The eight Barbarian Monks raised their Demon Lanterns once more to lay out a formation, releasing demon fire that filled the entire cave.
Xiong Manniang sent out her flying sword, ready to fight again, when she suddenly felt her primordial spirit being restrained. Turning her perception inward, she saw an Eight-Armed Gods-Demon standing behind it. Horror seized her; she knew she had fallen into the enemy's trap.
Earlier, he and Xiao Shijiu had fought the eight Barbarian Monks to a standstill. Now that his primordial spirit was restrained, winning a sword duel was out of the question—even the slightest lapse could let someone snatch his primordial spirit away from afar.
She made an immediate decision. While joining forces with Xiao Shijiu to hold back the demon fire surging at them from all sides like a tide, she took out the Dust-Veiling Banner and pressed it into her hands. She transmitted its method of use to her, then said, "My primordial spirit is restrained. I can't escape. Leave at once and find my master at Moxiao Cliff on Mount Taimu in Fujian. Tell him about my calamity. Go!"
Xiao Shijiu also knew how grave the danger was. If they delayed any longer, both of them would meet their end here. She hurriedly shook out the Dust-Veiling Banner. This treasure had been crafted by the Heavenly Fox Lady Baoxiang according to a secret method passed down by Old Man Xuexue, then refined anew by Shi Feiyang. Its power was astonishing. The instant it unfurled, a pillar of Jin light sprang forth and enveloped Xiao Shijiu.
With a crack, like a thunderclap out of a clear sky, the Jin-lightning blasted through the stone wall, boring a slanting hole more than a dozen zhang long straight to the outside.
Xiao Shijiu dared not linger