"Mutated Abyssal Demons were extraordinarily valuable. An ordinary Upper Court disciple had to kill a hundred Abyssal Demons to earn enough merit for one Feather Spirit Pill, but killing a single Mutated Abyssal Demon could earn a hundred Feather Spirit Pills!"
Senior Sister Ting was quite envious. "And the bones of Mutated Abyssal Demons are all the purest Mysterious Iron, far purer than the Mysterious Iron in ordinary Abyssal Demon bones. They are perfect for forging soul weapons! More than two thousand pounds of Mysterious Iron can be forged into over ten soul weapons—and they would all be high-grade soul weapons!"
Zhong Yue's heart thudded. A hundred Feather Spirit Pills was no small fortune. To him, it was no different from a timely rain!
Soul weapons were equally tempting, for they could greatly increase his battle prowess.
These Abyssal Demon bones could be forged into more than ten soul weapons. One could imagine what a tremendous fortune that was!
"Quite a few Upper Court disciples possess soul weapons, but most are low-grade soul weapons made from ordinary gold and iron, barely capable of Soul Sacrifice. The Mysterious Iron in them is impure as well."
Senior Sister Ting closed her eyes and visualized for a moment. Suddenly, roaring flames sprang up before her and surrounded the Mutated Abyssal Demon's corpse. She had visualized a fire-type technique. "Even low-grade soul weapons are not to be underestimated. Once activated, they move like lightning, making them impossible to guard against. High-grade soul weapons, however, contain no impurities. Very few Upper Court disciples can possess such weapons. Only core disciples from the Ten Great Tribes of the Great Wilderness might wield such divine weapons!"
The flames burned, and before long they reduced the corpse to ashes, leaving behind only the Mysterious Iron bones, polished bright by the fire.
Senior Sister Ting closed her eyes and visualized for another moment. Her mental power visualized a torrential downpour, cooling the Mysterious Iron bones. "Forging soul weapons is beyond disciples like us. Only qi refiners possess such means. Junior Brother, whether you sell these bones or ask someone to forge them, I have connections for either option. Although my Dating Clan is not one of the Ten Great Clans, we have our own foundations. There are qi refiners from my Dating Clan in Sword Gate!"
Rainwater washed over the bones, and the Mysterious Iron bones hissed as water vapor rose from them. At last, they cooled.
Zhong Yue nodded. He indeed had no connections in Sword Gate. The Zhongshan Clan had declined, and no qi refiners had ever emerged among the elders. Besides, although Zhong Yue knew Zuo Xiang Sheng, they were not very close.
If Senior Sister Ting had connections, selling these Mysterious Iron bones to the Dating Clan would not cost him much.
Senior Sister Ting continued, "Junior Brother, I have already cleaned up these bones for you. Carry them on your back, and let us immediately search for the other senior and junior brothers. The Sword Gate Demonic Ruins are extremely dangerous. If we get separated and encounter the large tribes of Abyssal Demons or Spider Demons, we will be in dire straits!"
"All right!"
Seeing that she could summon fire when she wanted fire and rain when she wanted rain, Zhong Yue admired her greatly. "Senior Sister, you are actually proficient in several techniques at once. Impressive."
"Visualizing water and fire is a minor technique essential for traveling outside. It is not some remarkable art, but it is extremely useful. If you sleep rough and eat the wind and dew outside, you will suffer greatly without these little techniques." Senior Sister Ting smiled.
Zhong Yue's thoughts stirred as he visualized the Dragon Totem Body Coiling Art. His mental power transformed into a dragon. The dragon opened its jaws and bit down on the Abyssal Demon's corpse, while Zhong Yue himself followed Senior Sister Ting with empty hands.
Senior Sister Ting glanced over and secretly praised him. Junior Brother Zhong's mental power is astonishingly resilient. The Abyssal Demon bones weigh more than two thousand pounds, yet the dragon formed from his mental power can lift them with ease, making light work of something heavy. No wonder he could kill a Mutated Abyssal Demon. It truly was not luck.
