"Who is hunting us?" Zechuan asked, dusting off his knees.
"Everyone!" Ji'an groaned. "The foreign sects. The array beasts. Everything! We have to remain vigilant!"
But the universe, determined to test her patience, immediately proved her point.
The heavy fog ahead of them suddenly swirled, parting to reveal a clearing filled with dark, oppressive, crimson-tinged miasma.
The air grew thick, smelling of sulfur and burnt blood.
Stepping out of the shadows, surrounded by a retinue of terrified, subjugated rogue cultivators, was Young Demon Lord Yan Lie.
"Well, well," Yan Lie purred, his voice a dark, grating rasp that echoed in the clearing. He wore a dark, spiked robe that exposed his chest, his crimson aura flaring aggressively. "If it isn't the little orthodox cook. The one who thinks he can run a kitchen in the middle of a warzone. I smelled your spices from a mile away."
Ji'an let out a long, exhausted breath.
