The Endless Promise

129. Newly acquired

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Bailong finally crossed the Statue's warning point, back into Sky realm territory, and hurriedly crossed the bridge.

'Finally! I should be able to use my talismans here!'

But as he stepped into the brilliant sunlight, he found himself surrounded by more demons.

'Something's wrong here...' Bailong thought as he easily defeated them.

Demon attacks were not new within Sky Realm...

With the greed of the demons and the angst between the two races, demons constantly found ways to enter Sky Realm.

But today of all days...

Bailong certainly did not believe in coincidences and a firm suspicion rooted in his mind.

Determined to prove his suspicion, Bailong ignored his reverse-summoning talisman and ventured forward, and as he suspected, it wasn't long before he ran into another horde of demons, more powerful than the last, and then a third horde, even more powerful.

'I'm indeed being hunted!' He realized, especially after their leader's eyes settled on him with a gleam.

"If it isn't Yin Xiaolong, the Sky Emperor's pet dog!" The leader sneered. He was a rotund demon in elegant purple and black robes, with two large ram horns on his head.

And he was at least Grand Immortal level!

"Hand over the Blood Hell Lily," He continued, "...and we'll let you be on your way!"

"Oh?" Bailong held out a hand and his crystal blue sword appeared. "I'm not so generous... I'll send you off as fine powder!"

"You-! Attack! We mustn't let him return to Sky Palace!" The demons lunged at him and Bailong met their attack with wave upon wave of his brilliant blue qi.

Bailong engaged them for a while, but activated his divine eye technique, looking for something... any kind of clue as to who these obvious minions belonged to.

He smirked as the demon Leader moved, slightly shifting the sleeve of his cloak, and over the great distance, Bailong spotted a symbol burned onto his wrist.

It was the same symbol on that old man's token... A simple arrangement of horizontal and vertical strokes, forming a basic house-shape, and inside it, the 'dao' character, which meant 'upside down' or 'reversal'.

'Indeed, the two are related!' Bailong realized.

In fact, he was fairly certain that all the attacks from when he came out of the abyss were related to the same enemy.

And this was more than simple greed for the extremely precious lily... No.

Someone did not want him curing the Crown Prince, and this person knew the emperor sent him on secret missions, and even knew he came here for the Blood Hell Lily...

Which meant the person was in the Sky Emperor's immediate circle- perhaps even a core deity!

Bailong fished out a reverse summoning talisman. "Well then... I've accompanied you all long enoug-!"

"Fellow Immortal, do not fear!" A voice suddenly interrupted him. "I will fight with you to eliminate this corruption from Sky Realm!"

'Ei?!' This person had ruined his cool exit, and Bailong, along with all the demons, turned as one to face what one could consider an ignorant newcomer... One who did not realize 'how high the sky was', so to speak.

Bailong was simply amused...

A poorly dressed immortal around his age sat atop a giant eagle, but both eagle and rider were poisoned from head to feet, though neither seemed to realize it!