“There!” Long Di pointed in one specific direction.

Yaomu Shou immediately dashed off in that direction!

It wasn’t long before everyone, barring Long Di, lost sight of her, her figure disappearing in this fog-like environment.

****

Yaomu Shou was charging in blind but she trusted Long Di to point her in the right direction.

‘You’re leaning to the right, straighten your pa… that’s too far left.’

Yaomu Shou could hear Long Di’s voice in her head telling her where to go. Visibility was reduced to the point where the only thing that could be seen was a screen of grey.

Seeing even one meter ahead of her was a task in itself.

Crack!

“Aaaaahhh!”

Yaomu Shou’s stomach fell as the sickening sound of bone breaking followed by a pain-filled scream could be heard from somewhere ahead.

Suddenly, it went silent. No more sound was heard.

‘Crap! Yeah, hurry for me and save her please!’

Though Long Di’s voice lacked any emotional intonation, that rare raising of his voice signified the severity of the issue, this compelled her to quicken her travel.

As she moved along, his voice came once more.

‘Draw your sword.’

Yaomu Shou hesitated, “But I can’t see anyth-”

‘Draw your sword, child!’ Long Di’s voice thundered in her head, forcing her to arm herself.

His voice carried a boundless weight as it echoed in her mind. Her hand drew the sword as she found herself powerless to resist his command.

…

“Hm.”

The two elders frowned when they saw this, but took no further action.

The elders that were viewing everything from above received several shocks almost every time that Long Di did something, but this one confounded them to end.

Compelled by his curiosity, Second Uncle Li, the younger of the two, sent a surge of his own senses towards Long Di to quietly probe him. However, it was as if a fog-like smoke screened Long Di from his perception.

Uncle Yan naturally sensed this, but didn’t move to stop his partner. He was also curious about Long Di as well.

His eyes narrowed as he strengthened the power of his probe before his expression changed once more.

‘No!’

He quickly tried to cut off his divine senses, but it was of no use!

“Ah!”

His divine senses received a terrible backlash as he kneeled down in pain. His eyes cried blood as fear, anger, and shock overtook him.

“Wan Li!” Uncle Yan bent down to help his friend.

After seeing the state of his eyes, Uncle Yan was taken aback, “What did you see?”

Uncle Yan was shocked, he was no stranger to the power of his friend. There should have been no way that someone who was merely at the Core Flame Evocation realm could hurt him.

But then… if that was the case, what was this scene before him?

“… T-The boy’s spiritual force and mental sea are…” after some time, Second Uncle Li finally spoke, but couldn’t find the right words. “I couldn’t make heads or tails of what it was, so I turned my gaze deeper and… I-I’m not sure if I’m right, b-but his d-destiny… I think I saw-”

Rumble…

The heavens above trembled as clouds gathered under the compulsion of an unuttered taboo.

Before he could say anything more, second Uncle Li froze in fear as a power that escaped his realm of comprehension gripped him.

When Uncle Yan saw this, he had an idea of what they were touching upon and moved to comfort his friend.

“Say nothing more, my friend. Try to recover,” Uncle Yan said after he investigated Second Uncle Li’s body with his own spiritual force.

He didn’t dare to force the issue and just like that; the mysteries surrounding Long Di grew ever greater.

He slowly turned his gaze towards Long Di once more and was shocked to see the latter staring straight at them.

“H-He couldn’t possibly see us, could he? What is this child!?”

…

Long Di looked up to a particular spot in the sky where he saw the clouds moving in an ominous fashion, he said nothing more of this and continued actions to save Feng Yu.

He could see everything clearly through the use of his spiritual senses. For some reason, the bewildering nature of the gas didn’t mind his spiritual sense in the least. Of course, both he and Yaomu Shou chalked this up to his high cultivation base, not realising that the gas is able to confound even those in the later stages of the Core Flame Evocation realm.

…

Yaomu Shou could finally see a mountainous shadow in the distance and another smaller mound before it.

Both figures looked like ghosts within the gas but Yaomu Shou knew exactly who and what they were. One was one of the most shameless beasts upon the continent and the other was Feng Yu, who was most likely immobile.

A long spear-like object protruded from the mountainous figure and Yaomu Shou felt disgusted knowing what it was.

Its constant state of pulsation was repulsive, but what drew even more hatred to this… monstrous phallus was when it shot towards the immobile mound on the ground.

“No wonder he told me to draw my sword!” she furiously hissed under her breath.

Shing!

The ringing of the sword sounded out as a purple sword lit up the confines of the gas for but a moment when a monstrous screech followed.

…

“A fitting punishment for all those who would dare commit such an act, monster or man,” Long Di nodded, seeing this.

…

Thud!

The obscene thing fell to the ground kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake.

The monster turned its head towards Yaomu Shou in supreme fury. What little sense it had was all but done under the effects of its berserk state.

Yaomu Shou raised her sword, expecting it to charge headstrong at her. Yet, when she saw its actions, her expression changed.

“No!”

It suddenly threw the unconscious Feng Yu at her!

Yaomu Shou gritted her teeth and put her sword away and opened her arms to catch Feng Yu.

Bam!

The impact knocked her back a couple of feet before it sent her tumbling into the ground!

Feng Yu slid a small distance from her.

Before Yaomu Shou could get her bearings straight, a shadow appeared above her with a furious expression.

Its face was twisted into a malicious expression. The pandas cared for very little in this world, but if one was to name one thing that it would put its life on the line to defend, that would be its… tool.

For Yaomu Shou, to do what she did was worse than killing it. It wanted to eat her flesh and grind her bones!

“Vomitous Pig! you deserve worse! Ptu!” she cursed and spat at it in spite.

It raised its paw and brought it crashing down into her gut.

Boom!

“Pwah!”

Her gut sank in from the blow as a geyser of blood erupted from her mouth!

The damn beast actually controlled its strength even during its berserk state! The pain from it losing its weapon caused its sadistic side to flare up to inflict the greatest pain upon her!

A blush crept up her cheeks as the effects of the aphrodisiac started to affect through the opening of her wounds.

The panda could see this was the case and loved every minute of it. Its long tongue licked its lips in an obscene manner. Yet it wanted her writhing in lust while it broke her.

The paw reached for the skies once more for a crushing blow as it came crashing down!

Pu Ci!

“Since you’re being so nasty without it, how about a replacement?”

Out of nowhere, a silver sword was poetically stabbed right where its beloved tool used to be.

An unholy pain lit up its body as its fur stood on end, achieving the impossible by making the panda uglier.

“Aaaarrgh!”

A bloodcurdling scream was let loose to the heavens to express its agony!

“Seems like it fits. Let’s test it, shall we?” the calm voice advised.

Powerful spiritual qi ran the length of the blade as it flowed into the body of the panda. A short grunt was all that was heard before it burst apart in an explosion of mangled flesh, bones, and the stuff of nightmares.

The ground started to rumble as the pandas that were so far away before were now too close for safety to be a thing.

Nevertheless, the figure didn’t appear flustered in the face of this. He calmly walked over to Feng Yu and took her up in his arms before he walked back to Yaomu Shou.

She looked up through hazy eyes at the figure that saved her. He looked back at her with a warm smile. Her severe injuries seemed to matter very little to him.

“Let’s meet the keyholder shall we?”

These were the only words he directed at her, and this was also all she could remember before she lost consciousness.