The Half-Mad Monk and the others felt their scalps go numb. Even as they sprinted for their lives, they saw the mountains trembling violently, countless rocks flying through the air, and out of the tumbling debris, pitch-black tentacles burrowed forth one after another—the roots of the root demon of Withered Ridge.
The Heavenly Demon Cult had used its demon-suppressing black steles to pin down her roots; the many black steles around the lake and the withered trees had pinned down her main body.
Now that the Half-Mad Monk and the others had toppled the steles suppressing her main body, the root demon was free to unleash her power, and it was simply terrifying—the entire mountain range shook with her.
As her power burst forth, the steles that had pinned down her roots flew up one after another, shattered to pieces by her dreadful strength!
"What ordinary tree demon could ever possess such power?"
The Half-Mad Monk cried out in alarm, "Was this tree demon deliberately suppressed here by the Heavenly Demon Cult to harm people?"
Suddenly, several thick roots came whipping toward them. Hanging from the roots, one after another, were beautiful women, who giggled, "Trying to leave? You saved me, and I haven't repaid you yet. Why not stay and become one with me?"
Qiu Yue flicked her sleeve, and countless insects flew out, pouncing at the roots. The insects swelled in the wind to over a zhang in length, landed on the roots, and began gnawing away—but every one of their sharp teeth snapped off against the roots. They simply could not bite through.
Qiu Yue was startled, and then she saw that the women hanging from the roots were growing tiny tendrils from their navels, piercing through the gu insects one by one. In an instant, the gu insects were nothing but empty shells, the flesh and blood within them gone.
"My gu insects can bite through spirit weapons, but these roots are harder than spirit weapons!" Qiu Yue cried out.
A root came sweeping in behind them. Yuan Shan leaped into the air, sword pellet in hand, and stabbed down, piercing through the woman on the root. His sword spun, slicing off her head.
The woman's head hit the ground and withered immediately, becoming a skull-shaped lump of black charcoal—while on the root, the headless woman grew a new head.
Yuan Shan was shocked as well and moved to sever the root, when suddenly another root stabbed at him like lightning, piercing his back and entering his body.
Yuan Shan hurriedly channeled his sword pellet to cut down the root behind him, but his body suddenly shriveled up. In an instant, all the flesh and blood in his body vanished, leaving only a bag of skin.
The others had meant to rescue him, but at this sight they turned and fled headlong out of the gorge. Behind them, the sky above Withered Ridge was filled with countless black tentacles waving furiously, and one root after another gripped the peaks on either side, hauling the demon's true body up from underground.
It was a colossal thing like a ball of tangled thread, with countless roots dangling beneath it. Such was the commotion it made that it triggered the Mystic Crossbows mounted on the peaks. Sensing the demon's aura, the crossbows drew themselves, and two bolts of massive arrow-light shot through the air, striking the root demon of Withered Ridge, which was like a giant black ball.
The demon let out a shrill, piercing scream, like countless voices layered on top of one another, setting off avalanches in the surrounding mountains.
Long Jiaonan and the others were nearly caught by the tentacles, but the pain from the Mystic Crossbows' attack made the demon withdraw them, and they escaped disaster.
"These Mystic Crossbows can shoot down even a Celestial Being. They'll surely kill this demon!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief—only to see the root demon of Withered Ridge swing its tentacles at the crossbows on the peaks. With a thunderous crash, one Mystic Crossbow was smashed to pieces, its great bronze arm tumbling down the mountainside.
Then the Mystic Crossbow on another peak was likewise smashed to pieces by the root demon.
Long Jiaonan and the others went pale as earth and leaped onto the great red serpent that Long Jiaonan kept, fleeing madly forward. They finally escaped Withered Ridge. Looking back, they saw countless roots in the gorge climbing toward them like giant black pythons, and heavy rolling sounds came from the valley.
Clearly, the terrifying root demon's body was too large and too heavy to fly, so it could only pull its enormous body forward by gripping the cliffs with its roots.
The demon was so vast that as it moved, its body scraped against the great mountains on either side, shaking even the peaks.
"The Heavenly Demon Cult has truly committed a monstrous sin, raising such a demon to harm people!"
The Half-Mad Monk was trembling—whether from rage or from terror, none could say—and roared, "How many people did they kill to raise this demon to this stage! Cursed be my shallow strength, that I cannot slay demons and defend the Dao!"
Everyone knew he was the one who had released this demon, and that guilt was gnawing at him, which was why he pushed the blame onto the Heavenly Demon Cult. No one called him out on it, and they all chimed in, "At least we've lured this thing into the Great Ruins instead of ravaging the people of Yankang. That's something to be thankful for."
"The Great Ruins are home to nothing but the forsaken and outlaws driven to the end of their ropes. Let this demon stir up trouble there—it, too, counts as slaying demons and defending the Dao."
The Half-Mad Monk's expression softened. "The Cult Master of the Heavenly Demon Cult deliberately made that commotion to lure us into the valley. I fear he meant to have this demon do away with us. But heaven protects the fortunate—we escaped with our lives. He must be sorely disappointed."
The moment those words left his mouth, the enormous body of the root demon of Withered Ridge squeezed out of the gorge as well, tumbling down from the heights, its countless roots waving without cease.
Everyone hurriedly rose into the air. The scholar Lan Yu said in a deep voice, "This demon cannot fly. Everyone can rest easy—"
At that very moment, a bird's cry rang out. A fierce wind struck their faces as a great golden-winged bird arrived like lightning, its two talons clamping onto Lan Yu's shoulders and carrying him off.
