Spirit Realm

Inside the rainbow barrier at the bottom of the lake, Qin Lie’s chest pressed against Song Tingyu’s back.

Qin Lie did not dare to move a muscle. He did not even dare to wildly imagine things. His body leaned stiffly against Song Tingyu’s back and he did not utter a word.

He felt a hint of wariness towards this unpredictable woman. He did not know if she would do something unthinkable in the next moment, so he was careful.

A pleased smile rose to Song Tingyu’s lips as her shoulders shuddered slightly. Her eyes were filled with the colors of victory.

“Swoosh swoosh!”

Before long, the sound of distant footsteps across grass drew near.

Qin Lie grew more and more cautious, not even daring to let his thoughts stray. He hurriedly held his breath and focused his mind, evening out his breathing to adjust the blood flow of his body.

“Don’t worry. Inside the Flowing Rainbow Shield, he would not be able to hear us even if we speak.” Song Tingyu smiled disdainfully with her back against him. “As long as you don’t act carelessly, you will not get yourself into trouble. Heh…”

“This Horned Demon elite with six horns has been pursuing us for a while now?” Qin Lie switched the topic.

“Yes. Ever since you fainted, he has been chasing us constantly. This old horned geezer is incredibly powerful. He seems to be extremely well-versed in soul scouting; there were a few times when we were extremely far apart but his soul aura was still able to find us.” Song Tingyu also grew serious, withdrawing her smile upon talking about a strong enemy. She said seriously, “This geezer would probably be a wall in our path. If we can’t go through him, we will not even be able to reach the Nether Battlefield.”

“A Horned Demon elite with six horns is the rival of a Fragmentation Realm expert. That’s way too scary.” Qin Lie also paled.

“He’s here!” Song Tingyu exclaimed softly.

The lake was incredibly clear. Beneath its surface, both Song Tingyu and Qin Lie could see everything above them.

Inside the lake, Qin Lie raised his head and clearly saw a thin-looking old Horned Demon. He wore a dark gray long robe and appeared to be floating over from afar like a ghost.

The old man was formidable at about two and a half meters tall. He was probably a very strong Horned Demon warrior when he was young.

Yet now his figure was very thin. Ghost fire seemed to burn deep within his pupils as he walked over, giving off an incredibly terrifying soul intimidation power.

He simply stood beside the lake with a look of considerable doubt. He seemed to be confused as to why the prey he detected earlier had disappeared from his senses.

So he sat down on the stone floor and shut his eyes. He grabbed something inside his dark gray sleeves with one hand, seemingly casting some kind of evil race secret art.

Ripples suddenly appeared on the surface of the lake. They spread out like an unfolding carpet, inch by inch towards the surroundings.

The air, the surface of the lake, and the surface of the land were all filled with an incredibly dense soul aura. It was as if a huge web had spread out from the old man’s body and gradually covered every inch of the surrounding space.

“This is a type of soul searching technique. Any living being within the area will be discovered by him as long as they have a soul.” Song Tingyu appeared to be very familiar with the Nether Realm’s evil races. “This guy’s an elite with six horns. Unless we’ve reached the Fragmentation Realm ourselves, there is no way we can hide from his soul detection. Heh, thank goodness I have the Flowing Rainbow Shield or we would not have been able to escape this time...”

Qin Lie listened closely to her explanations and inwardly let out a sigh of relief. This woman definitely came from Profound Heaven Alliance alright; she carried a whole trunk of valuable artifacts with her.

While he thought that, the spatial ring in his hand suddenly reverberated slightly.

Qin Lie was shocked. He then let out a wisp of mind consciousness and slipped inside the spatial ring.

Inside the small space within the spatial ring, the wooden sculpture suddenly lit up. That wooden sculpture was the only thing his grandfather had left for him. It was carved in the shape of Qin Shan and the complicated magic composite spirit diagram inscribed inside could match with his thunder and lightning arts to form a web of thunder and lightning.

The wooden sculpture inside the spatial ring seemed to have detected something. It glowed faintly, appearing restless. This caused Qin Lie to feel secretly surprised—just what was causing the wooden sculpture inside the spatial ring to move?

He was incredibly shocked on the inside.

He subconsciously looked towards the old man and saw that he seemed to be gripping something inside his wide sleeves. That thing that he could not see seemed to have caused the change in the wooden sculpture...

