Shi Mu was jolted, and sent flying by the forceful impact of the green whip. He was thrown backwards in an inverted position. But, a wisp of strange energy passed through the whip at the same time, and spread inside Zha Gu’s body. This made his body suffer a severe jolt.

　　“It’s indeed the three-headed ominous python. This boy has plenty of secrets.”

　　Zha Gu steadied his body. Then, he snorted coldly, and continued to dash forward in an attempt to pounce towards that pile of broken stones.

　　But then, the black light flashed beside his body. It was followed by the appearance of Yan Luo’s silhouette. The soul-flames in its eye-sockets revealed a violent fluctuation. Yan Luo was apparently in an extremely infuriated state.

　　The black smoke began to flare-up on the surface of its bone-spear. But, the black smoke seemed to be several times stronger and more intense than before. Then, the spear turned fuzzy, and transformed into a stream of black light; it had been shot forward towards Zha Gu in order to stab him in his chest.

　　Zha Gu was taken aback. But, he wasn’t excessively alarmed.

　　He and Yan Luo had engaged in a hand-to-hand fight several times during this short period of time. Therefore, he had figured out Yan Luo’s peculiar attacking styles and characteristics.

　　Moreover, he had been paying attention to the surrounding sounds and movements in a constant manner. So, his stature flashed to a side as soon as the spear was thrust towards him.

　　But, Yan Luo opened its mouth, and issued a soundless scream. Its scream penetrated Zha Gu’s mind like an invisible knife.

　　Zha Gu felt that his mind had received a severe jolt. His mind quivered, and the expression in his eyes became hazy. Even his stature – that was in the process of evading the spear – slowed down a little.

　　However, the soul-flames in Yan Luo’s eye-sockets had turned far feebler after this attack. But, Yan Luo took advantage of this short gap. It thrust its bone-spear deeply into Zha Gu’s left arm. A huge mass of black smoke tumbled through its spear, and spread in his left arm. Half of Zha Gu’s arm was smeared with black color as a result!

　　Zha Gu felt that a sense of numbness was being transmitted from his left arm. The blue veins began to throb in the corner of his eyes. He then thundered in a violent manner, and his entire body started to gleam with a layer of magnificent green light. Then, a massive image of a green snake got condensed behind his back.

　　Then, the snake’s tail moved, and swept towards Yan Luo while carrying a dreadful and imposing aura along with it.

　　Yan Luo pulled back its bone-spear. Then, its stature flashed. It vanished into thin air before the snake’s tail could touch its body.

　　However, Yan Luo’s action was relatively slower than before. Therefore, it couldn’t escape the attack completely. A ‘Kacha’ sound was transmitted from its left arm, and it seemed as if it had been cracked by the attack.

　　Zha Gu’s complexion turned deathly white. The wound of his left arm was extremely deep. Moreover, the wisp of strange energy that had invaded his body seemed much more profound than the previous times. In fact, it had made his entire arm numb.

　　The wisp of cold and gloomy energy around his wound also seemed to be severely puncturing his spirit in a violent manner – like an invisible arrow.

　　The fact was that Zha Gu’s spirit had been receiving severe damages in a continuous manner. His spirit had reached an exhausted state as a result. And, he soon began to feel that a few golden stars were flickering before his eyes.

　　Zha Gu began to gasp for breath. He then waved his hand, and took out a shining white pill. He swallowed it down. Then, his complexion improved a little.

　　He glanced at his left arm… as if he wanted to treat it.

　　‘Bang!’

　　But then, a loud rumble was heard not far from the pile of crushed stones near the mountain-wall. After that, numerous crushed stones and rocks were sent flying in the air as Shi Mu’s silhouette sprang out from inside the pile.

　　An ominous glint flashed across Zha Gu’s eyes as he saw Shi Mu. He dropped the thought of treating the wound on his left arm, and raised his right hand.

　　That image of the green snake behind his back started to condense to an even denser state than before. Moreover, the scales became clearly visible on the snake’s tail.

　　The green snake opened its big mouth, and spurted a thick blue-colored light beam. The light beam flashed, and turned into numerous densely-packed black threads. Then, the threads swept towards Shi Mu in order to cover him.

　　Shi Mu’s complexion changed. These black threads were advancing towards him at an incredible speed. Therefore, it was too late to dodge them.

　　Suddenly, an idea flashed through Shi Mu’s mind like an electric current. He emanated his Real Qi and the power of the totem on his body at the same time. A black and a red-colored radiance burst forth on the surface of his body. After that, two layers of protective shields got condensed around his body in a flash.

　　In the meantime, he fished out a yellow magic charm, and pinched it between his fingers. It was the same Golden Star Charm that he had drawn on the three-headed python’s skin.

