Charging Straight In
The entrance to Happy Forest—the entrance to the stone path at One Thought Wall—had been heavily fortified. The stone path and the snow-covered mountains on either side were lined with defenses and numerous fortifications built by the yakshas and rakshasas under Yellow-Brow Patriarch. They had turned the place into a temporary pass that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
On top of that, the defensive formation of Lesser Thunderclap Temple had already been activated. Anyone who wanted to enter the temple had to pass through here—even those who could fly!
Rumble—!
Night had fallen. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and now and then a bolt of lightning slashed across it, illuminating the towering cliffs on either side of the stone path.
In the fleeting light of the lightning, shadowy figures could be seen along the cliffs. It was hard to tell how many yaksha archers and other lesser demons with ranged attacks had been stationed up there.
Ever since Yellow-Brow Patriarch had dispelled some of his spells, the weather in Little Western Heaven had begun to warm up a little. Even so, the dead of night was still bitterly cold—cold enough for water to freeze on the spot. The yakshas and rakshasas, who had migrated here from the West, found it extremely uncomfortable.
But even if it was nearly unbearable, how could they dare disobey Yellow-Brow Patriarch's orders?
So, apart from gritting their teeth and holding their posts, they had no other choice.
See?
At the entrance at the end of the stone steps, Lei Elder, a minor leader of the rakshasa clan and the pass, was leaning against a massive rock. His monk's staff lay beside him. In his hand was a pipe he had gotten from somewhere. As its ember flickered and smoke