Shi Mu’s heart skipped a beat as terror rose in his mind. Flame-like lights burst behind his back and expanded into a pair of fiery wings.

　　He moved his wings and his body was a red blur zipping through the air—anywhere away from the danger, making sure to make as many sharp turns and changes of direction as possible.

　　The snaking golden ray may have been quick as a bolt but it could not seem to catch Shi Mu.

　　On the other side, lacking any specialized method of escape, Liu An was quickly caught by the golden ray.

　　Just when he was about to be captured, the golden skull above Liu An suddenly landed behind him, opening its mouth wide and eating up the entire chain of golden sand.

　　Booooommm!

　　The golden skull shed a burst of blinding golden light as it rocked violently. It seemed that the golden sand had already exploded inside the skull as sparks of gold danced in the air around it. However, for some strange reason, the skull did not burst apart. The only outward sign of damage was a few cracks from when the sparks scratched its surface.

　　The golden skull flashed before returning to the Heavenly Ghost Streamer. It merged into the surface of the streamer, its new battlescars visible even as it returned to its embroidery mode.

　　A pensive look crossed Liu An’s face as he performed a handsign. On cue, the Heavenly Ghost Streamer shone a blood-red light before being subsumed into Liu An’s body and vanished.

　　Boooommm!

　　Another rumble roared from a distance. The chain that had been pursuing Shi Mu exploded in a golden mushroom cloud. Shi Mu remained out of the blast radius.

　　Shi Mu flapped his flaming wings and stopped in midair.

　　It seemed that these golden sand chains would self-destruct after a set period of time. Luckily he was quick with his reflexes, or else he would have to resort to the powers in his left hand to counter the chain.

　　Not that he was planning to use that power easily; his left hand could only manage a single punch each time while expending so much Real Qi that he wouldn’t be able to replenish it within a short amount of time. This was something only to be used at the most critical moment.

　　The ever-scattering sand blizzard finally gathered in the middle of the chamber before rapidly shrinking and converging into a piece of yellow fabric. At the same time, Huang Long appeared.

　　“You’re pretty good at running away, boy!”

　　Huang Long glared at Shi Mu with malevolence in his eyes. He was about to launch another attack!

　　At that moment, the air was filled with a sort of humming. Huang Long turned to the source of the sound, and his face froze.

　　The spot where the Azure Ape King had fallen was suddenly flashing brightly before a white formation materialized.

　　“Ahahaha! You wretched imbecile! I said the formation was on the top of the altar and you believed it so easily. The real location of the formation is here, you fool!” The Azure Ape King had already lifted himself up onto his feet, guffawing as he looked at Huang Long.

　　“You… Die, now!”

　　Huang Long’s expression darkened and he immediately shot himself toward the Azure Ape King, Shi Mu, and Liu An completely forgotten.

　　He mumbled an incantation under his breath and waved his hand. In a flash, the Nine Arch Yellow Sand sprang into the air before him and transformed into a yellow sand dragon, targeting the Azure Ape King himself.

　　The golden dragon blazed with golden light. Bolts of lightning escaped its body as rumbles of thunder could be heard. It was quite a terrifying sight.

　　Worse of all, after the bolts of lightning had appeared, the yellow sand dragon became faster in its pursuit. In the blink of an eye, it had already reached its target.

　　The Azure Ape King’s grimaced in surprise, but he did not panic. With a quick incantation, he was encased in blood-red light.

　　The next second, the exposed flesh from his wound suddenly flew out of his body and hovered in circles around him, accompanied by the bloody mist.

　　Chunks of flesh then started merging together to form a gigantic shield of collagen and meat. On the cover of the shield, one could even see the mirage of an ape gleaming in blood-colored light.

　　Booommmm!

　　The golden sand dragon collided with the blood-red shield, erupting into a deafening, earth-shaking rumble as sparks of golden light and blood scattered in full force, causing the room to shake violently as dust and debris filled the air.

　　The blood-colored shield shook as cracks formed, but it managed to block the yellow sand dragon.

　　Standing behind the shield was a bloody, skeletal figure, which was all that was left of the Azure Ape King at the moment. The only organs left on him were his eyes, making him look like a grotesque, gory monstrosity.

　　Nevertheless, he waved his bloody humerus around as he sent arcs of blood-red lights into the white formation. In response, the formation shone more brightly by the second as countless runes started to surface, looking increasingly corporeal.

　　The Azure Ape King’s bloody flesh shield may have blocked Huang Long’s attack, but it was merely a temporary solution. Huang Long’s eyes gleamed brightly, one of his hands performing signs while he muttered incantations. His yellow sand dragon shone brighter and brighter, amplifying its power as it thrust forward. The bloody red shield was being overwhelmed!

　　At this opening, Shi Mu and Liu An both leaped into action, but neither of them went for the escape formation the Azure Ape King had just initiated.

