“What’s on your mind, Brother Shi?” Liu An asked.

　　Shi Mu, ignoring Liu An, turned to the Azure Ape King nailed to the cross and asked, “There is something I would like to ask you, Elder.”

　　“Yes?”

　　“The secret vault of Heaven Ascension Peak that you spoke of lies right in this room… correct?” Shi Mu’s eyes were fixed squarely on the Azure Ape King, enunciating every syllable of his words as he spoke.

　　The Azure Ape King was quite stunned by his words, but after keeping silent for a while, he nodded forcefully.

　　Liu An was rather puzzled at the exchange but did not say anything.

　　“Alright then, I’ll help you as well,” Shi Mu replied, seemingly relieved.

　　The Azure Ape King may be a Heaven-ranked nonpareil powerhouse, but judging from his current circumstances, Shi Mu was sure that if he teamed up with Li An, they would be able to match him in battle, so he was not afraid of the king betraying them once freed.

　　“Very well, Elder. Guide us on what to do next,” Liu An started.

　　“These four Demonbound Nails bind me by impeding all my meridian channels. They are connected to the Golden Formation of Mahameru you see on the floor. In order to remove the Demonbound Nails, you must first help me cut the connection between them,” The Azure Ape King replied before taking a sharp breath, causing green lights to shine out of his body.

　　The four Demonbound Nails blazed with green light as they formed a trail together and suppressed the dazzling green luminescence on the Azure Ape King’s body.

　　Shi Mu and Liu An’s expressions shifted. The two could clearly see four very slim green lights connecting themselves to the four corners of the secret room via the ground. On each corner was a half-foot long black stone pillar jutting out of the ground, which was where the green light ultimately ended.

　　“These are the four Dragon-subduing Pillars… Destroy them… and the connection… cuts…” The Azure Ape King said between panting. As soon as the last word was spoken, he seemed to have fallen back into a coma.

　　Liu An and Shi Mu gave each other a knowing look before they each dashed toward the northern and southern pillars respectively.

　　Shi Mu flicked his wrist and a golden arc of light hurled from his sword and struck the black stone pillar in the southern corner.

　　It seemed to have triggered the black pillar as big patches of a dazzling black aura shimmered out of its surface before converging into an image of a miller-sized black ghoul with blood-red eyes. The grotesque creature opened its large jaw and anticipated the Golden Pound Blade.

　　Shi Mu’s heart skipped a beat at the sight and quickly tapped his finger briefly. Just like that, the Golden Pound Blade stopped in midair, its forward momentum causing the blade to spin in circles. The ghoul, meanwhile, chomped at the as the blade never reached its mouth, causing the creature to bellow angrily at the hovering blade.

　　Shi Mu muttered an incantation and pointed again.

　　This time the Golden Pound Blade was shining with an explosive golden aura as several yards of golden sword lights rained down on the black ghoul like a hailstorm.

　　The black ghoul let out strings of horrifying laughter before opening its jaw wide again to exhale a thick ink-like black miasma. The dreadful unsettling miasma then surrounded the golden lights.

　　Once the lights came into contact with the black miasma, their glow dimmed immediately—as if it was being corroded. With the miasma still wrapping around the blade’s beams, the ghoul swallowed every single one of them whole.

　　Shi Mu was dumbfounded by this turn of events.

　　At that moment he heard a cry of lamentation from the other side.

　　Turning to its source, Shi Mu saw a similar black ghoul had appeared on top of the pillar Liu An was working on too. This black ghoul was happily chewing on a white dagger.

　　The light of the dagger was also quickly dying before the black ghoul swallowed it whole.

　　Shi Mu retracted his gaze and focused on the imp before him. He waved and a flash of red lights shimmered in front of his body before a dozen fireballs flew out and propelled themselves toward the ghoul.

　　The ghoul cackled again before exhaling the same black miasma.

　　The fireballs started to sputter the moment they came into contact with the black miasma, not unlike the reaction of flames coming into contact with water. The fireballs were reduced to fragments of sparks before the black ghoul once again swallowed them whole.

　　“Brother Shi, something’s definitely not right about these black imps. It’s as if they can swallow any kind of attacks!” Liu An’s voice echoed from the distance.

　　His zombies also heaved jab after jab of powerful punches toward the pillars in the east and west corners, yet the black ghouls guarding their respective pillars consumed all of it effortlessly.

　　“Do you recognize these ghouls, Brother Liu?” Shi Mu asked.

　　“Uh, unfortunately, this is the first time this Liu has seen them.”

　　Shi Mu’s brows furrowed before he let out a low growl and emanated a searing aura of flames. The flames gathered together to form a blazing crimson ape.

　　The Crimson Ape Energy Construct oozed with pugnacity as soon as it appeared.

　　“The problem is we have absolutely no time to investigate this more thoroughly—who knows when that Huang Long will return? The only option we have left is to break this Dragon-subduing Pillar with brute force!” Shi Mu replied, before letting out a hoarse howl and pulling out his Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife from the sheath in his back and charging at the pillar.

　　His hand quickly performed a mystic sign and the Crimson Ape above him narrowed its eyes at the black ghoul, then gave a loud shriek and breathed a white-hot stream of flames.

　　Every inch of the void touched by the flames instantly warped and twisted as ripples rocked out of the blazing stream. It was the Primordial Inferno, a technique that was most effective against the profane and the undead.

　　The black ghoul’s expression darkened. Its eyes glowed crimson red as its mouth opened and closed as if muttering some kind of incantation under its breath.

