As night fell slowly, and due to the absence of light, the city of Ziang seemed submerged in darkness.
One could say you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face, forming a stark contrast with other cities lit by red lanterns.
A shadow leaped over the rooftops with agility and ease, leaving a trail of wind behind. Immediately, the shadow landed in one courtyard and rose again, its arms carrying a cloth bundle. Part of the cloth appeared to contain a human form.
Not far from that location, on a rooftop, Ning Xiao canceled her shadow-concealing talisman, having witnessed the entire process. Yet, she didn't rush. Instead, she raised a communication talisman. "There's movement, heading northeast." Then, the paper began to burn and disintegrate rapidly in her hand, and she set off after the shadow.
When the shadow left Ziang city, five other shadows were already pursuing from a distance. Soon, the group left the area. Following the shadow for a moment, it suddenly seemed to vanish before them. The group stopped immediately.
"Impossible! Did we lose him?" Ning Xiao was surprised.
Zhang Yong looked around, but his expression remained indifferent. "No trace."
Wu Ruoxian crossed her arms calmly. "Zhang Yong, don't tell me you haven't noticed yet?"
Zhang Yong looked at her in confusion. "Noticed what? I don't know what you mean."
Wu Ruoxian looked at Zhang Yong as if he were stupid—because from her perspective, he was. How could he not notice this? "There's an illusion array here. It's obvious."
Zhang Yong scratched the back of his head foolishly. "Oh, ah, I didn't notice at all."
"Then... break it," said Wu Ruoxian, as if it were the most obvious and simple thing in the world.
Zhang Yong looked down as if his soul would leave his body. "About that... I... don't... know how."
Wu Ruoxian froze in place. Her eyes flashed with astonishment before taking on a complex expression. "You... don't know how to break an illusion array?"
"Yes, I never learned it before," Zhang Yong said indifferently, as if it were a trivial matter. But in truth, Zhang Yong... was too lazy to study illusion arrays.
He focused on studying Qi condensation arrays, killing arrays, and protection arrays. As for arrays like illusion arrays... they were too boring! Besides, the book Gu Zixian gave him was over three hundred pages long
Sure, he was a bookworm in his previous life and a hardworking student, but that was because he had a goal! Now, he had lost all motivation to study hard, though he still studied.
Ning Xiao covered her face with her hand and let out a long sigh. "Brother Zhang, any array master worthy of the title must master all the fundamentals. How did you not learn it?"
Zhang Yong protested immediately. "It's not my fault that chapter of the book was boring!"
Wu Ruoxian sighed with a slight smile and walked calmly towards Zhang Yong. "Because illusion arrays are complex, there are even deadly illusion arrays that can take your life. But this one here is just a concealment array. There are ways to break arrays. Some are dangerous, like trying to break it with brute force, but that would alert the enemy. The second option is an array-breaking tool, and the third is an illusion-dispelling array."
Wu Ruoxian walked until she stood right in front of Zhang Yong and reached her hand out towards him.
"What is it?" Zhang Yong asked, puzzled.
"Spirit stones," Wu Ruoxian said matter-of-factly.
Zhang Yong stared at Wu Ruoxian for a moment before finally taking out a handful of spirit stones from his spatial pouch and handing them to her hesitantly.
"Thank you, honey" Wu Ruoxian nodded with satisfaction and stepped forward
Zhang Yong jumped back in great shock. What the hell was that?! He felt the gates of hell had opened for him in that brief moment he heard her—his face even paled completely.
In the back, Yi Lin showed a small, mocking smile at the situation between the two.
Immediately, the spirit stones flew from Wu Ruoxian's hand. A golden thread of psychic energy spread among them, connecting the stones and drawing the formation. Instantly, in the group's vision, reality seemed to shatter into glass fragments, and a cave appeared directly in front of them.
"This must be the hiding place," said Chu Ning clearly.
Zhang Yong approached the cave entrance and sent his spiritual sense inside before inwardly calming down. "Alright, Wu Ruoxian and I will go inside. You three will stay on guard. Is that clear?" The others immediately agreed and remained outside. Simultaneously, Zhang Yong and Wu Ruoxian proceeded inside.
Just as the two entered the cave, the place was illuminated by torches on the sides. "This place was prepared in advance, huh," Zhang Yong remarked coldly.
