As the figures of Su Zhiyun and the other two quickly disappeared into the depths of the forest, the solemn expression on Jiu Baiyun’s face slowly faded.
Replacing it was a strange mixture of exhaustion, pain, and a hint of contempt.
He braced himself against his knees, feeling the faint traces of spiritual energy—painstakingly converted by the Yao Fox Demon Venerable—circulating weakly through his meridians.
The fiery sting at the base of his tail served as a constant reminder of his recent humiliation.
Slowly, he straightened up.
His silver-white hair, coated in dust, clung messily to his sweaty forehead and cheeks.
His fox ears, having regained a bit of vitality, perked up alertly.
The crimson compound eyes of the mountain sparrow flock locked onto him like countless tiny hellfire candles, dense, cold, and bloodthirsty.
Jiu Baiyun took a deep breath.
The air, mingling scents of blood, dust, and forest, filled his lungs, bringing with it a piercing sense of reality.
He glanced back in the direction Su Zhiyun had disappeared, confirming that they were temporarily out of sight.
The taut string of his mind relaxed slightly.
Then he turned back to face the mountain sparrow flock, which was surging forward again like a black tide.
The corner of his mouth slowly curled upward.
“Heh…”
A very light laugh escaped his lips.
“Had enough of chasing?”
His voice was not loud, even a bit hoarse and weak, yet it made the mountain sparrow flock halt in their tracks, not daring to move.
“From that broken palace in the sky until now… like a swarm of flies that can’t be shaken off.”
He flicked his wrist, and the movement pulled at his injured tail base, causing his brow to furrow almost imperceptibly, but the smile didn’t fade in the slightest.
“Did you really think I was made of mud, something you could knead as you please?”
The moment Jiu Baiyun’s words fell, the mountain sparrow flock seemed enraged by this sudden provocation.
Their screeches rose sharply, and like black arrows wrapped in a bloody wind, they lunged at him again.
Yet, facing this onslaught, the mocking curve at the corner of Jiu Baiyun’s mouth did not diminish.
He didn’t even turn around.
He simply raised his hand, which rested on his knee, and with an almost lazy flick of his index finger upward—
Whoosh—
In that instant, several golden beams shot out from the void behind him, leaving only a few fleeting, brilliant golden lines.
Thud thud thud thud—
A series of dense, muffled penetration sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
The dozens of leading mountain sparrows—their crimson compound eyes not even having time to register shock, their shiny black beaks still poised to peck—suddenly froze midair.
The next moment, as if crushed by an invisible force, they burst into dozens of stinking fireworks of black feathers and gore.
Feathers flew, blood splattered like raindrops onto the dusty ground, leaving dark spots.
This clean, almost effortless massacre had an immediate effect!
The surging flock behind suddenly had their harsh, maddening screeches choked off, as if by an invisible giant hand.
The noise ceased abruptly.
The entire scene fell into a dead, eerie silence.
Thousands upon thousands of crimson compound eyes locked onto the silver-haired, fox-eared figure with a smile on his lips.
They flapped their wings, hovering in midair like a black tide that had hit pause, no longer daring to advance an inch.
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s voice rang directly in Jiu Baiyun’s mind, tinged with helplessness.
‘Tsk, just recovered enough to move and you’re already this flashy? Show some restraint! Spiritual energy isn’t easy to restore, so conserve it!’
‘And I don’t understand—why are you provoking him like this?’
At the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s question, Jiu Baiyun chuckled.
“Heh, that guy’s watching, Yao Fox.”
“If I don’t make a show, if I don’t let him see that ‘mud’ can still chip his teeth, he won’t fear us. He’ll only think we’re at the end of our rope, easy to crush.”
The Yao Fox Demon Venerable was momentarily at a loss as to where Jiu Baiyun’s confidence came from.
‘Oh? And you’re so sure that will make him wary? What if he gets furious and drives even more, even stronger evil spirits at us?’
Jiu Baiyun looked at the silent, hesitant black bird flock before him, feeling the cold gaze from the distant Pure Black Palace.
He straightened up slowly, channeling the last bit of spiritual energy quietly to his feet, ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
At the same time, a faint smile returned to his face.
“And what if it does?”
“What if he… actually gets bluffed?”
As he said it, Jiu Baiyun had no real confidence in his own heart.
He wasn’t sure whether the other party could see through his current strength.
He was simply gambling that the other couldn’t see through him, which was why he dared to act this way.
After all, eerie creatures still possessed a certain level of intelligence.
Otherwise, they couldn’t have secretly consumed the entire Cultivation World.
But what surprised the Yao Fox Demon Venerable was that Jiu Baiyun actually guessed right.
The dense, hovering mountain sparrow flock, their crimson eyes like hellish stars, focused on him with cold intensity.
The pressure was immense.
But just as Jiu Baiyun was about to give in and make a run for it—
A small cluster of mountain sparrows hovering at the front parted to the sides, as if pushed aside by an invisible force.
Then, the light in that space twisted and folded bizarrely.
A figure stepped out of the distorted light without warning.
He landed silently on the scorched black ground about ten paces ahead of Jiu Baiyun, as if he had always been standing there.
The figure was tall and slender, clad in a full-body, loose gray feather cloak.
The material was extraordinarily strange—upon closer inspection, it was woven from countless dark metallic feathers.
As he landed, those gray feathers fluttered slightly but made no sound.
The most striking feature was the mask covering his face—also made of gray feathers, covering the entire face, leaving only three eyes exposed.
The pupils of those three eyes were nearly transparent, a pale gray, like dust-covered crystal.
There was no emotional fluctuation belonging to a living creature.
They stared quietly at Jiu Baiyun.
Deep in those eyes was a hint of… wariness?
“Not a stranger… familiar…”
“Who are… you? Why…”
The figure’s voice was halting, dry like dead branches, clearly betraying an inhuman quality.
Jiu Baiyun’s heart clenched violently.
The smile he forced to stay calm froze on his face.
The oppressive aura radiating from the other party far surpassed that of the mountain sparrow flock—cold, deathly still, carrying the apathy of one looking down on ants.
But… familiar!?
Did this eerie being know the Yao Fox Demon Venerable? Or perhaps… the “former” Yao Fox Demon Venerable?
It definitely couldn’t be him—he had never dealt with this faction!
And since the Yao Fox Demon Venerable could recognize this faction, there was no doubt that the Yao Fox Demon Venerable had definitely come into contact with them before.
The only thing the other party could find familiar was the Yao Fox Demon Venerable’s demon power!
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