Dogs without a home

Yun Mo and the others opened their eyes, complex emotions flickering in their depths.

Yun Mo drew a deep breath and said to Wen Qingxuan and the other two, "Let's go. Since we brought this disaster about, we have to shoulder it to the end. If the Evil Clan gets inside before us and breaks the seal, even ten thousand deaths won't absolve us."

The four exchanged glances, suppressed their sense of urgency, and darted into the Stone Hall beyond.

The moment they stepped inside, they sensed the difference. Flames filled this place. Looking up, they seemed to be gazing into an endless purgatory, with chains winding throughout it.

In its deepest reaches stood a statue.

The statue seemed to possess the breath of life. It had a human body and a beast's head, wore red-scaled armor, and was surrounded by tongues of flame that resembled fiery dragons suppressing heaven and earth.

"Do we have to wade through this sea of fire?" Wu Yingying asked.

"Let me. I've come into contact with the Phoenix's nirvana fire. Although mine is very weak, protecting us as we cross this sea of fire shouldn't be a problem." Wen Qingxuan extended her delicate hand and drew a strand of flame into her palm.

At that moment, the strand of flame seemed to cease being lifeless and take on a life of its own.

It circled Wen Qingxuan without causing her the slightest harm.

Looking closely, they could see a faint flame appearing around Wen Qingxuan as well. Though weak and still being extinguished upon contact with the purgatory fire, it immediately recovered afterward, repeating the cycle endlessly.

"You might manage alone, but protecting all four of us will probably be difficult. How about this? Go across yourself and see whether you can destroy that statue. The purgatory fire appeared out of nowhere, and only that statue stands within it. Perhaps the statue is the key," Yun Mo told her.

Wen Qingxuan nodded, but just as she was about to move, a change came over the sea of fire.

Like flowing streams, the flames began slowly receding, revealing a solid stone path beneath them. Even the distant stone door began opening on its own.

The sight left them somewhat stunned.

"The temple has a spirit. Could it have recognized who we are and opened every door for us?"

Wu Ling spoke as though trying to find some joy amid their misery. The pressure weighing on them was simply too great.

"Then stop wasting your breath and move!" Wu Yingying tugged him along and sped toward the Stone Hall beyond.

Afterward, it really did seem as though Wu Ling had been right and the temple possessed a spirit. Even when they reached the stone door, they encountered no further obstruction.

Yun Mo and the others did not hesitate, pushing their movement techniques to the limit.

The third stone door;

The fourth stone door;

The fifth stone door.

Their figures flashed onward, not daring to stop for even a moment, until they reached the sixth and final Stone Hall.

Only the stone door beyond this hall remained closed.

They looked around. A spiritual figure appeared atop the raised platform, seemingly the true spirit of the Stone Hall, guarding the Ancestral Hall under a supreme expert's orders.

"Originally, the Demon Emperors within the Ancestral Hall would have been utterly extinguished in no more than ten years. Yet perhaps it truly was fate that caused this hidden place to be revealed once more."

The Stone Spirit assumed the appearance of an elderly man and spoke slowly, his face devoid of expression.

His words left Yun Mo and the others silent.

"Those members of the Extraterritorial Evil Clan have already entered the Ancestral Hall. They are using secret treasures to destabilize the stone stele seals within. Even I have no way to stop them.

"I only wish to ask one thing: do you still intend to enter? With the last of my strength, I can send you out of this realm."

"Senior, the Wu Clan fought the Evil Clan to the death without retreating. As their juniors, we have benefited from their protection of the Great Thousand World. How could we shrink back in cowardice? Even if only a thread of hope remains, we will fight to the very end. Please open the stone door and let us enter."

Yun Mo exchanged glances with the others beside him before speaking.

The Stone Spirit gazed at them, closed his eyes, and transformed himself into a teleportation formation that pierced through space, enveloping all four of them.

Inside the Ancestral Hall.

Yuan Huai presided over a small ritual array. Looking at the patterns on the twelve gigantic stone steles, he grinned. "Another quarter of an hour. Just another quarter of an hour."

But when he pushed the ritual array to its utmost, dazzling light flared in the center of the Ancestral Hall, and the four figures of Yun Mo and his companions appeared.

He glanced over, his expression turning ashen. Still, this was an outcome he had long anticipated. "Unfortunately, you're far too late. Try using your spacetime technique again and see whether you can break through my ritual array."

Yun Mo studied the eight banners surrounding him. Their originally pitch-black surfaces had turned blood-red, with strands of energy swirling within them. Their overwhelming presence was even stronger than it had been at their peak.

"Did he sacrifice all his Personal Guards into them?"

War Staff in hand, Wu Ling struck tentatively at the barrier blocking them, but he failed to produce even a single ripple.

"Attack together. Gather our power into one spot and pierce the whole through a single point." Yun Mo lowered his gaze. His Battle Halberd swept through the air, drawing all his strength into its blade.

The other three nodded gravely, unleashing their strongest powers.

Their combined strength seemed to condense into a sharp sword that stabbed fiercely into the barrier. At the instant of contact, the barrier shook violently and the Formation Banners fluttered, yet it still enclosed Yuan Huai, leaving the ritual array within entirely unaffected.

Yun Mo pressed his lips together. The nature of their four powers differed completely. Even when gathered together, they still partially canceled one another out.

He looked at the dim space around them, exhaled slowly, and quietly considered a way out of their predicament.

This realm has been suppressed to its limit. Spiritual energy and evil energy are both dispersing so badly that there's no way to find a breakthrough through either. What can give us the upper hand inside the Wu Clan Ancestral Hall?

