78 Hui Ziwang shows his face

A rain of black spears descended down. Liu Sumeng raised his hand and formed a set of hand seals. Simple barriers wouldn't work on the Demon King's power but a reflective barrier could deflect the spears' trajectory by the slightest bit. It wasn't much but with force as terrifying and as fast as the dark spears, every little bit counted.

Yuan Xuelan, who was busy trying to dodge and parry with Silei saw this and cursed his own hands for being slower. But Liu Sumeng was there to assist, and deflected one of the on-coming spears, giving Yuan Xuelan just enough time to reach into his robes and pull out a set of talismans.

He released them and they fanned out in a wide circle. Hui Ziwang watched in interest but did not lift a single finger. The arrogance! Yuan Xuelan ground his teeth together.

The talismans unleashed their power. A ripple of spiritual energy surged within the area. While the power was not particularly strong it was enough to disrupt the aim of the black spears by just enough that eased some of the pressure on the two cultivators below.

Hui Ziwang clicked his teeth and snapped his fingers. Black clouds swirled above, a sea of black wings obscured the moonlight as more and more ravens gathered. Even more birds began to tremble and transform into black spears, while a few of them flew to destroy the talismans that were unleashing the disruptive surge.

Nan Chang was hiding behind a tree and had thrown her hands protectively over her head, regretting her decision in coming. She really should have listened to the Ivory Sword Saint! But she'd been lucky. Either the floating demon had no interest in her or had not caught her ducking for cover behind the tree.

She chanced a peek at the unfolding battle. It wasn't looking good for Xuelan and Liu-gege. But they were keeping the demon busy enough that she could chance her escape! She was familiar enough with the forest and had superb navigational skills and could easily make her way out on her own.

She pulled out several long silver needles and then dashed out from her hiding place. As she expected, no attacks came flying her away or shouts called for her. She turned her gaze toward the sky and shot her silver needles. A few ravens that chased the talismans were pierced with pinpoint accuracy and thudded down when they fell to the ground.

"Nan Chang will be leaving first!" She waved one last time before rushing off to an even safer distance.

Yuan Xuelan was startled by her actions and almost missed a black spear coming his way. But what was there to be surprised about!? This was Nan Chang after all. So he called after her fleeing figure, "Yeah just make sure you get to safety!"

A small flock of ravens tried to separate from the group to chase her down but Yuan Xuelan acted quickly and cleaved the birds with lightning and fire. The few that broke through will no doubt fall to Nan Chang's needles. He wasn't worried about her.

Hui Ziwang clicked his tongue, agitated. Well, in the first place, he didn't really care about that silly girl. He couldn't say that he really cared about the two cultivators below him either. He was summoning all the damned birds in this shitty forest and forced them to do all his dirty work.

Liu Sumeng was a little alarmed at the sheer number of ravens that gathered above them but he remained calm. Although Ziwang was crowned King, of the Hui Clan he wasn't the strongest in a one-on-one battle. Only the most annoying.

"So I'm guessing we got to go for that floating bastard," Yuan Xuelan mused.

Liu Sumeng nodded.

But Hui Ziwang wasn't just going to make things easy for them and continued his barrage of black spears on the two cultivators, hoping to overwhelm them with sheer numbers and destructive power. He was so preoccupied with feeding energy into the damned ravens he almost didn't notice a small bead-like thing shoot up close to his face.

Hui Ziwang cursed. He raised his arm and ravens fluttered towards him to form a protective shell. But it was too late them, the little bomb exploded and the entire world was ringing. An annoying white headache assaulted Hui Ziwang. Rage bubbled inside him. Did these idiots really think some stupid toy like this was going to hurt him!? Even with the deafening bomb, sounds returned to him easily and his hearing was quick to mend.

But during that time, he hadn't been creating more dark spears and gave the two cultivators a chance! Before the Demon King could raise his hand to conjure a more powerful spell, a silver arc came down upon him. Forced to dash backward, Hui Ziwang could only point a finger toward his foe and command a flock of ravens to rush at the Ivory Sword Saint like a black stream to create distance.

Hui Ziwang fell to the ground but he landed gracefully and held out his palm once more, that dark sphere began to form. Only a single dark spear could be created before lightning and fire surged forth and Hui Ziwang had to dodge again, this time from Silei's mighty power.

He sighed, annoyed.

The Ivory Sword Saint gave the Demon King no reprise and followed up, stepping in with his martial prowess.

Hui Ziwang might not have been the strongest in terms of pure physical strength but he was not slow either. Not to mention, his strength was still many times greater than a human-beings. The Demon King dodged all the swipes and thrusts and came his way and watched the human in front of him carefully, waiting for even the slightest of openings.

