The voice was so loud that it sounded like Heavenly Thunderbolts, and it completely masked the sounds of the bell in Bai Zhiyi’s hand.
Bai Zhiyi lost his complexion as he turned pale. His body swayed again, and he finally fell hard to the ground.
The Beast King Sect naturally had inherited secret techniques. In particular, the ones that targeted the Beasts had many unique effects. Nonetheless, Bai Zhiyi’s opponent was too powerful this time, and it was far from something that could be resisted by a blacksmith like him.
Ou Yangming looked up and looked closely ahead. Amidst the fog, a black figure was vaguely seen.
He moved his lips, causing a subtle voice to be heard by Bai Zhiyi. “Elder Bai, I’m sorry.”
Before his voice died away, he flashed and charged at the black fog.
Bai Zhiyi forced himself to extend his arm to stop the young fellow, but he was struck by immense pain as soon as he reached out; he was powerless. The elder’s face twitched as he hated the spirit beast, which blocked their path, to its core. He decided that as soon as he returned to his sect, he would use everything in his power to kill the attacker regardless of its background.
“Hey?” The faint voice was heard once more. “You’re courting death!”
The fog ahead seemed to be controlled by someone as it suddenly gushed toward Ou Yangming.
As though it possessed life’s power, the dense fog somehow turned into ropes to constrain Ou Yangming, who was charging forward.
“No…” Bai Zhiyi widened his eyes and roared.
Who knew, something odd happened next.
Ou Yangming’s body exploded without warning while he was being restrained. He turned into a black figure and vanished from everyone’s sight.
Bai Zhiyi was dumbfounded as he did not know what exactly was happening.
“Hehe, young human fella, I saw through your trick already! Where do you think you’re going!” The ghostly voice was heard coming from behind everyone.
Bai Zhiyi turned to look abruptly and instantly noticed a familiar figure. He blinked and thought, ‘Who else is that if it isn’t Ou Yangming?’
Far behind, a humongous creature drilled out from the ground without warning. It was a gigantic centipede, whose legs were whips, which were moved about to set up an inescapable trap at once. Inside the giant trap, a figure was seen plunging and dashing left and right, but he could not break free no matter which direction he went.
Bai Zhiyi gasped. He finally recognized the spirit beast.
It was Ghost Mo, which was a top-grade spirit beast from the Insects. The formidable spirit beast attacked casually as though it was very interested in its prey. Instead of killing the young fellow, it seemed like it wanted to capture him alive.
The figure amid its legs seemed to be moving slower, and he finally could not hold on anymore under the oppression.
“Pow…”
At last, when Ou Yangming’s figure slowed down again, the insect’s legs finally seized him. Nevertheless, when its legs really touched the figure, the figure explored and turned into a stream of black air before it disappeared.
Ghost Mo was startled for a while, then it quickly reacted to the situation. It let out a furious roar, then it looked downward with a vicious look in its eyes.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow were already gone, whereas Fat Antelope and the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard stuck together and quivered.
They were also spirit beasts, but there was a huge disparity between low-grade spirit beasts and top-grade spirit beasts. As long as Ghost Mo was willing to, it could easily kill them at any time.
Even so, Ghost Mo did not make a move. Instead, it glared at them and Bai Zhiyi, then it transformed into a black wind and zoomed toward the black fog ahead.
When the fearsome spirit insect disappeared, Bai Zhiyi and the others exhaled deeply.
After recognizing Ghost Mo, Bai Zhiyi did not try to stop it anymore. This was because he knew the spirit insect would not kill them; it was afraid of the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One and the Beast King Sect. Despite that, if the elder overestimated himself and insisted on stopping the insect, there would be one outcome to his act of failing to appreciate its kindness.
Bai Zhiyi smiled bitterly as he looked at his unconscious juniors on the ground.
If he knew that a top-grade spirit insect had set up the fog, he would not have asked for trouble by using the bells.
“Elder, Elder Bai, what do we do now?” Fat Antelope went forward and asked softly.
“What else can we do? You should quickly run back to get reinforcements!” Bai Zhiyi cast a hateful look at it. “As long as the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One finds out about this, it won’t stand by idly.”
“Yes.” Fat Antelope’s eyes lit up. “I’ll go, go, go…” Its body swayed, then it suddenly collapsed to the ground and passed out.
Bai Zhiyi was stunned. When he turned to look, he saw that the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard had also swayed and fainted. By the time he cursed internally, his mind went blurry, and he did not know where he was.
Although Ghost Mo dared not kill them just like that, it would not let them alert anyone.
