The aura around Yan Luo’s body grew increasingly colder with each passing second. Also, the soul flame in its eyes revealed a fit of violent fluctuation.

　　Shi Mu’s heart quivered. He hurriedly stretched out his left hand and revealed a greyish-black ring that he had worn on his finger. He had obtained this ring from Zha Gu’s hand.

　　This ring had been on his finger ever since he had found it. But, Shi Mu was accustomed to storing his valuable things inside his Vast Earth Ring.

　　“Yan Luo, this is a storage ring. You can store some of your favorite stuff inside it. It’s very convenient to use. How about this thing in compensation for the loss of that flower…?” Shi Mu contacted Yan Luo through his mind and explained everything in a quick manner.

　　A light flashed in Shi Mu’s left hand as he finished his words, and the Sky-Splitting Bow disappeared from his hand. Then, another light flashed, and the Sky-Splitting Bow appeared in his hand again.

　　After that, Shi Mu grasped the Sky-Splitting Bow and received it into the Vast Earth Ring. Then, he took the ring off his left hand.

　　The cold aura around Yan Luo’s body subsided to a great extent as this happened. Even its soul flame seemed to have stabilized by a considerable margin. It gazed at the ring in Shi Mu’s right hand, and crooked its head.

　　A black light flashed and Yan Luo appeared beside Shi Mu the next moment. Then, it extended its right hand and grasped the ring that was in Shi Mu’s hand.

　　Yan Luo then imitated Shi Mu and slipped the ring on its left hand’s finger. After that, a plume of grey Qi galloped from its hand and wrapped the ring. Then, the grey Qi dispersed.

　　Shi Mu’s spirit sense experienced a wave of fluctuation. After that, Shi Mu lost connection with Zha Gu’s ring.

　　Then, a ray of light flashed on Yan Luo’s ring and the long sword of a Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult’s disciples disappeared from the ground.

　　The ring flashed again, and the long sword reappeared on the ground.

　　Yan Luo tried this a dozen times in a row. Then, it eventually stopped. It held its left hand in front of its body, and sized it up in a very careful manner. It seemed as if Yan Luo was in a very blissful mood now.

　　“All right,” the crisp and delightful voice of a girl rang in Shi Mu’s mind.

　　“Then… will you show up when I summon you again?” Shi Mu asked.

　　Yan Luo had exhibited an exceptionally astonishing improvement in every field – whether it was its improved wisdom or Cultivation. In addition, Shi Mu had also experienced the extent of Yan Luo’s anger a moment ago.

　　“It depends on my mood.”

　　Yan Luo didn’t wait for Shi Mu to speak anything again, and a burst of black smoke emerged on the surface of its body. Then, its stature turned fuzzy, and it disappeared into the void. It seemed to have returned to the Dead Spirit World.

　　Shi Mu remained standing in the same place… totally speechless.

　　He shook his head to regain his composure. Then, his eyes flashed and he walked over to the place where Yan Luo had stood in an impatient manner.

　　He saw that the copper-colored sword lay quietly on the ground.

　　Shi Mu picked it up and saw that the sword’s body was made up of a string of one-hundred-and-eight copper coins. However, it wasn’t emanating the same dazzling radiance that Shi Mu had seen before. In fact, it looked dark and gloomy. The surface of this sword was covered with a layer of small magic characters. And, each magic character had an unprecedented complexity.

　　An idea suddenly dawned upon him, and he poured a wisp of his spirit sense into the copper-colored sword.

　　The tiny magic characters lit up on the sword’s surface. Then, a spurt of golden-colored flame flared-up on the sword’s surface.

　　Shi Mu’s heart brimmed with exhilaration. He then imitated the obese Taoist man and flung the copper-colored sword. The magic power surged up as a result.

　　The copper-colored sword began to rise against the wind, and reached the size of the door’s shutter. But then, the blazing golden flame darkened along with the magic characters. Then, the sword crashed to the ground like a dead thing.

　　Shi Mu was shocked by this.

　　He wanted to keep the sword high in the air in the same manner that the obese Taoist man had done. But, the result was very disappointing.

　　He shook his head, picked up the sword, and stored it in his Vast Earth Ring.

　　Then, he went to the obese man’s corpse.

　　He rummaged his body in order to find something. He found a golden ring on his left middle finger. He also picked up a glittering golden magic charm from the ground.

