"Senior! I- I lost him. The kid ran too quickly, and the trail vanished in an instant!"
The Black Bear Spirit gabbled as he returned. When he saw the handsome man, he approached cautiously, although he deeply respected him.
The handsome man was licking his fingers. His pale, elegant fingers were stained with a few drops of blood.
On the floor was a long, red skirt, as well as some other litter.
"Se- Senior...... You, all the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples......" Seeing the flame red skirt, the Black Bear Spirit had an impression of a comely girl.
"Eaten." The handsome man burst into laughter.
"Incredible."
The Black Bear Spirit cheered in his heart. It was cruel - martial cultivators hated demons eating humans more than anything. Who would have thought that he had actually ventured into the Valley of Immortal Fate and eaten each one he saw? The Black Bear Spirit admired and respected him.
"Follow me, then. If we catch another, I"ll give you a taste too." The handsome man waved the skirt, then entered the mist.
"Yes, Senior!" The Black Bear Spirit hurriedly followed behind.
Whoos.h.!.+
A jet of fire followed them, completely burning the red skirt to ash, leaving no trace behind.
A few martial cultivator immortal treasures, immortal essences, and talismans were naturally taken by the handsome man.
"Senior, that staff-wielding kid. Aren"t we chasing him?" the Black Bear Spirit asked.
The handsome man said, "I"ve thought on it. He"s indeed human, not a demon. It shouldn"t be possible. So the next time we meet him, I"ll let you taste him. I don"t like to eat men; their meat"s too tough."
"Many thanks, Senior." The Black Bear Spirit felt extremely grateful. He had thought his lack of results would be met with reprimand, but nothing happened to him.
"When I finish killing all the disciples here, I"ll take you away. You said there were two more? We"ll bring them along as well. Do you know where they are?" the handsome man questioned.
"I do. They were locked in the Spirit Banishment Tower with me for many years. We would die for each other."
"How many demons in the Spirit Banishment Tower?"
"Including the three of us, 172 demons total, of which 43 have demon essences."
"Keh. The Heavenly Sword Sect has imprisoned 172 of my brethren. Then I have to kill 172 disciples to avenge them." The handsome man laughed, looking in the direction of the Bipo Mountain Range.
"Senior, the Heavenly Sword Sect is very strong. They have two Jindan Immortals!" The Black Bear Spirit felt a little trepidation.
"What use is that? Their doomsday has come."
He laughed softly and vanished into the fog, the Black Bear Spirit in tow.
......
"Hongyi!"
"Senior Sister Ni!"
Lan Shuiyue and the other two fifth tier of the Qi Condensation disciples were gathered together and had come looking for Ni Hongyi after waiting for her for the longest time.
They searched at length, but did not find any trace of her.
"When I last looked, the Black Bear Spirit was chasing her. So I think she must have used the Beacon of Flame to exit the Valley of Immortal Fate," the green-robed disciple said.
"We didn"t go that far. Why did we not see the flame pillar?" The blue-clothed disciple was doubtful.
"She must have ran a long way and then was forced to use it. Of course, she might still be around, except she has not reached the Lake of Jade. How about we return to the Lake of Jade to wait for a while?"
In the end, they still looked to Lan Shuiyue for the decision.
Her face was dark. In the end, she could not leave her vengeance behind. She shook her head, saying, "She must have left, or she would have returned to the Lake of Jade promptly. Let"s look for the immortal roots. If we delay any longer, they will really be taken by others."
"Alright."
The three of them left, stealthily traversing the terrain of the Valley of Immortal Fate. They kept their movements small, afraid that they would meet the Black Bear Spirit again.
Half a day later.
Bang, bang, bang!
They seemed to hear some commotion and thought that there was a battle.
"Go!"
Evidently, they must have found a demon for the battle to be so huge.
As the three neared, they realized that there was a river in front. The river was many zhang deep, and the water rushed downwards.
"Upstream!"
The three continued upwards.
But they did not see that Wu Yu was on the opposite bank. He had heard the sound as well and was also headed upstream.
He had escaped from the Black Bear Spirit last time and had not found the fox demon yet. Of the immortal roots, there was no trace either. There had been no clues yet, and Wu Yu was getting anxious.
