At first, when the members of the Long Wind Society suddenly erupted into action, it did not make the other riders of the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders overly wary.
After all, the riders' strength was leagues beyond that of the Long Wind Society's members. The gap between them was enormous. Even though Yan the Second had secretly arranged for archers to hide in the woods and loose a dense rain of arrows into the dark night, they still could not pierce the armor of the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders.
The instant the arrows began to fall, Ninth and the others shifted into combat mode. With a soft shing, their gleaming sabers left their scabbards in unison, whipping up a fierce gale.
The arrow volleys rose and fell, striking the black armor. The runes etched into the armor plates shimmered with spiritual light, and the arrows bounced off the protective radiance with a chorus of metallic clinks.
At the same time, the members who had been turned into Corpse Puppets swung their weapons and charged like blind beasts. They were relying on sheer numbers.
More than seventy members of the Long Wind Society hurled oil-soaked torches at the warhorses beneath the riders. Like a silent tide, they swarmed in from every direction.
However, as the twelve riders spurred their horses into a charge, the dull clop of hooves abruptly quickened, like the pounding of war drums.
Hooves thundered, manes whipped in the wind, and dust billowed. The twelve armored steeds plunged forward like flying arrows, punching through the Corpse Puppets' dense, surging attack as if it were made of paper.
But the enemy's arrangements could not be that simple. Before the horses had even broken through the encirclement, a series of bangs rang out, and a vast cloud of poisonous smoke swept against the wind like a wave, thick and choking.
"Watch out! The smoke is poisonous!"
Ma Mingsheng, their leader, shouted a warning.
"Cough, cough!"
Ninth coughed several times and reached out, trying to wave away the thick haze.
"Everyone, be careful. There's something strange about this smoke. Don't get entangled—break through first..."
Before he could finish, a thunderous beast's roar rang out beside his ear.
The roar seemed to explode right next to him. His blood and qi churned, his organs roiled, and his ears rang incessantly.
Whoosh!
A dark shadow crushed through the poisonous haze, wreathed in savage killing intent, and suddenly appeared.
It was a turn of events no one had expected. As the demon-like monster appeared like a phantom and roared skyward, it swung its massive arm straight at Ninth. Caught off guard, he was struck by overwhelming force. With a muffled thud, horse and rider were sent flying together.
"Ninth!"
The other riders nearby stared in fury as Ninth and his horse were hurled away. They rolled several times across the ground, crashed into the woods, and skidded farther away.
Blinded by the poisonous smoke, the riders heard only a desperate whinny. They had no idea whether Ninth was alive or dead.
"Oh no, it's that Mountain Demon!"
Among the twelve riders, Qi Huiying's thoughts raced. She twisted in the saddle and raised her hand, aiming the front of the bronze case at the strange demonic shadow.
"Fire!"
With a sharp cry, the mechanism spun with a series of metallic clicks. The Nine Spirit-Serpent Arrows shot out in streaks of strange light. Black trails snaked through the air, each tracing its own path as they locked onto the dark shadow.
In the blink of an eye, the nine iron arrows, each inscribed with a blood curse, shot forward like bolts of lightning. But just as they neared the shadow, they slammed into a distorted field of force. A muffled explosion rang out, and the nine arrows shattered on impact.
"Protective core baleful aura?!"
Seventh's voice trembled.
"Damn it! It's that One-Horned Mountain Demon from the mountains! How... how can it be a core-forming demon?"
The shadow swept away the drifting poisonous smoke with one hand. Its gaping maw, fangs jutting past its lips, exhaled steaming breath. The monster had an ape-like head and a strange horn growing from its forehead.
At first glance, the One-Horned Mountain Demon looked like an ape. But ordinary apes had no horns, nor did they grow fleshy wings beneath their ribs.
"One horn, fleshy wings beneath its ribs, and the shape of a flying ape"—the description matched what she had read in an ancient text.
Seeing the Mountain Demon with her own eyes, Qi Huiying was all the more shaken. The monster stood over ten feet tall, its towering body like a small mountain. Even the bears in the forest looked tiny beside it.
The One-Horned Mountain Demon had an ape's head. It grinned at the riders, baring its teeth, then reached out and seized a member of the Long Wind Society.
The Corpse Puppet struggled, but the Mountain Demon stretched its neck and brought it to its mouth. Then its fanged jaws snapped shut with a crack. Its upper and lower jaws worked together, biting off half the Corpse Puppet's body. It chewed and swallowed the thing whole.
After eating only half, the Mountain Demon's expression twisted strangely. It suddenly tossed the remaining lower half to the ground, then spat out the chewed-up flesh.
The upper half splattered onto the ground in a bloody pulp. A human head could still be made out, along with steaming entrails.