　　Shi Mu took the ring off his finger, and wore it on his left hand. He then poured a drop of his blood on it. After that, he poured his spirit into the ring in order to explore it.

　　He was pleasantly surprised to discover that the space inside this ring was considerably larger than his own Vast Earth Ring. In fact, the space inside was equivalent to three rooms.

　　In addition, he also found a pile of spirit stones inside it. Moreover, there were several other things inside the ring. But, Shi Mu had no spare time to examine each of them right now. However, there was a golden-covered book inside the ring that had piqued his interest.

　　He took out the book, and saw that four words were mentioned on its cover – “Transcending Heaven Imperial Spirit Determination”.

　　Shi Mu was about to turn it over to have a look when the parrot’s voice suddenly resounded in his mind.

　　“Shi Tou, not good. The situation doesn’t look good. Hurry up, be fast!”

　　“What’s the matter… say it clearly!”

　　“Three more formidable Taoist priests seem to be chasing after you. They are barely a hundred miles away from here.”

　　A picture popped into Shi Mu’s mind the next moment.

　　Shi Mu saw three Taoist priests riding unusually good-looking horses. They were passing through the hills. Judging from the surrounding scenery… it seemed that Shi Mu had passed through this place only some time before.

　　The left one of these three men had three long strands of beard. His facial features looked mature. The person in the middle had an elegant appearance. An old sword with several marks hung on his back in a slanting position. And, the rightmost person was a beautiful Taoist nun.

　　Shi Mu couldn’t sense these three people’s aura. But, their dressing style and the strange gleam in their eyes was enough to guess that they were Earth-grade powerhouses like the obese man from before!

　　“Cai, I will leave this place first. You find and meet me after some time!” Shi Mu’s complexion looked cold. He immediately sent a message to Cai through his mind.

　　“Shi Tou, you run quickly. They are too fast!” the parrot’s voice resounded again.

　　Shi Mu received the golden-covered book and pulled out a sparkling silver magic charm. He pinched it with his fingers, and crushed it into pieces.

　　A mass of silver radiance appeared and wrapped him up. Then, a light flashed and he disappeared from the place.

　　…

　　A quarter of an hour later… three Taoists priests appeared in this battlefield.

　　The surrounding air was pervaded with a pungent smell of blood. Badly mutilated corpses were scattered all over the place along with totally wrecked weapons. The three people’s eyebrows creased as they saw this scene.

　　“The Six-eared search-dog!”

　　The beautiful Taoist nun dismounted and landed beside the arrow that had pierced through the strange dog’s head. And, her complexion slightly changed.

　　She then swept her eyes around. Then, her stature flashed a few times before she appeared beside the obese Taoist man’s headless corpse.

　　The mature-faced Taoist priests and elegant Taoist priest also got off their horses and walked over.

　　Then, these two Taoist priests flipped their hands and an antique bronze mirror appeared in their hands.

　　The mirror flashed and shot misty yellow rays of light toward the surrounding.

　　Then, numerous densely-packed silver-colored luminous dots emerged in the place from where Shi Mu had disappeared. Then, these luminous dots flashed and dispersed in the air.

　　“He has used the Teleportation magic charm to leave this place nearly a quarter of an hour before. It won’t be easy to catch up with him without the six-eared search dogs.” The mature-faced Taoist priest shook his head.

　　“The residual deathly atmosphere of this place makes it seem that Brother Wang should have been killed by an Earth-grade Dead Spirit creature. In addition, it also seems that the culprit should be Liu An. That’s because he is the only one who is capable of summoning such a formidable Dead Spirit creature. Also, using one strike to kill these six elite disciples also directs all attention towards him,” the beautiful Taoist nun said.

　　“This Liu An is indeed a god-blessed genius. His magic cultivation has reached the Full Moon Realm. Perhaps, his martial arts cultivation would’ve also advanced to the Earth-grade realm,” the mature-faced Taoist priest said.

　　“Hmm, Brother Wang wouldn’t have received such a tragic demise in this remote and desolate hilly area if he hadn’t acted so aggressively and recklessly. We should indeed blame ourselves for this. Liu An couldn’t have escaped if he had confronted the combined strength of we four!” the elegant Taoist Priest snorted coldly as he said.

　　“It’s futile to talk about these things. Things have got to this point. We should better return and report this matter first,” the matured-faced Taoist man suggested.

