Beast God Seal

Yu Feiyan and Li Xiuniang's expressions changed slightly, and they hurriedly shouted, "Junior Brother Zhong, come back!"

Zhong Yue ran like the wind, several times faster than a fine horse, and shouted, "If that ram escapes to his master, none of us will make it out of Beast God Ridge alive!"

The two women saw him move like a flood dragon, weaving swiftly through the mountain forest. In no time, he had climbed to the mountaintop, descended the other side, and vanished from sight!

"Junior Brother Zhong is buying us time. Otherwise, if we alarm the Demonic Race qi refiners, every one of us will die here!"

Li Xiuniang spoke rapidly, "Catch up with Tao Daier and the others at once, leave Beast God Ridge, and notify the higher-ups of Sword Gate!"

Yu Feiyan nodded. The two women immediately took flight. Twin wings sprouted from Yu Feiyan's back, while Lotuses Bloomed with Every Step beneath Li Xiuniang's feet. They swiftly pursued Cloud Canvas and the Demonic God Lotus Leaf.

Before long, the two women caught up with Tao Daier and the others, as well as the disciples of the Lishan Clan. The women made an instant decision and sped toward the outskirts of Beast God Ridge. Li Xiuniang, Yu Feiyan, and the others looked down and saw that Zhong Yue had already caught up with the ram. Man and beast collided briefly, then the ram suddenly leaped and flung Zhong Yue away, scattering a shower of blood through the air!

I hope Junior Brother Zhong can kill that ram before alarming the Demonic Race qi refiner, then return safely... the women thought.

Among the mountains and forests, the ram's combat power was astonishing. When it clashed with Zhong Yue, entire stretches of woodland collapsed. The saying that "the bigger the body, the greater the strength" was certainly true here. This ram's body stood more than nine zhang tall, and with a powerful leap, it could jump sixty or seventy zhang high and land over a li away. Its explosive power was astounding!

Under ordinary circumstances, in a head-on battle, Zhong Yue would not dare claim he could steadily overcome the ram. Fortunately, the ram had trapped itself in its own cocoon. To lure Zhong Yue and the others into taking the bait, it had inflicted several wounds on itself, and Li Xiuniang had then heavily injured it, breaking several ribs and pounding its hide full of holes.

The ram's strength had been greatly reduced, but even so, Zhong Yue did not dare relax in the slightest. Though grievously wounded, a cornered beast still fought back, and the ram still possessed enough strength to kill him.

If he grew careless and capsized in a gutter, the loss would be enormous!

"Boy Yue, the direction this ram is fleeing is where the Beast God Essence is located."

Kindling Child's voice suddenly rang out in Zhong Yue's sea of consciousness. "It seems that the ram's master, that Demonic Race qi refiner, is trying to enter the Beast God Seal and seize the Beast God Essence."

Zhong Yue's heart tightened. "If that Demonic Race qi refiner is inside the Beast God Seal, not only will I have no chance of obtaining the Beast God Essence, I'll certainly die by his hand..."

"You're underestimating the Beast God Seal. When the Beast God died, he sealed his own soul and essence so that he would not perish, allowing his soul to live forever after receiving sacrifices."

Kindling Child sneered. "Although the seal has loosened, it is not so easy to seize the essence. When gods and devils like him were dying, a single thought could let them lay down seals, bindings, and restrictions throughout their bodies, layering deadly traps upon one another. That Demonic Race qi refiner is most likely struggling to break the restrictions right now. Obtaining the Beast God Essence will not be easy."

As they spoke, Zhong Yue caught up with the ram once again. He leaped onto its back and raced forward, heading straight for its head. At the same time, sword light flashed behind him, and the Dragon Scale Sword transformed into a bolt of lightning, stabbing toward the ram's heart!

But at that moment, the ground suddenly vanished beneath Zhong Yue's feet. The giant ram's body shrank rapidly, causing his foot to come down on empty air, while the Dragon Scale Sword also stabbed nothing but air.

The ram transformed into a figure over a person tall, standing upright on two legs like a human. It had a human torso and sheep's legs, wore a sheepskin coat, and bore a ram's head atop its neck, complete with a long white beard. Only one horn remained on its head; Zhong Yue had already severed the other.

"Brat, my master is nearby. He'll make sure you die without a burial place, baa!"

The half-man, half-ram monster was severely wounded. It glared viciously at Zhong Yue, then bounded away as though springs were attached to its legs, swiftly dodging the incoming Dragon Scale Sword and Thunderclap Sword qi as it fled toward a cliff.

That cliff looked like a vast snow-white curtain stretched across Beast God Ridge's mountains and rivers, standing out sharply from its surroundings.

If Li Xiuniang, Yu Feiyan, or the others had come here, they would surely have been astonished. They had visited Beast God Ridge before, yet this white-curtain-like cliff had not existed then. It must have appeared only recently!

Zhong Yue, however, had never been here before, so he was not surprised in the slightest and only focused on pursuing the ram.

"Master, Master, save me, baa!"

The ram was enveloped by Thunderclap Sword qi. It leaped through the sword qi and charged straight into the cliff, shouting loudly, "Master..."

It was moving extremely fast. At that speed, crashing into the cliff would surely smash it to pieces. Zhong Yue paid it no heed. Thunder suddenly erupted beneath his feet, accelerating him even more as he closed in with the momentum of Dragon Travels Ten Thousand Miles.

