"Mumu!"
Below the city wall, a pair of lifeless hands lunged for Bai Shuo's neck. She screamed and squeezed her eyes shut in terror.
The hands that had touched her neck and shoulder were severed in mid-air. Someone flung her backward, and she stumbled a few steps and landed beside Hua Datie.
Hua Datie was behind her, so who had saved her...? Bai Shuo turned her head and saw the boy standing with a silver chain in his hand, blocking the thing that had attacked her.
"Damn it, Ancestor, have you lost your mind? You'd damage your spirit veins just to break the seal and save her?!" Hua Datie's face had gone iron-dark, and he couldn't stop himself from shouting.
Bai Shuo whipped around. A thread of blood had slipped from the corner of the boy's mouth, a shocking sight.
"Mumu." Her heart shook. Before she could say more, Hua Datie's startled voice rang out.
"What is that thing?"
At the same moment, in the stone hall beneath the Yi Royal Palace, the Yiren King held a stone sword above the blood pool. Powerful black qi flickered across the blade. Suddenly it split into countless claws and lunged at the immortal and demon disciples gathered in the hall.
The claws turned to evil qi and shot into the brow of everyone present. Agonized wails filled the hall as countless threads of spiritual energy were pulled from the spirit platforms at their foreheads and streamed without pause into the blood pool.
At the foot of the wall, Bai Shuo's breath caught. She finally got a clear look at what had attacked her.
It resembled a person, except that blood ran from all seven of its orifices, its face was deathly pale, and its eyes were bloodshot red. Blue veins bulged and burst against its skin, and the severed fingertips lying on the ground gave off the same black evil qi. It was a Yiren, overflowing with evil qi.
The Yiren raised its severed arms and, hunched over, growled fearfully at Fan Yue.
"A Yiren?"
Bai Shuo froze. The Yiren roared and lunged at Fan Yue again, arms raised.
"Careful, Mumu!" Bai Shuo cried in alarm, but Fan Yue's silver chain was already coming down.
"Wait!" Hua Hong's expression changed and she tried to stop him, but Fan Yue had already cut the Yiren's legs off at the knee. It dropped to the ground with a thud.
Hua Hong quickly helped it up and reached to check its wrist. Without warning, the Yiren on the ground twisted its neck, rose into the air, and snapped its jaws at her.
A rank stench of evil qi hit her. Hua Hong's pupils contracted and she sprang back several steps. The silver chain came down once more from the side, and a head fell to the ground. The Yiren's eyes were wide open. It was clearly dead, yet its mouth kept opening and closing, biting madly at nothing.
Even Hua Hong was shaken by the sight, and her face turned grim.
"Mumu!" Bai Shuo couldn't move. She called softly to her little disciple. For some reason, though she was used to ordering Fan Yue around, today she felt oddly short of nerve.
The boy didn't turn. A stream of spiritual power flew from his palm and struck Bai Shuo's forehead. The restraint broke, and her body felt light again. She ran to stand behind her little disciple.
"Mumu," she said again. Fan Yue ignored her.
Bai Shuo lowered her head sheepishly and didn't dare make a sound. She had promised her little disciple she would never abandon him, but she had been going to her death, and she couldn't drag his life down with hers. Her disciple was far too precious for that!
Nearby, Hua Hong bent to examine the Yiren's corpse, and Fan Yue stopped her coldly. "Don't touch it. The evil qi on him can devour spirit souls."
Hua Hong froze and quickly pulled her hand back. Fan Yue had lost his memory, but when he spoke, he was never wrong.
"There's evil qi in this world that can devour spirit souls?" Curious, Bai Shuo took two steps forward, but her little disciple caught her arm. She brightened and was about to speak when Fan Yue turned his head away, his face wooden.
Her eyes dimmed. She couldn't help looking at Hua Hong. "Hua Datie, how did Yiren get infected with evil qi?"
Hua Hong shook her head and was about to answer when a low, beastlike growl rose from somewhere. It seemed to come from every direction at once.
"What's that sound?"
Bai Shuo looked around, but she could see nothing in the darkness. A stronger, fouler stench drifted toward them.
Hua Hong frowned. Fan Yue gathered a ball of spiritual power in his palm and flung it into the air. It burst, and the area around the three of them turned bright as day, lighting up the entire street. Bai Shuo looked up. A chill ran down her spine and every hair on her body stood on end.
