The trace of an ominous grin flashed through the yellow-skinned man’s eyes. Then, the Poisonous Scorpion Totem that was on his left arm lit-up brightly, and his entire left arm began to elongate at an astonishing speed. It quickly transformed into a ten-feet-long red scorpion-tail. After that, his right arm transformed into a huge pincer of a scorpion, and his entire body became covered with a layer of bright-red shell. In fact, it looked like a large palm-leaf-fan.

　　He gathered his right arm together. After that, the scorpion’s pincer dashed in midair, and clamped in the void. Then, a fiery-red airwave emerged, and darted out from within. It then received the black whip-shadow.

　　‘Bang!’ A loud rumbling sound was heard.

　　The red and the black light erupted with a loud sound as they came in contact with each other. This triggered an intense wave of Real Qi, which then began to proliferate in all directions.

　　After that, a burst of ‘chi… chi’ sound was heard from the light ball.

　　Then, a beam of red light darted out from it; it was the yellow-skinned man’s left hand that had taken the form of a scorpion’s tail. It got extended, and arrived on top of Jin Xiao Chai’s head. Then, it spun around her head in order to tie her up in a ruthless manner.

　　Jin Xiao Chai saw this action, but didn’t seem to care about it. She neither tried to evade nor hide from the attack. Instead, she flicked her wrist, and her black whip transformed into a dozen or more whip-shadows. Then, they shot towards the yellow-skinned man to bind him.

　　The bright-red scorpion-tail issued a whistling sound as it wrapped itself around Jin Xiao Chai’s body. However, a layer of golden light emerged, and began to flow on the surface of her body. Consequently, the scorpion-tail ended-up empty-handed. He didn’t notice when it had deviated from the target by a slight margin.

　　The yellow-skinned man was startled by this. Then, he saw that the whip-shadow had arrived extremely close to him. So, he had no other choice but to raise his right arm – the scorpion-pincer – in order to resist the attack.

　　A battle between the twenty Hou Tian totem warriors and Shi Mu and his companions had also begun.

　　The cultivation of these totem warriors was extremely strong. Majority of them seemed to be either at the middle stage or advanced stage of Hou Tian realm. Moreover, they all had stimulated their totem beasts by this time. Therefore, a layer of red shells had sprouted all over their bodies, and their arms had turned into a pair of gigantic pincers. They brandished their arms, and a red shadow began to flash in the air with a whistling sound.

　　Shi Mu and his companions were the best A-grade disciples in the Black Demon Sect. So, they stepped into the battle with a flagrant and fearless attitude even though they were outnumbered.

　　Shi Mu hadn’t taken out the short stick from his back. Instead, he stimulated his magic power; the black blade in his hand had transformed into thirteen red blade lights. Then, they dashed towards two totem warriors – one on the left and the other on the right side – while carrying a surging cloud of fire.

　　The blade lights started to circulate amid the fire. Then, they slashed the two men into a number of segments. But, the cuts that had been made looked smooth and flat. Not even a drop of blood had seeped out from their bodies. However, their bodies looked burnt.

　　The red-colored shells were useless under the attack of the black blade. It seemed as if they existed in name only.

　　Mo Ning and the other two disciples were also having a confrontation with the enemy. Each of them had already killed one enemy.

　　The black whip in Jin Xiao Chai’s hand transformed into a net of whip-shadows. And, it trapped the yellow-skinned man inside it.

　　However, the yellow-skinned man was reluctant to be outdone and admit defeat. His arms – a scorpion-tail and a scorpion-pincer – were suitable for both offensive and defensive attacks since they could be extended and shrunk in a convenient manner. The Real Qi surged within his body. Then, he looked at Jin Xiao Chai in a manner that made it seem as if he could match her power.

　　Then, something strange happened.

　　A red shadow flashed behind Jin Xiao Chai’s back; it was the gigantic scorpion tail beast. It could be said that it had secretly pounced on her from behind. The green poisonous fog started to roll inside its mouth. It was on the verge of spurting it out towards her. Meanwhile, its poisonous tail sting hook had taken an extremely tricky angle. It rushed forward towards Jin Xiao Chai with an intention to bundle her up on the spot.

　　The facial expression of the yellow-skinned man looked ferocious. Suddenly, he accelerated his attacking speed. His intention was to startle Jin Xiao Chai, and give her no time to escape.

　　A long shadow was shot from the side – like an electric current. And, it smashed into the head of the scorpion tail beast. And, the tailed beast was struck to fly in the air as the overwhelming force landed on its head. A few red and white insides came out of its body while it was in the air.

　　The scorpion tail beast’s brain had burst open as its head had been struck by the shadow; it had died on the spot.

