Rock

Fortunately, Level Five and Six fiend beasts didn't hunt in groups. They treated their territory differently to those of lower levels. They allowed weaker fiend beasts to trespass into their territory to hunt for prey. If a fiend beast powerful enough to threaten them trespassed, though, they would personally confront the invader.

Mu Yu trespassed onto many high-level fiend beasts' territory on his quest but wasn't qualified to reward the fiend beasts' palates. Likewise, he didn't challenge them despite their fiend spirits being extra valuable due to the risk involved. After taking down a score of fiend beasts with Xiaoshuai, he nicknamed Xiaoshuai "The Fiend Beast Ender".

Mu Yu checked his map as he soared through the sky. According to the map, there should've been a wide river shrouded in black mist once he crossed over the mountain. Howbeit, there was a stone plain and no river in sight.

"Isn't there supposed to be a mountain here?"

"The old geezer's last visit was long ago. There might be some fiend beast that likes stones and decided to lay a stone path," commented Xiaoshuai, chewing on a Level Four fiend beast's fiend spirit.

"Well, great, huh?"

Mu Yu used the direction of the sun to determine he was heading in the correct direction and continued on; however, the further he went, the less confidence he had in his judgement. It was just stones and more stones, odd-shaped stones. There was a mountain peak or two, but there wasn't a single plant in sight. Guess what there was? Mud and more stones. A perturbing feeling reminded him to keep his wits about him.

The only audible sounds around them were the whistling wind as he flew and Xiaoshuai's chewing.Zoom!Mu Yu tilted his head. A fist-sized rock grazed his ear from the bottom despite him moving his head. He stopped to check around him.

"Who's there?"

Mu Yu wasn't convinced the rock had a mind of its own. Alas, he couldn't sense anyone around. Zoom! Mu Yu shifted his centre of mass onto one leg. Two rocks brushed against his shoulders. Next thing he knew, hundreds rocks from below levitated and whooshed toward him.

"The hell is this?" cursed Mu Yu, as he borrowed surrounding spiritual qi to launch himself vertically.

The rocks smashed themselves to smithereens as they collided where Mu Yu was a second ago. Instead of dropping back down, the rocks still intact paused and then pursued him. He dodged and dodged, but human stamina had a cap. To compound his troubles, more rocks from below joined the expedition.

Rip!A rock clipped Mu Yu's clothing. He drew his sword to deflect rocks. He was in a passive position, defending over and over. Catching a small window, he slapped his hands together and formed a spiritual qi barrier using what spiritual qi was available in the atmosphere. He thought he could catch his breath. Unfortunately, the rocks glued themselves to the barrier one by one.

"Isn't this just great."

Using the small window he had before the rocks made a dumpling out of him, he performed a sword windmill in front of him. A green energy, using Shadow Splitter as its epicentre, propagated in all directions. The sword qi sundered all of the backup rocks, but there was no end to them. There were no items to use as shields. If he didn't move, the weight of the rocks would bring crush him beneath them in a matter of time.

"Hah!"

Mu Yu faced in the direction the grunt came from. The maiden in blue was also confronting a collection of rocks.

"Someone at long last!"

No, Mu Yu didn't recognise her, but it was nice to see another human – he didn't consider Ghost Gate's cruel members humans – after days. Judging from her appearance, she was approximately her age. The blue maiden donned a blue glowing hoop around her body that could crush incoming rocks. The blue hoop was a blue ribbon made from a smooth type of material.

Mu Yu began moving toward the maiden whilst repelling rocks. Upon sighting him, she hurried over. Mu Yu sliced a row of rocks and asked, "Hey, Miss, do you know what the deal is with these rocks?"

"You don't know?"

"Should I?"

"You from Third Heaven?"

"Yes. My name is Mu Yu, a disciple of Pill Cauldron Sect. May I ask what your name is? Which sect are you with?" Mu Yu cheerfully conveyed.

"Let's deal with these elementals first!"

The "elementals" part of the maiden's response caught Mu Yu's attention, but he didn't have time to question her. The rocks reversed direction and returned to the ground. With that said, they didn't return to a dormant state. The rocks gathered together, transforming into a stoneman. Its eyes were made from amethyst stones.

"What the? Is that supposed to be a stone fiend or something? Does it have a fiend spirit?" enthused Xiaoshuai.

"It's an elemental, an earth elemental demon! You can't tell?" the maiden asked with a frown, keeping her ribbon around her to shield herself.

"Say what? They don't have fiend spirits, do they?" asked Xiaoshuai, returning to Mu Yu's shirt.

"This is the earth elemental demons' territory. We won't last if we stall here. Let's get going!" recommended the maiden.

The stone demon took off sprinting. Mu Yu could hear violent gales as it attempted to detonate a punch on them. Mu Yu slipped the punch and bounced off the arm to create distance. Another elemental demon approached and swung a hammer fist down.

"Watch out!"

The maiden flung her blue ribbon over and wrapped it around the elemental demon's waist. With a tug, she swung it around and smashed it into its ally, knocking them back to the ground. Mu Yu launched his sword, piercing the right eye of another elemental, stopping its punch aimed at her waist just in the nick of time.

"Roar!" The elemental reached for the sword in its eye. Mu Yu zipped over and yanked his sword out along with the shattered eyeball. The maiden uncoiled a kick to its chest.

"You're welcome," the two said in unison.

Mu Yu chuckled, while the maiden snorted.

"Whoa, okay, easy there, Miss. I was only trying to greet you," Mu Yu said to himself.

"Let's get out of here. We can't fight them forever," the maiden suggested.