Chapter 32: Encounter in the Woods

Charging out of the Flowing Sand River, Liu Zhi leaped down from the bronze warhorse and finally found the courage to glance backward.

He saw a cluster of multicolored clouds slowly dissipating in the sky. Amidst the clouds, it seemed as if someone was casting a gaze down at him.

That sweeping look made Wang Liang quite uncomfortable, yet within that gaze, Wang Liang seemingly perceived a trace of something ineffable and vague.

Instinctively, Wang Liang felt this gaze was connected to Lü Weng, perhaps some enemy of his.

At this thought, Wang Liang instinctively cowered. He averted his gaze, refusing to look back, and quickly departed, leading the bronze warhorse by the reins.

Even after leaving, Wang Liang still felt as though that gaze remained fixed upon him. This sensation made him extremely uneasy, but knowing he could not afford to provoke such a powerful entity, he could only pretend it never happened and hurriedly fled the area.

This feeling of having a thorn in his back persisted for a day and a night. Along the way, Wang Liang hardly stopped. Aside from eating a small amount of food, he spent the entire journey riding the bronze warhorse to make haste.

Although he did not push the bronze warhorse to its maximum speed of 380, he maintained a steady speed of 180 as he galloped westward.

Wang Liang completely ignored roads along the way. As long as there were no abnormal entities ahead, he simply scaled mountains, crossed ridges, and plunged straight through forests.

He left countless minor demons trailing far behind him in the dust.

Only when he could no longer feel that staring gaze fixed upon his back did he finally come to a halt.

Wang Liang raised his head to survey his surroundings and discovered that he had unexpectedly run into a grove.

The grove before him was actually not very large, filled with ordinary trees, yet deep in the pitch of midnight, it emanated an eerie atmosphere.

Wang Liang assessed his own condition and ultimately abandoned the idea of entering the woods.

He was currently capable of a fight, but he was utterly exhausted. Rushing into the forest right now would be tantamount to serving himself up as a meal on a platter.

Finding a wind-sheltered cliff face, Wang Liang sat down. He dismissed the bronze warhorse and unfurled the Taixuan Umbrella directly, letting it hover above his head.

Without needing any command from Wang Liang, the Taixuan Umbrella automatically deployed a defensive formation and an illusionary array to prevent any demons from discovering his presence.

Soon after, patches of black mire emerged around Wang Liang—this was the effect of the Dark Marsh. Anyone attempting to approach Wang Liang would inevitably sink into the sphere of influence of this dark swamp.

By the time all these preparations were complete, Wang Liang had already fallen into a deep slumber.

Having continuously expended his energy over the past few days, he had reached his absolute limit. He slept straight through for a full day and night.

When he woke up, the sky was still dark.

Wang Liang stood up and stretched his limbs, preparing to see if he could forage for some food, when he noticed a dead minor demon lying right before him.

A jolt of shock ran through Wang Liang. This minor demon had approached to within fifty paces of him—how had it died right here?

With a tightening in his chest, Wang Liang reached out a hand, and the Taixuan Umbrella, which had been suspended mid-air, fell into his palm. Without requiring any further action from him, the umbrella directly transformed into the shape of the Life-Slaying Saber.

Clutching the blade, Wang Liang walked over to the minor demon.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the minor demon’s neck had been snapped by immense brute force, and a slip of paper lay across its body.

"This is an offering. I kindly ask Your Excellency to accept it and leave this place immediately."

The writing was inscribed on a leaf, yet the handwriting appeared rather delicate and refined, clearly the brushwork of a woman.

Wang Liang held the leaf, pondering for a moment before picking up the minor demon's corpse to examine it.

He discovered that this delivered minor demon was at most a little creature that had only just gained rudimentary sentience. Its original form must have been a hare, the most common type of prey in the wilderness.

Moreover, the minor demon had not fully transformed into human shape; it was merely larger than usual, retaining the physical form of a rabbit.

Lifting the minor demon by its ears, Wang Liang noticed a handprint left upon its neck. The knuckles of that handprint were distinctly defined, revealing that this deed had been committed by a skeleton.

Yet, there was no corpse-qi emanating from this skeleton, and it was impossible to tell what school of technique it belonged to.

Fortunately, having witnessed walking corpses and ghosts strolling freely through the streets in the New Dynasty, Wang Liang harbored no particular aversion to ghosts and specters.

Whoever had left this minor demon's corpse here along with a note hoping he would accept it presumably just wished not to be disturbed.

With this in mind, Wang Liang lifted the minor demon's corpse, summoned the bronze warhorse, leaped onto its back, and headed west.

Not long after Wang Liang departed, the soil nearby parted automatically as if it were water, and a white jade skeleton crawled out from beneath.

That white jade skeleton was the remains of a female corpse, her entire body gleaming like polished jade. When she crawled out from the underground, a bit of earth clung to her, but the moment she stood straight, the dirt automatically slid off her.

At that moment, the white jade skeleton stretched out a hand and grabbed toward the sky. A beam of moonlight descended, landing in her palm.

Within this moonlight were threads of silvery-white silk. Guided by the white jade skeleton, these silk threads quickly wrapped around her body, making her appear somewhat more spirited.

She then turned her head to look in the direction where Wang Liang had departed, murmuring to herself: "Good thing he left. Had he lingered another day, all my efforts these past few days would have gone to waste."

With that, the white jade skeleton cast another glance toward the east, gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and began to absorb the lunar essence.

The process of absorbing the lunar essence caused quite a commotion. The yin-qi in the surrounding air was drawn toward her, yet instead of condensing and digesting this yin-qi, the white jade skeleton pointed toward the east, and a path composed of moonlight unexpectedly materialized before her.

This path existed within the void, formed of yin-qi yet as pure and white as jade.

The direction pointed to by the front end of this path happened to be the exact spot where Wang Liang had rested not long ago.

After extending this path for more than ten meters, the white jade skeleton took a few steps forward, and the path behind her simply vanished.

It was evident that every step the white jade skeleton took consumed a vast amount of yin-qi.

Nevertheless, she pressed forward with utmost diligence.

Only after walking past the exact spot where Wang Liang had previously rested did the white jade skeleton come to a halt.

She stepped off the white yin path onto ordinary ground, absorbed another portion of lunar yin-qi to replenish her strength, and then resumed her previous actions.

Having repeated this process three times, the sky slowly began to brighten.

Only then did the white jade skeleton retract her divine ability and submerge into the underground to rest.

Before slipping beneath the earth, she cast one final glance toward the east, her hollow eye sockets seemingly brimming with expectation.