"There's something strange. Usually, when someone uses a hideout, especially a closed cave, they would have set up a protective array or—" Just as she was speaking, Wu Ruoxian suddenly stopped.
Zhang Yong turned towards Wu Ruoxian and asked, "Why did you suddenly stop tal—" Immediately, Wu Ruoxian grabbed Zhang Yong's shoulder and pulled him back forcefully, as a beast's paw landed where he had been standing, striking the ground powerfully.
"Tsk, the rat dodged it," a man cursed from the back. In front of the two, a man in black clothes appeared, with a red bear standing before him. The bear had a little white fur on its chest and blood-red eyes.
Zhang Yong quickly regained his balance. "This person controls a battle bear. How bold," Zhang Yong noted as his gaze focused ahead.
"This person is a practitioner of the Enslavement Path. Specifically, as long as the master is dealt with, the subordinate's matter ends," Wu Ruoxian advised seriously.
"I'll handle the bear. You deal with the leader," Zhang Yong ordered and immediately charged towards the bear. Zhang Yong clenched his fists tightly and smiled. "I've never fought a bear face-to-face before. At least not since my childhood."
Zhang Yong charged at the bear. The bear stood on its hind legs and swung its paw powerfully. Zhang Yong raised his fist and punched the bear's paw forcefully, then took another step forward and kicked its stomach hard, pushing the bear back until it crashed into the cave wall behind.
Immediately, the bear jumped and pounced on Zhang Yong, opening its jaws wide. Zhang Yong extended his hands, placed them in the bear's mouth, and moved both arms to the right and left, breaking the bear's jaw into two parts.
"A bold battle bear is a third-tier beast. It would need to be at least fourth-tier to have any effect on me," Zhang Yong said sarcastically.
"Are you done playing?" Wu Ruoxian's voice came from the side. The man's corpse was lying on the ground.
Zhang Yong looked at Wu Ruoxian, then at the man's corpse lying on the ground, and smiled sarcastically, "That was way too fast."
Wu Ruoxian smiled calmly as they continued walking forward. "The Enslavement Path is very annoying, but as long as the master is eliminated, the beasts are left without guidance. You know, the Enslavement Path is one of the three Beast Paths." As soon as Wu Ruoxian said that, Zhang Yong immediately understood.
The Three Beast Paths are paths that rely on beasts for advancement: The Path of Strength, The Path of Transformation, and The Path of Enslavement.
The Path of Transformation requires merging with a demonic beast core. But by doing so, you lose part of your humanity. And once you choose a type, you cannot choose another. For example, if you merge with a mammalian beast core, you cannot merge with a reptile type. If it's a flying beast, you can only merge with flying beasts, and the same for aquatic beasts.
As for the Path of Strength, it's different. In it, the person must completely devour the beast—essentially eat the flesh, drink the blood, consume the bones, devour the core, and conquer the beast's spirit within. That's the key difference between the Path of Strength and Transformation. Transformation is more like establishing an equal relationship where your physical form changes to the beast's form and grants you the beast's traits on your physical form. The other is a path of domination, thus subjugating the beast's will. If successful, one can use the beast's spectral form, making them stronger. But if failed, their body explodes.
And the Path of Enslavement is a path of enslaving the beasts themselves. It requires the person to have sufficient psychic strength to endure a mental battle with the beast, where the one with the stronger will wins.
The Path of Transformation relies on the body. The Path of Enslavement relies on the soul. The Path of Strength relies on both soul and body. The Three Beast Paths.
Zhang Yong snorted coldly, "Hah, I didn't think you were so knowledgeable about many things."
Wu Ruoxian smiled easily, "Well, I wouldn't say I know a lot, but I know the basics of things."
Zhang Yong internally sneered, 'Yeah, right, you leader of the Demonic Path.'
As they advanced further, Zhang Yong's eyes widened and he quickened his steps forward, seeing a wooden cage ahead. When he reached the side of the cage, he looked inside deeply. There were many children lying inside the cage, asleep, of various ages from two to five years old.
He grabbed one of the cage bars and clenched his fist tightly. "Are they trafficking children?"
Wu Ruoxian sighed and looked around the sides of the cave. "That's not right. This method is used by demonic sects to cultivate the next generation of disciples , since no one will join it willingly , they raise the children to make them loyal to the sect"
Zhang Yong gritted his teeth, and his blood-red eyes gleamed with a happy glint. Then a small smile appeared on his face before his expression returned to normal. "For you to know this, is it possible that you..."
