On the eighth day, Lu Chen rode out through the north gate.
Tuoba Shan wanted to come along, but Lu Chen stopped him. "You guard the city. I'll be back before dark."
"What are you going to do?"
"Hunt."
He rode thirty li north, passing the spot where the sealing pillar of light stood. Behind him, the pillar grew dimmer with every mile.
The ground changed from grayish white to black—not the black of soil, but the black of something scorched.
The rocks were black, the dead trees were black, even the air was ash-gray—not fog, but ash, fine ash like volcanic dust drifting through the air. Breathing it into his lungs felt like swallowing sand.
[Detected demonic energy fluctuations. Direction: north-northeast. Distance: twenty li. Intensity: early Longevity Realm.]
Lu Chen urged his horse faster. It was a border army warhorse, trained well enough not to panic at the scent of demonic energy. It merely snorted heavily through its nostrils, its hooves clopping against the ground.
Twenty li away lay a dried-up river. Its bed was wide enough for ten carriages abreast, but there was no water in it, only black stones.
Something stood in the middle of the riverbed—humanoid, yet half again as tall as a man. Its skin was gray, hairless and smooth, like a stone scoured by water.
Its head was huge, with no nose or ears, only a mouth and two eyes. The eyes were white, without pupils.
It was eating something. A wild ox lay on the ground, already half-devoured, its organs strewn everywhere.
Lu Chen dismounted, tied the horse to a dead tree some distance away, then drew Root Severer and walked forward. The silver-white light on the blade was especially glaring in the ash-black air, like a lamp.
The thing raised