“That’s all I can do for him. I’m afraid I can’t stay here for long. I’ll have to leave immediately. So, I’m leaving him to you girls,” the Demon Witch stood-up and said.

　　“Yes…” the girl surnamed Qi complied with her respectfully.

　　However, Ke looked startled.

　　“The stronghold you people were assigned to no longer exist. It was wiped-off by the barbarians. So, there’s no need to go back. This map can help you understand the terrain of this area. There’s a stronghold at a distance of fifty miles from this mountain. Wait until he fully recovers. Then, you can report to that stronghold.” The Demon Witch pondered for a moment. Then, she fished-out a jade slip from her bosom and passed it over to them.

　　The two girls nodded hastily.

　　The girl surnamed Qi put out her hand. She was about to take the slip when the Demon Witch turned her stretched hand, and handed over the jade slip to Ke. Her complexion turned solemn as she spoke, “Lil Xuan, Lan Yun had accepted you as her apprentice in her lifetime. So, you can return to our Tian Yin Sect with me. Forget about alliance. The old guys of the union won’t dare to say anything to you if you come with me.”

　　“Thank you, Senior. But, I’m a disciple of the Tian Yin Sect. So, I can’t disobey our Sect’s order. It would be more appropriate if I stay here at this critical time. Moreover, my Master once said that ‘it would be very difficult for a person to break through the bottleneck if they don’t experience the danger of real swords and spears’…” There was a trace of sorrow in the girl’s eyes. She shook her head, and spoke in a determined tone.

　　“Then… take good care of yourself. I may not be able to appear again to pull you out of danger.” The Demon Witch let out a soft sigh as she heard her resolute voice. She didn’t say anything further.

　　She then shifted her gaze, and looked at the blood-red cocoon. She hesitated for a moment, and let out another soft sigh. After that, a layer of white clouds emerged under her feet and carried her out of the cave. It then sped towards the distance, and quickly disappeared from their sight.

　　Ke’s eyes revealed a perplexed look as she gazed at the receding figure of the Demon Witch. Suddenly, she was struck by mixed feelings. She felt envy and at a loss at the same time.

　　*** ***

　　Two days later…

　　Shi Mu sat cross-legged inside the cave. His eyes were closed; he seemed to be adjusting his breathing. Not a single bruise could be seen on his body. Moreover, his crushed bones, muscles and veins had been reinstated to normal health.

　　His appearance hadn’t changed. However, the color of his skin had deepened.

　　Ke and the girl surnamed Qi sat on one side; they were constantly watching him.

　　Shi Mu was practicing the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants. He could feel his Real Qi surging inside his body like tidal waves. The continuous expansion of his Qi’s strength was so forceful that his clothes fluttered every now and then. In addition, a feeble and faint whirlwind had formed, and had started to circle around his body.

　　He exhaled a long breath after a while, and opened his eyes. His face revealed a contented and delighted expression.

　　He had finally absorbed the Heavenly energy stored in the Black Blood and Soul Pill. Therefore, his injuries had been fully restored. Moreover, his Real Qi had become stronger than before. He was just a step away from entering the fifth stage of the Art of Breeding Heavenly Elephants at present.

　　However, he felt a sense of loss and emptiness since the beautiful maiden was no longer around him.

　　He shook his head and stood-up. He then clasped his hands against his chest as he looked towards Ke and the girl surnamed Qi. He then spoke respectfully, “Thank you so much. I’m really grateful to you two for looking after me. I’ve fully recuperated now. So, let’s get out of here.”

　　The two girls didn’t seem to have any objection.

　　The three of them finally left the cave. They descended the mountain, and started to advance in a particular direction.

　　*** ***

　　One month later…

　　Somewhere in the forest on the border of the Fu Prefecture….

　　Shi Mu wielded the black blade, and stared at a barbarian who stood in front of him. The barbarian was almost as tall as Shi Mu.

　　He had a thin physique, and a short stature. He looked like an ordinary human man. A totem of a blue wolf was carved on his exposed chest. The image of the wolf looked as if it was howling towards the sky. The barbarian seemed to be a Totem Warrior.

　　Another Totem warrior stood behind the short barbarian. He wore a pair of golden rings in his ears. The two barbarians had formed a position which would enable them to launch a converging attack.