"..."

Unwilling to accept defeat, Wu Ling and the others continued bombarding the barrier furiously, even as despair nearly consumed them.

Yun Mo calmed his mind and focused entirely on the foundation that had allowed the Wu Clan to stand in the Great Thousand World.

He studied the baleful aura on the stone steles, his thoughts racing. Baleful energy?

He fell silent, then took out a piece of white jade. "Old man, you emptied your pockets to get this Pseudo-Four-Spirit Essence for me. I hope it can save our lives... but if it can't, I might never see you again."

The white jade shattered with a thunderous crash, strands of murderous energy spread-

-outward, then surged into his body and his Divine Soul with each breath he took.

Yun Mo's Divine Soul took the place of his physical form. With every inhalation and exhalation, the baleful energy gradually merged with it, and the murderous intent it released stirred all the baleful energy within the Ancestral Hall.

"In the west dwells the divine beast White Tiger. Its nature belongs to metal, it commands the baleful energy of heaven and earth, and it governs slaughter!"

Yuan Huai watched Yun Mo in bewilderment. He knew that the Divine Souls of people from the Great Thousand World could merge with the souls of spirit beasts or divine beasts, but even if Yun Mo completed such a fusion now, what could it accomplish?

What happened next, however, made his eyelids twitch violently.

"Roar!"

A White Tiger took shape behind Yun Mo. He rose, an icy aura spreading around him, and a dark Broken Great Bow appeared in his hand.

"Is that the bow? How does it already have a bowstring?" Wu Ling voiced his confusion.

"He spent all the Spirit Points from that Nightglow Netherworld Beast on a length of profound tendon." Wen Qingxuan recalled what he had done. At the time, he had said, "If this bow really is a divine weapon, even if we can only fire one arrow, we'll still have struck it rich."

"Let's follow his lead and gather the last of our strength again. This time, we have to destroy that ritual array!"

Wen Qingxuan and the other two set their worries aside. Nothing else remained in their eyes but the ritual array.

A golden spear, a dark War Staff, and an arrow formed from Wu Yingying's entire essence, energy, and spirit merged once again.

This time, however, it was different. The spear intent and the War Staff did not remain independent, but attached themselves to the arrow, making it shine brilliantly.

"Boom!"

The first arrow was unleashed by Wu Yingying and the other two. In some ways, it was even more savage than the four of them attacking with all their strength earlier. It struck the barrier, setting off ripples that turned Yuan Huai's face ashen.

Yun Mo drew the profound tendon into a full moon. Having fused with the White Tiger's essence, he could feel an affinity with the baleful energy. It was no longer unfamiliar. Now, the great bow erupted with pitch-black radiance, as though the Ancestral Hall's baleful energy had awakened it anew.

The arrow upon it was formed entirely from the baleful energy of heaven and earth.

"The Extraterritorial Evil Clan-a clan whose own lord was slain, leaving them fleeing for their lives-dares to lord it over the Great Thousand World?"

"You're nothing but dogs without a home!"

The resounding declaration left Yun Mo's mouth, and the arrow, seemingly powerful enough to destroy everything, slammed into the still-rippling barrier.

Yuan Huai's expression changed drastically. Even beneath the twelve stone steles, an utterly terrifying aura erupted at that moment.

"Who... are... you!"

The barrier shattered. Yuan Huai stood before the ritual array, but it was futile. He could only watch helplessly as both he and the array vanished. "There were only a few breaths left..."

"Roar!"

But it was not over. The gazes beneath the seals made the four of them shudder, their faces turning pale. Surges of towering might sought to burst through the seals, only to be held fast by the few patterns remaining on them.

At that moment, the Stone Spirit condensed in midair once more. He studied Yun Mo, then flicked a drop of pitch-black blood toward his brow. "Just now, I had actually been preparing to merge myself with the stone steles."

Yun Mo and the others collapsed to the ground, still shaken. "You're the Wu Clan's final safeguard? Then why..."

"In truth, the sealing steles were already close to failing. If no one had entered during these ten years, I would have sunk into them to reinforce the seals. But if someone came in and disturbed the seals, I would become the final safeguard. Although I could stabilize them for a time, their eventual destruction would be unavoidable.

"Fortunately, although someone did enter, you also completely destroyed that ritual array." A smile appeared on the old man's face, relief filling his heart.

Yun Mo smiled bitterly. He swore he would never again enter a secret realm he was not confident of handling. If Qing Yilun ever drove him out again, he would cripple his own cultivation.

"Ant, who exactly are you!" The gazes beneath the stone steles were terrifying, but a trace of fear had begun to creep into their auras.

"Hah, the homeless dogs are still howling. I wonder whether you'll live to see the future. If you do, you'll discover that your entire clan will be ground to dust in someone's palm. Even the Heavenly Evil God will leave his bones buried in the Great Thousand World!"

Perhaps because the ordeal was over, Yun Mo began venting his pent-up frustration, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Roar!"

Their voices briefly fell silent, then they unleashed their most terrifying might, trying to blast the stone steles above them away.

The old man looked at the stone steles, his figure beginning to fade. "Go. Afterward, I will isolate this realm, so you need not worry any further. Pursue the path to greater strength. The Great Thousand World's fortune has not yet run dry. The burdens of the future will fall upon your shoulders!"

They watched the old man merge into the seals and heard those furious roars slowly fade.

But just as the four were about to let out a full breath of relief, a mark filled with towering hatred crossed spacetime and flashed out in the final instant before the seals solidified again. Before Yun Mo's incredulous eyes, it sank into his brow.