The Mountain Lord's Ambush!

"Why isn't Deputy General Yang here? Didn't he return with you?"

At those words, the faces of everyone present changed.

Zhou Zheng whipped his head around. "Yang Xiao isn't at the Mystic Bone Sect?"

Startled by his reaction, the elder hurriedly said, "Last night... Deputy General Yang said he was going for a walk. He never came back."

"We thought he was with you..."

Zhou Zheng, Yan Tieyi, and Meng Jiu exchanged glances. The same grave look appeared in all three men's eyes.

"He went out alone?" Yan Tieyi's face turned ashen. "That's the Mountain Lord's territory out there!"

"With his strength..." Meng Jiu trailed off, his brows drawn tight.

He had secretly gauged Yang Xiao's cultivation last night. Yang Xiao's spiritual power was abundant, but Meng Jiu could not tell how many apertures he had opened.

Judging by the strength Yang Xiao had shown in killing the Golden Buddha-colored abbot, he was respectable among the deputy generals of the Demon Suppression Division. But against an Aperture-Opening Realm demon—especially the Bear Mountain Lord, who might not have left—the danger was immense.

"Ahem. Deputy General Yang did protect us last night."

Seeing them standing there with grim faces, the elder spoke up. "Not long after you left, an Aperture-Opening Dog Demon broke in. Deputy General Yang killed it."

"I think that although he went out at night, he may have had some confidence in his own strength..."

"Oh?"

Yan Tieyi's interest was piqued. He was no longer in such a hurry to go looking for Yang Xiao.

"He killed an Aperture-Opening Dog Demon last night too? Tell us exactly what happened."

The elder began, "It went like this..."

Yang Xiao carried the Army-Breaking Spear along the mountain path toward the Mystic Bone Sect.

A heavy rain had washed over the mountains