　　Shi Mu had slipped into a barbarian camp on the border of Fu Prefecture twelve hours ago. He was assigned to infiltrate and investigate the enemy’s camp. He had carried out his mission successfully. But, he hadn’t expected that he would bump into these two Totem warriors on his way back from their camp.

　　This place was very close to their camp. So, the longer Shi Mu was delayed by these two enemies… the more perilous his situation would become.

　　A stern look flashed across Shi Mu’s eyes. Suddenly, his body moved and flashed several feet away. He stopped in front of the short barbarian. Then, a black light sprang from his shoulder.

　　‘Shua!’

　　The black blade trembled in air, and released thirteen blade-shadows. The shadows cascaded down towards his enemy with a bone-chilling wind.

　　‘Growl!’ the sound of a wolf’s howling was heard.

　　Suddenly, a blue gleam flashed on the chest of the short barbarian. Then, his arms transformed into two furry wolf-claws. A glittering green light emerged on his incisive fingernails.

　　There was a fierce look in his eyes. He started to wave his wolf-claws in front of his body at quick pace. This rapid movement produced interwoven blue claw-shadows that collided with the approaching black blade-shadows.

　　A burst of ‘clanking’ sound was heard. The black blade-shadows and the blue claw-shadows collided with each other and dispersed.

　　But then, dozens of blue claw-shadows darted toward Shi Mu.

　　A gust of forceful fist-wind pushed and toppled Shi Mu from behind at the same time.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes flashed with a trace of cold look in them. He didn’t step back. Instead, he rushed forward with the black blade in his hand. He simultaneously infused his magic power in his blade. The charm characters carved on the surface of the blade lit-up. Suddenly, a fire fluttered out of the blade’s surface. It struck the approaching blue shadows like a thunderbolt.

　　‘Bang!’ an explosive sound was heard.

　　The bright-red flame ruptured, and the scorching-hot air wave swept away the blue shadows.

　　The short barbarian was caught off-guard. He was rolled-up by the scorching hot air wave, and was thrown upside-down in the air. He was still mid-air when he saw Shi Mu spouting a small cluster of white clouds. These white clouds then darted towards him at an alarming speed. His complexion became pale as he saw this. His heart was frozen with overwhelming fear.

　　Shi Mu had just displayed the Qi Explosion Technique. Then, he turned around and pounded his translucent sparkling-white fist forward. It struck a black ox’s hoof with a lightning speed. The ox hoof was almost as big as a human’s head. It had already arrived close to him.

　　‘Clang!’ a metal clanging sound was heard.

　　Shi Mu felt as if he had been knocked against a gigantic 500kg wild ox. The gigantic inhuman strength made his chest stuffy. His body got pushed several steps backwards.

　　The tall barbarian with golden earrings had launched this sneak attack. However, he was also tossed back into the air by the impact of this huge collision. He was still mid-air when he heard a dull thumping sound from behind.

　　The short barbarian had tried to resist the Qi Explosion Technique with his arms. But, his arms had blown into pieces, and his chest had been mutilated by Shi Mu’s powerful attack. He then fell heavily to the ground.

　　Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him; it was Shi Mu.

　　A blood-curdling screech resounded. Then, a spurt of fresh blood was shot towards the sky. The short barbarian’s head was cut-off by the black blade.

　　Shi Mu heard a sound of footsteps from behind him; they seemed to be moving away at a rapid pace.

　　He turned around to realize that the other barbarian was fleeing towards the forest. The tall barbarian had noticed that the situation had become unfavorable for him. So, he had decided to flee into the forest. He had covered several feet of distance in a fleeting moment.

　　Shi Mu smiled, and flicked his right hand. Suddenly, his black blade turned into a blazing fire, and dashed towards the tall barbarian at an incredible speed.

　　The tall barbarian had hardly heaved a sigh of relief when he heard a strange sound. He felt a sharp burning pain in his chest before he could react. He saw the pointed edge of a red blade protrude from his chest; Shi Mu’s blade had pierced through his chest from behind.

　　‘Puff!’

　　A whiff of raging flames welled-up from his chest. They then consumed his entire body, and his body started to burn. The tall barbarian had turned into a ‘scorched’ gravel before he could understand anything.

　　Shi Mu had already picked-up his blade, and had streaked away by now. Then, he disappeared into the dense forest.

