Walking along a dirt road were 5 silhouettes: A man in blue robes, a muscular warrior, a ragged old man, and a seductive demoness.

Leading them forward was an alluring man dressed in black robes. He firmly gripped a pink bamboo umbrella as his figure and shadow swayed with the setting sun down the road.

"We should soon be approaching the desolate range." Ye Yuyan said without turning around.

Han Yi following closely looked around the area, the flatlands of grass had ended a few paces behind them. Now the path was becoming more mountainous and the density of the trees increased as they journeyed further.

"What exactly happened at the village?" Han Yi asked as he walked closer to Ye Yuyan.

"Well, that's hard to explain because I wasn't there the entire time." Ye Yuyan replied quizzically.

"What do you mean?" Han Yi said as his brows furrowed.

"I noticed the traces of a ritual and the village was destroyed. There were various hell warriors scattered so I knew a demon has been there. So I expelled the energies and hell warriors." Ye Yuyan described as Han Yi listened intently.

"That can't be all, as a wandering exorcist you must have had to bring something to enter the order." Han Yi said with a prying voice.

"There was one other thing, I found a plain gourd on the corpse of a summoner." Ye Yuyan said plainly as if it were nothing. But at that moment, Han Yi's eyes flashed with suspicion.

"You were lucky to make it out alive." The woman behind Han Yi blurted out.

"And you are?" Ye Yuyan replied as his eyes roamed across her body. Her enchanting curves moved with geometric perfection in her tight black dress.

"I'm Song Yue but you can call me Nesilia." She replied as her lips bloomed into a lovely splendorous smile.

"Haha, sonny you'd best be careful of her." Knighted Maven laughed out much to Nesilia's chagrin.

"How impudent of you!" She coldly snorted but made no actions beyond that.

"Say kid, I hope you have some fantastic methods. Otherwise, you won't be able to survive with us." Knighted Maven said amicably and slapped Ye Yuyan on the back. Much to Maven's surprised dismay, Ye Yuyan just wryly smiled and continued talking with him.

"I hope so too." Ye Yuyan joked as they approached a crossroad into a forest.

"Which way?" Han Yi asked as he scanned the forest.

"Wait! Be careful your highness!" Nesilia yelled her eyes were glued to the sky. A group of birds seemed to flee from the forest. She suddenly materialized a chalice which diffused with a white mist. The birds started to caw as they dissipated into a frosty mist.

"Neither path your highness." Ye Yuyan responded plainly as he reached into his robes.

Han Yi noticing the gesture got guarded and squeezed his fists making a crackling noise.

Behind him Han Yi, Knighted Maven's smile never faded and Nesilia raised her chalice in defense. Only the warrior stood still and silent as if he was merely spectating.

Ye Yuyan threw out a scroll which flew in the air and unfurled itself. It was a pristine white scroll that started to hum as the blank page became a vortex. The surroundings seemed to be absorbed into it rapidly.

"A sealing scroll!" Nesilia said with surprise as she stared in suspense.

The absorbed energies acted like ink as the color from the surroundings seemed to fade away. The trees became black and the ground became gray and slowly the illustration on the scroll completed. It became the image of blue-furred beastman with glowing white eyes and a terrifying presence.

With the image formed everyone seemed to tense up even more. Even the warrior reached for his greatsword slung on his back.

"Yunshi put it down!" Han Yi roared as he noticed chains flash around the warrior's body. Suddenly an oppressive aura seemed to descend in the area. It seemed to clash against the frost demon scroll balancing the demonic energies in the area.

'A demon sealer.' Ye Yuyan said as he felt the strange aura from Yunshi.

Yunshi loosened his grip around his greatsword as the energies in the area suddenly calmed. Ye Yuyan raised his hand as the scroll furled itself and flew into his hand.

"Don't worry it was merely an illusion." He chuckled as he put the scroll into his robes.

"But it hasn't been too long since that demon came through this area. Its energies have become so oppressive it created an uncanny area." Ye Yuyan seemingly mumbled to himself.

