Chapter 162: The Eerie Stone Path

Facing the seemingly unstoppable force of Yin and Yang, the Wolf Demon frantically dug its claws deep into the ground, using every possible means to prevent its body from being sucked in by the gravitational pull!

"Rihui, are you trying to drive me to absolute ruin?!"

Terrified beyond measure, the Wolf Demon finally burst out in furious curses. "By employing such a heaven-shaking spell, you will severely injure your own vitality. Are you not afraid of permanently damaging your cultivation base?!"

"So what if my cultivation is damaged? As long as I subdue you, this Wolf Demon, it will all be worth it!"

Chen Yao let out a fierce roar. Blood began to seep more heavily from the corner of his mouth, dripping down onto his Daoist robe and instantly transforming into blinding golden light!

Seeing Chen Yao in such agony, Dachun's eyes turned red. "It looks like Master's move is costing him a thousand enemies while hurting himself eight hundred!"

Wenxing clenched his fists, grinding his teeth as he said, "There is no choice. If Master doesn't do this, we will all end up killed by the Wolf Demon!"

"Ahhh!!! My demonic power!!"

Although the forward pull on the Wolf Demon's body had slowed, the demonic Qi surrounding him was being continuously stripped away layer by layer by Chen Yao's Yin-Yang Dharma Wheel!

The massive gravitational vortex of the Yin-Yang Wheel resembled a black hole, warping the very space around the Wolf Demon and sucking everything within its radius into a relentless abyss!

"Ahhh!!! My body, my body!!"

Under the radiance of the golden light, the Wolf Demon seemed to have nowhere to hide. Its previously towering stature was reduced to less than half its original size, stripping away the outer layers of demonic energy to reveal the true manifestation of the Wolf Demon beneath!

A fiendish wolf with bared fangs slowly emerged. This true form was vastly different from the towering beast it had been at full power!

"I never imagined he was just such an old wolf! His fur is completely grey and withered!" Dachun exclaimed in astonishment. "His skin is already as wrinkled as a piece of paper! What a disgusting old wolf!"

"Has your true form been exposed? Then let me give you another heavy dose!"

Chen Yao gritted his teeth, his struggling hands moving in flowing circles as if practicing Tai Chi.

With a motion of his hands, the colossal Yin-Yang Wheel spun even faster!

At that very moment, the three wolf fiends whose bodies had been pinned beneath the rubble suddenly sprang up. Their eyes flashed crimson as one lunged fiercely toward Chen Yao, while the other two charged straight at the Wolf Demon!

"Oh no, aren't they already dead?!" Heavenly Mystery Dragon cried out in alarm. Its body shifted instantly, coiling protectively around Chen Yao to shield him!

"They can still move even after death?! Something is fishy here!"

The fiend charging toward Chen Yao was blasted to the ground by a burst of furious flames spewed by Heavenly Mystery Dragon, and it instantly burst into roaring fire.

Meanwhile, the other two wolf fiends leaped forward, using their own bodies to block the blinding golden light streaming from the Yin-Yang Wheel toward the Wolf Demon!

"Wolf Demon, take this chance and run!"

A low, deep voice echoed from the lifeless eyes of the wolf fiend straight into the Wolf Demon's ears!

"It's you?!"

"It's me, stop wasting time! Daoist Weizi is about to arrive, and if you don't run now, you won't have another chance!"

Just as those words fell, the crimson hue in the old fiend's eyes slowly faded. Realizing that time was running out, the wolf fiend hurriedly dragged the tortured, unrecognizable wolf body away from the crushing beams before it could collapse completely, fleeing like a flying arrow toward the exterior of the Eternal Tomb!

"There is no way I will let you escape!!"

Seeing the Wolf Demon attempt to flee, Chen Yao roared in anger as the golden light rapidly shifted and pursued the target!

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—"

Just as the golden light was about to catch the Wolf Demon, a strange sizzling sound emanated from the corpses of the three wolf fiends. The experienced Chen Yao felt his heart leap in alarm. "This is the sound of demonic Qi self-detonation!"

"Heavenly Mystery Dragon, retreat back into my body at once to help me steady my mind!" Chen Yao shouted in a low voice. Without a second thought, Heavenly Mystery Dragon contracted its form and instantly merged back into Chen Yao's body!