Wu Ruoxian looked down calmly. "Yes... I was from a demonic sect a long time ago... like these children."
At that moment, Wu Ruoxian felt hesitant for the first time in a long while, because what she just said was the complete truth—in this life and the previous one. For some reason, she didn't want to lie to Zhang Yong, as if secretly... she felt that if she did, she would deeply regret it.
But what Zhang Yong did next shocked her greatly. He turned towards her and hugged her calmly. Wu Ruoxian felt her body stiffen for a moment, and her eyes widened with slight astonishment.
Since when did this man show emotions other than sarcasm and indifference? Was this really the Zhang Yong she knew?
In that moment, Wu Ruoxian felt a wave of strange emotions sweep over her. If it were anyone else—someone from her previous or current life—they would have attacked her already. But Zhang Yong did the opposite.
He patted her head gently while wearing a smile on his face. 'Don't worry, this specific suffering of yours, I'll end it when I kill you , that's my compassion towards you'
In the next moment, a terrifying scream came from right outside the cave—the screams of the girls outside.
Immediately, the two rushed out of the cave, but no one was there.
"What the...?!" Wu Ruoxian looked on in shock and immediately realized what had happened. They had been kidnapped.
She immediately turned to Zhang Yong. "Zhang Yong!" Zhang Yong had already taken off quickly into the air, activating his Heavenly Eyes. Immediately, Wu Ruoxian followed him swiftly.
"Damn..." Zhang Yong muttered as he stared into the void, then turned towards Wu Ruoxian, who was flying beside him. "They're moving away quickly. We need to increase our speed."
As they were moving swiftly, Wu Ruoxian suddenly stopped. "Go up!" However, Zhang Yong was slow to react. A yellow talisman had already flown towards him. Zhang Yong quickly raised his arms in front of his face, and the talisman exploded on him. An Explosion Talisman!
Zhang Yong emerged from the smoke screen and fell rapidly to the ground. "It's clear they're luring us! Otherwise, why—!" Immediately, several more talismans flew towards Zhang Yong, striking his body forcefully and exploding. Explosions began from many places surrounding Zhang Yong with power.
Zhang Yong hit the ground hard and jumped high into the sky, but collided with what seemed like a protective barrier outside. There's an array here!
Immediately, sounds of explosions came from outside. Wu Ruoxian was working on breaking the array from the outside. At the same time, several people emerged from below, flying towards her swiftly, and she engaged in combat with them.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yong was still being blasted left and right. He took out his talismans and placed them on the ground. Earth Shield Talisman! Stone walls rose around Zhang Yong as the attacks and explosions continued.
Zhang Yong sat on the ground and took a healing pill. "Damn, it seems my plan has taken an unexpected turn. Or should I call it successful? I can't back down now. All I need is the opportune moment—" However, the stone walls exploded at that very moment.
"I didn't expect a rat like you to come here by himself. Hehe." Zhang Yong gasped and breathed in cold air. This person! He had the same physique as that person from the bandit leader's memories.
"Tsk tsk, rats from the Righteous Path are really annoying," the man laughed gleefully as he stared at Zhang Yong.
"He's at the Ancestor stage. This is still dangerous!" Zhang Yong muttered cautiously.
The man grabbed his sword and placed its edge on the ground. The man was large in build, with a full stomach, wearing red clothes, a bald head, slightly dark skin, wearing a set of luxurious golden bracelets on his wrists, and his sword resembled a huge cleaver.
The man laughed sarcastically. "Tsk, who would have thought two girls would attack our branch." A vein throbbed in Zhang Yong's head when he heard his words.
"You, girl with the blood-red eyes, give yourself completely to me and I'll let you live." Zhang Yong's expression darkened when he heard that. Who is he talking to? Me? He opened his mouth and could only say, "I am a man."
The man snorted coldly. "Tsk! Damn my luck." Zhang Yong stood in place, his expression still dark. He raised his right hand, and the Death Dagger appeared in it. He moved his hand swiftly. Slash!
The cut was successful. What was cut was Zhang Yong's own face, as the dagger turned towards his face and began slicing it with angry screams. "Gaaaaa! How dare he say I'm a girl! Damn damn damn him! You're dead for sure, you damn perverted dog scum!"