The two hurried onward. Senior Sister Ting dashed up a high mountain and visualized flames. Firelight shot more than twenty yards into the air, forming a huge character: "Pu."
Before long, ten disciples including He Chengchuan arrived on the mountain and reunited with Zhong Yue and Senior Sister Ting. When they saw the Abyssal Demon bones held in the dragon's mouth behind Zhong Yue, they were all startled.
"Junior Brother Zhong, did you kill that Mutated Abyssal Demon?" He Chengchuan blurted out.
Zhong Yue shook his head and smiled. "I'm ashamed to say that I was only focused on escaping with my life in the wilderness. Suddenly, I tripped and fell. When I got up, I found these Abyssal Demon bones. It must have died of old age in some remote wilderness. Who would have thought I would discover it?"
He Chengchuan and the others were green with envy. "Junior Brother Zhong, your luck defies the heavens. Why don't I ever have such good fortune?"
The other disciples under Elder Pu had not gone far either. When they saw the character "Pu" Senior Sister Ting had visualized, they each made their way over. After half an hour, they had finally gathered everyone, one after another.
When the crowd saw the bones of the Mutated Abyssal Demon on Zhong Yue's back, they were astonished. He Chengchuan, who spoke without reserve, recounted the matter, and everyone grew envious once more.
Senior Sister Ting coughed and said, "Junior Brothers, two of us died this time, so we cannot continue our training in the Demonic Ruins. We will leave immediately. Something astonishing must have happened in the Demonic Ruins. Otherwise, such a small Abyssal Demon tribe could not possibly have given birth to a Mutated Abyssal Demon! We must report this to the sect at once and ask the sect to investigate!"
Everyone nodded repeatedly.
Mutated Abyssal Demons could only possibly be born in great tribes of a million Abyssal Demons. How could a small tribe of merely two hundred Abyssal Demons produce such a vicious creature?
There had to be something strange going on.
Just as everyone was about to descend the mountain, they suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. A vast, black cloud rolled from the depths of the Demonic Ruins. It grew larger and larger as it came toward them, while dozens of Sword Gate Upper Court disciples ran for their lives ahead of it.
"Those are... disciples under Uncle Jin Hong!"
He Chengchuan had extensive connections and immediately recognized the fleeing Upper Court disciples. He asked in confusion, "What are they running from?"
"Those are Eagle Demons!"
The expressions of everyone on the mountaintop changed drastically. A female disciple cried out, "There are so many Eagle Demons!"
The cloud in midair was astonishingly not a cloud at all, but an extraordinary phenomenon formed by more than a thousand giant eagles spreading their wings!
Zhong Yue narrowed his eyes and saw that the so-called Eagle Demons had human bodies and beastly bird heads, with huge talons and wings and mouths packed with sharp teeth. Countless Eagle Demons swooped up and down, repeatedly diving at the Upper Court disciples below!
Suddenly, an Upper Court disciple was seized by both shoulders and carried into the sky. Several Eagle Demons swooped in from the side, and in the blink of an eye, they tore the disciple to pieces. Blood and flesh flew everywhere, but not a single shred fell to the ground. The flock of Eagle Demons devoured every bit of it in midair!
"Lin Shu Ping is dead!"
He Chengchuan saw the Upper Court disciple eaten by the flock of Eagle Demons. His eyes widened, and he drew a sharp breath. "Lin Shu Ping, a disciple of the Yulin Clan under Uncle Jin Hong, was a member of one of the Ten Great Clans. His strength was astonishing as well. He was hailed as one of the ten greatest Upper Court disciples of Sword Gate, only half a step away from becoming a qi refiner. How could he have been killed by Eagle Demons just like that?"
"Mutated Eagle Demons!"
