Chapter 90: Chapter Ninety: The Demon Is Everywhere

Luo Changfeng's expression turned grave; he did not accept Shi Ran's suggestion, merely walking another circle around the pillar, then suddenly stopped at the back and said, "There are still words here!"

Shi Ran, helpless, had no choice but to follow him around, and then saw a few lines of small characters written in blood on the pillar, the handwriting hurried and messy, as if left in haste: "The Demon‑Suppressing Seal is broken, Zhu Ying will awaken! Day and night change, space is abnormal, the method to break it…"

A few more characters remained, but a large blot of blood smeared them, making them illegible. Shi Ran and Luo Changfeng exchanged a glance, and both saw surprise in each other's eyes.

"What does this mean?" Shi Ran asked in a low voice: "What do 'day and night change, space is abnormal' mean? Are you saying this space—could it be a two‑dimensional space? Or is there also a three‑dimensional space?"

Luo Changfeng didn't understand Shi Ran's words—what did two‑dimensional, three‑dimensional mean? What is it? A demon beast? Suddenly a sharp hiss came from deep in the cavern, making both of their eardrums ache; immediately after, a gust of yin wind ten times stronger than before howled out from the depths of the cave. The wind carried a rotten stench and some sort of eerie whisper.

Shi Ran frowned, stretched out her arm to block Luo Changfeng in front of her, and Luo Changfeng lightly rested his hand on the hilt of the Cloud‑Splitting Sword.

The yin wind, carrying ice shards, swept over the square pillars; those bloodstains suddenly glowed, and the red light vanished as quickly as if wiped away by an invisible hand. Fine cracks appeared on the pillars' white marble surface, emitting a grating crack‑crack sound.

"This place is about to collapse—hurry up and leave!" Luo Changfeng said.

Shi Ran nodded, and the two turned and fled toward the cavern's entrance, but after just a few steps the ground shook violently; a huge stalactite fell from above and landed exactly, blocking the only way out.

"Damn it!" Luo Changfeng grabbed Shi Ran and turned again.

The temperature inside the cavern plummeted; the white breath Shi Ran exhaled condensed before her, and her flame flickered violently, almost blown out by the yin wind. Worse still, she began to hear a sound coming from the air—not ordinary wind, but some ancient, evil language that drilled straight into her mind.

"Did you hear that?" Shi Ran's voice sank: "The wind is speaking!"

Luo Changfeng's face turned pale; evidently he had heard it too: "Do not look, do not listen, do not turn back! Seal your spiritual sense!"

The two stumbled through the mist‑like cavern; Shi Ran suddenly tripped, almost falling. Looking down, she saw that what had tripped her was exposed white bone on the ground, still draped with a few pieces of rotting cloth.

People had actually died here? How could that be?

Luo Changfeng suddenly stopped, raised the Night‑Luminous Pearl to light the way ahead; they didn't know what mechanism they had triggered, but they burst out of the cavern into a vast underground space, and at its center…

Good heavens! Both sucked in a breath of cold air.

It was a circular magic array at least ten zhang in diameter, with nine stone pillars covered in runes encircling the center; at the very center… lay a huge dark shadow, its outline discernible even in the dim light, utterly unlike any known creature. He seemed to be intoxicated, and with each breath the light of the whole space fluctuated.

"This is Zhu Yin!" Luo Changfeng's voice sounded low like the wind: "We've found him!"

Shi Ran turned her gaze and gave a slight nod.

This Zhu Yin was indeed different; it made Shi Ran feel a wave of dizziness, the demon beast's aura almost suffocating, merely looking at it gave the illusion that her soul was being ground down. But what unsettled her even more was that several nodal points of the array were damaged, and the seals on those stone pillars had dimmed and lost their light.

"The Demon‑Suppressing Seal is about to fail!" Luo Changfeng concluded after observing; that Zhu Yin is awakening.

At that moment, Shi Ran noticed a few people standing at the edge of the array; in the faint light she recognized them as Xiao Muyu, Mei Ruoxue, and Wei Yuzhu, who had their backs to her and Luo Changfeng, seemingly setting something up.

"So that's where they were!" Shi Ran exclaimed softly, about to step forward, but Luo Changfeng grabbed her. "Wait!" Luo Changfeng, struck by this series of events, said, "Let's first see what they're doing…"

The two stared intently, their hearts clenching: Wei Yuzhu was slashing her palm with a dagger, letting fresh blood drip into the array's groove; Mei Ruoxue was quietly chanting something, her hand forming a complex seal; most chilling of all was Xiao Muyu, hovering three chi above the ground, his eyes rolled back, yet a strange smile curled his lips.

Were they forming seals? The two really couldn't be sure.

"... there's something on all of them:" As if confirming Shi Ran's words, Xiao Muyu suddenly turned his head, his gaze locking directly on the two hiding in the dark; the corners of his mouth split to an impossible angle, and he gave a few grim laughs.

"New guests have arrived?" Xiao Muyu's voice overlapped with another low voice: "Just in time for the feast to begin!"

Wei Yuzhu and Mei Ruoxue turned their heads simultaneously; both lacked whites in their eyes, like two bottomless black holes.

"Run!" This time Shi Ran grabbed Luo Changfeng and rushed back; behind them came a piercing laugh and heavy crawling sounds, making one dare not look back. They could feel that something huge was awakening, the ground trembling with its every movement.

The two ran desperately through the cavern, the pursuit behind them drawing ever nearer; as they rounded a corner, Shi Ran suddenly found nothing beneath her feet.

Ah! She fell into a concealed vertical shaft, plummeting swiftly; in her last glimpse she saw Luo Changfeng trying to grab her, only to be yanked back by an invisible force, his voice instantly swallowed by darkness.

"Senior brother!" Shi Ran's scream echoed in the narrow passage, seemingly endless. Just as she thought she would fall to her death, she suddenly plunged into icy water, the bone‑chilling cold instantly permeating her whole body.

Shi Ran struggled to the surface, discovering she was in an underground lake whose surface glowed with an eerie blue light, illuminating the vast underground space. She swam to the nearest shore, exhausted, crawled onto the rocks, collapsed, caught her breath, then lifted her head to look around—and froze.

On the far shore of the lake stood He Chenyan, Shan Ming, Qi Chengshuang, Ruan Xinli, Chu Yao'er, and others, all perched on a protruding rock as if completing some ritual.

Shan Ming held aloft a glowing crystal, while Qi Chengshuang gripped a blood‑drenched sword with both hands; dozens of corpses floated in the lake's center, each clad in the attire of various sect cultivators, and amidst the corpses a huge shadow gradually emerged.

Shi Ran's eyelids twitched; as she retreated, she watched the shadow grow larger and larger, slowly taking the shape of a skull!

Again it is! Shi Ran narrowed her eyes; this demon race truly is everywhere!