The ram was about to crash into the cliff when, suddenly, the cliff trembled—and the ram vanished.

Zhong Yue's heart stirred. He followed close behind, only to see the cliff rushing toward him. Just as he was about to collide with it, the cliff rippled like water. He touched nothing at all, and Zhong Yue and the Dragon Scale Sword passed straight through it.

"Sword Qi Streaks Across the Sky!"

Zhong Yue shouted under his breath. Thunder roiled around his body like golden snakes dancing wildly, shielding him from every direction against a sneak attack. Only after steadying himself did he look around.

Kindling Child secretly praised him. A month ago, Zhong Yue had still been a rash, green-headed youngster whose experience fell short of Ting Lanyue and Tao Daier, often requiring their guidance. Now, however, he had become exceptionally seasoned and shrewd, advancing by leaps and bounds.

"Hm? Where is this?"

Zhong Yue looked around. The scenery here was vastly different from outside. The terrain outside was rugged, yet it was also covered in verdant layers of mountains and possessed a unique beauty. This place, however, seemed somewhat eerie.

Stone steles stood everywhere, each several zhang tall. Flowers, grass, trees, and even streams lay between them, while platforms occasionally rose among the steles.

Yet everything here was moving. The stone steles constantly changed position, and the flowers, grass, and trees shifted as well, as though they were all alive!

The only things that did not move were the several dozen platforms.

The ram had already entered the forest of stone steles. It was not far from Zhong Yue and appeared extremely cautious, standing there without daring to take another step.

"This is the Beast God Seal."

Kindling Child surveyed the area through Zhong Yue's eyes. "These stone steles, flowers, grass, trees, and platforms are all manifestations of the Beast God's spiritual power, created from spiritual power. Look closely. Nothing here is truly moving; everything is being broken down and then reconstructed."

"Manifestations of spiritual power?"

Zhong Yue focused and examined the scene carefully. Sure enough, he saw even subtler details. The stone steles, flowers, grass, trees, and flowing water were indeed constantly breaking apart and recombining, becoming the tiniest particles of spiritual power before manifesting once again!

The changes happened too quickly for ordinary eyes to catch easily. Fortunately, he had tempered his soul with thunder and honed his body with a flood dragon, allowing him to barely perceive those minute changes. Even so, with his current eyesight, he was still unable to see them clearly.

"Before the Beast God died, he used spiritual power to lay down this seal and prevent his essence from leaking away. The stone steles are covered in all kinds of totem patterns, and each one contains a killing art."

Kindling Child continued observing. "Because everything here is formed from spiritual power, once someone enters, the Beast God's spiritual power will activate the killing art within the stone steles and slay the intruder. Each stone stele is adjacent to six others, which means seven killing arts will combine with one another, forming a Seven Kill Formation."

Zhong Yue pondered. "In other words, every stone stele is a Seven Kill Formation, and each formation has a different configuration? This Seven Kill Formation can be crossed using one method of breaking formations, but using that same method on the next one would mean certain death?"

"Correct."

Kindling Child praised him. "But that is merely a minor trick. Look at those platforms. Around each platform are forty-nine stone steles. That forms another great configuration: a killing formation composed of forty-nine Seven Kill Formations. It interlocks with the smaller formation, and triggering the small formation can activate the greater one! The small formation can easily kill a qi refiner. Even someone like Fang Jiange or Zuo Xiang Sheng would meet his end before the middle formation. And there are forty-nine of these platforms, forming yet another great killing formation. That great killing formation, hehe, is astonishing. If your Sect Master came here, I'm afraid even he would croak."

Zhong Yue looked up. "There are only forty-eight platforms."

"That is why the Beast God Essence leaked out."

Kindling Child also watched the area. "The other platform is still there. Most likely, a great earthquake once occurred in the Great Wilderness, altering the terrain and sinking that platform underground. This left the great killing formation unable to operate and loosened the seal. This formation is too ingenious. The moment there is a single flaw, more flaws emerge. Everything is interlocked; once one link fails to hold, the chain breaks. The movement patterns of these stone steles have also changed, weakening their power. Some steles can no longer form Seven Kill Formations, so their power cannot erupt, giving people a chance to enter. If the seal formation were complete, even I would have a headache getting inside. But now it is much easier. Boy Yue, I'll guide you through the formation. Let's go seize the Beast God Essence!"

"What about that ram?"

"That fellow stepped wrong just now. It's already doomed."

Zhong Yue looked toward the ram. The stone steles around it suddenly stopped moving. Blood seeped from them, as though the steles were bleeding. The blood writhed across their surfaces, drawing out strange totems one after another.

Seven stone steles began bleeding at the same time, and the totems upon them gradually became clear. The ram hurriedly tried to flee, but suddenly seven gods and devils emerged from the stone steles. Massive hands seized the ram's head and limbs, then pulled hard, tearing it into several pieces. The seven gods and devils devoured it completely!

The blood on the steles flowed, and the seven gods and devils vanished. The totem patterns on the steles faded away with them.

"See that? If you take one wrong step, you'll end up just like that ram."

Kindling Child sounded smug. "But with me here, crossing this seal and entering its center will be as easy as turning over a hand!"