Mounted on a Flood Dragon Horse, Yun He pointed his riding whip at the slope and said, "This morning, someone spotted a band of roughly three hundred bear demons entering the mountains here. Our task today is to catch them in the mountains and kill every last one!"
Most people merely found this strange and gave it no further thought, but most of the scholars with Literary Ranks sank into contemplation, realizing there was more to this than met the eye.
Fang Yun glanced at Yun Hu and his son Yun Ao, who knew the inside story. Neither showed any surprise.
Yun He's old friend Kang Xingzhi, an elderly Metropolitan Graduate, looked at him, wanting to speak but holding back.
None of the three Metropolitan Graduates spoke, and no one else dared say much either. They followed Yun He onward.
Ordinary horses would have struggled to advance up such a slope, but for Flood Dragon Horses, anything under sixty degrees was easy going.
The twelve-hundred-strong demon-hunting party entered Axe Mountain along the slope.
As the party disappeared up the slope, a jet-black crow flew silently through the blood-colored mist to the west.
In the mist to the east, an Eagle Demon Soldier appeared, then quickly vanished.
Axe Mountain itself was pitch-black, but all its vegetation bore a tinge of red.
With red light disguised from Literary Qi in his eyes, Fang Yun found the scenery increasingly unsettling after entering Axe Mountain.
Yet the instant he stepped onto the pitch-black mountain, Fang Yun sensed the coiled dragon in his Literary Palace seemingly open its eyes, only to close them again a moment later.
Could it be...?
A flicker of delight flashed through Fang Yun's eyes.
They continued on their way.
The markings on the map were extremely clear. Someone among Yun