　　Just as the Primordial Inferno was about to catch up to the black ghoul, it suddenly raised its head and exhaled red-black flames. The flames radiated a sense of dread and looked adhesive like some kind of liquid.

　　The crimson-black flames shone brightly and took the form of a lotus before colliding with the Primordial Inferno.

　　Booom!

　　A series of explosions erupted as soon as the two attacks met—the flame shook violently as half of its lotus-like appearance shattered into pieces. However, it managed to black the Primordial Inferno attack.

　　Before the black ghoul could even catch its breath, a silhouette flashed behind it. It was Shi Mu, appearing at a phantom-like speed.

　　A flash of red shimmered brightly in Shi Mu’s hands before two advanced-rank red charms appeared.

　　He crushed the charms in his hand, and with a loud rumble, two gigantic red dragons appeared in midair.

　　The dragons were about seven to eight yards long. Their bodies were completely engulfed in flames and generated a great amount of heat as they charged at the ghoul.

　　It was the Blazing Fire Dragon Charm, the strongest fire-attribute charm Shi Mu currently held.

　　The black ghoul was still trying with all its might to contain the Primordial Inferno. When it saw two dragons hurtling towards it, the ghoul jolted in panic.

　　Its eyes were filled with fear until it shrieked and tore off its own left arm. The ghoul muttered an incantation, causing the left arm to explode and turn into a black shield.

　　Boom!

　　The two fire dragons were blocked completely by the shield. Exhaling a breath of relief, the ghoul muttered another incantation and pointed with its remaining arm.

　　Ripples surfaced on the black shield. With low muffled sounds of “grrssshh”, a dozen thick black tentacles extended out of the ripples and entangled the fire dragons before pulling them into the shield.

　　The surface of the shield seemed to be acting as a sort of gateway to some other dimension such that even two large dragons could disappear in its surface.

　　Shi Mu was frantic by this point. He waved, shooting out the Golden Pound Blade from his hand. While in flight, it enlarged into a giant blade of ten yards width swinging downward.

　　Simultaneously, the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife emitted a buzzing sound as a glowing transparent ray of light—about two feet long—heaved toward the black ghoul.

　　Shi Mu could not afford to worry about his Golden Pound Blade being corroded by the black ghoul’s powers at the moment.

　　After Shi Mu attained Earth-rank, he had slowly familiarized himself with the powers of the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife. He was no longer stiff with it as he was before.

　　Aghast, the black ghoul opened it jaws wide and spat out a gust of black light that slowly transformed into a black talon, gripping the Golden Pound Blade before it landed. Meanwhile, its right hand expanded in several folds, its fingers bursting out several black rays of light as they closed around the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife.

　　However, at the very next second, a “kersplat!” rang out as the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife sliced the ghoul’s right hand effortlessly. The blade did not stop there; it proceeded to slide across the ghoul’s chest, cutting a foot-long wound across its chest.

　　Both Shi Mu and the ghoul were stunned; neither of them had expected this to happen.

　　Shi Mu’s mood quickly shifted to joy as he bumped his arm and changed the direction of the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife, this time shooting nine different beams from the sword which were swung right at the black ghoul.

　　With a horrified expression, the black ghoul emanated a burst of black light which turned into an egg-shaped protective cocoon.

　　The nine blade-beams lashed onto the black shield relentlessly with a boom, shattering the cocoon in a second while the blade-beams continued toward the ghoul.

　　A bloodcurdling “Aaahhhhh!” marred the air as it escaped from the mesh of blade-beams. It lasted only for a second before being silenced completely.

　　The black ghoul was reduced to blots of black fog like dark ink.

　　It was still far from completely destroyed. The fog shifted in midair as if about to take a new form.

　　Shi Mu’s triumphant expression drooped. He was just about to do something about it when the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife suddenly vibrated and let out an aura of black light before forming a black vortex with an extreme suction force.

　　The black fog was instantly sucked into the vortex without any struggle.

　　The black glow from the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife gradually subsided before returning to its original appearance.

　　Shi Mu stared at the blade, still stupefied over what just happened.

　　Now that the black ghoul was gone, the black Dragon-subduing Pillar was completely exposed.

　　Shi Mu shook his head, casting aside the doubt in his heart and the expression of triumph rose once more. He gave a loud cry, summoning crimson flames with his left hand before smashing it onto the Dragon-subduing Pillar.

　　Boom! The pillar was no more than a pile of rubble scattered in the air.

　　On the altar in the middle, the Demonbound Nail on the Azure Ape King’s left hand dimmed.

　　Liu An was still engaged in a battle of projectiles with his black ghoul. When he saw what had happened on Shi Mu’s side, his eyes had a brief look of awe.

　　He had not even said anything before Shi Mu’s body flashed and sprung towards him. A few flash-steps later, Shi Mu had appeared behind the black ghoul Liu An was battling.

　　The Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife was like black lightning as it plummeted onto the ghoul. In reaction, the ghoul opened its jaws wide and exhaled a thick black fog, harnessing it into a shield.

　　Of course, the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife rend through it like it was nothing. With a “ke-rack!”, the shield was cleaved neatly in half.

　　With the speed of a bolt, the beam from the blade sliced the ghoul in two.

　　The split ghoul exploded into black fog, and once again, a black light flashed from the surface of the Heavenly Meteoric Black Iron Knife before a black vortex made its appearance again and swallowed the fog whole.