"Boundless Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang lend me your power! A scroll of divine light incantation leaves all illusions empty in the void. Reciting the golden light mantra causes all deities to bow in submission! Exalted Emperor of Taiyi, execute this immediately as commanded!"

As the Golden Bell protective barrier materialized, it tightly enveloped Chen Yao, Xiaobao, Dachun, and the others. With a deafening boom, the three wolf fiends detonated simultaneously, their exploding fragments and flying rubble hammering against the Golden Bell barrier and making it ring violently!

"Puff!"

Suffering the brunt of this impact, Chen Yao spat out another mouthful of stifled blood, his face turning deathly pale.

"He still managed to get away..."

Chen Yao slowly descended to the ground. Wenxing and Hengxing immediately rushed forward to support him, asking with deep concern, "Master, how do you feel?"

"I'm fine. When your grand-uncle arrives later, help me beat him up—damn it, why is he taking so long to get here?!"

Chen Yao gripped Wenxing's arm tightly to steady himself, speaking in a low voice, "My vitality has been injured. You and Hengxing must form the Vajra Subjugation Circle taught by Master Jingxin to guard me. Keep your wits about you and stay fully alert, understood?"

When had Wenxing and Hengxing ever seen Chen Yao in such a sorry state?

With reddened eyes, they hastily helped Chen Yao sit down and immediately formed the Vajra Subjugation Circle!

"How could the dead wolf fiends spring up and detonate themselves? Who on earth is helping the Wolf Demon escape?" Chen Yao let out a long breath. "I miscalculated a single step. I wonder how Ye Dong is doing right now!"

Ye Dong was certainly not having a good time. In fact, he was having a miserable time.

"Damn it, why do these paths keep changing the further I walk?"

Ye Dong sprinted about frantically. He had only run halfway through a two-hundred-meter stone path when the remaining half suddenly rose sharply, piling up into a massive stone wall that blocked his way. Sensing danger, he turned to run back, only to find that the return path had completely changed as well! The once smooth and tidy stone channel had somehow transformed into a lush, verdant forest tunnel!

"This is bad, really bad!"

With a dense forest ahead and a stone mountain behind, Ye Dong had no choice but to swerve into a side path and sprint down the left stone corridor. However, before he had even run twenty meters, water pillars as thick as a washbasin burst out from the stone walls, and crystal-clear torrents surged in rapidly. Even more terrifying was the fact that the stone bricks beneath his feet were collapsing one after another, dissolving away into nothingness like flour mixed with water amidst a roaring sound.

"I'm totally doomed this time! I've entered a death maze!"

Clenching his fists, Ye Dong had no choice but to turn around and run back!

"He Wentian, Guangqi, come out right away!!"

From the path behind came Huang Wuchang's maniacal and deranged laughter. "If you obediently come out now, you won't have to endure endless torture. This old man guarantees you an intact corpse! Ahahaha!"

"I'll guarantee your whole family an intact corpse,"

Ye Dong muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth as he headed back toward the piled-up stone mountain. "According to Lixing, this path should be the great stone channel he mentioned, but I forgot to ask him how often the stone path shifts. What a blunder!"

"No other choice now, I have to climb up!"

Ye Dong pulled out the grappling hook launcher at his waist. Seeing it immediately reminded him of Lixing. "Huang Wuchang has appeared, which probably means Lixing's soul has already been sucked away by him!"

"Now is not the time for hesitation!"

Ye Dong immediately refocused his mind, aimed the launcher at a large boulder, and pulled the trigger. With a mechanical whir and a sharp *swoosh*, he was hoisted straight up onto the massive rock.

Standing atop the boulder, he remembered that this cross-shaped stone path was far more complicated than he had imagined. The corridors were much longer, changing their scenery roughly every two hundred meters, and many sections were shifting constantly.

"I need to figure out the pattern of these path transformations quickly, or if I keep running back and forth like this, I'll either starve to death or drop from exhaustion!"

While the stone path beneath his feet had yet to undergo another transformation, he used the Dragon Eyes he had gained through his good fortune to forcefully memorize the surrounding environment and details in his mind!

At that moment, a figure he utterly detested appeared on a stone path a few hundred meters away from him. That person was none of Guangqi!