Yu Ci's heart jolted when another sound suddenly reached his ears. The sound was muffled, but its rhythm was one he knew well:
An incantation!
Yu Ci's heart lurched. He darted sideways, flinging out the Pure Yang Talisman Sword at the same time.
With a hiss, an emerald smoke-arrow shot into the spot where he had been standing. Phosphorescent fire exploded across the ground, sparks scattering and instantly charring the rocks where they landed.
The Pure Yang Talisman Sword flew straight out a hundred feet, its fiery gleam dazzling. Nimble as a swimming fish, it twisted several times through the shadows of wood and stone before suddenly wheeling around, raising a spray of blood. The sword-light swept back, and Yu Ci caught it in his hand.
This was the basic Sword Control Technique. After Yu Ci achieved the mind-image of the Xuan Yuan Gen Ben Qi Fa, his essence, qi, and spirit had fused into one, allowing him to use this technique. One step beyond it lay the enthralling art of riding a sword through the air, though that was at least something to be considered after reaching the Returning Core realm.
Yu Ci hurried forward two steps and circled around the obstruction. What he saw made him frown. Two sections of dark, shriveled remains lay on the ground, covered in scales and vaguely humanoid in shape. From the heavy aura they gave off, there was no doubt that they were fiends—and fiends that used talismans.
In his entire life, Yu Ci had seen only two talisman-using fiends. One was the corpse before him; the other had long since turned cold bones, the two-headed fiend that had fought the ghost beast when the passageway between the two realms first opened.
"Where did all these come from?"
Yu Ci swept his