The streets of Yi City were packed with Yiren wrapped in evil qi, hundreds upon thousands of them, crowded shoulder to shoulder.
Their expressions were blank. The instant the light flared, they all turned at once and lunged at the three of them, roaring.
"Mama!" Bai Shuo shrieked. Before she could recover, Fan Yue and Hua Hong struck at the charging Yiren with spiritual power at the same time. The Yiren went down, but just as before, they dragged their shattered bodies upright and came at the three again.
"Go!" Hua Hong barked and swept out with her staff. The horde faltered, and in the gap Fan Yue wrapped an arm around Bai Shuo's waist and leapt into the air.
Midair, something seized Bai Shuo's foot. She looked down. A Yiren had flown up after them and was trying to drag her back down.
"Ahhh! Mumu!"
A flash of silver spiritual power, and the silver chain cut off the hand gripping her. Bai Shuo clung to her little disciple like an octopus. Another gust of foul wind rolled in, and more Yiren rose into the air, roaring at Fan Yue. Hua Hong was trapped in the street below.
Fan Yue hung in the air, the silver chain in his hand drenched in blood, looking like a god of slaughter. But the maddened Yiren didn't lessen at all. They kept pouring out of the streets and houses to swarm the three of them.
Looking at the Yiren, who seemed like a horde of corpses, even Fan Yue's expression changed.
"Mumu, over there!" Bai Shuo suddenly pointed and shouted.
She was pointing at the city wall. For some reason, though the frenzied Yiren were rampaging through the city, not one of them dared go near the wall.
Fan Yue sent out a burst of spiritual power, held Bai Shuo tight, and leapt onto the wall.
The Yiren rushed at the two of them, but the instant they neared the wall, they all stopped short.
Bai Shuo watched the Yiren howling below the wall and not daring to approach, and couldn't help being amazed.
"Why don't they dare come up onto the wall?"
"Yi City's wall was formed from a single dragon scale of Muguang. It carries the aura of the dragon scale." Hua Hong landed on the wall, soaked in blood, and walked over to them.
A golden dragon could cut down evil spirits from all three realms, so it was no wonder the Yiren infected with evil qi didn't dare come near.
"What exactly has happened to these Yiren?" Bai Shuo asked, looking at Hua Hong.
Hua Hong's face was pale. She shook her head. "I don't know."
"The evil qi has eaten into them and hollowed out their spirit souls." Fan Yue coiled up the silver chain and looked toward the city. "I'm afraid every Yiren in the city has been infected."
"Could it be the Yiren King?" Bai Shuo blurted out. "That god-forging array of his, or whatever it is. Could it possibly need Yiren spirit souls too?"
"Impossible!" Hua Hong said at once. "Hua Lin is the Yiren King. He would never sacrifice the entire Yi race!"
Silence fell over the wall. If it wasn't the Yiren King, who else could turn a whole city of people into this in a single night?
While the three stood looking at each other without a word, the dazed Yiren below the wall suddenly stirred and rushed madly toward one spot. Bai Shuo pointed. "Look!"
In the street, a woman was running flat out with a child in her arms, and countless Yiren were charging after her.
"It's Aunt Xiaoqiugua, the one we saved yesterday! Quick! Mumu, save her!"
Before Bai Shuo had finished, Hua Hong had already leapt from the tower. She cut into the crowd of Yiren in a few bounds, hoisted the woman and the child in her arms, and sprang back onto the wall.
The woman was still shaken, but her face lit up when she saw the three of them. Bai Shuo hurried over to question her, but Fan Yue suddenly pulled her behind him.
"Wait!"
His words were barely out when the child in the woman's arms broke free and lunged at Bai Shuo, roaring.
Fan Yue's eyes went cold, and the silver chain in his hand was about to come down on Hu'er.
"No!" The woman snatched her son back, quickly bound his hands, and shielded him with her body.
"Honored immortal, please spare him! Hu'er still has his wits!"
The three of them looked. Hu'er's small face was flushed red and his whole body was tinged blue-green. He was frantically banging his head against the wall, crying out for his mother in pain.
Bai Shuo immediately pulled an immobilizing talisman from her qiankun pouch and slapped it on him. Hu'er closed his eyes and slumped toward the ground.
The woman quickly caught the child in her arms.