　　The shadow was of the small meteoric hammer that Shi Mu had wrapped around his waist.

　　Jin Xiao Chai recovered from the alarm. And, her slender eyebrows plunged into a vertical frown. She then flicked her left hand. After that, she rushed forward with a streak of black light, and arrived in front of the yellow-skinned man.

　　The yellow-skinned man’s pupils shrank. A red-colored magic charm departed from his right hand’s gigantic pincer. This charm had been drawn on an animal skin. A spurt of flame gushed out, and enveloped his entire body in a shield made of layers of red light.

　　A black light exploded the next moment, and transformed into a ten-feet-wide mass of black clouds. Then, a loud rumble was heard from the black cloud, and a finger-thick streak of white lightning plummeted down. It hacked at that shield made of red light, and left it shaking endlessly for a while.

　　The yellow-skinned man’s complexion changed. He was about to pull out another move. Suddenly, a series of explosive sounds were heard from the black cloud. After that, endless streaks of white lightning started to crash down in a continuous manner. Consequently, the red light shield underwent a fit of irregular flashes and flickers for an indefinite period of time. Then, it dimmed down. In fact, it seemed as if it was on the brink of a collapse.

　　The yellow-skinned man revealed an alarmed look on his face. He then took out another magic charm that was drawn on a black animal hide. But, he didn’t get enough time to activate it since the long black whip had already moved into action. It then pounded on the red light shield like a monster.

　　‘Ping!’ A dull thumping sound was heard.

　　The red light shield collapsed, and dispersed with a loud explosion. It was followed by a white lighting that hit the yellow-skinned man’s head. The man’s head burst into pieces like a watermelon. Then, his headless body staggered and tumbled backwards.

　　In the meantime, Shi Mu and other people had been occupied in a fierce battle with Hou Tian totem warriors. Nearly fifty percent of those barbarian warriors had been slaughtered or severely injured by now. The remaining barbarians revealed a panic-stricken look on their faces when they saw that their leader had been killed. They looked as if they wanted to flee from the place.

　　But, Jin Xiao Chai and her companions couldn’t let these people escape. Therefore, the remaining barbarians were slaughtered within a few minutes.

　　“Master Jin, we’ve slaughtered the barbarian warriors. Wouldn’t a dispute between the human and the barbarian races be sparked if this news reached their ears?” Bai Shui Xiu stood by the campfire. She looked towards the corpses that were scattered around the camp, and asked.

　　Mo Ning and Qian Xiong’s faces revealed a disturbed look. Shi Mu was touching his chin; his face revealed a thoughtful expression. In fact, it seemed as if he was absorbed in a deep thought.

　　“Hmm, they were the ones who initiated this battle. So, it’s okay that we were very cruel and merciless. Let the Union’s old fools have a headache in case our actions stir-up any confusion. Anyways, we’re here for a purpose. And, we can continue-on with this journey only if we take good care of ourselves.” Jin Xiao Chai snorted in a cold manner. She then said as if she hardly cared about this incident.

　　“We might’ve been under surveillance. I think we should change our route,” Shi Mu’s voice resounded.

　　Mo Ning and the others were startled as they heard Shi Mu’s words. They then looked towards Shi Mu.

　　Jin Xiao Chai’s beautiful gaze shifted towards Shi Mu. It seemed as if she was waiting for further explanation.

　　“These people hail from the Red Scorpion Tribe. And, it’s a viscous barbarian tribe if I’m not mistaken. This tribe isn’t one of the eight major tribes of the barbarian race. But, it’s a branch of a major vicious tribe. The vicious barbarian tribes have always been hostile to our seven big Sects. But, they can’t encroach into the territories of the Three Kingdoms since they’re restricted by the peace treaty. But, we’re in their territory right now. So, they may not abide by the peace treaty here,” Shi Mu spoke-up in a dignified tone.

　　“So, how should we proceed with our journey?” Jin Xiao Chai asked.

　　“We’ve been travelling in the north-western direction for about half-a-month. We’ll move towards the western direction along the mountain-road once we reach the Black Rock Mountain. We’ll have to take this detour since the Black Rock Mountain is adjacent to a peaceful barbarian tribe. And, the vicious barbarians are unlikely to come near their territory. So, this route will censure our safety.” Shi Mu pondered for a while. Then, he explained.

　　“So, it’s decided. Let’s go.” Jin Xiao Chai didn’t want to give a second thought to this plan.

