The ancient battlefield, nine days later, before the entrance of the fifth stone cave.
Xu Mu and Qiong Qi squatted here, their expressions filled with confusion.
For the past nine days, he had ridden Qiong Qi through mountains and rivers, resting when tired, and continuing when awake. He had broken through four stone caves, determined to kill the demon god, but in the end, he hadn't even seen a shadow of anyone.
Not a shadow of the demon god, but just any other esper.
They hadn't seen a single esper in all these days.
Not one.
"Sigh."
Xu Mu sighed. He looked at the half-burnt firewood on the ground, and for the first time, felt a sliver of comfort.
This at least proved that someone had been here before, so their search direction wasn't wrong.
It was just that if people had been here, where had they all gone?
After a moment of thought, Xu Mu analyzed:
"The ninth and eighth stone caves contained all the third and fourth-stage espers. They were almost all lured away by words and brought to our side, so they can be ignored."
"As for the remaining seven stone caves, they are all occupied by the domain lords of major forces, the truly formidable figures. Each of these domain lords is clearly seeking the sacred relics."
Xu Mu paused slightly, resting his chin on his hand:
"Are they all rushing ahead because they can't bear to fall behind?"
Xu Mu murmured, but then he immediately dismissed this guess.
Even if that were the case, those people shouldn't have vanished so completely.
Unless, they were summoned together, just like they were hunting beasts together!
Thinking of this possibility, Xu Mu immediately spoke:
"Could it be that there's an alliance there too?"
Qiong Qi slowly nodded upon hearing this:
"Yes, otherwise, they couldn't have vanished so cleanly."
"But an alliance among those domain lords... is that possible?"
Xu Mu also realized the problem here.
He imagined in his mind, the scene of Yuan Huo, the Drunken Daoist, and the Old Ancestor of the Wang family forming an alliance...
He couldn't help but shake his head:
"Alright, an alliance is probably impossible."
"Perhaps there's a world-shattering opportunity ahead, something like the Other Shore Flower, that the domain lords couldn't resist and rushed to fight for. That's also possible."
"Since we're already here, we'll know once we go and see."
Qiong Qi warned with a solemn expression:
"It will be very dangerous further ahead."
"There are too many Great Daemons at the Domain Lord realm. If we accidentally encounter one as strong as my uncle, our divine beast's pressure might not be enough." Qiong Qi said, even including the Golden Dragon, whose location was unknown, within their combat strength.
But even so, they were still in great danger.
Their cultivation realm was truly too low.
If he weren't a divine beast, and Xu Mu wasn't the strongest prodigy of the human race, they would have been ruthlessly crushed by the Great Daemons in an instant.
And before those truly powerful monstrous beasts, any genius or divine beast, as long as their cultivation realm was insufficient, would likely suffer the same fate.
Xu Mu heard Qiong Qi's hesitation, so he tore off a piece of his sleeve, wiping the demonic sword in his hand with a sigh, and said softly:
"I know it's dangerous, but we have to go no matter how dangerous it is."
"Even if it's just for the treasures exchanged with those points, we have to risk our lives to kill the demon god, don't we?"
Qiong Qi stared at a Great Daemon below the cliff, sensing the powerful demonic energy emanating from its body, and his head ached:
"Are we really going?"
Xu Mu nodded, his expression serious:
"We are really going."
Qiong Qi reluctantly shook his head and walked into the stone cave:
"We can go, but we need to rest here for a day first."
"I'm too tired and need to sleep."
"Alright."
Xu Mu nodded. Sharpening the axe before chopping wood. He had also recently broken through his cultivation.
The Heaven and Earth Bagua had a higher upper limit, and he needed to familiarize himself more with it, as it was, after all, his most powerful trump card.
Rustle...
Qiong Qi's footsteps were heavy, his furry paws treading on the gravel, making dragging and scraping sounds.
The darkness within the stone cave gradually swallowed his figure.
Xu Mu's eyelids grew heavy, and sleepiness washed over him. Thus, he also decided to sleep first before cultivating.
But as soon as this thought ended, before he could walk into the cave and act on it, a crisp whistling sound echoed from above the cliff.
Humming!
This whistling sound was extremely unusual.
It was outrageously loud, audible from tens of thousands of meters away.
Xu Mu's face suddenly changed, and he then sensed an extremely strong human aura rushing towards their direction with an aggressive momentum.
"Who goes there!"
Xu Mu immediately woke up, no longer daring to sleep, and inexplicably became nervous, holding the golden dragon scale in his hand.
Although the stone cave was a safe zone, the previous robbery incident involving Nan Feng showed that the stone cave only protected against the naturally occurring demonic beasts in this area and did not restrict human combat.