　　These three people buried the bodies of the surrounding disciples of the Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult. Afterwards, they cremated the bones of the obese man separately in a proper manner. Then, they mounted their horses and galloped in the same direction from which they had come at lightning speed.

　　…

　　Shi Mu stood on top of a bare mountain peak. He was gazing into the distance ahead.

　　A dark spot had been hovering in the sky for a while. After that, it flew over toward Shi Mu and landed.

　　It was the parrot with multiple colors on his feathers … Cai!

　　Cai landed on Shi Mu’s shoulder while flapping his wings.

　　“Shi Tou, I didn’t find any traces of pursuing troops,” Cai said.

　　Shi Mu nodded since he had also seen the surrounding area through Cai’s eyes.

　　The fact was that it had been more than a month since he had killed the Earth-grade Elder of the Transcending Heaven Immortal cult.

　　Initially, he had been constantly shrouded in a curtain of fear and trepidation.

　　He had been lucky that he could cover a large distance to the north with the help of the Teleportation Magic Charm. But, it was still difficult for him to guess whether the Taoist priests of the Immortal Cult had any more means to pursue him by following his traces.

　　Shi Mu’s present strength made it seem that he wouldn’t be able to escape if he was caught up by those three Earth-grade powerhouses. Even Yan Luo’s timely help couldn’t rescue him.

　　Moreover, Yan Luo had become a little strange nowadays. It seemed indifferent and cold to his summon.

　　Therefore, Shi Mu hadn’t dared to take the main route this time. He had instead followed some small paths and alleys to the north where the Heavenly Demon Sect was located.

　　In the meantime, he had discovered through Cai’s vision that many Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult’s disciples were wandering here-and-there. But, they didn’t seem to know Shi Mu’s whereabouts. So, Shi Mu was somewhat relaxed.

　　Shi Mu had entered the territory that fell under the Great Qin Kingdom at the moment.

　　The Great Qin Nation was a medium-sized country that was bordered by the Lu Shan Kingdom. And, the Heavenly Demon Sect was regarded as the national cult in the Great Qin Kingdom in the same way the Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult was revered by the Lu Shan Kingdom.

　　Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult and Heavenly Demon Sect had always stood against each other. However, the relationship between them wasn’t as bitter as the one they had with the Dark Moon Cult. Even so, bilateral disciples were unlikely to enter the opposite party’s territory under normal circumstances.

　　Therefore, the Transcending Heaven Immortal Cult shouldn’t dare to pursue Shi Mu here.

　　Shi Mu finally felt relieved. He jumped down the mountain peak and advanced to the north.

　　“Shi Tou, are we heading to the Heavenly Demon Sect?” Cai asked.

　　“Well, that is the Black Demon Sect’s Parent Sect. So, we don’t have to worry about being hunted again once we set foot in there,” Shi Mu replied.

　　Cai felt exhilarated as he heard his words. The fact was that Cai wasn’t a courageous bird. And, he had gone through a rough time lately. So, he had been gripped with lingering fear all this time.

　　“But Shi Tou, it seems to be getting colder as we keep moving further to the north.” Cai moved his wings and tightly covered his body.

　　“Is that so… but we haven’t gone deep into the Great Qin Kingdom yet. It is said that most parts of the northern continent is covered with snow all-year-round. In fact, the Great Qin Nation is also called the ‘Nation of ice and snow.'” Shi Mu fished out a map and said.

　　“Oh… I’m very sensitive to cold…” Cai replied in a complaining manner.

　　Shi Mu didn’t pay attention to Cai’s words. He instead confirmed the direction on the map, and then walked forward.

　　The Demon Yang Ceremony of the Heavenly Demon Sect was close at hand. So, Shi Mu had to make the optimum utilization of the remaining time to rush over there if he wanted to attend the ceremony.

　　Time passed. Shi Mu went into the depths of the Great Qin Kingdom over the next half-a-month.

　　The terrain gradually became flatter as he walked further to the North.

　　It was by no means autumn or winter season at present. However, there was already very little green vegetation. He could only see some bare trunks and branches. The temperature had also dropped significantly… so much so that a few pieces of snow could be seen floating in the wind on occasions.

　　Shi Mu stood in a hilly highland, and looked towards a big city that was several miles ahead.

　　Shi Mu had learned from his map that this city was called Auspicious River Mountain Pass. It was the first large-sized city he had encountered in the depths of the Great Qin Kingdom.