Chapter 276

Chapter 276: The Restricted Demon Beast

Shen Sang Ruo was covered by swirling Devil Qi and could not see anything. When the Devil Qi faded, she found herself pulled into a strange space.

It was still pitch black ahead.

She also noticed that Snake Maiden had been dragged here by the Devil Qi as well.

To resist the Devil Qi, Snake Maiden changed back into her true form, but it clearly did nothing.

On Shen Sang Ruo’s side, Zhu Miao, the Giant Beetle, and the Swift Snails under her feet had all been brought here too.

The Devil Qi was eerie and overbearing, as if everything had been prepared in advance, so none of them could fight it.

The moment she and Snake Maiden saw the Devil Qi, they both realized it must be tied to the source of Devil Qi that coveted the treasure. [The treasure must hold something that source wants.]

After learning that the treasure inside had been taken by them, the Devil Qi closed in and carried them off to this place.

Because the enemy did not know who had the thing it wanted, it netted everyone who had entered the treasury, both people and beasts.

The situation in Starfield Plain was worse than she had imagined.

The Demon Beast dared to attack Cultivators and ordinary Demonic Beasts without fear.

Keeping calm and alert, Shen Sang Ruo gripped the Luan Feather Fan and fanned up a sea of fire. In an instant, flames lit the space.

A flash of surprise passed through Snake Maiden’s eyes.

Since entering Starfield Plain, Shen Sang Ruo had barely used the Luan Feather Fan. Snake Maiden had assumed she was only a Beast Cultivator; she had not expected Shen Sang Ruo to use other methods as well.

Snake Maiden had dealt with Avian Demon Beasts before, so she knew the feathers on that Luan Feather Fan were not ordinary at all. The arts Shen Sang Ruo used were also very strong.

Her gaze grew even more amazed. She had thought it shocking enough that Shen Sang Ruo had reached Nascent Soul Early Stage in her early twenties. Then Snake Maiden’s vertical pupils heated with excitement: [Clinging to her was the right choice. Following her means I cannot lose.]

Snake Maiden quickly put her thoughts away and, like Shen Sang Ruo, looked around.

By the firelight, they saw their surroundings: a platform only a few square meters wide. A stone wall pressed close behind, while an endless abyss opened in front.

The glow from the flames could not reach the bottom. It was not only because the drop was deep, but also because black fog like Devil Qi saturated the chasm.

It made one feel oppressed and in danger for no clear reason. [This space might be underground.]

The place was strangely quiet, yet she could not see the Demon Beast that had brought them. Either it was not here, or it was hiding in the dark.

Shen Sang Ruo poured spiritual power into her Teleportation Artifact, but no thin guiding thread unfurled.

She tried putting items into it. Nothing teleported out.

The Teleportation Artifact had clearly failed; she was cut off from the world outside Starfield Plain.

Immortal Lord Chang Li and Daoist Wu Wei would surely know she was in trouble. They were likely anxious outside the Barrier Ward. The most important thing now was to find a way out.

As for her senior brothers and senior sisters and the others who had entered Starfield Plain, she did not know if they were safe.

Shen Sang Ruo walked to the edge of the platform. As she expected, the platform was covered by a Formation and a Barrier Ward that trapped them where they stood.

Snake Maiden pressed a hand to the Barrier Ward. She knew a bit of Formation work, but this Formation had been carefully prepared by the Demon Beast, so it was not something she could break easily.

Snake Maiden could not help cursing: “Damn, what is this?”

She still held the Beast Core she had been about to swallow for a seclusion breakthrough when the Devil Qi yanked her away.

Neither of them panicked. They only stayed on guard.

Shen Sang Ruo seemed to notice something. She looked up at the flames above with a hint of surprise.

For once, Snake Maiden did not lean in with that teasing face to call her “Elder Sister,” but asked instead: “What are you looking at?”

Following her gaze, she saw only the flames overhead.

Shen Sang Ruo answered: “The flames passed through the Barrier Ward.”

Snake Maiden looked again. The flames above really had spread into an area outside the Barrier Ward.

If the Demon Beast wanted to trap them, there was no way it had forgotten to set a Barrier Ward above.

She raised her hand and condensed spiritual power, then struck the Barrier Ward ahead.

Sure enough, her attack also slipped through the Barrier Ward.

She drew a conclusion: “This Barrier Ward lets spiritual power pass through.”

Snake Maiden shifted her tone and added: “But we still can’t get out. If it is like this, our attacks on the Barrier Ward are useless.”

With spiritual power treated like air by the Barrier Ward, they could not force it open.

It was actually bad news for them.

Snake Maiden frowned: “And where is that Demon Beast? It dragged us here and still refuses to show. What does it want?”

Even if it wanted something from the treasure, it should come take it from them.

Shen Sang Ruo thought and said: “What if it cannot show itself?”

Snake Maiden was quick and soon understood: “You mean the Demon Beast is restricted?”

She nodded: “If it weren’t, with power that forceful, Starfield Plain would already be its domain.”

“Why spread Devil Qi in the dark and hunt for treasure? It could simply go itself.”

It was the same with grabbing them. If nothing limited it, the Demon Beast would have come in person to rob them.

Learning that the Demon Beast was restricted meant their situation was not the worst. Snake Maiden started acting cheeky again, praising with a lilt: “Elder Sister is amazing~”

She grew firm: “Then it must be inside this space, hiding somewhere we can’t see.”

At the very least, it could not be too far away. Otherwise how would it take what it wanted?

Both looked toward the darkness ahead.

The space was huge. Shen Sang Ruo’s flames lit only half of it; the other half lay hidden in the dark.

She lifted the Luan Feather Fan and fanned forward once more.

Glazed Flame surged with a mighty force, pierced the Barrier Ward, and spread at great speed.

To their surprise, the fire spread for a long time and still did not reach the far side.

She had used half her strength with that fan, yet the space was so large that even the end of the Glazed Flame could not touch the opposite wall.

Seeing this, Shen Sang Ruo added another fan with seven tenths of her strength.

The flames overlapped. A cloud of fire formed. The whole space grew brighter.

The later wave of fire quickly caught up to the first and kept pushing forward.

But the farther it ran, the dimmer the light became.

The Devil Qi there was thicker. The black fog not only smothered the glow of the Glazed Flame, it even ate away at part of the flame itself.

Shen Sang Ruo and Snake Maiden exchanged a glance. They were more certain than ever that the Demon Beast was over there.

She swung the fan several more times. Fire roared up, and at last they saw what lay on the far side.

They also saw the Demon Beast that had used Devil Qi to drag them here.

A middle aged man with a strange face stood there, or perhaps it was better to call him a Devil Cultivator.

Branch like black markings crawled from his neck up his face. He curled his mouth as he stared at them.

That look sent a chill down their spines.