Two months later…

　　Yan Luo stood opposite to a gigantic golden-bone serpent near a vast pool of water; there was a distance of one-thousand feet between them.

　　The soul flames in Yan Luo’s eyes had a distinct deep-purple glint now. They looked nimble, and were blazing in a magnificent manner.

　　However, the formidable spiritual aura around the bone-serpent was clearly far beyond Yan Luo’s. It seemed that the bone-serpent was very close to the boundary of the Heaven-rank.

　　It was the golden-bone serpent king. It was regarded as the most powerful existence among the beast skeleton-class creatures in the Dead Spirit World.

　　However, the serpent king still couldn’t help revealing a trace of fear in this confrontation. It lifted its head high up, and started to sweep its bulky tail on the ground in a crazy manner. Its massive tail would crush huge rocks to fragments wherever it passed; each rock was almost the size of a small hill. And, the fragments of those rocks proliferated in all directions as a result.

　　Yan Luo’s body was thinner and smaller in comparison to the enormous body of the serpent king. However, it stood in the distance, and was completely motionless at the moment.

　　Yan Luo’s army of human skeletons stood in the distance. This large and densely packed army had covered the surrounding area as far as the eye could see. However, none of them dared to approach these two individuals.

　　The leader of this army was a huge white human-skeleton. This skeleton was none other than Wu Ye whom Yan Luo had previously obtained from Shi Mu.

　　Some time passed. The golden-bone serpent king eventually lost its patience, and issued a soundless roar. Then, its massive body pounced straight toward Yan Luo in a manner that made it seem as if it was flying.

　　It hadn’t arrived yet. But, it opened its big mouth, and spewed out a thick beam of golden light. Then, a “Chi Chi” like shrill ear-piercing sound resounded as the golden light-beam dashed forward. It twisted and distorted the surrounding void wherever it went.

　　Yan Luo spread its bone-wings, and soared high up in the sky as it saw this scene.

　　However, who would’ve thought that the serpent king’s body would be so flexible? Its neck flung to move around, and made a very flexible turn. And, the golden light-beam changed its trajectory in a very gentle and nimble manner.

　　Yan Luo was already too late to dodge this attack. Therefore, it ended up getting struck by the golden light beam head-on. And, its body tumbled, and was sent flying into the distance like a fallen leaf in the strong wind.

　　The soul flame in the serpent king’s eyes showed a sudden leap at this moment. Apparently, it was also astounded to see that it had struck the opposite party successfully. The serpent king was as fast as a gust of wind. So, it caught up with Yan Luo in an instant even though the latter had been sent flying. Then, it stretched open its big mouth, and it seemed as if it wanted to swallow down Yan Luo in one gulp.

　　Yan Luo was still tumbling in the air by the impact. But then, a grey light burst forth on its body, and its body stabilized.

　　Then, the black stick in its hand radiated black radiance. Yan Luo raised its arm, and gave it a sudden flick.

　　It seemed as if the black stick had changed into a black bolt of lightning the next moment. It flashed, and then penetrated into the mouth of the serpent king. It then darted from behind its head.

　　A big hole was blown up in the head of the serpent king with a loud “Bang” sound. Even its soul flame was pierced by the short stick. It then dissipated with a loud sound as a result.

　　After that, the massive body of the serpent king crashed down, and broke into the pool below with a loud sound. The imposing aura around its body had vanished by now.

　　Yan Luo slowly floated down from the air. A long crack could be seen in its silver armor at this time. In addition, its aura had seemingly dispersed by now. This indicated that it had suffered some severe injuries.

　　It waved its hand. A black light-beam shot back, and fell in its hand; it was the black short stick.

　　In the distance… the legion of the human skeletons issued intermittent bursts of soundless acclamation since they had witnessed Yan Luo’s victory. They had started to brandish their weapons out of excitement. They were dancing while waving their weapons with all their strength along with their leader — Wu Ye.

　　… …

　　Half a month later…

　　Yan Luo was absorbed in a hand-to-hand fight with a human skeleton in a dark desert. The human skeleton’s entire body was purplish-golden in color; like a flash of lightning.

　　The purplish-golden skeleton bore a great similarity to Yan Luo in terms of overall appearance. Its body was covered with a suit of exquisite armor as well. In addition, it also wore a purplish-golden crown on the top of its head. And, that crown was embedded with a multi-colored gem.

　　Furthermore, the soul flame in this purplish-golden skeleton was purple, and had a silky silver gleam in it. And, the aura around its body had a touch of the Heaven-rank’s grandeur. This skeleton held a silver trident in its hand.

　　This human skeleton could ascend to the realm of the human-skeleton Emperor Realm if it were able to move a step further.

　　One white and one purple light rushed in the air. Both of them were as quick as the flash of lightning. They would often bump into each other in midair, and set off bursts of loud sound. These sounds rather seemed like an explosion of a muffled thunder.