Senior Sister Ting's face went deathly pale. She made a snap decision and shouted, "Hurry, down the mountain! Leave the Demonic Ruins! A small tribe of a thousand Eagle Demons has produced a Mutated Eagle Demon too. Something must have gone wrong in the Sword Gate Demonic Ruins!"
Zhong Yue also knew that matters were dire. The first small Abyssal Demon tribe producing a Mutated Abyssal Demon could still be explained as an accident, but now even a small Eagle Demon tribe had produced a Mutated Eagle Demon. There was definitely something strange going on!
Everyone ran down the mountain. Senior Sister Ting and Zhong Yue traveled side by side. "Junior Brother Zhong, if we encounter danger later, I ask that you lend us a hand..."
He Chengchuan heard this and was puzzled. Why did Senior Sister Ting say something like that?
He did not know that Senior Sister Ting had witnessed Zhong Yue's abilities and knew that his battle prowess surpassed her own, which was why she had asked him for help.
"Senior Sister, rest assured. Although I am not Elder Pu's disciple, I have shared hardship with all of you, my senior brothers and sisters. Naturally, we must stand together!"
Zhong Yue had just said this when dust suddenly billowed in the distance. Hundreds of enormous black spiders drove dozens of Sword Gate Upper Court disciples toward them!
The enormous spiders raced on eight legs. Each was more than six feet tall and over ten feet across, and the upper half of a human body grew from each spider's back—some female, some male. They were unmistakably the Spider Demons of the Demonic Ruins!
The leading Spider Demon was the most terrifying of all. It opened its mouth and spat out snow-bright silk. With a swish, it glued an Upper Court disciple in place. Then it yanked hard, sending the disciple helplessly flying into the swarm. After one scream, the disciple fell silent and was devoured by the Spider Demons until not even his bones remained!
"Mutated Spider Demon!"
Senior Sister Ting, He Chengchuan, and the other Upper Court disciples went pale. They immediately changed direction and fled by another route.
"Those are disciples of Uncle Cang Song. They have suffered too—they encountered a Mutated Spider Demon!"
They had only fled a few miles when they encountered another wave of Upper Court disciples running for their lives, being pursued by hundreds of Demonic race members from the Demonic Ruins!
"The Demonic Ruins—something major must have happened!"
"We are trapped in a demonic domain. By the time Sword Gate's qi refiners receive the news, we will probably already be dead without a burial place!"
"What exactly happened? Why have so many Mutated Demonic races suddenly appeared here?"
Zhong Yue and the others kept running, but more Demonic race members from the Demonic Ruins appeared. Led by Mutated Demonic races, they surrounded the Upper Court disciples, trapping them within a perimeter a hundred miles across.
"Heh heh, the Human race bullied our Demonic race, confining us here and raising us in captivity so their descendants could kill us for practice. Today, their retribution has come."
Outside the encirclement, one Mutated Demonic race member after another appeared. Their auras were wild and unrestrained, their viciousness soaring to the heavens. They were clearly the leaders of great tribes numbering a million members among the Demonic race. Some had even sensed a Demonic Spirit, merging their souls with the Demonic Spirit of the Demonic Ruins and becoming qi refiners of the Demonic race!
"Our various Demonic race clans have struggled to multiply for all these years, secretly worshiping this heaven and earth. At last, a Demonic Spirit was born in the world of the Demonic Ruins!"
The leading qi refiner of the Demonic race was shrouded in a black robe. The gale whipped it with a hunting roar as he threw back his head and laughed. "Today, we will use these Human race youngsters as livestock, sacrifice them to the spirits of our ancient ancestors, awaken those ancestral spirits, slaughter our way out of the Demonic Ruins, and reclaim the Great Wilderness that originally belonged to us! I will use the blood of these humans to nourish the spirits of our ancient ancestors and awaken them!"
Behind him, one qi refiner of the Demonic race after another rose into the air and shouted, "Children, heed my command! Do not eat them. Capture them alive!"
"Spare their lives for the sacrifice. Offer them to the spirits of our ancient ancestors!"
Before you continue