"
She struggled to crawl forward, death-gripping her husband's pajama collar with startling strength.
"Green! That woman... that devil in the wedding dress, she took the children! Go save them!"
Green was shaken off balance but hurriedly supported his wife.
He looked at Daniel with desperate eyes. "Mr. Cross, I'm counting on you!"
Daniel squatted down and touched the cold, wet traces on the lawn.
"Go bring the undershirts Anthony and Emma usually wear. Or their favorite toys. Be quick."
Green snapped awake like from a nightmare and scrambled into the villa.
In less than two minutes, he returned clutching two undershirts and a teddy bear.
"Here... these are their things," Green panted heavily.
Daniel took the clothes and flipped his hand. A small Paper Bird appeared in his palm.
Now that Daniel had reached Dominion Incarnate of the Higher Ascendant Order, finding people was much easier -- he didn't even need to set up a ritual altar.
He placed the Paper Bird in the center of his left palm and, with his right hand's fingers joined like a blade, traced a circle in the sky above the two undershirts.
Under the Spiritual Perception Technique, two faint auras invisible to the naked eye were forcibly extracted from the clothing.
By trace and remembrance, let the connection be established.
What bears her imprint shall answer the call of resonance.
By the Seven Lamps as witness, let the hidden path be revealed.
Across all distance, let the lost be found under sealed authority!
The Paper Bird flapped its wings and flew off on its own.
It circled overhead a few times, searching for a direction, then prepared to fly into the distance.
Daniel quickly reached out, restraining it with a burst of magical energy to temporarily stop it from flying away.
"This..." The Greens were stunned.
"Go!" Daniel released the restraint, and the Paper Bird's wings beat as it darted forward.
"Follow it."
Leaving those words behind, Daniel moved and leapt over the courtyard wall.
Green wiped bloody water from his face and shouted back to his wife slumped on the lawn, "Stay here and lock the door!"
Ignoring his injuries, he clenched his teeth and followed.
...
The night was deep.
The Paper Bird, glowing faintly, shot through the woods at incredible speed.
Daniel's steps were light; each time his toes touched the ground, his body glided several feet forward.
Behind him, Green's lungs burned as if on fire from the exertion. He could barely make out Daniel's silhouette rising and falling in the dark.
"Wuwu... my children... don't leave me..."
That heartbreaking sobbing echoed again in the forest, accompanied by the sound of rushing water.
The Paper Bird suddenly stopped above a dry riverbed ahead. It began spinning violently in place, its faint glow shifting to a piercing blood red.
Daniel halted, his Spiritual Sense sweeping the area ahead.
Though the riverbed was dry, in Daniel's vision it was shrouded by a thick, inky mist.
In the center of that mist, La Llorona faced away from them. Two pitch-black, withered claws clenched tightly around Anthony and Emma's necks.
The two children's eyes were shut tight, their skin an unnatural bluish-gray. They were being forced into a deep pool littered with jagged rocks.
Despite the dry season, that deep pool appeared bottomless and glowed with a strange, eerie light.
"Release them."
Daniel's voice boomed through the silent wilderness, carrying an unquestionable authority.
La Llorona slowly turned her head. Her face beneath the veil was twisted with rage. Her once-white eyeballs were bloodshot and veined.
"They... are mine..."
With a raspy roar, the temperature around plummeted.
Large patches of slippery moss sprouted out of thin air across the ground.
Daniel stood near the riverbed, Earth Energy surging beneath his feet under his magical influence.
He shattered the moss that had appeared out of nowhere into pieces.
Holding the Sovereign Yearblade, his eyes flicked from those pitch-black claws to La Llorona's rotting face visible beneath the veil.
"La Llorona, who are you crying for here?" Daniel sneered, disdain thick in his tone, "Back then, because your husband ran off with another woman, you went mad and drowned your own two sons. What, do you regret it now? Or do you think killing other people's children can atone for the sins on your soul?"
La Llorona's body trembled slightly, a low, beast-like growl rising from deep in her throat.
"Stop pretending." Daniel stepped forward. "You don't love children; you're just selfish to the bone -- a murderer. You cut off your own children's chance at life, and now you're here harming another family. Pretending to be a grieving mother searching for her kids, you're nothing but a twisted, broken woman."
The word "woman" shattered La Llorona's tragic mask completely.
"Ah--!"
A piercing screech ripped through the air.
La Llorona suddenly released her claws.
Anthony and Emma fell like lifeless blocks, silently dropping into the blackened, eerie water.
Her black hair, which trailed on the ground like creeping weeds, suddenly exploded into countless writhing serpents.
She became a white afterimage, carrying a thick stench of rot and a cold mist as she lunged directly for Daniel's neck.
Five pitch-black claws sliced through the air, drawing five grayish-white energy blades.
The sharp whistling sound made eardrums ache.
"Come then!"
Daniel's eyes sharpened as he advanced instead of retreating. He shook his right hand, and the copper coin sword hummed crisply.
"Break! Go!"
Boom!
Three hundred sixty-five Consecrated Copper Coins instantly disintegrated. They transformed into 365 small swords, trapping the lunging La Llorona in the center.
Clang, clang, clang!
The dense clash of metal rang out.
Every copper coin that struck La Llorona's white wedding dress erupted in a cloud of black smoke and a shrill scream.
La Llorona's movements were slowed by the spinning swords. Her blood-red eyes blazed with madness.
She frantically waved her hands, trying to tear through the net of coin blades.
Daniel seized the moment. His left hand quickly grabbed a seal, then made a grasping motion toward the eerie water in the pool.
"Spirit Binding Rope, rise!"
His magic power condensed into two dark crimson tendrils, twisting like serpents before plunging into the depths of the water. They wrapped around the waists of Anthony and Emma, already sunk to the bottom, and yanked them back to shore.
"Green! Take the children and get back!" Daniel barked.
Green, hiding behind a tree and trembling with fear, heard the command and somehow found the strength to scramble over.
He grabbed the two children and dragged them up the slope.
Roar--!
Seeing her prey snatched away, La Llorona lost control, falling into a state of total frenzy.
*****
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