Chapter 168: The Art of Ovine Metamorphosis

"A miracle, it has truly appeared..."

Hera looked at the sheepskin scroll in Luo Yong's hand as if gazing upon something extraordinary. Her eyes were filled with awe, and her body even trembled slightly of its own accord.

"What is this?"

Luo Yong held the sheepskin scroll, opening it to inspect it closely. He saw mysterious patterns etched upon it, resembling the script of the ancient era.

"This is the [Demon Law]! The ultimate divine artifact of the ancient era!" Hera cried out in a trembling exclamation, her expression somewhat unusual, lacking her previous composure and serenity.

Her face flushed crimson once again.

"What use does this thing have? How do you use it?" Luo Yong asked.

"This..." Hera cast a strange look at Luo Yong. Naturally, she could not pierce through his disguise, nor could she determine what was true or false, unable to tell whether he was truly entirely ignorant of this divine artifact or merely pretending to know nothing.

After all, he had seen her entire body bare yet remained completely unblushing and unfazed, acting as though nothing at all had happened.

Of course, precisely because of this, Hera was able to force herself to remain composed, likewise pretending that nothing had occurred.

"Hah!"

She let out a heavy breath, struggling to steady her emotions, and glanced sideways at the ancient demon trapped within the array, which was frantically trying to break free.

Then, as if accepting her fate, she took the sheepskin scroll from Luo Yong.

Immediately afterward, a pristine white light lit up on the index finger of her right hand. The light carried a sharp aura, transforming into a tiny blade of light that pierced her skin. Blood welled up and dripped onto the sheepskin scroll.

"What are you doing?" Luo Yong felt that this woman must have thought her life was too long, always doing things that deliberately courted death. Involuntarily, he gripped her wrist tightly to keep her from continuing.

"It's fine, nothing will happen." Blushing, Hera tried to pull her hand back.

"No. If you don't explain clearly, I won't let you go on." Luo Yong looked into her eyes, speaking with a stubborn tone.

"Trust me." A brilliant flash crossed Hera's eyes. In an incomprehensible, dreamlike tone, she said, "This is destiny, please believe it!"

"Alright." Luo Yong could clearly feel Hera's body trembling, though he could not tell whether she was simply too weak, overly excited, or a combination of both.

Meanwhile, the battle before them was drawing to a close, and Luo Yong wanted to bring it to a swift end. Otherwise, Hera truly seemed on the verge of collapsing.

She traced a strange symbol on the sheepskin scroll—its meaning completely unknown to him—as the blood soaked into the parchment, seemingly awakening a surge of mysterious power.

"What now?"

Having finished drawing, Hera used her bleeding finger to point toward Luo Yong's forehead while simultaneously trying to remove the mask from his face.

Yet after a few attempts, she was stopped by Luo Yong.

With no other choice, she mustered her remaining strength, grabbed Luo Yong by the collar, and pulled apart his outer garment. She saw that his inner layer was merely an undersuit, a piece of soft armor that, when worn against the body, appeared just like ordinary clothing.

A thought flashed through her mind: *Why did he only summon a cloak for himself instead of summoning form-fitting inner clothing like this?*

If she had been wearing clothes, she wouldn't have ended up in her current predicament.

Was it intentional? Or accidental?

Could this too be destiny?

The thought vanished as quickly as it came; there was no longer any time to dwell on such matters.

"This is destiny!"

Hera told herself this.

Then, with greater force, she tore at Luo Yong's clothes and reached out to trace the exact same symbol across his chest.

As the blood soaked into his skin, a strange, invasive power seemed to take hold.

"Cough!"

Suddenly, Hera coughed up a mouthful of blood, which splattered onto Luo Yong and herself, staining her alabaster skin crimson in a startling and harrowing display.

"Enough!"

Luo Yong uttered a low shout and pulled Hera into a firm embrace, holding her tightly so she could no longer struggle away.

"Cough, cough... It is already... finished..." Hera coughed lightly, resting against Luo Yong's chest as she breathed heavily, a triumphant smile blooming across her face.

"By blood as the pledge! Covenant!"

With a soft cry, she raised the sheepskin scroll in her hand as a brilliant radiance erupted from within her body.

Concurrently, an extraordinary glow began to radiate from Luo Yong's chest.

The blood-drawn symbol on the sheepskin scroll lit up as well, echoing and resonating with the light emanating from them both.

A mysterious power surged forth.

"The Sheep Transformation Technique?"

Luo Yong looked at the sheepskin scroll once more. It hovered in the air, sustained by a mysterious force. Although the individual symbols etched upon it still remained completely incomprehensible to him when viewed in isolation, once linked together, he somehow managed to understand them.

It was much like his previous encounters with magic scrolls; these messages were transmitted in a peculiar, specialized manner.

Yet the incantation written upon it felt almost like a child's game...

And so, he began to recite it aloud.

As he chanted, a wave of law-based power manifested, descending directly upon the ancient demon trapped within the cage.

"No!"

The moment the sheepskin scroll appeared, the ancient demon had gone utterly frantic, feeling a mixture of intense dread and fervent desire for the object—terrified of its power, yet desperately wanting to seize it for itself.

