DIZION

As Cheng Qiu"s knuckles. .h.i.t the door, it opened. There, a young man holding a scabbard on his left hand with an air of flamboyance stood straight on the entrance staring at the aloof Cheng Qiu, "You!!!!…" Then he saw Mu Feng behind the latter, drenched in rain, he got immediately startled and held the door wide open to let them inside.

This young man knew Cheng Qiu and recognized the princess in just one glance whom he used to study with, under the same laoshi. This young man was Lai Yin, one of the top students in Mt. ZhuXintai cultivation school and an inner disciple of Yi Sect.

Lai Yin first apologized to Mu Feng then unsheathed his sword and pointed it on Hao Xi. "Your Highness, I"ve been sensing a demonic presence since you all went here, what is a demon doing here?"

Startled by the tension, Mu Feng blocked in front of Hao Xi. "This fellow was someone I took for myself…."

Lai Yin was flabbergasted, he blurted, "Since when did Your Highness have a damoiseau??"

The rest were speechless. Even Mu Feng couldn"t comprehend how this misunderstanding arose. She wasn"t yet finished telling him the most believable excuse- that she took this fellow for herself as her familiar when the other party reacted quickly. Cheng Qiu grabbed Lai Yin"s collar and cursed in the coldest manner, "You stinking haughty brat, how dare you think of Her Highness to be the same as you? This fellow was a TigerFox she rescued last night. Effing philanderer…"

Right! Lai Yin, aside from being a respected adoptive son of a n.o.bleman and a proud inner disciple of the dignified Yi Sect, was a known flirt. He also liked Mu Feng the moment she first entered Mt. ZhuXintai as a kid but was just too indifferent to his feelings, so he never pursued her. He would often tell people that he cultivated just to impress as many ladies as possible. Meanwhile, Cheng Qiu hates impurity and especially detests it when other people suggest such impurity as Her Highness quality. Knowing that his best friend was triggered again, Mu Feng tried to divert the topic. She remembered the corpses on the well and asked, "Those demonic beasts in the well, were they the ones that devoured the livestock in this village?"

Lai Yin tidied himself, crossed his arms and revealed, "Yes, but they"re not demonic beasts, more like Feral Boars. And those Feral Boars were from JingHai kingdom." He then explained how he discovered Feral Boars crossing the bridge from the JingHai Kingdom to Gaodi Hill. Mu Feng decided to go investigate the matter with him.

As the rain ceased, the group left the mob and sneaked to cross the border not too far away from their current location. On the end of the bridge rested the territory of Cen Sect. They strolled around the mountain forest to look for strange occurrences. Nightfall came, the group noticed a trace of evil aura emanating from a certain direction. They trailed after the evil energy which gets stronger as they got closer. However, what met them wasn"t a ghost or a disgusting creature, rather, an old man cultivating in the dark. The man knew of their presence, so he halted and turned to approach them when Lai Yin drew his sword once again and pointed at the man. "You, you"re a devil cultivator...that"s why the aura stinks!!"

Cheng Qiu pulled his collar from behind and quietly muttered, "You effing moron, don"t be so rash. This man right here is a sect leader, can"t you see that emblem in his robe? "

Sure thing, the golden emblem in his robe sparkled in their eyes. The man chuckled, "Youngsters, don"t you forget you"re in another man"s sanctuary. I don"t recommend you causing inconvenience."

Infuriated, Lan Yin gritted his teeth and exclaimed, "Sect Leader!!!! The Feral Boars are wreaking havoc outside this mountain. If you practice unorthodox cultivation, the others shouldn"t suffer from this ..."

Afraid of his companion mentioning their ident.i.ties, Mu Feng chimed in, "Sect Leader, forgive our interference, but I think your minions should be strictly confined. They"re causing trouble to the townspeople at the foot of the mountain, and we even saw some crossing the border."

With all that speech, the man only frowned. Subsequently, three glimmering blades suddenly struck the ground, separating the group from the sect leader. Subsequently, several ninjlike men jumped down from G.o.d-knows-where encircling the four of them.

One of them asked, "Sect Leader Cen, who are these people?"

Mu Feng exchanged glances with Cheng Qiu and Lai Yin, "Sect Leader Cen?"

Sect Leader Cen shrugged, "I don"t know them. You can feed them to the Feral Boars or sacrifice them to Bai Si."

Mu Feng demanded, "Bai Si? The G.o.d of death?"

"They want to make us their ghost minions," Lai Yin prepared to attack all at once. Cheng Qiu and Mu Feng drew their weapons in succession; Hao Xi only stood behind them, innocently and silently. Meanwhile, soon as he told her the last words, the ninjlike men charged at them.

Ding dang!!

Sounds of metal clashing reverberated throughout the forest. Mu Feng would constantly glance at Hao Xi as she fought with these decent opponents. Afterward, another batch of ninjlike men came rushing to join the brawl. The ninjlike men were a dozen, and their strengths couldn"t be disparaged. Plus their sect leader watching over them ready to reinforce at any moment.

After a while, the ninjlike men paused for a moment, looked at each other, communicated silently, nodded, then charged to attack. Now, all of them were aiming straight at one person…..

Their blades were directed at Mu Feng!!!

She thought, What a dirty trick. Should I applaud?

In such a critical moment, how dare she forget the power of Qi Energy!!

Using flame wasn"t an option as it would burn the entire forest. So this is the perfect time to actually let her beloved weapon do the work for her. Although this trick uses a ton of Qi, it"s a whole lot better than being physically wounded. She threw XingYue and struck it to the ground, then formed some hand seals to enable the power of psychokinesis. As she did, her glaive began to move by itself. Afterward, she flipped back to her former position and formed a barrier for her and Hao Xi then mentally controlled XingYue to attack the enemies. Laughing inside the barrier, she sat with her arms and legs crossed, "Hahaha! Such a formation only works on weaklings... " She hadn"t yet finished her mocking speech when...

Huala! The barrier broke.

Mu Feng stood up instantly. Are you for real?

As she was about to charge once again, Hao Xi stepped in front of her and lifted his hand. She panicked and rushed to hide the unarmed fellow behind her back when-

Shua!!! An enormous double-bladed sword appeared in the hand of Hao Xi. It had black stripes like the one in the body of his beast form and white hilt. Leaves were flown violently, and the thinner trees were swayed by the wind. It was as if a storm was coming, and strong spiritual energy surged from both his body and his blade. Everybody halted in agape, all stunned and terrified. But as they did, several tigers emerged from all directions and foxes flew about them. The sect leader cried, "Retreat!!!!! Quick, withdraw… Come here, quick. "

Cheng Qiu and Lai Yin exchanged gazes trying to discern what was happening. It took Mu Feng quite a few moments before she came back to senses and grasped the reality beyond belief and muttered, "Hao Xi, you weren"t a normal demon?"

Hao Xi"s demeanor was completely different right now. His eyes seemed to want to kill right away, but when he looked back at her, he smiled gently. "Master, I thought you"d figure it out anyway."

The ninjlike men finally came back to their senses, eyes widened, frozen still, knees trembling, they spoke in unison,...

"A SPIRIT BEAST!!!!!!"