Qin Ziyu, Wang Lian, Lu Teng, Gongsun Zhuo, Hua Yun, and Huacai dismounted from the ghost-headed sheep, each directing their two ghost-headed sheep toward the water pool, while they all kept their distance from the pool.
Chen Guan also directed the two ghost-headed sheep Qin Ziyu had given him to follow the ghost-headed sheep team forward.
As soon as the leader ghost-headed sheep's front hooves touched the pool water, the merman secret spirit, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes.
His eyes looked like bones, lacking any clarity or sparkle, displaying a grayish-white hue, like a true dead fish eye.
Splash!
The merman stood up abruptly, leaping out of the water forcefully, holding a bone bowl in one hand and a strange weapon in the other hand. His webbed feet touched the water surface, using its power to leap into the air again, aiming the strange weapon at the leader ghost-headed sheep's head.
The leader ghost-headed sheep was Qin Ziyu's pet, under his control, its front hooves rose high, then its head lowered to ram forward fiercely. The two horns, resembling curved sabers, slammed into the merman rushing in.
The merman's lips curled into a sinister smile, the speed of his strange weapon abruptly increased, piercing straight through the ghost-headed sheep's skull.
Almost landing, he raised a leg covered in fish scales quickly, kicking three times in an instant, causing the skulls of three ghost-headed sheep to burst, spattering red and white matter.
A ghost-headed sheep scrambled to charge at the merman secret spirit, attempting to ram him with its horns, but the merman opened his mouth wide, swallowing the sheep's head whole and biting it off.
The headless sheep's body spewed blood from its severed neck, spinning aimlessly like a headless fly before stumbling to the ground and convulsing a few times before falling silent.
The vicious merman secret spirit chewed the sheep's head, slaughtering around him, causing the few watching to break into cold sweats, fear surging from their spines to their brains.
Wang Lian and the others seemed to have misjudged the terror of the merman secret spirit. In this situation, it was fortunate not to be killed by him, let alone kill him.
In just a short moment, all the ghost-headed sheep pets sent by the group were killed by the merman secret spirit, who only used one hand throughout, while the other hand holding the bone bowl never let go.
Chen Guan had already started backing away, not daring to turn and run, but simply retreating while keeping an eye on the battlefield. The merman secret spirit was too ferocious; it seemed even Yan Zhi wasn't a match for it.
"No need to run, the merman secret spirit won't leave the vicinity of the water pool," Hua Yun, one of the twins, noticed Chen Guan had retreated over ten meters, and turned to smile at him.
Bang!
Blood suddenly blossomed from Hua Yun's brow, and sharp gold pierced out from her forehead.
Hua Yun's eyes widened, her pupils enlarging, her limbs twitching, seemingly wanting to turn to look at something but already powerless.
Behind her, the merman secret spirit, taller than her by two heads, drew out the strange weapon piercing through Hua Yun's head with a sinister fish smile.
Hua Yun's body collapsed to the ground instantly, already a lifeless corpse.
"Sis!" Huacai let out a scream, filled with heart-wrenching sorrow, then madly charged toward the merman secret spirit.
"Don't go, run quickly!" However, the others weren't as frantic as her; they turned and fled immediately.
Last time they came, the situation was completely different; no one expected things to turn out like this.
Chen Guan ran the fastest; he had retreated more than ten meters ahead of Lu Teng and the others, now leading the charge desperately back the way they came.
Watching them escape, the merman's lips curled into a mocking grin, suddenly flinging the strange weapon.
Hearing the whistling wind behind them, the group jumped in shock, barely had time to turn and look before the strange weapon flashed over their heads, the winds catching their hair and sending it flying.
But the strange weapon was still far from them, unlikely to injure them.
Just as they were feeling relieved, they saw the strange weapon stab into the mountain wall, then heard a rumbling sound as that part of the mountain wall collapsed, a massive rock sliding heavily down, shaking the ground twice.
Chen Guan immediately sensed something ominous, for the rock seemed to have landed right at the narrow passage they had traversed through the wall.
Instinctively glancing back, he caught sight of the merman's knife-like fingernail piercing Huacai's skull, and then it spun on her head, gruesomely flipping it out.
Chen Guan's heart shuddered instinctively; if they couldn't escape this Valley of Death, their fate might not be any better than Hua Yun and Huacai's.
The very terror they feared had arrived; before they could reach the mountain wall, they saw from afar that the wall's entrance was blocked airtight by the fallen boulder.
Judging by the size of the boulder, it probably weighed over ten tons, completely impossible for them to move.
Everyone's expressions changed, despair settled further with footsteps echoing from the flower forest behind them. Turning back, they saw the merman walking toward them, holding the bone bowl in one hand.
He seemed to know they couldn't escape, so he walked leisurely, his footsteps sounded like a death knell, each step stamping on Chen Guan and the others' hearts, causing their pulses to quicken and almost suffocating.
"No retreat left, we must fight hard," Qin Ziyu said, his eyes fixed on the merman, slowly drawing the sword at his waist.
The sword was evidently a secret treasure, probably brought in by Qin Ziyu from outside, though its level and quality were unknown, but likely not very high.
High level secret treasures require primordial energy to activate; if the level is too low, the total amount of primordial energy is insufficient, making it difficult to unleash the true power of high-level secret treasures, rendering them largely ineffective; thus, a secret treasure matching one's level is most useful.
Lu Teng, Gongsun Zhuo, and Wang Lian pushed the boulder several times to no avail, realizing escape was impossible, they resolved to fight.
Summoning all their pets, which were also ghost-headed sheep, they each took out their secret treasures, mostly prepared by their families.
Chen Guan knew now wasn't the time to hold back, so he summoned Yan Zhi, while saying, "You all are top talents of our academy, with first-rate talent and abilities, deservedly heaven's favorites; as long as we work together, slaying a secret spirit should be manageable, especially since the secret spirits on this island are only level ten at most, not much higher than us."
While speaking, he secretly employed the Spirit of the Cheerleaders, aiming to unleash everyone's potential.
Listening to Chen Guan's words, Lu Teng, Gongsun Zhuo, and Wang Lian visibly perked up, and Chen Guan could see that the Spirit of the Cheerleaders was having some effect, though he had no idea how much.
Watching Qin Ziyu, Chen Guan was subtly astounded, since Qin Ziyu showed no change at all; his expression and spirit remained unchanged, seemingly unaffected by the Spirit of the Cheerleaders.