　　A layer of golden luminescence emerged on the surface of his body with a flash of golden light. The radiance looked as if he was wearing a golden armor.

　　He then crushed the Golden Star Charm into pieces. He mumbled something, and a streak of white light darted out from his hand. It got condensed into a shell-like pale-white protective shield in the outermost part of the two shields.

　　After that, innumerable white magic characters began to flow on the surface of the shield. The shield began to sparkle miraculously. It looked exceptionally firm.

　　Shi Mu had been practicing the Moon-Swallowing Art during the last few months. Therefore, he had attained the seventh layer of the Art of Accumulating Spirit Power. This protective shield was a new magic technique that he had recently comprehended. It was called the Qi Spirit Shield. Shi Mu could now congeal a strong shield by using his magic power.

　　Shi Mu had barely finished these preparations when the black threads arrived close to him with a whistling sound.

　　‘Boom!’ a loud explosive sound was heard as a large mass of green-colored lights ruptured. The light then transformed into a billowing green airwave, and engulfed Shi Mu’s body.

　　Shi Mu had deployed several layers of protective shields – the Qi Spirit Shield, the two layers of protective light shields, and the firm armor of the Golden Star Charm. However, all of them were shattered into smithereens by the impact of black threads. In fact, it had seemed as if they had been made out of sheets of paper.

　　Shi Mu’s body was jolted, and he was sent flying by an unparalleled massive force. He spouted out a mouthful of blood.

　　Fortunately, most of the impact of the black threads had been counter-balanced by the several layers of defenses. Therefore, the snake-scales on his chest hadn’t been thoroughly disrupted. But, his internal organs had felt a severe jolt; so much so that they almost seemed to be on the verge of rupturing.

　　But, Shi Mu’s body had already undergone through the stern tempering process while passing through the five layers of the Art of Breeding the Strong Evil Ape. Otherwise, his internal organs would’ve certainly ruptured. In fact, he would’ve died by this time.

　　Shi Mu crashed to the ground with a huge force. The cloth on his upper body had been completely destroyed. Most of the scales on his chest looked crushed and mutilated. In fact, not even an inch of his body was left fully intact. He looked badly mutilated.

　　Zha Gu was stunned. It seemed that he hadn’t expected that Shi Mu could withstand the attack of his totem magic.

　　Shi Mu appeared to be in a miserable condition. But, he had been inflicted with only a few skin injuries. He hadn’t received any fatal injurie

　　An ominous glint flashed across Zha Gu’s eyes. He raised his arm, and his green whip was extended. It shot forward – like an arrow leaving its bow string, and thrust towards Shi Mu’s head.

　　Zha Gu finally unfolded the overwhelming force of his Earth-ranked existence. The long green whip approached Shi Mu’s body in an instant. It didn’t even give him time to react.

　　Shi Mu was struggling to crawl-up. The only thing he could feel was a sharp and cold wind hitting him. Even his pupils shrunk. But, he wasn’t able to dodge the attack because his bones and muscles felt extremely soft and powerless.

　　Suddenly, a shadow flashed beside him. It was none other than Yan Luo. It held his body, and pushed him aside.

　　Shi Mu felt that his body had become extremely light. He found himself flying seventy-eight feet away from his original place – as if he was riding a cloud.

　　‘Kacha!’

　　Yan Luo had pushed Shi Mu away in order to protect him. But, its own left arm had got pierced by the green whip.

　　Its left arm was already fractured. So, it was crushed once it was hit by the whip.

　　Zha Gu raised his arm once again, and his green whip exuded a dazzling green light. It then rolled out towards Yan Luo like a snake since the skeleton was standing within his reach.

　　Yan Luo flicked the bone-spear with its right hand, and it transformed into a magnificent spear formation. It then struck the whip in a precise manner.

　　Yan Luo was now left with just one hand to use its spear. Therefore, it could only use a limited amount of its power. But, the whip changed its trajectory amidst all the chaos of metal clanging sounds. It pounded on Yan Luo’s body, and sent it flying backwards.

　　The soul-flames flashed in Yan Luo’s eye-sockets as it received its bone-spear. Then, its body emanated a bright-black light. Suddenly, Yan Luo appeared beside Shi Mu while trailing a string of remnant shadows through the way. It then pulled Shi Mu with its right arm.

　　The black smoke began to seep out of Yan Luo’s body. It then enveloped both of them.

　　Their statures flashed, and the two of them disappeared without any trace.

　　Zha Gu’s stature flashed, and arrived at the place from where the two of them had disappeared. His complexion turned gloomy.

　　His body swayed a bit, and he issued a muffled snort.