　　*** ***

　　A few months later… on the border of the Rui Prefecture…

　　Shi Mu sat cross-legged with closed eyes. He was in a dilapidated house which was surrounded by the ruins of a village. His chest rose and fell in a rhythm. He seemed to be in the middle of restoring his physical strength. A Purple Bow lay beside his body. It seemed to be made-up of steel.

　　Suddenly, he heard a hubbub of noises coming from a distance.

　　He opened his eyes wide, and sprang-up like a vigilant cat. He grabbed the Purple Steel Bow, and silently left the house. He then started to move stealthily towards the east.

　　He crouched down on a half-burnt roof after a moment, and gazed into the distance; towards the source of the noise.

　　He saw around two-hundred barbarian soldiers at a distance of several hundred meters. They were engaged in a fierce battle with a human army that consisted of the same number of people. The earth was shaking because of their loud cries and roars.

　　The weapons of the human army were far better than their enemies’. However, their enemies were much taller and stronger than them. Therefore, they seemed to be at a huge disadvantage.

　　However, the humans still seemed to be calm and composed. They continued to fight with their opponents as they advanced towards the village. It seemed that they wanted to use the village as their cover.

　　The barbarian soldiers were trying their best to fail their attempts. They continued to swoop down on the humans vigorously. Therefore, the situation had become extremely fierce.

　　Both the sides were losing their soldiers. However, the humans were losing three or four soldiers against a single barbarian warrior.

　　The battle was becoming one-sided, and it seemed to be inclining towards the barbarians.

　　Shi Mu shifted his vision, and looked in the center of the crowd.

　　He saw a military officer of the Da Qi Kingdom; the man wore full-body armor. He held a long silver spear; he was waving it in all directions. He was in confrontation with a Totem warrior who was wielding a pair of giant axes. Shi Mu could faintly hear the sounds of the clashing of metals.

　　Shi Mu knew that the military officer must quickly kill the Totem warrior since he seemed to be the leader of the barbarians. The barbarians would certainly fall apart once their leader was slaughtered. Otherwise, the entire human army would eventually be annihilated.

　　However, the leaders of both the armies seemed to be equally strong. So, it didn’t seem like their battle would be getting over soon.

　　Shi Mu didn’t know why, but he had an indistinct feeling. The military officer seemed to be familiar to him. But, Shi Mu couldn’t see his face since it was covered with a helmet.

　　Shi Mu had already accomplished the mission that had been assigned to him. So, he was officially on a break. However, he couldn’t sit back and watch his kin being slaughtered by the barbarians.

　　He observed his surroundings. He then got down from the roof, and started to walk towards the battlefield.

　　He reached a ditch near the battlefield after some time.

　　The human army had lost more than twenty soldiers in this short span of time. The humans were compelled to fight back more cautiously due to the violent attacks of the barbarian soldiers. Moreover, they had given-up the thought of withdrawing.

　　A layer of pale-golden gleam emerged in Shi Mu’s eyes. He drew out a special-looking arrow from his back. The arrowhead was fiery-red in color. A tiny charm spell could be seen on its surface. It seemed to be a magic weapon.

　　This arrow was called the ‘Fierce Inflammation Arrow’. Shi Mu had superimposed three layers of the Fierce Inflammation Charm Magic on its arrowhead.

　　Shi Mu had wanted to overlay more layers on the arrowhead. But, it was extremely difficult to draw formulas on the arrowhead since it was very small. Therefore, Shi Mu hadn’t been able to superimpose more than three layers on its surface. It could be said that drawing a Magic Charm on the arrowhead was even harder than drawing eight or nine charm characters on the Moonlight Sea Urchin Daggers.

　　The might of this arrow was ordinary. It was merely one-tenth of the strength of the Moonlight Sea Urchin Dagger. However, the might of these arrows’ instantaneous explosion was quite frightful once they had penetrated into the enemy’s body.

　　Shi Mu had exerted a huge mental effort to create ten such arrows when he had received the Purple Steel Arrow. But, the rest of the arrows in his arrow-bag were ordinary arrows ¬– without any magical power.

　　Shi Mu wanted to test the might of this arrow.

　　So, he placed the arrow on the bow. Then, he accumulated his strength to launch a powerful shot.