　　Then, a loud explosive sound rang out!

　　And, the two silhouettes suddenly separated from each other, and shot toward the rear.

　　Meanwhile, a ray of grey light flashed on Yan Luo’s body, and stabilized it.

　　A few cracks could be seen in Yan Luo’s silver armor. And, its bone-wings had also suffered damage. In fact, more than half of them were gone by now. It appeared that they had been separated from its body by a fairly smooth incision.

　　However, Yan Luo didn’t seem to have sustained any severe injuries apart from this.

　　The purplish-golden skeleton wasn’t far on the opposite side. The soul flame in its eyes flickered at this moment. It seemed as if it was in an extremely infuriated state. The fact was that its silver trident had broken into two halves. The armor on his chest had also been shattered by the impact of the collision. All these things indicated that it had received a severe blow.

　　“Don’t solely rely on your weapon’s strength if you’re truly a formidable warrior. You should instead try to compete with me with your true strength,” the purplish-golden skeleton said.

　　However, a dazzling black light burst out on the black stick in Yan Luo’s hand… It seemed as if it had turned a deaf ear to the purplish-golden skeleton’s proposal.

　　That black light then surged up and proliferated in the surrounding area in the radius of hundreds of feet. Consequently, both Yan Luo and the purplish-golden skeleton were shrouded in a curtain of black light.

　　The human skeleton’s complexion changed. It was about to fly out of the scope of this black light when a silhouette flashed; it was Yan Luo. It had already pounced and appeared in front of the human skeleton. Then, Yan Luo’s black stick pounded down toward it with a loud whistling sound.

　　Bang!

　　A series of loud sounds spread from the black light, and rang out one after another… like raindrops.

　　Then, the black light slowly dissipated and revealed Yan Luo’s silhouette. Its entire bone armor had been shattered. Also, its lower abdomen had been pierced by the already-broken trident. In fact, that trident had penetrated through its body, and had stuck out of its back.

　　As for the human skeleton… it lay on the ground at the moment. The short stick had pierced through its head, and had nailed it to the ground.

　　Yan Luo grasped the silver trident that was thrust into its lower abdomen, and exerted its strength to pull it out of its body.

　　Meanwhile, streaks of purple light departed from the human skeleton’s body in quick succession, and scattered everywhere. Then, they started to drift away into the distance.

　　Yan Luo opened its mouth, and issued a suction force. Consequently, the streaks of purple light flew back, and submerged in its mouth one after another.

　　After that, Yan Luo’s wounds started to heal at an astonishing speed. Even its shattered bone-armor started to mend itself.

　　All of Yan Luo’s injuries had healed once it had absorbed the energy of the purplish-golden human skeleton’s soul flame. Moreover, Yan Luo’s spiritual aura had become much more vigorous after the absorption. Furthermore, the broken bone-armor had returned to its original state.

　　Even Yan Luo’s bone-wings had recovered their original shape. Yan Luo spread its wings, and flew into the distance speedily. It seemed as if it had transformed into a meteor. It then landed in the vicinity of a hillside after a short time.

　　The white human skeleton — Wu Ye had led the legion of Dead Spirit creatures here, and was waiting for Yan Luo. It saw Yan Luo, and hastened to greet it.

　　“Let’s go!” Yan Luo waved its hand. Then, it took the lead, and walked in a certain direction.

　　“Master… we’ve been rushing while slaughtering during this period of time. However, we have no idea where we are rushing towards?” Wu Ye’s body was covered with a suit of golden bone armor. And, a few golden lines could be seen on its big sword. Wu Ye had seemingly become much fiercer than before.

　　In addition, Wu Ye had also started to speak in a very fluent manner after having passed through this period of adaptation.

　　“We’re going to get back something that belongs to me,” Yan Luo spoke a sentence in a faint voice. After that, it continued to forge ahead in silence.

　　… …

　　The Peaceful Sun City… on the summit of a small and barren hill…

　　The moonlight was shimmering. It was illuminating the ground like the surface of water.

　　Shi Mu sat cross-legged on the peak of this hill. The moonlight was showering down, and was integrating into his body.

　　Cai stood on a rock nearby with a bored expression on his face. His head was often tilting to one side as if a spell of drowsiness had been cast on him.

　　There was a cloud of stars on the top of Shi Mu’s head at the moment. It flickered, and five stars glistened with a sparkling brilliance. Simultaneously, they emitted a powerful magic power wave.

　　Shi Mu opened his eyes after a long time, and two cold lights flickered in them.

　　He stood up, and read an incantation in a loud voice.

　　A cloud of red fire bubbled-up in the air in response; it was over a hundred feet in size. It appeared, and shrouded another small mountain peak completely; this peak was not far from his peak.

　　The air in the vicinity started to feel scorching hot as the surrounding temperature made an alarming jump.