"To think you would have sealing scrolls..." Nesilia said vaguely as she looked at his robes. Ye Yuyan's eyes flitted across Nesilia as he noticed her chalice had disappeared.

'A demon sealer, a knighted expert, A seer trained in augury, and even a prince. What a powerful team...' Ye Yuyan thought as he evaluated everyone.

Augury was a special type of path, of the 3 paths it was based on Sealing. But it was not a complete path like sealing and was instead cultivated as an auxiliary skill.

An auger wouldn't seal demons within themselves but instead, they focused on expelling demonic powers using an arcane focus like a chalice.

"Don't you westerners have your own methods of dispelling and sealing demonic energies?" Ye Yuyan asked in a disbelieving tone.

"We do and she's the one proficient in them." Knighted Maven chuckled as he pointed to Nesilia.

"I do indeed, I brought along everything necessary for augury. But my divination was nowhere near as fast as you." She said in a self-deprecating tone.

"Enough of that, where is the frost demon?" Han Yi commanded in a domineering tone.

"It should be around 1000 or so paces away." Ye Yuyan said as he looked past the forest, almost as if he could see something in the distance.

"But that isn't our only problem, the beasts around here were corrupted by the uncanny valley." He said almost grinning because at that moment a black wolf with ravenous red eyes jumped out of the forest at him.

Knighted Maven reached for the sword on his waist ready to slash out. But suddenly Ye Yuyan roared and slammed down his palm.

"Ha!" With the expulsion of his breath, his palm slammed down on the beast throwing it back into the forest 10s of meters. In his palm was a bloody light that faded away as quickly as it appeared.

"Looks like you aren't a newborn babe. Handle yourself kid, hahaha!" Knighted Maven laughed as he unsheathed his sword. A bull suddenly rushed out of the forest and its eyes shining with a red demonic light. It charged towards Maven as he slashed down dissecting the beast in one slash.

Nesilia's chalice rematerialized in front of her and a white mist emanated from it. A group of black snakes slithered near her with few trying to pounce on her.

But the white mist took on various forms becoming a wind blade at one moment then a shield the next. The blades cut apart the snakes and dispelled the dark energies.

Yunshi stood still but, whenever a beast came near him and Han Yi; he would raise his fist and punch it across the forest. Maven and Ye Yuyan worked together using a combination of palm strikes and sword attacks to repel the best.

"The beasts just don't seem to end, Ji boy do you have any methods for this?" Maven asked as he was his sword was arm deep inside a bear.

"Sadly no, all I could do was dispel the illusion. The keyman for this is her as long as her Augury finishes the area will be cleaned." Ye Yuyan joked as his palm ripped apart a fox.

At that moment Nesilia started chanting and her white mist started to spread across the battlefield. Anywhere it touched the black and grey energies would dissipate.

Wherever it passed, the color of the land would return revealing the carnage hidden by the illusion. Strown around the forest were frozen corpses, it looked like a frozen hell with no end.

"Sadly I can't dispel the slaughter qi. Only the remnant authority of this fiend could be removed." Nesilia said with a disappointed tone.

"That is enough, we need to get to the village first." Han Yi commanded.

"But what about the frost demon. The way it's headed it will end up on the outskirts of the desolate range. With all the villages, thousands if not more will die." Ye Yuyan asked with concern.

"Our priority is the investigation! We wouldn't even be able to fight the thing anyway, It's a real deal fiend." Han Yi said ruthlessly

"But..." Ye Yuyan started to say

"But nothing! We will proceed and you will lead us otherwise..." Han Yi said as his fist and body cracked like thunder.

Expelling a deep breath Ye Yuyan grabbed his umbrella with both hands and started walking up the mountain. Everyone in the group stayed silent even the talkative Maven.

Ye Yuyan walking at the front looked at the horizon and his lips bloomed into a sardonic smile. His eyes flashed with the image of a struggling frost demon.