Therefore, Ghost Mo released its powerful poisonous gas before it left. The gas was invisible, and it invaded their bodies to make them collapse.
Needless to say, Ghost Mo controlled the poisonous gas perfectly, by which it would not kill them but only cause them to be unconscious.
※※※※
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow moved as fast as lightly as they blindly escaped forward.
Bai Zhiyi did not know what spirit beast was among the dog, but Ou Yangming recognized it long ago. This was because the fog had the same source as the thing he encountered in the lower realm; it was something carefully made by the Insects. Of course, the fog that the young fellow stumbled upon in the lower realm was refined by Ghost-clawed Venerable One, thus it was much more potent than the one they just saw.
Besides, Ou Yangming was more capable than he was before. Most importantly, he had a scorching fire in his sea of consciousness.
The intense fire was incredibly wonderful and mysterious. When Ou Yangming released the Military Fire’s power in his sea of consciousness, he realized that while the fog ahead was boundless, Ghost Mo was not inside.
It turned out that the vague black figure was merely a shadow, which was the result of the fog overlapping too much in a small area.
Ghost Mo was not inside the fog. Even when Bai Zhiyi led his juniors to adopt a secret technique from the Beast King Sect, they suffered a backlash and were injured as they failed to locate the spirit insect.
It was evident how strong the spirit insect was.
Having said that, owing to the backlash that Bai Zhiyi and the others suffered, Ou Yangming found out where exactly Ghost Mo was hiding.
After confirming that he was the spirit insect’s target, Ou Yangming made a prompt decision by activating the newly-carved Illusion Body Technique on his equipment.
He first formed an illusion to charge into the fog ahead, then he formed another illusion to escape in the opposite direction.
The young fellow did not attach much power to the first illusion, hence it was gotten rid of by the fog, which was controlled by Ghost Mo. However, the second illusion that he released managed to fool the spirit insect. The top-grade spirit beast actually made a move and spent some time to capture and attack the illusion.
Ou Yangming managed to control the second illusion so perfectly because he possessed notable mental power. As such, Ghost Mo could not distinguish it in a short period.
The only reason the second illusion ended up being arrested so easily was Ou Yangming and Big Yellow had gone far away. Due to the growing distance, the illusion became vulnerable.
“Woosh…”
Ou Yangming was greeted with light as he carried Big Yellow and got out of the fog.
Fortunately, the fog was not released by a Venerable One, or they could not have fled easily even if Ou Yangming was guided by his Military Fire.
As soon as they left the fog, Ou Yangming brushed his body. Ripples were formed on their bodies, then everything went back to normal.
It was a new skill that was learned by Ou Yangming, and he had carved the corresponding rune on another piece of equipment. Once the skill was stimulated, it allowed him to hide his and Big Yellow’s aura as their bodies were fully enveloped. This was also the reason they were not spotted by Ghost Mo when they crossed the fog.
If not, they would have been noticed by it as soon as they entered the fog.
After getting out, Ou Yangming conveniently tossed Big Yellow on the ground, then he jumped up to its back and ordered, “Run!”
Big Yellow sprinted without any hesitation. It ran headlessly at the fastest speed ever.
At this point, regardless of the harsh terrain ahead, it ran without frowning at all.
This was because it knew very well that it and Ou Yangming would not end well if they were caught by the spirit insect.
Big Yellow was as fast as lightning, and it left the fog very soon. Ou Yangming turned to look angrily as he mumbled, “Ghost-clawed Venerable One, Ghost Mo! Okay, very well…”
He sounded extremely infuriated, and he remembered those names well.
That said, Ou Yangming soon noticed through the corner of his eyes an enormous and long figure. The centipede with plenty of legs had somehow come out of the fog, and it pursued them with threatening gestures.
Ou Yangming’s face changed, and he yelled, “Big Yellow, faster, that fella’s catching up!”
Big Yellow roared and increased its speed to another lever.
Nonetheless, Ghost Mo suddenly arched its body and curled as though it was a bow. Following that, its body sprung up and formed a black arch in the sky, which was going to stop Ou Yangming and Big Yellow.
Ou Yangming hit Big Yellow and shouted, “Over here—change your direction!”
Big Yellow could not react at all. It turned halfway without any delay and bolted in another direction.
The young fellow turned pale as he screamed, “Big Yellow, run as hard as you can! You’re not slower than a centipede, are you?”
Big Yellow widened its eyes and cursed, ‘Is that an ordinary centipede? It’s a top-grade spirit beast, okay!’