"What happened? What exactly has happened to the people in the city?" Hua Hong asked in a low, urgent voice.
"I don't know either." The woman's eyes were full of fear. "Today was the Mengyu Festival, and we were all supposed to go to the palace to celebrate, but the King suddenly ordered us to stay home and not come out. I didn't go anywhere. I stayed at home with Hu'er. Just now... just now Hu'er went wild. I thought his illness had come back, so I wanted to take him to the Yi Royal Palace to have you look at him. But as soon as I went out, I found... I found everyone in the city had gone mad. They bite anyone they see, and Hu'er turned into this too..."
The woman clutched her son, lost and helpless. When she raised her head and saw Hua Hong's face, her gaze suddenly fixed. She called out in agitation, "Your... Your Highness... You're Her Highness Hong..."
It had been a hundred years since Hua Hong left Yi City, but with the powder washed from her face, she looked only a little colder and more aloof than in her youth.
"Your Highness, please save Hu'er! I beg you, save Hu'er!" The woman gripped Hua Hong's hand as if it were her last hope of rescue.
Hua Hong abruptly looked at Bai Shuo, her gaze landing on the qiankun pouch at her waist.
"I can only cure illnesses and neutralize poisons. I... I can't drive out evil qi!" Bai Shuo said anxiously.
Hua Hong's face went white. Suddenly she asked, "Why hasn't she been infected by evil qi?"
The boy had not recovered his memories, yet Hua Hong turned to Fan Yue without a moment's doubt.
Only then did it register with Bai Shuo that in all of Yi City, Aunt Xiaoqiugua was the only person not infected.
"She bears Rong Xian's mark. An immortal spirit's protection can guard the spirit platform."
Hua Hong froze. She thought of the old man who used to come to the woman's tavern every day to beg for wine, and her eyes grew hot.
Just then the child in the woman's arms let out a piercing scream. Hu'er's whole body shook, and evil qi rose from his chest toward his brow. A translucent wisp of spirit soul seemed about to tear through his forehead.
"Not good! That evil qi is going to seize his spirit soul!" Bai Shuo cried.
With the evil qi about to reach his brow, Hua Hong couldn't hold back any longer. She turned and shouted at Fan Yue.
"Palace Lord!"
At the moment of Hua Hong's plea, pain stabbed through Fan Yue's brow, as though something were trying to break free of his will. The boy's body shook. He gripped the silver chain with all his strength and leaned against the wall, looking coldly at Hua Hong.
Whoever he was, he only wanted to be Bai Shuo's disciple!
"Rong Xian... Rong Xian..." Bai Shuo, absorbed in watching Hu'er, hadn't noticed anything wrong with Hua Hong or Fan Yue. Suddenly her eyes lit up. "I have a way! I can save him!"
The three looked at her. She untied her qiankun pouch and fumbled out something that gleamed gold, its spiritual power pure. It was Rong Xian's golden core, which they had subdued.
"If Senior Rong Xian's mark can protect Aunt Xiaoqiugua, then the golden core of a peak High Lord should be able to drive the evil qi out of Hu'er too!"
As she spoke, she put the golden core into Hu'er's mouth without hesitation.
The moment it entered his body, pure spiritual energy coursed through Hu'er. Countless strands of black evil qi escaped from his fingertips, roaring, and dispersed into the air. The child stopped screaming in pain, and his blue-purple complexion slowly returned to a healthy red.
"It works!" Bai Shuo cried happily, and Hua Hong let out a breath.
Seeing her son recover, the woman was overcome and was about to speak when the ground suddenly heaved and the sky shook. The wall they stood on began to tremble violently, dragon roars echoed through heaven and earth, and a blinding golden light burst outward.
Hua Hong quickly covered the woman and her child with her body. Bai Shuo was thrown off her feet, and Fan Yue flew forward and caught her in his arms.
When the light faded, the city was quiet again. Everyone looked up. A vast golden array had taken solid form, enclosing the whole of Yi City.
Bai Shuo stared, dumbstruck. "What is this thing now?"
"This is... the Spirit-Sealing Array?" Hua Hong murmured, looking up at the enormous formation.
No, that wasn't right. She had once entered the eye of the Spirit-Sealing Array, and the divine array's power had been gentle. This golden array was full of killing intent.
