"Corpses strewn over a thousand miles? Blood flowing into a sea?"
At first, Xing Yan did not quite grasp the black-robed elder's words. Only after the elder had finished and a moment had passed did he suddenly realize what he had heard. Turning those two phrases over briefly in his mind, the handsome, free-spirited youth laughed and said dismissively:
"I shall certainly heed your words, Elder. But as you must have heard just now, in cultivating my heart and practicing the Dao, I follow heaven and move with the seasons. Why would I slaughter living creatures on such a scale?"
"Besides, though I have attained some small proficiency in magic, my powers are hardly worth mentioning before accomplished elders such as yourselves. Even if anger sometimes gets the better of me, at most blood might flow for a hundred paces. How could I leave corpses strewn over a thousand miles?"
The elder of the Devil Race offered no immediate reply to this defense. His lustrous eyes suddenly grew distant and elusive. He studied Xing Yan for a while with a gaze that seemed to see through everything, then slowly broke into a grin:
"Hmm... perhaps, perhaps. I was only making an idle remark."
Letting the matter pass, Xing Yan remembered something else and asked sincerely:
"Elder, you have seen much and know a great deal. Something has just occurred to me, and I would like to ask you to clear up my doubts."
"Ask freely."
"Have you ever heard of a mountain spirit who can cast a spell that renders all other magic within several dozen yards ineffective, while leaving her own powers entirely unhindered?"
Seeing how much the elder knew about the Red Tiger Mountain God had brought the words "mountain god" to Xing Yan's mind, reminding him of