The scholar Lan Yu felt a searing pain in his shoulders—both his shoulder blades had been pierced through by the bird's talons. He was about to unleash a divine ability to save himself when the golden-winged bird lowered its head and pecked once at his skull, shattering his head, then flew off with his headless body toward the depths of the vast forest.
The Great Ruins. They had arrived.
A lawless and savage land.
The exotic beasts here cared nothing for whether you were a disciple of a famous sect. In the eyes of the exotic beasts here, there were only two kinds of creatures: the edible and the inedible.
"Get out of the sky!" Qiu Yue cried in panic. "Travel on the ground!"
Everyone dropped down at once. The root demon of Withered Ridge was closing in behind them, and they ran for their very lives. As they passed a pool of water, a giant fish suddenly leaped out, clamped its jaws on one of the young masters, and thrashed him about until he was bitten to death, then dragged him under the water.
The root demon of Withered Ridge came killing its way forward, and countless roots plunged into that pool as well. The monstrous fish hurriedly leaped out of the water and fled behind Qiu Yue and the others—and incredibly, it ran across the land as swift as flying, quickly overtaking them all and racing ahead, leaving the group staring slack-jawed.
They had run more than ten li when they saw a row of trees tear themselves up by the roots and bolt away on their legs, whooshing off to escape the root demon of Withered Ridge pursuing them from behind.
"Demon King, the Great Ruins are very dangerous. Unless you have no other choice, do not fly in the sky."
In the distance, Qin Mu sat on the back of the dragon qilin, looking quite relaxed, and said with a smile, "We in the Great Ruins have our own unique rules. If you want to fly, you may—but fly low, and don't be too flashy. If you believe you have the strength for it, you may fly higher, but if any of the exotic beast lords finds you displeasing, they will knock you down and eat you."
Dutian Demon King sneered, "Isn't that just the law of the jungle, the strong devouring the weak? I understand that rule. That is exactly how my Dutian operates."
"Also, do not go out after dark."
Qin Mu's expression turned grave. "Unless you possess the power of gods and devils, never walk into the darkness, or you will be walking a road to death."
Dutian Demon King chuckled. "What's so frightening about darkness? My Dutian has already been destroyed into utter darkness; only a few places still have light, where life can go on. In the dark, I am even more in my element. Tonight I'll wander about everywhere, just so you can see."
Hu Ling'er rolled her eyes so hard they nearly fell out. In the little fox's eyes, the Dutian Demon King was already a dead man.
Qin Mu continued, "There is no law of kings in the Great Ruins, so no matter whom you meet, you must observe proper courtesies. If you neglect courtesy and offend someone, you can easily be done in. The more lawless a place is, the more you must mind your manners. Also, there are terrifying gods and devils in the Great Ruins. Some are sealed away, some are suppressed, and some are living quite comfortably. Don't go wandering about for no reason."
Dutian Demon King was taken aback. "There are gods and devils in this world too?"
"Plenty of them. I've run into a few myself."
Qin Mu said, "As long as you know the rules of the Great Ruins, it's actually far safer than the State of Yankang. Don't believe me? Ask Ling'er."
Dutian Demon King looked at Hu Ling'er, who nodded repeatedly, deeply agreeing. "Yankang is far more dangerous than the Great Ruins. Young Master went out this time to gain experience in the State of Yankang. Our time in the Great Ruins doesn't even count as real training—that's how perilous Yankang is."
Suddenly, a thunderous crash like mountains splitting came from behind them. Qin Mu turned to look and saw countless tentacles filling the sky, a pitch-black behemoth the size of a mountain rushing toward them.
Hanging from the tentacles were naked women, one after another, all laughing eerily.
"The demon from Withered Ridge—who let it out? Who could be so stupid?"
Qin Mu shuddered. The women hanging from the root demon of Withered Ridge had already spotted him, and were straining toward him with all their might. Who knew how many exotic beasts were also charging this way?
"That demon is truly courting death, rampaging about in the Great Ruins like that. It will die very easily."
Qin Mu shook his head. "Even the Village Chief wouldn't dare be so reckless."
As he was speaking, the earth suddenly shook violently. A colossal palm covered in golden fur thrust out from underground, flames burning around it, and slammed down hard upon the root demon of Withered Ridge.
The root demon was swatted away like a black ball, vanishing no one knew where.
The exotic beasts that had been fleeing in panic all stopped in their tracks, looked back, then turned around one by one and returned the way they had come, each back to its own territory.
Dutian Demon King stared, tongue-tied for a long while.
Qin Mu comforted him, "It's all right, it's all right. That's just how the Great Ruins are. Some ancient sites often hide strange and mysterious things. Burn incense at the shrines and bow to the gods at the temples, and you'll be fine. That demon just now probably stumbled into some ancient site by accident and provoked the god or spirit within it."
Dutian Demon King's body went rigid. After a long while, he exhaled a mouthful of foul air and said, "This place of yours is too dangerous. I want to go back to Dutian..."
The Demon King suddenly became agitated, four faces and four mouths chattering, even spitting out a few broken parts: "This wretched world of yours—what kind of mortal realm is this? Demons and monsters everywhere! Fine, I won't invade, all right? Let me go—I want to go home!"
Hu Ling'er tried to console him. "Our Great Ruins are really very safe, much safer than the State of Yankang. Stay with Young Master, and I promise nothing will happen to you."