Volume Four: Buddha Saves No One, Only I, the Demon, Offer Salvation - Spoils of War (Part Two)

"Thank you," Hua Shiwei said behind Luo Qian. "Whether or not we get the Hundred-Son Lotus this time, the Clear Xiang Aristocratic Clan will remember this kindness, Young Master Luo." Luo Qian smiled faintly and told her the truth. "I didn't do it for your team. I really just wanted that crystal." Hua Shiwei didn't believe him. She only thought him too kind to admit he felt guilty.

Luo Qian had no idea his standing in Hua Shiwei's eyes had risen another notch. Seeing that everyone had boarded the carriage, he flicked the reins. "Go!" The Six Howls sped off in a cloud of dust. The sunny, breezy day was perfect for a gallop.

The afternoon had been clear for ten thousand miles, yet by evening the weather changed in an instant. Clouds and mist sprang from nowhere. The sun had not even set in the west, but darkness swallowed everything so completely that they could not see their hands before their faces. This was the fifth face of the Six Suchness Wasteland: clouds and waves shrouded all, veiling it like the dead of night.

Hua Shiwei said to Luo Qian, who was driving, "Young Master Luo, we can't go any farther. Find somewhere to camp." Luo Qian looked around, but his cultivation was too low for him to see more than three steps away. Old Seventeen climbed out of the carriage and opened his eyes once more. Light poured straight ahead like a searchlight beam. After sweeping their surroundings, he pointed. "There's a stone forest over there. Let's go." Luo Qian turned the carriage, and before long, dense black silhouettes rose into view.

Everyone jumped down. Luo Qian put away the Magic Treasure, and Hua Shiwei had just taken out the Earth-Piercing Crystal to cast a spell when Old