"Damn it all, what the hell's it got to do with your Daoist Lord."

Yu Chao'an hid behind the dense forest, stealing a glance down toward the hollow, until he saw that Dark-Tail flood dragon vanish into the clouds.

Only then did he grind his teeth hard.

Just as he'd expected — this demon was still fixated on him.

Fortunately, the creature seemed unable to enlist any help.

Should he strike first and seize the advantage?

He thought a moment, then fished out his storage pouch and began carefully rummaging through it for anything useful.

At nearly the same time—

Shen Yi was also making his unhurried way toward the cave estate.

He'd never imagined he might catch sight of the Dark-Tail here.

This dharma-robe seemed to have a function for scouting the surroundings as well.

From a considerable distance away, Shen Yi had detected the three presences beside the Radiant Thunder Pool.

His first instinct had been to avoid them.

But after a brief hesitation, he'd chosen a more brazen course instead.

The creature wanted to find helpers to recover the Dark-Tail Spear.

Well, wasn't there a ready-made candidate right here?

Strength surged forward by leaps and bounds, and freshly at odds with its overlord — so long as that flood dragon wasn't a fool, it would naturally come following after.

As for whether it might genuinely enrage the Thunder-Hoof Demon Emperor and call down a fatal disaster upon himself—

with the dharma-robe protecting him, even if he couldn't win, he could always get away, and along the way forge a grudge besides, so he'd have a pretext to slaughter that old sheep when the time came.

Sure enough, in the very instant Shen Yi left the Thunder-Hoof Demon Emperor's territory—

a black shadow suddenly darted through the sky and quickly took human form as it descended.

"Hold a moment, Lion Emperor."

The pale-faced man in gloom-black armor walked up beside Shen Yi, forcing a strained smile onto his face. "Just now, before the Thunder-Hoof Demon Emperor, it wasn't convenient to speak with you at length."

"If you've something…