The remaining riders frowned at the sight, baffled. They did not know the Mountain Demon was acting this way because the Corpse Puppet's flesh had been mixed with a special drug.
There was no denying it: to a monster like the Mountain Demon, the taste was dreadful. It naturally loved human flesh, but that bite was like a person eating rotten fish and putrid meat. Its heart clenched, and it nearly vomited. How could it possibly swallow that?
The One-Horned Mountain Demon paused, scratching at its chest. A patch of fur there bore a mark of scorching—an old wound that had yet to heal.
Creatures like the One-Horned Mountain Demon were usually fond of sleep, and this one was no exception. It had been sleeping soundly in the mountains when a Green-Robed Person suddenly woke it and wounded it. Enraged, it had chased after him.
The Green-Robed Person had fled swiftly. The One-Horned Mountain Demon pursued him for a while, then somehow stumbled here and ran into a large group of humans.
Seeing so much flesh, it had been delighted and grabbed one to fill its belly. One bite nearly drove it to the ground retching from the stench, which pierced straight through its insides.
After spitting it out, the Mountain Demon realized that the Corpse Puppets gathered around it—including the one it had just mistakenly eaten—were all faintly giving off the same herbal stink that made them so hard to swallow. The Mountain Demon, hungry after sleeping in its lair for days, flew into a rage.
Then it twitched its nose and sniffed the air around it, its spirits rising.
Fortunately, there seemed to be other prey here!
Mixed in with the pale yellow poisonous smoke was the rich scent of martial artists' blood and qi. For a Mountain Demon that loved eating humans, it was truly a supreme delicacy.
It rolled its thick neck, moving its shoulders like a person, and fixed its hungry gaze on the riders of the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders.
Oh no! We've been tricked...
Of the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders, only Qi Huiying realized the danger as quickly as Purple-Complexioned Face, Ma Mingsheng.
Her phoenix eyes lifted, and she met the Mountain Demon's gaze across the distance. Human and demon locked eyes.
In that instant, Qi Huiying saw the ravenous hunger in the monster's eyes.
"This mountain demon wants to devour us!"
The thought had barely formed when the strange, savage mountain demon lunged at them as if it had teleported.
Qi Huiying had not even had time to use the bronze case to fire the Nine Spirit-Serpent Arrows when the One-Horned Mountain Demon was already beside her horse. Its inky-black claws slashed across her, and a spray of blood burst into the air.
"Fifth!!!"
The other riders were stunned. They spurred their horses and charged at the One-Horned Mountain Demon with all their might.
"What a beast! This One-Horned Mountain Demon is even stronger than I thought. Was that protective core baleful aura what blocked the spirit arrows just now?"
He Ping hid in the shadows, secretly watching the battle in the woods. Even he had not expected the Mountain Demon to be so formidable.
There were indeed many monsters under heaven born with the extraordinary ability to cultivate cores and condense pills, but few could form a core baleful aura in a mere three hundred years.
"Looks like the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders are doomed. A monster that can cultivate a core and condense baleful aura isn't ordinary—it would be more accurate to call it a 'demon'!"
He saw the situation clearly. The thirteen riders were no match for the One-Horned Mountain Demon.
Sure enough, after Qi Huiying, the one who could use the Nine Spirit-Serpent Arrows, lost an arm, the remaining riders were no longer a threat. In less than a few breaths, the Mountain Demon had killed several of them.
The Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders had always stood together as one, treating one another as brothers and sisters. Losing several companions was bad enough, but the monster also ripped open their bodies, tore out their hearts and livers, and swallowed them whole. The sight made the survivors' hair stand on end and their eyes blaze with fury.
The slaughter grew even more brutal. All the remaining riders of the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders, including their leader Ma Mingsheng, fought the One-Horned Mountain Demon without regard for their lives.
Just then, He Ping noticed something strange: there was an unusual wound on the One-Horned Mountain Demon's chest.
"Strange. That's where its heart is. When did the One-Horned Mountain Demon get a wound like that?"
It was clearly a fresh wound, as if someone had recently pierced its chest and nearly gouged out its heart.
That made no sense! The One-Horned Mountain Demon's core baleful aura was no weaker than his own Armor-Clad Spirit Light, and even the Nine Spirit-Serpent Arrows could not break through it. Who had wounded the monster in the meantime? Puzzled, He Ping furrowed his brows, his thoughts churning.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he understood.
"Chixinzi... It was Chixinzi!"
At that very moment, a somewhat aged voice drifted up behind He Ping.
"Just as I expected, junior brother. I knew you'd be hiding nearby..."
He Ping did not hesitate. He spun around and flicked his right sleeve upward, sweeping his five fingers out. With a metallic clang, hundreds of primed Milo Blades sliced through the air, surging toward his pursuer like a vast gray cloud.