　　Suddenly, a light flashed in the cloud of stars behind Shi Mu’s head. Then, a faint light darted out of it, and merged into the cloud of fire.

　　The cloud of fire revealed a sudden surge in response. Then, a red light flashed. And, a series of rocks curled up in flames started to shower down from the clouds, and bombarded the hilltop; each rock was almost one foot in size.

　　Consequently, a series of muffled thunderous sounds rang out for a moment. And then, the fragments of rocks dispersed in all directions; they were mixed with fire.

　　The dark clouds dispersed in the air after a few moments. The summit of that small hill had been smashed to half by the impact of the bombardment. Layers of raging flames and plumes of smoke were billowing from all around.

　　“Wow, such incredible power! This Meteoric Fire Rain truly deserves to be called a high-ranked fire-attribute magic art. Moreover, it appears that you’ve almost grasped it,” Cai had sobered up some time ago. A string of appreciation began to flow from his mouth when he saw this scene.

　　A glint of contented look bloomed on Shi Mu’s face.

　　Shi Mu’s Art of Accumulating Spirit Power had made a stunning advancement during the period of Moon-Swallowing Art’s practice. In addition, he also had Yan Luo’s green flowers to draw support from during this period, and that had also allowed him make a noteworthy feat. He had reached the peak of the fourteenth stage of this Art, and was merely a step away from breaking through the fifteenth stage.

　　Moreover, the whirlpool of magic power in his lower abdomen had become almost the same as his Qi Palace. And, it was slowly getting thicker and more vigorous with the passing time. In addition, he had gotten very close to six degrees in fire-attribute element-induction force now. Therefore, he was able to learn the high-ranked fire-attribute magic arts with great ease now.

　　This “Meteoric Fire Rain” was one of the high-ranked fire-attribute magic arts recorded in the “Fundamental Book of Fire”. This art had indeed displayed a magnificent might when it was cast a moment ago.

　　Shi Mu closed his eyes, and adjusted his breath for a few moments. He then opened his eyes, and waved one hand. Dozens of magic charms floated in front of him out of nowhere in response.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes were slightly open, and were revealing his pupils which seemed to be smeared with a layer of fluorescent light.

　　Suddenly, a little fluctuation occurred in the void, and dozens of intangible chains flew out of Shi Mu’s body. Then, the other ends of these chains got attached to those magic charms.

　　Suddenly, it started to seem as if these magic charms were being pulled by some kind of invisible hands. They suddenly scattered all over the sky… as if the Goddess of the Sky had showered flowers below in a manner that could dazzle anyone’s eyes.

　　Shi Mu focused his eyes, and pointed out one of his fingers.

　　The magic charms that were fluttering all over the sky flew down toward the small hill in succession; it was the same hill that had been pared by the previous bombardment. Then, they stuck on the surface of the hill.

　　Boom!

　　Dozens of magic charms were triggered at the same time. Dazzling lights of all kinds of magic arts gushed out, and shrouded the entire peak of the hill. Then, they all blew up at once.

　　A loud explosive sound rang out. Then, innumerable gravels and layers of soil proliferated in all directions. The explosion also raised billowing Qi waves everywhere.

　　The greater part of the hundreds of feet high small hill had vanished into thin air in an instant by the impact of this explosion. Also, the surrounding soil had burnt, and become even darker. This explosion had even set off a storm in the surrounding.

　　Shi Mu’s clothes were fluttering, and were issuing intense sound in the raging wind. As for Shi Mu… his face was sparkling with overwhelming happiness at the moment.

　　The might of his spirit sense had increased by a big margin along with the advancement of his Art of Accumulating Spirit Power. In addition, Shi Mu could also branch out a total of thirty-two soul-control chains after having practiced to the fifth stage of Transcending Heaven Imperial Spirit Determination.

　　He had recently comprehended the technique to use the Magic-Controlling Spirit Chain to control magic charms’ attack.

　　The magic charms Shi Mu had just released were merely the primary-ranked magic charms. But, let’s presume that they were replaced by the middle-ranked magic charms… Even an Earth-ranked middle-stage powerhouse might’ve failed to receive the attack if thirty-two magic charms had detonated and attacked at the same time. Furthermore, even an earth-ranked advanced stage powerhouse might have failed to resist the attack to a good effect if those middle-ranked magic charms were mixed with a few high-ranked magic charms. Consequently, even an advanced-stage Earth-ranked warrior would’ve sustained serious injuries!

　　“Shi Tou, you’ve produced an extremely loud sound just now. It’s difficult to say that no one will happen to notice it even though you’ve laid out a barrier near this mountain peak. Besides, the sky is getting brighter now. You should leave this place,” Cai flew over from somewhere at this moment, and landed on his shoulder. He then looked around and said.

　　Shi Mu nodded. He then walked down the mountain peak almost instantaneously, and returned to his residence soon-after.