"..."

Shen Yi brushed the dust from his dharma-robe and reached for his storage pouch — and grasped nothing at all.

He slowly clenched his five fingers.

He drew several deep breaths before he managed to force the fury back down.

Every demon core he'd hoarded all the way from Songzhou to today — gone! All of it, gone!

A full five swords!

If he didn't hollow Wutong Mountain out and eat it bare, he'd write his own surname upside down from now on.

"Go. Find that white horse for me."

Shen Yi released the Nether-Gloom Spider Emperor and the Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor.

And issued an order to Qinghua in his mind.

Angry as he was, what was there to be taken could not be let slip.

By now, enough time had passed for the White Swan Demon Emperor to have fled without a trace.

"My lord..."

Lady Qinghua forced down her own rage and pleaded, "Let Qinghua go and cut down Nie Jun."

"Find the white horse first."

Shen Yi could still tell which was worth more — and besides, for the golden dharma form to defeat Nie Jun was rather a fool's daydream.

Then again, without Nie Jun today, handling this demon calamity on his own would have been something of a stretch.

But reason was one thing.

Watching a foundation he'd hoarded the whole way get burned to nothing — Shen Yi could not accept that. Not one bit.

If Wutong Mountain couldn't produce adequate compensation, this business was not over!

Qinghua hesitated, then said with a wounded air, "Yes! Qinghua obeys."

Shen Yi steadied himself and, resigned, drew Red Cloud out of his storage pouch.

With his foundation depleted, he could only dig out the old things and make do.

He stepped onto Red Cloud, feeling both love and hatred toward this dharma-robe. Even under Nie Jun's ceaseless barrage of sword-spells he had taken no real damage — but its consumption was rather too terrifying.

Shen Yi withdrew his gaze and rode the cloud toward Lizhou.

...

The Lizhou Implement Sect.

Xu Qing'er was carefully carving…