"My Lord, it's Lord Niu's group!" A demon race member suddenly hurried to Yang Youwei's side and whispered.
Upon hearing this, Yang Youwei's expression shifted slightly. He hurriedly rose into the air to look, and after making out the enormous figure heading their way, he couldn't help but shout, "Niu Quan!"
Yang Youwei had mentioned this name before. Although Yang Kai hadn't pressed for details, he knew that Niu Quan was a demon general—an existence on equal footing with Yang Youwei. He hadn't expected to run into him here today.
Yang Kai was considering whether to have Yang Youwei help him silence the witnesses, to prevent any unrelated demon race members from discovering his association with Yang Youwei and causing trouble. But before he could act, Yang Youwei actually flew straight toward the approaching group. Once he was in midair, he called down loudly, "Old Niu, what are you doing?!"
There was no response.
Yang Youwei's expression changed again, and he urgently called out, "Old Niu, it's Old Yang! Wake up and look at me!"
The demon race members who had been following Niu Quan obviously all recognized Yang Youwei. One of them immediately broke into tears and wailed, "Lord Yang, please use your abilities to save my lord! Today, for some unknown reason, my lord suddenly reverted to his true form and charged this way without any regard for anything. We couldn't stop him, and he won't respond to any calls!"
Hearing this, Yang Youwei immediately confirmed the suspicion in his heart. His gaze drifted toward the location of the invisible tomb gate, and a hint of sorrow surfaced on his face. He let out a heavy sigh, waved his hand, and flew back to Yang Kai's side.
Rumble…
Trees snapped and toppled as the colossal creature finally burst out of the forest. Yang Kai squinted and saw an enormous bull-shaped demon beast materialize before him. Its entire body radiated a murky green luminescence, and its hide was covered in deep grooves and crisscrossing lines—clearly the marks left by the passage of time. Each of its four hooves was the size of a house, and every step shook the earth.
A pair of sickle-curved horns jutted from either side of the beast's head. However, one of the horns was broken partway through. It was unclear who had done it, but the broken horn did nothing to diminish the creature's imposing aura—if anything, it made Niu Quan appear even more ferocious.
So this was the demon general called Niu Quan. Yang Kai understood now. He didn't know, however, why this demon general had reverted to his true form. Although a demon race member's combat power increased dramatically in true form, the body was far less agile than a humanoid shape, so they would never willingly transform unless absolutely necessary.
"What's going on?" Yang Kai turned to look at Yang Youwei.
"His time has come. He's entering the tomb." Yang Youwei let out a soft sigh, his tone carrying a note of one who mourns the fall of a fellow traveler. He had long known that Niu Quan wouldn't live much longer, but he hadn't expected this day to arrive so suddenly.
Yang Kai glanced at Niu Quan, then at the location the demon race members had pointed to earlier as the tomb gate, and realization struck. "He can sense the summons of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Spirits?"
Yang Youwei nodded. "All living beings in the ancient land can sense the location of the Tomb of Ten Thousand Spirits when their time approaches its end. They are compelled to enter it of their own accord. Old Niu… he…" He let out a heavy sigh and fell silent, overcome with emotion.
"Now this is something worth watching." Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
He had no particular bond with Niu Quan. He had just been uncertain whether the Tomb of Ten Thousand Spirits was real or not, and now there was a way to verify it. So Yang Kai felt no personal grief—instead, he watched with keen interest, treating it as an opportunity to broaden his horizons.
Niu Quan's subordinates continued to call out to him ceaselessly, but once he had transformed into his true form, it was as if he could hear nothing at all. He simply walked step by step toward the tomb gate's location.
Before long, all the demon race members who had followed him had learned the truth from Yang Youwei's subordinates. Learning that their lord was about to enter the Tomb of Ten Thousand Spirits, their faces darkened one by one, expressions of grief etched across every countenance.
Under the gaze of the assembled crowd, Niu Quan reached an open clearing in the valley. He suddenly halted, threw back his head, and let out a long, mournful bellow before charging headlong forward.
Yang Kai's eyes went wide in an instant.
For in the void before them, a grayish-black gate of light had just flickered into visibility. It stood over a dozen zhang tall and had been standing there all along—yet it was hidden in invisibility. Had Niu Quan's entry not stirred a ripple across its surface, no one else would have been able to see it at all.
Just as Yang Youwei had said before, only the dying beings within the ancient land could perceive this tomb gate.
Niu Quan passed through the gate, and his massive form vanished in an instant. The ripples faded, and the gate once again disappeared from sight.
The demon race members who had followed Niu Quan here all broke down in tears, wailing miserably.
Yang Youwei also smacked his lips together, his face twisted with an indescribable expression of bitterness.
"So the tomb gate really does exist!" Having witnessed it with his own eyes, Yang Kai now knew that Yang Youwei and the others hadn't been lying to him. This also confirmed that the Third had truly entered the Tomb of Ten Thousand Spirits!
But what was he supposed to do now? Yang Kai's head was about to split. He had no idea what dangers lay within, nor how one might exit once inside. If the Tomb of Ten Thousand Spirits was a place from which no one returned, wouldn't entering it be walking straight into his own grave? He possessed the Power of Space, but he still didn't dare act rashly.
As for Ruoxi—that girl had somehow been able to see the tomb gate earlier. It was truly baffling.
Thinking of this, he turned to look at Zhang Ruoxi. But the moment he laid eyes on her, he was startled—for Zhang Ruoxi had, at some unknowable moment, walked all the way to the front of the tomb gate. She was extending one hand toward the invisible gate, and a strange, luminous glow flickered in her beautiful eyes. The whole sight was profoundly eerie.
"Ruoxi, what are you doing?!" Yang Kai shouted.
Zhang Ruoxi's slender body trembled, and she snapped back to her senses. The moment she realized she had unconsciously arrived before the tomb gate, the color drained from her face. She tried to pull back and retreat.