"Heavenly Fire." A calm, detached voice suddenly spoke on the wall. Bai Shuo and Hua Hong stiffened at the same moment and turned around.
Outside Yi City, the sect leaders of the immortal and demon clans looked up at the golden array, and they too were stunned.
"A god-slaying array? How could a small place like Yi City have a god-slaying array?" the Yunxiao Sect Leader murmured.
For a thousand years, since the ancient divine realm had closed, there had been no gods in the lower three realms. Even Jin Yao, who governed the Nine Heavens Palace, was only at the demigod stage. Rumor had it that Fan Yue, Lord of Haoyue Palace, had reached demigod, but it was only rumor. No one had ever seen him work a divine miracle.
"Someone has reversed the consciousness of the Spirit-Sealing Array and turned this city-guarding array into a killing array to slay gods," Jin Yao said gravely.
"Who did it? Could it be the Yiren King?" Chang Huo demanded angrily.
"It's not him." Jin Yao's expression was grim. "Once a god-slaying array is complete, every living thing inside it and for a thousand li beyond will be reduced to ash. The Yiren King and tens of thousands of Yi people are all in the city, so he has no reason to do this. Besides, reversing a divine array's consciousness takes demigod power at the very least, and he can't do that."
A demigod? First evil spirits had slipped into Yi City, and now a demigod had appeared out of nowhere, hiding in the shadows? The three realms had been at peace for hundreds of years. How had this commotion led to such a disaster?
"Everyone, be at ease. The Spirit-Sealing Array was left by His Majesty Muguang. A divine array has a spirit of its own. Even if that person has reversed the array's consciousness, he cannot destroy the dragon soul His Majesty left in the array's eye. He cannot activate the god-slaying array."
Hearing this, everyone relaxed.
"Not necessarily." Elder Fengxian, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke. "Lord, the disciples of both clans are inside the city. If the disciples of both clans were used as sacrifices..."
"Even that wouldn't be enough..."
"And if the entire Yi race were added?"
Fengxian's voice was low. Jin Yao's face changed slightly.
Just then the golden dragon array blazed with light and the dragon roars within it did not stop. A black cloud of death qi, thick enough to blot out the sky, covered the entire array.
The instant the evil qi covered the array was the instant Fan Yue called out Demon Lord Hua Hong's name.
On the wall, Bai Shuo turned slowly and stared, unable to believe it, at the little disciple beside her.
Fan Yue knelt on one knee. A flicker of painful struggle showed on his face, but his eyes were calm and cold enough to chill her.
Looking into those eyes, Bai Shuo's breath caught, and her heart ached fiercely for reasons she couldn't name.
"Mumu..." she called softly, but the kneeling boy seemed not to hear.
"Palace Lord! You've finally awakened?!" Hua Hong rushed toward Fan Yue in excitement and knelt beside him.
"Stop the Yiren King. What he is blood-sacrificing to is a god-slaying array. The disciples of the immortal and demon clans and the Yi race are all sacrifices."
"What?" The joy had barely settled on Hua Hong's face before it turned to shock.
Bai Shuo couldn't make out anything Fan Yue said. She only stared blankly at the boy's cold eyes, at a loss.
"Palace Lord?!"
The sharp shout rang out. Bai Shuo, already unsettled, was so startled that she toppled backward.
A pair of hands caught her around the waist and held her tightly against a chest.
"Master." Her little disciple's low voice sounded by her ear. Bai Shuo suddenly broke free of his arms and looked at him.
"Mumu?!" Her voice shook.
"It's me." The boy nodded, his gaze clear.
Bai Shuo slapped him on the shoulder.
"Thank heavens. You scared me to death!"
She bent over, panting. "Phew. My old life is saved."
Suddenly something occurred to her, and she started, then turned to Hua Hong.
"What did the big demon say this thing was just now?"
"A god-slaying array."
Hua Hong spat out the words, put a spiritual shield over Hu'er and his mother, and leapt into the air without looking back.
"Stay here. I'm going back to the Yi Royal Palace!"
"Follow her, Mumu!" Bai Shuo shouted without hesitation. The boy paused, unlike his usual self.
"Mumu! A'zhao is still in the Yi Royal Palace!" Bai Shuo turned to him, anxious. Her little disciple hesitated no longer. He held Bai Shuo close and rose into the air after Hua Hong.