Shen Luo remained silent. He raised two fingers and sliced toward the incense burner, neatly severing the long incense within. The tips flared with scarlet fire, and wisps of smoke slowly rose into the air.
He walked out of the main hall toward the rear courtyard. The moment he passed through the arched gate, his entire body froze in place.
On a white stone-paved square not far ahead, a half-man-high mound of severed heads had been arranged in neat rows. Bloody heads were stacked one atop another, sending chills down one's spine at the sight.
"Fox King..."
At a glance, Shen Luo spotted the head placed at the very top of the mound. It was unmistakably the Ten-Thousand-Year Fox King's.
His eyes were still open. Though there was no life left in his pupils, the aura of resentment within them remained condensed and unyielding.
Fox King... who do you hate so deeply? Shen Luo sighed inwardly.
His gaze shifted toward the back of the mound, where an ancient tree more than a hundred feet tall stood upright. Its trunk had already withered, utterly devoid of life.
The Ginseng Tree...
At that moment, vines hung upside down from its branches, with corpse after corpse suspended from them.
Shen Luo's pupils abruptly contracted. Red Boy, Jade-Faced Princess, Jade... familiar faces filled his vision.
"How could this be..."
Shen Luo clenched his fists tightly, his brows knotting together as his entire body trembled.
He had never felt such fury before. Killing intent surged through his heart like towering waves.
It was the Demon Clan. It had to be the Demon Clan. But why... why were they ambushed? Could it be... Chi You has awakened? Shen Luo's heart lurched.
Looking at the corpses, whose blood had yet to congeal and still dripped steadily, he