　　Mo Ning and the other two people also heard these words. They didn’t know anything about the Black Rock Mountain. But, they couldn’t raise any objections since Jin Xiao Chai had already agreed to this proposal.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes moved. He had chosen this path because of two reasons. Firstly, he wanted to avoid all the troubles that might be caused by the vicious barbarians. After all, there was a not-so-good relationship between him and the four vicious barbarian tribes. In fact, the Fierce Snake Tribe particularly harbored a strong resentment against him.

　　Secondly, the Black Rock Mountain was a massive mountain that traversed the north-western region of the barbarian Wasteland in a horizontal manner. Moreover, volcanoes and other fire-attributes entities existed in plentiful quantity in that area.

　　Shi Mu could practice the Sun-Swallowing Art every day at the time of sunrise. Moreover, he could practice the Art of the Flaming Red Ape and Moon-Swallowing Art in the evening. The Qi embryo within his body had gradually stabilized and saturated. So, he only needed one breakthrough to step into the Xian Tian realm. Therefore, he required a favorable place – like the one he had seen in his Sect.

　　Their group started to hurry in the north-west direction. They didn’t encounter any similarly dangerous attacks from the vicious barbarian… or from groups of ominous beast.

　　They entered a huge black mountain range half-a-month later.

　　The place looked pleasant to the eye at first. Everything was black at that place – whether it was a mountain-rock or the land. But, this place portrayed the image of bleakness and barren land… like the other places of the barbarian Wasteland. There was hardly any plant in the surroundings. Moreover, several traces of excavation could be seen in the mountain.

　　“Hehe, is this the so-called Blackrock Mountain range? It surely lives up to its name.” Qian Xiong swept a glance in all directions. He then spoke-up in a ridiculing manner.

　　“Don’t talk nonsense. Hurry-up and move,” Jin Xiao Chai looked at Qian Xiong with glaring eyes as she said this.

　　Qian Xiong shrunk his plump neck as he heard her words. The other people didn’t dare to speak anything. They hurried to enter the mountain range.

　　There was a great fluctuation in the terrain of the barbarian Wasteland. Therefore, these ordinary horses could play a very limited role at that place. Now, these people couldn’t ride their horses. So, they had no other choice but to abandon their horses, and continue the journey on foot.

　　“Don’t lower your guard since you think that this place is desolated. You might bump into a disastrous situation any time in the Black Rock Mountains. Moreover, this place is a dwelling place for all kinds of poisonous insects and ominous beasts,” Shi Mu warned them as he continued to walk.

　　The faces of Mo Ning and other people turned cold with fear as they heard these words. Consequently, they started to size-up the surrounding area more carefully.

　　However, the fact was that Shi Mu didn’t care about the poisonous insects and ominous beasts. He had an aura of the three-headed ominous python around his body. So, he didn’t care about these poisonous insects and beasts. In fact, he was wondering whether these beasts would still dare to pounce on him.

　　The parrot Cai had been dispirited and listless the entire route. But, it livened-up as soon as Shi Mu’s party entered the mountains. And, it continually flew up-and-down in the vicinity. In fact, it would grab some poisonous insects from time-to-time. It was playing merrily in high spirits.

　　“Your parrot is rather special. There are very rare spirit pets that possess the intelligence of this degree,” Jin Xiao Chai looked at Cai as he flew around in the vicinity and said.

　　“My words will make you laugh, Master Jin. But, this parrot is nothing more than a boisterous bird. I wouldn’t have brought it on this journey if it didn’t possess exploration capabilities,” Shi Mu replied with a mild smile.

　　Suddenly, Shi Mu’s complexion changed.

　　He had stimulated the operation of vision-sharing ability with the parrot once as he had entered the mountains. So, he could see through the parrot’s eyes that a dark cloud had appeared in the distance. And, it was advancing towards them while floating in the air.

　　“What’s wrong?” Jin Xiao Chai noticed Shi Mu’s facial expression. She then asked.

　　“A sandstorm is approaching. We have to look for a leeward cave in order to hide,” Shi Mu said loudly.

　　The complexions of Jin Xiao Chai and the others changed as they heard these words.

　　Fortunately, there were plenty of caves in the Black Rock Mountain range. So, it didn’t take long before the group found a leeward cave at the foot of the mountain. They then went into hiding.

　　The parrot Cai was also called back by Shi Mu.

　　The speed of the sandstorm was unusually fast. And, a tumultuous and menacing whistling sound rang out outside the cave not long after these people entered the cave.

　　The sandstorm rose, and blotted out the sky. Then, the sky turned dark and gloomy; so much so that it seemed as if it was night. Numerous stones started to hit the mountain-peaks as they sandstorm arrived. This gave rise to an intermittent burst of thundering and rumbling sounds. Even the huge mountain-peak started to tremble under the overwhelming force of the sandstorm.