Chapter 223 — The Dead End of the Yellow Springs

It turned its head, opened its mouth blazing with fire, and shot out a pillar of light. Sensing danger, the swordsman immediately flew up into the clouds above to take refuge—but the pillar of light, blazing and unbearably fierce, sliced the clouds open with a whoosh.

A miserable scream came from midair; whether the swordsman lived or died was unknown.

Then sunlight spilled down through the thick clouds.

"Long Pang is amazing! " Xue Hu'er praised. Shen Mu looked at the sliced-open clouds, worry written on his face.

Among those who had just been hunting them, the most powerful in cultivation were Long Jiaonan and the frost-faced woman from the Liqing Palace, masters of the Seven Stars realm; next came the monk, the scholar, and the others, whose realms likely fell between the Six Harmonies and Seven Stars realms.

All of them were mere vanguard, their only purpose to probe—to find out whether Shen Mu had a master at his side.

After all, Shen Mu was the Demon Sect Leader of the Youmo Sect; surely he would have a Dao-protector, or other formidable beings, beside him.

Now the dragon qilin had been drawn out and exposed. The power of the dragon qilin's strike was already beyond what Long Jiaonan and the others could handle—which meant a stronger being would have to step forward.

Shen Mu had kept up his flight the whole time, never stopping to fight Long Jiaonan and his companions; his aim was to keep the hidden masters from guessing whether a powerful figure accompanied him. Unable to guess, they could only send Long Jiaonan and the rest to probe—which in turn had given him the chance to enter the Barren Ruins. That way would have been safest of all. Now that the dragon qilin had acted, that chance was gone.

The Youmo Sect's masters had been sent out by him to relieve the disaster; there was no Dao-protector at his side.

"The Barren Ruins are less than a thousand li away.

Run!

" Shen Mu let out a foul breath and said in a low voice, "The closer we get to the Barren Ruins, the safer we'll be.

" The dragon qilin was enormous, its speed now greatly increased.

Though still pot-bellied and panting hard, it ran swift as a fleeting shadow. Before long, the colossal creature had run more than a hundred li beneath the clouds without meeting any pursuit—then Shen Mu suddenly said, "Stop.

Land in the mountains below. " The dragon qilin halted, shrank its body, and descended into the mountain range, coming to a valley covered in ice and snow.

The ice and snow here were over a zhang deep; the surrounding peaks were a dazzling white, utterly desolate, with no village ahead and no inn behind. Flames blazed all around Shen Mu, melting the heavy snow in the valley—and beneath it all, the valley floor was strewn with bones. This must once have been an ancient battlefield where a bloody massacre had taken place.

Just now he had used his Qingxiao Heaven Eye to survey the area and seen resentment surging to the heavens, and so he had chosen to stop here.

"Right here, I'll meet the ones who hunt me, this Demon Sect Leader—and see just where they surpass me! " Shen Mu hardened his heart.

His primal energy burst forth, and countless bones flew up, piling with a clatter; in moments, four altars of white bone had taken shape. He took out the four demon-god statues hidden in the Taotie Bag and placed them upon the four bone altars, then drew out the Hongshan Sect's talisman treasure and stood upon the altar to begin his ritual.

The Hongshan Sect's talisman command for summoning ghosts and commanding gods! These four statues were demon-god images of Dutian.

The Dutian Demon King had had him carve five such statues, to use against the demon gods who would not obey his command—but Shen Mu had only summoned one, and four remained unused. "You brat, if you'd summon my true body, I could help you slaughter them all!

" The Dutian Demon King's vicious voice came from the Taotie Bag.

Shen Mu paid no heed. Obscure demonic words sounded from his mouth; the talisman treasure turned, and more and more runes lit up along the first demon-god statue. Gradually Shen Mu established a link with a demon god of another world, making himself the bridge that communicated with the demon gods of Dutian.

"So it is the demonic path after all—hiding here to summon demons. " An aged voice came: "You people always claim you are not a demon sect.

How is what you're doing now any different from a demon? " An old Daoist walked over, carrying only a whisk in his hand and a single sword on his back.