In the dark and sinister grove, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted.
Ji Ran, standing in the void above, felt his head buzzing, nearly causing his form to collapse.
He was terrified, finding it unbelievable why he would stumble upon such a dreadful lord's area.
Wasn't everything fine when he arrived?
Why can't he go back?
"Ah-hou!"
At that moment, billowing black smoke surged from the grove, instantly sealing the entire void.
Ji Ran was just about to use teleportation to leave, but to his horror, he discovered that the laws here were suddenly sealed, locking heaven and earth, there was no way he could escape.
"Damn it, I've been tricked!"
Ji Ran racked his brain but couldn't understand why when he chased Mu Jinyu and the others, he could move safely, but returning alone, he encountered such terrifying evil beings.
In the current situation, extremely dangerous, he couldn't afford to be distracted.
Ji Ran hurriedly controlled the Demon God Tower to strike against the eerie presence beneath the grove!
"Boom!"
The deafening roar rang out like a mountain collapse, followed by another earth-shattering roar.
Under Ji Ran's horrified gaze, he saw a monster composed entirely of sinister white bones, resembling a humanoid shape but standing over three meters tall, leaping from the grove, charging at him.
This monster exuded an ominous bone light throughout its body, with three pairs of bone wings growing from its back, and a one-meter-long white bone spur on each shoulder and elbow, glimmering with a chilling light.
It rotated its arms and instantly sent two cross slashes towards Ji Ran!
The void along the way was directly torn by the eerie blade light.
"Xu... Asura King..."
Ji Ran stammered in a trembling voice, drenched in cold sweat, frantically placing the Demon God Tower in front of him to withstand the Asura King's lethal attack!
"Boom!!"
The White Bone Tower was instantly struck away, but due to its special material, being a heaven-reaching spiritual treasure, it remained undamaged!
"Ah-hou!"
After the Asura King struck away the Demon God Tower, it pressed on, brandishing its sharp, sinister bone spurs, slicing through the sky, forcing a kill towards Ji Ran!
"Crackle!!"
"Boom!!"
Despite being full of terror, Ji Ran had no choice but to muster all his spirit to face this Asura King.
Otherwise, he would certainly die!
...
In the distance, the Bi Fang Cauldron emerged once more from the Poison Marsh Pond.
Mu Jinyu noticed the earth-shattering sounds of combat coming from the grove several hundred meters away, realizing that Ji Ran indeed was cautious, returning by the safe route he took, and ultimately encountered the sinister grove on this path, second only to the Poison Marsh Pond.
Every time he passed by that grove, he'd feel a chill, knowing something extremely dangerous was hidden beneath, hiding a terrifying evil being.
If he hadn't brought along the Little Phoenix, slightly related to the Fallen Demon Phoenix, and if the evil beings lacked spiritual wisdom, he might not have made it here safely each time.
Now, seeing the battle between Ji Ran and the Asura King, Mu Jinyu finally understood what kind of evil being was hidden in that grove!
It was the Asura King!
A peerless fiend born from a place of mass graves, possessing Fanxu Realm strength from birth, and upon adulthood, would have Unity Realm Stage strength!
Innately capable of restraining all evil beings weaker than it, with the four bone spurs on shoulders and elbows, its sharpness rivals top-quality spiritual treasures!
This Asura King seems not yet fully matured, but its strength is already at the Ninth Layer of the Fanxu Realm, with four spurs equivalent to top-quality spiritual treasures, naturally restraining the flawed heaven-reaching spiritual treasure, Demon God Tower.
Although Ji Ran is in the False Merged Path Realm, he ultimately isn't a true Unity Realm Stage, how could he be a match for the Asura King?
"Seems I overthought it, an Asura King alone is enough to deal with the old thing."
Mu Jinyu observed from afar the combat between Ji Ran and the Asura King, gently touching the Little Phoenix's head, murmuring to himself.
Now, the Little Phoenix finally grew feathers, feeling the smooth plumage is indeed much more comfortable than the bald, molting chicken it was before.
Mu Jinyu looked down at the displeased Little Phoenix, smiling, "Now that we've dealt with the old thing, you take the lead role!"
Indeed, without the Little Phoenix's intimidation, they couldn't have run here unscathed.
Nor could they have made Ji Ran hesitant, leading to him stumbling into the Asura King's domain.
"If you appreciate me, then let me go. Bastard!"
The Little Phoenix bore the discomfort of being treated as a pet, shouting at Mu Jinyu.
"Sigh, I want to let you go, but now isn't the right time. After all, you've previously transcended tribulation successfully as the Demon Emperor of the Unity Realm Stage, who knows if after releasing you, with your memory restored, your strength might follow suit, wouldn't that put me in danger?"
Mu Jinyu said seriously.
"I won't hold a grudge over that anymore, since I've gained nine drops of Divine Phoenix Bloodline Essence, strengthening my bloodline power, so I won't anymore exact revenge on you, quickly let me go."
The Little Phoenix promised.
Mu Jinyu hesitated for a moment, shook his head, "Forget it, after my paths merge, I'll let you go, it won't be long!"
The Little Phoenix wanted desperately to curse Mu Jinyu, but fearing that after bursting into curses, this guy might never let her go, she could only sulkily remain silent, full of depression.
"Ah-hou!"
"Bang!!"
"Rrrip!!"
In the distant sky, the battle between Ji Ran and the Asura King seemed to reach its conclusion.
With the Asura King's angry roar echoing across the miles, rolling deadly qi poured into its body, it suddenly slapped the Demon God Tower aside from Ji Ran's front, then charged at Ji Ran with a step, and with a rip, tore off one of his arms.
"Ah!!"
Ji Ran let out a pained scream, his heart filled with hatred towards Mu Jinyu reaching its peak.
He started desperately, burning the blood qi of that arm, transformed into blood escape technique, and enveloped himself and the Demon God Tower in a bloody mist, breaking through the sealed void and flying away!
The Asura King chased for over a hundred miles before finally giving up, returning to the grove with billowing black clouds, continuing its slumber.
Luckily the Asura King hadn't yet developed high spiritual wisdom, otherwise, there would've been no escaping for Ji Ran!
"Let's go, follow and watch the show!"
Mu Jinyu, steering the Bi Fang Cauldron, coldly laughed as he chased after Ji Ran.
What followed was Ji Ran's highly pathetic end.
He barely managed to escape the Asura King, dared not return the original path, yet found himself among a flock of Ghost-Faced Death Butterflies, whose wings gently fanned, unleashing terrifying corpse powder, almost turning him into a puddle of corpse water.
After wrecking his brains with various tactics, and losing a leg, he finally escaped the chase of the Ghost-Faced Death Butterflies.
Then, he ran into the millennial blood corpse!
This blood corpse was formed from the remnants of a potent figure of the Mid Hedao Realm, who unexpectedly died in the Cursed Soul Forest thousands of years ago, and ended up as a terrifying evil being full of malice, no less fierce than the Asura King.
Ji Ran fought desperately to the end, paying the heavy price of another arm to get rid of the blood corpse's pursuit.
After which, he lay on the ground, gasping, his face as pale as gold paper, filled with despair.
Now with only one leg remaining, he had no strength to escape the Cursed Soul Forest.
"Old thing, comfortable?"
Seeing Ji Ran not running anymore, ready to wait for death at the original spot, Mu Jinyu wasn't patient enough to wait until he dies before showing himself.
He stepped out from Bi Fang Cauldron, clutching the Small Jade Vial containing Dragon-Phoenix Resentful Fiend, took the initiative to walk towards Ji Ran.