"My master, be careful!"

White-Feather's sharp voice burst inside Shen Yi's mind.

Almost in the same instant —

he felt himself locked in place by a vast, overwhelming presence.

Shen Yi's body surged violently, twisting and shifting every which way, but no matter what he did, he couldn't break free of the demon emperor's hold.

He forced his mind steady, and simply stopped trying to dodge, streaking straight toward the Guest-Greeting Hall instead.

"Hold it off for me."

"Qinghua obeys."

The exchange with Lady Qinghua took no more than an instant, and Shen Yi turned into a streak of light and slammed straight into the towering memorial archway.

The golden dharma form shielded him from behind — only to find, amid the collapsing ruins of the Guest-Greeting Hall, a strange-looking man sitting at ease atop the wreckage, his face like some malevolent ghost, draped in azure feathers, gorging himself mouthful by mouthful on raw flesh. He even smiled at the golden body. "Run wherever you like — no need to stand on ceremony with This Emperor."

Watching the golden body vanish beneath the archway as well, the man licked the blood from his palm without any hurry, and only then rose to his feet, stretching his arms out a little.

In the blink of an eye, the space was empty — not a trace of him left.

Beyond the archway —

Shen Yi streaked across the open sky, the mountains and rivers beneath his feet flying past too fast for the eye to follow.

The golden body kept careful watch behind them.

Just then, Lady Qinghua suddenly noticed her master had stopped moving.

She looked the other way — and there was that same man from before, hanging quietly in the air ahead, the azure plumage across his body gleaming like some sumptuous, richly draped robe.

He smiled and pointed off to one side. "Care to try escaping this way instead?"

Shen Yi fell silent for a moment.

When he raised his eyes again, deep within his body's Heaven-Devouring path infant, the True-Yang Kirin Stone burned hot as a blazing…