However, trapped within the cage forged from holy light, it was completely incapable of breaking free in the short term.

It roared and bellowed in total madness, shifting forms endlessly inside the cage, unleashing all manner of attacks in a relentless assault, even willing to consume its very source of power.

Yet all of this proved entirely futile...

Bang!

The moment Luo Yong finished the incantation, the ancient demon instantly transformed into a sheep.

Though its eyes still retained a dazed incomprehension and overwhelming fury, when it opened its mouth, all that emerged was:

"Baa..."

"Is it really that magical?"

Luo Yong instinctively glanced at Pang Ding, who was also staring back—

"Don't f***ing look at me! From now on, you're the big boss and I'm the underling, the lowest of the low!" Pang Ding yelled, scrambling far away to hide behind the stone wall Luo Yong had summoned.

A soft sound of breathing reached his ears.

Luo Yong noticed that Hera had closed her eyes, though whether she had fallen asleep or passed out was impossible to tell.

"It looks like this is finally over!"

Luo Yong let out a long sigh, feeling a deep sense of exhaustion—his physical body was fine, but his mind was utterly drained.

Feeling the softness in his arms, Luo Yong removed his cloak and draped it over Hera, before—

"Things aren't over yet!"

Pang Ding's voice echoed from behind the stone wall.

"Legend has it that while the Sheep Transformation Technique can trap a demon, it doesn't kill them; it merely restricts them from continuing their evil deeds. Completely eradicating them remains quite tricky."

"Can't we just kill it directly?" Luo Yong raised an eyebrow, wondering what could possibly be tricky about that.

"No, doing that would only release them back into the world, you can't kill them that way!" Pang Ding declared.

"Then what do we do?"

"Hmph, didn't the beauty in your arms tell you what to do next?" Pang Ding said with a sarcastic tone.

"You didn't even look her in the eye, how do you know she's a beauty?" Luo Yong asked.

Yet, asking himself honestly, Hera was indeed a beauty—the breathtaking kind, the sort that stirred an involuntary flutter in his heart.

Only, his heart was long since spoken for.

"I f***ing..." Pang Ding choked, caught completely off guard by Luo Yong's retort, and snapped angrily, "Did you come here to pick up girls or save lives? Whatever you're going to do, hurry up and do it! Always finding ways to piss off Lord Pang! Do you believe I'll poke you to death?"

Swish, swish, swish!

Crack...

Pang Ding took out his frustration on the nearby stone wall, shattering it to pieces.

"She's asleep... she passed out. If you know what to do, spit it out quickly so we can finish up and wrap this over with!" Luo Yong said.

"We need the young maiden who was brutally murdered by this demon. She must be resurrected so she can kill this sheep; only she possesses the power to slay this demon!" Pang Ding stepped out from behind the rubble, glancing over to make sure there was "no danger," then let out a silent sigh of relief as he continued, "The rest is up to you. Although I've used resurrection magic all the way here, I have no idea if it'll actually succeed when it comes to truly bringing someone back to life, or what the outcome will be."

"Understood."

Luo Yong placed Hera gently to the side, entrusting her to Doro's care, and then paced around in search of any lingering flesh and blood belonging to the murdered maiden.

At that moment, Luo Yong switched his class to Necromancer, surging with necrotic magic from head to toe.

As he did, the green flames flickering along the surrounding stone walls flared brighter.

"Found it, right here."

Amidst a pile of rubble, Luo Yong discovered a stain of dried blood—the remnants of a human life extinguished and left to air-dry.

Next, a magical tome materialized in his hand.

"The Necronomicon!"

Pang Ding cried out in shock, an urge surging within him to lunge forward and snatch the artifact away.

Ultimately, however, he reined in the impulse and held his ground.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind whipped through the air as dark energies surged. As Luo Yong flipped open the tome and began to chant, mysterious and arcane runes manifested, weaving together on the ground to form an intricate, complex magic array.

Souls could be heard roaring, weeping, and wailing...

A beam of light projected from the magic book, within which the scenes of the young maiden's life replayed.

A pillar of black light rose from the magic array, gradually shifting to purple, then turning red, before finally transitioning into a brilliant golden hue.

At that exact instant, the phantom of the maiden's soul materialized within the pillar of light.

Awakening from her tears, she lifted her head and gazed around, surveying her surroundings.

She stared at her own form, existing purely as a soul.

Then, as if time were reversing itself, flesh and blood reconverged, her spirit returned, and everything that had been lost was restored to her.

She had returned to this world!

"By the supreme authority in my hands, I grant you rebirth!"

Luo Yong uttered the final phrase of the incantation, and the Necronomicon began to shine with an unbearable, blinding brilliance that forced everyone to shield their eyes.

Moments later, the howling winds subsided, and the roiling magic faded.

Emerging from the center of the magic array was a slender young maiden—none other than Geya, whom they had encountered before.

After a brief moment of disorientation, as though realizing what had transpired, she looked down at her body and blushed faintly.

Having no time to find anything to cover herself, she slowly dropped to one knee before Luo Yong, executing a solemn warrior's salute.