The ravens flew in an ominous circle above them, swirling around like a slow brewing storm cloud.

Yuan Xuelan had a bad feeling about this and shot a stream of lightning toward the sky. The ravens parted around his attack. A few were not so lucky and were singed to a crisp, their charred bodies tumbled to the ground. But the black mass did not appear any any smaller which made Yuan Xuelan groan in frustration.

Meanwhile, Hui Ziwang was surprised to find himself still forced on the defensive, "You're not so bad, human trash."

"...You could be better," Liu Sumeng replied bluntly.

A flicker of annoyance caused the Demon King's eyelid to twitch. "We'll see about that," he said. But despite the words that left his mouth, he had already given up on besting the Ivory Sword Saint on martial prowess alone. The birds descended in a black cylindrical swirl, like a descending midnight hurricane.

"Sumeng!" Yuan Xuelan called out in warning.

The dark shadow came down and Liu Sumeng jumped out the way just in time to watch Hui Ziwang's body be completely consumed by the black birds. After the dark hurricane touched the ground, the birds dispersed like frenzied tendrils unraveling from the main, massive body. Hui Ziwang was nowhere in sight.

Demonic energy fluctuated and the ravens began to shimmer with a strange power. Realization struck Liu Sumeng and he grabbed Yuan Xuelan's wrist. "We need to take cover!" Was all he shouted before taking the younger cultivator and ran.

He dragged Yuan Xuelan to the spring and jumped in. The cool water enveloped them. Feathers that sang through the air above them like a barrage of needles, but everything was muffled within the pool. A shimmering silver moon could be glimmered from even the depth of the spring and Yuan Xuelan thought that at that moment, the world was deceptively calm. Unlike the murky pool of Zu Village, this spring was so wonderfully clear that he could easily make out the Ivory Sword Saint even below the surface. His inky hair floating like a black veil. Liu Sumeng still wore a grave expression and Yuan Xuelan found himself wondering if the Ivory Sword Saint was still upset.

Why wouldn't he focus on anything important? Liu Sumeng had his gaze veered toward the surface, watching for the coast to clear. Yuan Xuelan could no longer resist. It must have been the youthful rage of impulsive thoughts that tickled his inspiration when he pulled the Ivory Sword Saint farther down, closer to him. He drank in Liu Sumeng's surprised visage and resisted the urge to kiss him.

'Are you angry with me?' Yuan Xuelan's lips mouthed.

Liu Sumeng's expression was incredulous. He looked a little annoyed, Yuan Xuelan lamented.

He was given no response when Liu Sumeng finally pulled them back up to the surface. Destruction was evident in their surrounding. Trees were toppled and even stone wore dents in them. The ground was littered with a carnage of midnight feathers and Hui Ziwang was nowhere in sight. Only a subtle trace of demonic power was left behind.

Liu Sumeng climbed out of the pool first. He was still looking around, double-checking that the coast was clear. Yuan Xuelan could not feel the same urgency until he was reminded of Peng Jipei who was being chased off by the giant dog. "Sumeng," he called for the Ivory Sword Saint's attention.

The dark eyes turned to him and he almost hesitated. "Peng-ge, we have to go find him. Please?"

He almost expected some sort of protest. But Liu Sumeng only nodded, "Alright."

"Oh," Yuan Xuelan ended up responding stupidly.

The tiangou was a giant creature and left a path of destruction in the foliage that was difficult to miss. But after taking a few steps, Liu Sumeng was looking in a direction different from the path left behind by the beast. There was a narrow road, mostly untraveled aside from forest animals and was shrouded by surrounding greenery.

He looked at Yuan Xuelan with a complicated expression, "Xuelan…"

Yuan Xuelan held his breath. Whatever emotion was wreaking havoc in his gut was difficult to name but he felt that it was akin to dread. "You think he went down that way?" Not a question but a statement.

Liu Sumeng hesitated before saying, "Yes."

With the tiangou's superior sense of smell and terrifying speed, even someone like Peng Jipei, who was known to be quick on his feet, could not simply throw it off his trail. The implications were clear.

After a short stretch of silence, Liu Sumeng continued, "We can…separate."

"No!" Yuan Xuelan exclaimed. His shoulders sagged and he felt defeated. "No…let's stick together. I'll…follow you."

Liu Sumeng seemed surprised at the vote of confidence. But it only solidified his resolution. He nodded and lead Yuan Xuelan down the narrow forest trail.

Only a few steps and it slowly became obvious that someone else had just traveled this trail. Yuan Xuelan's heart rapped against his ribs. He had come down here before, but not often. Trying to ignore his chaotic emotions he tried to recall the familiarity of this path.

After a while, realization slowly began to dawn on him. They were headed towards Auntie Cao's gravesite!