Qin Lie was incredibly curious to know exactly what was hidden within the old man’s sleeves, but he did not pull away from the Flowing Rainbow Shield. He did not even dare to take the wooden sculpture out of the spatial ring—he was afraid that he would alert the old man.

Naturally, Qin Lie did not say anything to Song Tingyu about the strange movements of the wooden sculpture inside the spatial ring. He did not explain the oddity to her.

He only noticed that the old Horned Demon with six horns shuddered slightly as the ghost fire deep within his pupils suddenly jumped and became excited… the old man seemed to have discovered something.

The old Horned Demon seemed to have lost control over his emotions. A light of incredible shock flashed across his eyes. He suddenly rose to his feet.

The old man began to walk aimlessly around the lake and the surrounding region. He looked everywhere as if trying to lock onto something.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to confirm the Flowing Rainbow Shield’s position.

After a very, very long time, this old Horned Demon left with a look of helplessness.

An hour later, Song Tingyu let out a soft sigh and said, “...I don’t feel him. He should’ve left already. We will leave immediately.”

“Sploosh!”

Song Tingyu’s shapely body passed through the lake’s surface, still wrapped inside the Flowing Rainbow Shield, and stood lithely on the shore.

Meanwhile Qin Lie was left at the bottom of the lake. He glared at Song Tingyu in irritation before hastily exiting the lake completely drenched.

“Little thief, this is my punishment to you. It’ll serve as a warning when you think of taking advantage of me,” Song Tingyu said smilingly.

“My clothes are wet. I will have to change before we leave.” Qin Lie snorted once and began taking off his clothes right in front of Song Tingyu, paying no heed to her surprised cries.

“You bastard!” Song Tingyu scolded but, seeing that he had already stripped his upper body of clothing, she hurriedly turned around.

“Splash!” She had only just turned around before water poured down on her head from the sky.

She had just withdrawn the Flowing Rainbow Shield, so she was immediately drenched by the lake water. The perfect and attractive outline of her curves were instantly exposed.

“Now we’re even!” Qin Lie chuckled with an odd tone before immediately running in the direction of the Nether Battlefield still baring his upper body.

“You vengeful brat!” Song Tingyu screamed while both anger and laughter mingled within her eyes. She glared furiously at Qin Lie, first covering her body with a wisp of hot energy before chasing after him. “Bastard, stop right there!”

Two hours after the duo had left.

The old Horned Demon had actually reappeared beside the lake bit by bit, as if a fragmented soul was gathering unto itself.

It was as if he had never left this place...

He still sat on the stone ground, but now his expression was calm. Black demonic light flashed inside his deep and dark pupils.

“Oooooo! Oooooo!”

He suddenly let out a low whistle as if summoning someone, informing him of his own location.

After a very long time, yet another Horned Demon clansman arrived alone.

This incredibly tough Horned Demon elite was a six horned warrior!

He was the six horned elite from Black Horn City who had been rallying an army and was about to lead his men to attack Scarlet Tide Continent but, after he detected the strangeness at Demon God Mountain Range, he had wrapped himself in a pitch black cloak and left.

“Uncle, have you found them?” The Horned Demon elite asked the old Horned Demon in the language of the Nether Realm after he arrived.

“Duo Luo, do you think that young human man looked like a certain someone?” The old man suddenly asked.

“Look like someone? Who?” The Horned Demon man called Duo Luo asked doubtfully.

After the two Horned Demons had rushed to the Demon God Mountain Range, they only needed to absorb the remaining memories of their dead clansmen that hadn’t completely dissipated to realize what had happened.

Therefore, Qin Lie and Song Tingyu’s appearance were deeply imprinted in their minds.

“Do you think he looks like… the Venerable One?“ The old man’s expression was incredibly solemn. While he said this, he took out an item from his sleeves—a wooden sculpture!

A wooden sculpture that looked exactly the same as Qin Lie’s!

The only difference was that the wooden sculpture he held was obviously smaller than the one that Qin Lie had. It was only half as large.

Other than that, there were no visible differences between Qin Lie’s wooden sculpture and this one—they were both carved with the life-like appearance of Qin Shan.

Initially shocked when the old Horned Demon took out the wooden sculpture, Duo Luo actually knelt on one knee in respect.

—he actually knelt at the sight of Qin Shan’s wooden sculpture.