　　Liu An’s disheveled blood-red hair flowed in the air as he sprinted, his eyes transfixed only on the black brick-like object on the rack.

　　Shi Mu himself dashed at the golden altar in the center. He saw the phantom of the ape head hovering above the altar just now—the same ape in his dream, no less—so he was sure that the drop of the White Ape Essential Blood he had so desired was right there!

　　With this single drop of blood, he would be able to break through the bottleneck of his Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art!

　　Huang Long may have focused most of his attention on the main player, but he did not forget these two small fries. He watched the two of them from the corner of his eyes, and with another handsign, two saffron glows appeared the air and shot toward the two, causing ripples in the void as they chased Liu An and Shi Mu.

　　The yellow orbs zipped through the air like heart-penetrating arrows, aiming straight for the targets’ backs.

　　Shi Mu and Liu An were shocked and panicked, but neither of them turned to deflect the attack. Instead, they simply hastened their pace, their minds focused on a singular goal.

　　Just as the ball of yellow light was about to hit Liu An, he suddenly turned and blocked the attack from the front.

　　Booom!

　　He flew backward over several feet and landed on the ground with a few rolls.

　　His face was white as paper but he was not injured. However, in his hands pressed neatly against his chest was a black brick-like object—a single object that had been merged into one from two halves.

　　It seemed that at the very last moment, Liu An managed to get his hands on the black object. He turned at the very next millisecond, jamming half of it into the half he possessed and used it to deflect Huang Long’s attack.

　　While Liu An’s brick collided with Huang Long’s attack, Shi Mu himself was still in trouble!

　　Shi Mu lunged forward. Just as he was about to step on the edge of the golden altar, the phantom white ape’s head—the same one that terrified Huang Long with its roar—flashed and appeared in midair, its golden eyes coldly boring through Shi Mu.

　　Meeting the almost-tangible eyes of the phantom, Shi Mu’s heart stopped as sweat streamed down his forehead.

　　He knew that this white ape and himself shared a very profound—albeit mystifying—connection, but he was less sure that this single most powerful demon king who had once conquered the entire Western He continent would not suddenly lapse into its primal state and kill Shi Mu in an instant.

　　But he was at the crux of the moment now—the moment where he had absolutely no time to doubt himself nor second guess his decision. Huang Long’s void-rending yellow light was tailing him closely like a falcon on its prey. If he hesitated for a millisecond, he would be caught.

　　He had no other choice left, so he ignored the nagging fear that the white ape may just jump up and kill him. He put his life on the line with this leap of faith!

　　Tap.

　　Shi Mu landed on the altar. He won the gamble: the white ape had not attacked him, but it let him through.

　　At the same time, the white ape once again gave a loud ear-splitting roar from behind, emitting shockwaves so tremendous that it rocked Shi Mu to the ground while breaking Huang Long’s attack into fragments.

　　The white ape head turned its attention to the sprawling Shi Mu, and an indescribable sentimentality crossed his eyes.

　　After a few moments, the phantom ape head dissipated and faded away, revealing its true form as a single crystalline drop of red blood dripping onto Shi Mu’s forehead. It twinkled, and then disappeared.

　　As the drop of essential blood melted into Shi Mu’s body, the seal on the golden altar seemed to have been triggered open.

　　A stone pedestal slowly jutted out of the altar, and on it was a wooden box full of golden glyphs.

　　Pasted on the surface of the wooden box were a few silver talismans with some complicated runes scribbled on.

　　Shi Mu struggled to climb as agony wrought his visage. His eyes were completely red.

　　His body had become almost transparent, revealing his blood capillaries and veins to have dilated several folds, turning him into quite an unnerving sight to behold. Coursing through these enlarged capillaries were tides of blood rolling like flames.

　　Although he was in great pain, Shi Mu had not lost his consciousness yet. He could feel his blood boiling, his whole body searing like the time Zhong Xiu’s Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline had awakened. Shi Mu felt like his entire body was going to erupt in flames.

　　The searing blaze seemed to be confined only to his body. No matter how strongly his blood boiled and thrashed, they never seemed to broke out of his shell. They remained his bloodstream, grinding him with torturous pain.

　　Shi Mu had no strength left for second thoughts. He instinctively grabbed the wooden box with golden glyphs from the stone pedestal and tucked it into his Vast Earth Ring.

　　The Azure Ape King and Huang Long were still locked in a violent melee prior to this, but by now even they had been attracted to the scene on the altar.

　　The Azure Ape King, who was left with just a few bones, had eyes filled with incredulity.

　　He could not understand how a puny human brat could enter the altar and absorb the White Ape Demon King’s quintessential blood, yet still not die. Shouldn’t the blood have corroded his body or caused it to burst?

　　Huang Long was almost bursting in rage.

　　He had crossed the ocean and journeyed deep into the Western He continent, spent hundreds of years and expended much effort… just to watch some unknown, unplanned human brat beat him to the object of his desire!

　　This was unforgivable!