While in Hollywood, I used Taoist magic to quell American terrorism.

A sense of despair spread through the darkness.

Peggy was holding the baby, and she could no longer cry.

Just then.

"Within and beyond the Three Realms, only the Dao is supreme."

"Golden light emanates from my body, covering it completely."

Cao Kun's voice suddenly rose, like a booming bell, shattering the sinister laughter.

"Golden light swiftly appeared, protecting the true person!"

"Buzz—!"

A clear, resonant sound rang out.

Cao Kun instantly transformed into a human-shaped source of light.

A blinding golden light burst forth from his body, not the soft glow of candlelight, but a domineering and intense light like the blazing sun.

The darkness receded like a tide.

The entire second-floor corridor was illuminated with crystal clarity.

Bathed in golden light, everyone could see the scene at the end of the corridor.

There stood a nun.

It was dressed in a black and white nun's habit, and its face was as pale as if it were covered in thick powder.

Those eyes gleamed with an eerie yellow light, and their eye rims were dark.

The mouth, painted with black lipstick, was stretched into an exaggerated and ferocious arc.

It wasn't holding any weapon; it just stood there quietly.

It seemed like an insurmountable mountain, radiating a suffocating malice.

Valak.

They've finally shown up.

"snort."

The light lasted for less than two seconds.

The darkness returned, thicker and heavier than before.

It wasn't just the disappearance of light; it was more like thick black ink had filled the entire corridor.

Ed and Rowling were instantly engulfed.

Peggy and the children's screams were also muffled and distant by the thick layer of black.

But when this overwhelming black tide reached two meters in front of Cao Kun, it seemed to have hit an invisible wall.

sizzle...

The darkness and the golden light rubbed together violently, producing a corrosive sound that made your teeth ache.

That two-meter distance became an insurmountable chasm.

"what?"

From the depths of darkness came Valak's voice.

It was no longer the simple roar from before, but carried a hint of surprise and chill.

"He's got some skills after all."

Those eyes, glowing with a yellow light, appeared and disappeared in the darkness, staring intently at Cao Kun.

"No wonder you were able to thwart their plans several times, even that idiot Redface got his hands on."

Cao Kun remained expressionless, not even glancing at it.

He waved his right hand.

"Thump!"

A muffled thud.

A vermilion altar appeared out of thin air and landed steadily in front of him.

Incense burner, red candles, yellow paper, cinnabar—everything was there.

Cao Kun rubbed two fingers together, and three sticks of incense were instantly lit. The smoke rose straight up, completely unaffected by the surrounding yin wind.

He held a lightning-struck peach wood sword, stepped out with the Seven Star Step, and his eyes instantly turned sharp.

"I beseech the Thunder Generals of the Nine Heavens to descend with their divine light as my personal protectors!"

Cao Kun's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strange penetrating power, buzzing in the enclosed space.

"Below, evil spirits and malevolent ghosts are wreaking havoc, their energies and vengeful spirits running rampant!"

As the incantation was chanted, the golden light surrounding Cao Kun was no longer merely protective, but began to burst forth outwards.

A vast, righteous, and even destructive pressure pierced through the roof and the isolated space, descending from the void with a deafening roar.

The entire house began to shake violently.

This is not an earthquake, but a collision of two completely different forces of law.

In the darkness, a hint of unease finally appeared on Valak's pale face.

It sensed a threat.

A threat that could truly harm its very essence.

"Want to invoke the gods?"

Valak's voice turned shrill and piercing: "Here, I am God!"

boom--!

The surrounding darkness, as black as ink, suddenly erupted.

They were no longer a chaotic expanse, but transformed into tangible black tentacles, even coalescing into distorted human faces.

With frenzied malice, they pressed down on Cao Kun from all directions.

The two-meter absolute territory was compressed to one and a half meters in that instant.

The golden shield emitted a cracking sound as if it were about to shatter under the strain.

The thick darkness continued to compress forward.

"Look at the wall!"

Ed suddenly let out a terrified scream, the beam of his flashlight flaring wildly at the edge of the darkness.

"The cabinet...and that chair! They're all gone!"

Everyone followed his gaze.

The thick, inky darkness seemed to be a consciously flowing tide, slowly advancing.

An old wooden chair that was originally placed at the edge of the corridor was touched by Kuroshio without making a sound or breaking.

It's like erasing a pencil drawing with an eraser.

The chair simply vanished into thin air.

Not only objects, but even space itself seemed to be swallowed up and erased by this darkness.

"It's devouring space..."

Rowling pressed herself tightly against the wall, her face ashen: "Anything it touches will be taken to another dimension, or... will cease to exist altogether."

Peggy covered the children's eyes, but she herself was so frightened that she went limp.

This silent disappearance is more despairing than a bloody massacre.

The darkness continued to press forward.

The golden shield was compressed to only about one meter in size.

The candles on the altar had been reduced to the size of beans and could go out at any moment.

Those distorted human faces and tentacles were almost touching Cao Kun's nose.

Valack's laughter echoed in the darkness, filled with the glee of a cat playing with a mouse.

Cao Kun stared at the darkness so close at hand, his expression unchanged.

A long sword hovered beside him.

His hand gestures remained incantation, his mouth continued chanting, and his foot took a step forward.

"Boom—!"

The originally dimly lit second-floor corridor suddenly erupted with dazzling blue-purple light from the floor, ceiling, and walls on both sides.

That was the lightning energy that Cao Kun had secretly left behind when he came up, and it was now completely detonated.

Five thick pillars of lightning pierced through the darkness in an instant, connecting with each other to form a closed lightning cage.

The cage wasn't large, but it precisely locked the void in front of Cao Kun.

"Sizzle—!"

The violent power of lightning raged wildly within the cage.

The darkness that could devour everything crumbled instantly under the bombardment of lightning, like snow meeting magma.

The space, which was originally pitch black, was now illuminated as bright as day by lightning.

"ah--!"

A piercing scream rang out.

The darkness dissipated, revealing Valak's true form.

The demon dressed as a nun is currently trapped in the very center of Thunder Prison.

Countless arcs of electricity lashed at its body like whips.

Its pale face was filled with pain and shock, and thick black smoke kept billowing from its body.

The Five Elements Thunder Prison.

Cao Kun demonstrated extraordinary power on his first use.

Even Valak was injured.

"When...when did you do this? How come I didn't sense anything?"

Valak tried to retreat, but the Five Elements Thunder Prison was a self-contained space, and no matter where it crashed, it would be violently bounced back by the lightning.

Cao Kun ignored him and continued to invoke the gods.

Suddenly, the look of pain disappeared from Valak's pale face.

It stopped struggling, letting the lightning lash its body, and instead, its mouth grinned again, revealing that signature, mocking smile.

"Is this your trump card?"