He was not safe here. If the person was the Old Ancestor of the Wang family, or another enemy, Xu Mu would not hesitate to strike the dragon scale and call for the help of that annoying yet noble dragon.
"No, the Old Ancestor of the Wang family's physical body and blood energy were vigorous and distinctive. Although the approaching person is powerful and always gives off a sense of heat, I feel that this heat is different from before."
As Xu Mu spoke, his face gradually became tinged with pink, as if smeared with honey, as if he had been poisoned, and he didn't even notice it himself.
"Be careful, their domain!"
Qiong Qi reacted quickly, his fiery red eyes illuminating the stone cave.
As a lord, he naturally sensed the domain covering this land.
This aura seemed similar to that of Medusa's descendants, but its specific effects were still unknown.
Qiong Qi transmitted his voice:
"I don't know what your human domains do, but my Samadhi True Fire can purify all evil in the world. If you really can't hold on, I can activate my domain to protect you."
Qiong Qi's voice was weak. Normally, he would have immediately activated his domain without a second thought, but his essence blood, lost due to the Other Shore Flower, had not been replenished, and his demonic energy was limited, so he dared not deplete it casually.
And as he spoke, the pinkish hue on Xu Mu's face slowly faded, as if it had never appeared.
Xu Mu himself didn't even know what had happened to his face just now. He was now only concerned whether the domain lord was friend or foe.
Qiong Qi looked deeply at Xu Mu again.
"Who could it be?"
Xu Mu's expression was strange. There weren't many Domain Lords at the fifth stage who possessed such illusory abilities.
And most of those who possessed such abilities were likely women.
Therefore, first, the approaching person must be a woman.
And second, she must be a woman of great power.
However, there were only a handful of women at the Domain Lord realm.
"I think I might be able to guess who it is."
Xu Mu thought of someone and was about to speak her name when he was interrupted by a rumbling sound of rolling rocks.
Rumble!
The mountain of the fifth stone cave shook violently. Perhaps due to the domain of the Domain Lord, the loose soil and rolling stones on its exterior fell downwards, splashing mud and gravel, even affecting Xu Mu at the cave entrance.
Xu Mu sensed danger and leaped backward, trying to dodge.
But before he could take a second step, a figure suddenly descended from the sky.
The figure was a woman, with a voluptuous figure and a cinnabar mole at the center of her brow.
She broke through the pile of rolling stones and ferociously lunged towards Xu Mu.
"Damn it!"
Xu Mu's face was grim. He didn't know why the Northwest Great Commander of the Hunter Alliance suddenly targeted him.
But he knew he was definitely no match for her, so he could only summon the Golden Dragon!
"Wait!"
But just as he was about to grip the dragon scale, Qiong Qi suddenly stopped him.
Xu Mu trusted Qiong Qi implicitly, so he immediately stopped his action.
Then, he sensed that Yun Miaomiao had no killing intent.
As she broke through the pile of rolling stones and lunged towards him, the fluctuations in her aura weakened with each passing moment, until finally, her abilities completely disappeared, as if she were an ordinary person.
"Save... save your humble servant..."
Yun Miaomiao's eyes were languid, her cheeks flushed, and she threw herself into Xu Mu's embrace.
"Hiss!"
Feeling the warmth on his chest, Xu Mu froze, letting the fragrant hair with a milky scent brush against his face.
He remained completely still.
Xu Mu felt the soft and seductive embrace of the beauty in his arms, looking at the faintly visible silken robes. An unbidden lust began to stir within his body.
He suppressed a certain excitement and asked in a hoarse voice:
"Commander... Yun, may I ask what this is..."
Xu Mu's speech was stammering because he was extremely nervous, and the scene was also too alluring.
But his only response was the seductive, hot breath of the mature woman Yun Miaomiao.
Xu Mu struggled to control a certain part of him, but he couldn't at all.
And when he took a deep breath and looked down, he found that Yun Miaomiao had already fainted.
"She's poisoned."
Charles then emerged from Xu Mu's mind, looking at the beautiful mature woman who had fainted in the young man's arms with a mischievous grin:
"This is the Charm Poison."
"Charm... Charm Poison?" Xu Mu stammered, somewhat at a loss.
If he remembered correctly, there was only one antidote for this Charm Poison.
That was to sleep, the kind for two people.
Charles's voice was flippant:
"Send that little tiger out."
"Tonight, this cave belongs to you."
Xu Mu's face twitched, and he said, both ashamed and indignant:
"What are you thinking? Am I the kind of person who takes advantage of others!"
"How is this taking advantage of others?" Charles chuckled and shook his head. "You are sacrificing yourself to save her life."
"Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda."
"Xu Mu, you wouldn't want her to suffer and die from the Charm Poison like this, would you?"