The night was black as ink. Li Yun's figure skimmed silently past the edge of the Crouching Dragon Mountains like a wisp of blue smoke.
He sped straight toward Green Mountain City in the Great Yan Dynasty.
He had chosen not to use the entrance at Cloud Sun City, mainly to play it safe.
The Beast-Grazing Land was too vast. He could not be sure he would quickly find the entrance to Blue Star if he entered from Cloud Sun City.
He was more familiar with the entrance outside Green Mountain City.
He flew onward and arrived near Green Mountain City in less than half a day.
Li Yun did not enter the city. Instead, he circled around to that familiar valley outside it.
Deep in the valley, the You blue rift still hung in place. Compared to a year ago, it seemed to have widened a little.
He drew a deep breath and slipped inside.
The familiar sensation of space twisting surged over him again.
A moment later, he stood in the Demon Cave, formed where the spatial laws of two worlds intersected and evolved.
The instant he landed, he sensed something was wrong.
The smell of blood in the air was several times stronger than before, and the roars in the distance came far more frequently.
Worse still, the omnipresent Devil Master's Will seemed more solid than before, its pressure even more oppressive.
"Something's wrong."
Li Yun frowned slightly, then flashed into the shadows.
He followed the route he remembered deeper into the Demon Cave. What he saw along the way chilled him.
There were several times more Weird Beasts than there had been a year ago.
Second-Level Weird Beasts, which he once might have walked half a day to encounter, were now everywhere.
Worse, he saw quite