His longing for the immortal roots was no less than the others here.
Immortal roots were foundations for his future, and an important component at that.
Whoosh, whoos.h.!.+
All four were headed upstream.
When they arrived, the battle had already ended. They could see the environment in tatters, and the water of the river had gushed on sh.o.r.e, drenching a huge patch of land.
On the river bank, there was a huge fish of many zhang long. The huge fish was thick and long, with thorns on its back as sharp as knives. Its maw was enormous, with rows of razor-sharp teeth that instilled fear. The fish"s head had four eyes, two large and two small. It looked extremely fearsome.
This had to be the shark demon.
However, the demon"s body was drenched in fresh blood and riddled with the scars from a mult.i.tude of dao techniques. More than six disciples had surrounded it, using all kinds of immortal treasures to inflict wounds on the shark demon. The demon was currently shapes.h.i.+fting into human form. The immortal treasures similar to the Rainbow La.s.so were currently constricting, throttling the demon to death.
They had already subdued this demon.
In addition to Wu Yu, and Lan Shuiyue"s group of three, basically all disciples in the Valley of Immortal Fate were gathered here.
"Bring us to the immortal root, and we will spare your life."
Surrounded by all of them, the shark demon offered no resistance. This state of affairs had happened many times before, and he gave it up. He hurriedly nodded, saying, "This young demon will bring you."
When they arrived at that place, they would fight over the immortal root.
After all, they had cooperated to take down this demon, and the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples were fair. They would all have the right to contest the immortal root.
Following which, the shark demon led the way, and they trooped towards the location of the first immortal root.
"We follow them and find the opportunity to s.n.a.t.c.h it. Whoever gets the immortal root and gives it to me will be heavily rewarded when we get out," Lan Shuiyue said.
"No problem."
For Lan Shuiyue"s heavy reward, they did not mind waiting another year to contest the immortal root. After all, they had already been at this tier for about a decade.
Wu Yu thought it over, then followed as well.
The immortal root was not ruled to anybody. Naturally, it belonged to whoever could s.n.a.t.c.h it first.
The group was divided into three. They totalled 10 people, all trailing the shark demon to the immortal root.
Only, not even Wu Yu knew that there was a fourth group, looking at them from a distance. After all, the battle"s commotion was just too big.
In the fog, three figures stood on a tall mountain beside.
On the left was the Black Bear Spirit, cackling madly.
On the right, was the femme fatale, the fox demon. She had been wily, and Wu Yu had not found her before they did.
In the middle was naturally the handsome man. And only he did not have the Demon Fis.h.i.+ng Rod"s line attached to him.
In truth, Elder Shentu"s Demon Fis.h.i.+ng Rod could only ascertain their position, but could not tell what they were doing. And two demons grouping up did not mean anything.
"I have a plan to catch them all in one fell swoop. We need a hidden cave of some size." The handsome man suddenly laughed.
"Senior, I know such places. There are quite a few nearby. They"re definitely well hidden," the fox demon said coyly.
"Does the shark know?" the handsome man asked.
"Naturally he does. We"ve been here more than 10 times. We"re very familiar with the place," the fox demon answered.
"Good. Black Bear, here"s your mission. You will go down and throw the group into chaos. Secretly tell the shark of a position, and get him to bring them to that position. I will wait here in ambush, waiting for them to take the bait," the man said confidently.
The Black Bear Spirit was overjoyed.
"Senior, we just have to lure them there? Then we can kill them all?"
"Do you still not have faith in my skills? I guarantee that not even a single Beacon of Flame will be used. None of them can even dream of escaping from the palm of my hand."
"Yes, I will go now!"
The Black Bear Spirit was ecstatic. He only needed to fake a rescue for the shark and then convey a location. They secretly agreed on the position, and the Black Bear Spirit hurried on his way. The day of their success had come!
After the Black Bear Spirit left, the handsome man and the fox demon moved as well, headed for the position.
"Senior, what trap will you lay?"
"Using my demon technique, I just need some time to set it up. I cannot use it instantly in battle, but once it"s in formation, not even a single fingertip of these martial cultivators will escape."
"Senior, you must leave two male disciples for me."
"No problem."
"I want him." The fox demon pointed at Wu Yu, who was trailing the big group.