　　The black smoke on his left arm had spread to his shoulder. Now, his entire arm had turned into jet-black in color.

　　A blue vein began to throb on Zha Gu’s forehead. He sucked in a deep breath, and flicked his right hand. Blood-red nails appeared on his fingers. Each of them was as long as seven or eight fingers when they’d be lined one-after-another.

　　‘Puff! Puff!’

　　Zha Gu’s fingers moved in a swift manner. He then placed his nails near the wound on his left shoulder.

　　His nails emitted intermittent bursts of blood-red light. It looked as if the red light was absorbing the black smoke from his arm. The blood-red nails turned black in color after a few breaths’ time.

　　The black smoke on Zha Gu’s left arm had soon dissipated by a significant margin. And, his arm had nearly resumed its normal color.

　　He finally felt relieved. He then turned his hand, and took out two pills. Both of them were different in color. After that, he opened his mouth, and swallowed the pills. His complexion soon changed, and became a lot better.

　　After that, he glanced around in a keen and cautious manner. Suddenly, a layer of yellow luminescence emerged on his face; especially his nose and tongue had become yellow in color. He then began to sniff in the air.

　　Zha Gu’s stature finally moved after some time, and he rushed in a particular direction.

　　The air undulated in a small depression near a hill. After that, two silhouettes emerged inside that depression. They were Yan Luo and Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu swept his gaze all around. His face revealed a hint of shock.

　　Yan Luo had gobbled-up a number of beast souls when they were in the Black Rock Mountains. It had also devoured several low-level beast souls along with the beast soul of the four-eyed gigantic tiger that was a Xian Tian Consummate stage beast. Therefore, its cultivation had soared to the sky. Now, Yan Luo’s strength could be placed on par with a Xian Tian advanced stage warrior. This was the reason that it had been able to resist Zha Gu.

　　But, Shi Mu hadn’t expected that Yan Luo possessed the ability to teleport. Therefore, he felt both surprised and pleased at the same time.

　　Yan Luo put Shi Mu down on the ground. After that, it extended its right arm, and pulled the beast soul bag from his waist.

　　Then, it opened its mouth, and issued a suction force. A string of light-balls flew out from the beast soul bag, and submerged into its mouth.

　　Shi Mu was startled. But, he didn’t stop it. In fact, he had gathered these beast souls for Yan Luo only.

　　Shi Mu’s and Yan Luo’s minds were connected to each other. Therefore, he could feel Yan Luo’s feelings. Yan Luo seemed to be burning with fury.

　　Yan Luo’s soul-flames had become dim during the fight. But, it became exuberant after absorbing the beast souls. It still couldn’t reach its best condition. But, it had regained almost seventy to eighty percent of its strength.

　　Yan Luo raised its head, and looked towards the sky. Then, it slowly stood-up. Its entire body faintly emanated an invisible force of a Xian Tian advanced stage powerhouse.

　　Shi Mu felt strange as he gazed at the spirit pet that stood in front of him.

　　Yan Luo had an extremely slow reaction time a little while ago. In fact, it was no better than a martial disciple who was at the seventh or eighth level of the Body Tempering Technique. But, who would’ve thought that the same skeleton would be able to withstand the strength of an Earth-ranked powerhouse some day.

　　Young Master Ju’s eyes would’ve gone wide open in shock if he were to find out about this.

　　“Shi Tou, hurry-up and run. That person is in pursuit of you again,” Cai’s voice resounded in his mind.

　　Shi Mu’s complexion changed as an image emerged in his mind.

　　Zha Gu was flying towards the small valley at a horrifying speed. It looked that he might cover this distance in a fraction of seconds.

　　Yan Luo’s soul-flames flickered. It seemed to have heard the conversation between Cai and Shi Mu.

　　“This person… has destroyed my left arm… I want to personally kill him…” Yan Luo’s thought emerged in Shi Mu’s mind.

　　Shi Mu looked at Yan Luo with astonishment.

　　“Are you sure?” Shi Mu asked.

　　“You fight for some… time…” Yan Luo said. Then, the black smoke flashed, and its silhouette disappeared from the sight.

　　Shi Mu was left dumbfounded for a moment. He couldn’t clearly understand the meaning behind Yan Luo’s words. Moreover, he could also feel an intense killing intention that was approaching him from behind.

　　He had also regained his shattered strength since he had taken some rest. However, he couldn’t waste his time in idle thinking at this time. His stature flashed, and he fled away into the distance.

　　However, a green beam of light was shot towards him from behind – like a bolt of lightning –– before he could cover much distance. It dashed towards him while issuing a shrill ear-piercing sound – as if it was piercing the sky.