The Sunherds aboard the Dawn Ark were as though facing a mighty foe; one after another they leapt up, soaring into the air, anxiously sweeping their eyes over the rampart that shrouded Dawnspring. That rampart was formed of light spouting from the well, taking shape as a hemisphere of radiance that cupped downward to guard Dawnspring; for several hundred li around, the space of Dawnspring was a world unto itself. Shen Mu had never been to Dawnspring, but he supposed that beyond the hemisphere of light there must be other means of concealment, so that it would not be so conspicuous, so arresting to the eye. Otherwise, a great golden sphere several hundred li across, blazing with golden light, appearing in the Ruins would long ago have been known throughout the Ruins—and even beyond. Fengdu, for instance: Fengdu appeared only when night descended, and could not be seen at all; only by a stroke of fate could one enter it. Dawnspring must be much the same as Fengdu—standing there in the Ruins, yet perhaps utterly invisible. So finding Dawnspring was no easy matter; to locate this place, the otherworldly demon gods must have spent enormous effort indeed. The canopy of Dawnspring shone with golden light, as though beaten from gold leaf, and suddenly a huge face appeared upon it, nose and eyes complete, pressing inward, as if it meant to squeeze through the barrier and enter Dawnspring. The face had a very long chin, like a long handle, yet its mouth grew at the very bottom of that chin; its eye was enormous—and it had only one, occupying the center of the face, as though a great ball were propped atop the bridge of its nose. It was monstrously strange. "Which world's demon god is this?" Shen Mu was astonished; never had he seen a demon god that looked like this. Just then, from every direction came a ceaseless slapping and smacking, and one grotesque face after another plastered itself against the canopy of Dawnspring; in the blink of an eye the canopy over those several hundred li of space was covered with faces! Large and small, each different in feature, yet all built alike: at the center of each face a vast, disproportionate eye, a long chin, and a mouth set upon the chin. In the blink of an eye the sky was plastered with these faces, their great eyeballs rolling this way and that, gazing with keen interest at what lay within the barrier, wearing eerie smiles that made the scalp go numb. Suddenly the great eyeballs in those faces all turned in unison toward the sun bound by chains in midair, and every face showed astonishment at once. "Those are Doubles." The old clan chief's face was grave. "A kind of demon race. The Doubles differ from other demon races: they excel at assimilation. When they meet a form of life, they assimilate it, remaking it utterly, until it becomes one of their clan—or rather, becomes a part of them." Shen Mu was slightly startled. Assimilate the other, make it one of their own, a part of themselves? There was such a bizarre race? "The strangest thing about the Double clan is that they share a single mind." The old clan chief showed a look of shuddering dread, then hid the dread away. "If they catch you, their mind and consciousness will assimilate you. A single Double demon god often has millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of doubles; their mind is immeasurably powerful. If they catch you, they can simply smash your mind and consciousness to pieces, and their mind will remake you into a part of them!" Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the others could not help shuddering. If such a demon god broke out of the Ruins and came to Jingping, the kingdom of Jingping would in all likelihood turn wholly into Doubles within a few days! Hundreds of millions of minds gathered into one—who could withstand that? It seemed the old clan chief of the Sunherds had spoken truly: if the Sunherds were wiped out, and the demon gods of the Ruins burst forth from the Ruins, the outer world too would be wiped out! Suddenly the faces in the sky faded and vanished. The old clan chief said hurriedly, "Your Highness, we beg you to command the Dawn Ark and lend us your aid!" Shen Mu at once sped to the row of pillars and reached out to touch one. The instant his palm met the pillar, the immeasurably vast power within the Dawn Ark surged into him; his fleshly body swelled joint by joint, his aura climbing madly, crossing in one leap the Seven Stars, the Heaven-Man, Life-and-Death, and the Spirit Bridge, and entering an unknowable realm! Boom— The explosions within his body joined into a single line—the sound of his divine vaults opening one after another; so swiftly did they open that it seemed there was only one great roar! Wave after wave of divine might burst from his body in all directions, briefly twisting space, so that space trembled along with the ripples that outburst wrought. "So powerful!" The voice that came from Shen Mu's mouth was earth-shaking. At this moment he and the Dawn Ark were one; the power the Dawn Ark poured into him was even more colossal than that of the Soul Ark. The moon of the Soul Ark had gone out, all but shattered, but the sun of the Dawn Ark had been kindled by Shen Mu, greatly raising the energy stored within the ship as well! This power must be pure yang energy, ferocious beyond measure, filling his heart with the desire to destroy. Two more arms grew from beneath his armpits and seized two other pillars. Shen Mu felt the power within him still climbing madly—when just then came a soft put-put sound; Shen Mu turned his head in surprise to look at his backside: from his tailbone a thick, sturdy leg had grown out! "Ah—will Sister Jing grow a third leg too?" he thought to himself. Standing on three legs, rock-steady and balanced, Shen Mu's confidence swelled at once, and he raised his head to look at the canopy. The canopy was eerily still; then with a sudden, thunderous bang a long chin pierced through the rampart of Dawnspring, the mouth at the chin's tip opened, and at once countless grotesque Doubles came flying out of that enormous mouth. The Doubles flying from that great mouth were like countless insects, a black mass, and soon they were the size of clouds; the clouds grew madly, becoming a black sea of cloud. The sea of cloud surged, sweeping down at the Dawn Ark below. Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and the others looked up, their scalps going numb: the countless Doubles rippled like ocean waves, and such was the number of Doubles pouring down that they could likely drown the Dawn Ark in a single encounter! And the long mouth thrusting into the canopy from outside was still spewing out more and more Doubles. Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang had both been on battlefields; they had been tempered in the war against the kingdom of Langjuxu. The scale of that war had indeed been grand—legions by the tens of thousands clashing on the wastelands, divine power wielders, giant beasts, tower ships; in a single instant of collision, flesh and blood flew. Yet compared with the scene before them now, the battlefield of Langjuxu was a small sorcerer before a great one, not worth mentioning. "Kill!" Aboard the Dawn Ark, the Sunherds roared with all their strength; one giant after another roused his own primal weapon, blood boiling, ready to meet the great battle about to come. Snow Fox too was kindled by their passion; she raised her small arm, her face flushed crimson with excitement, her voice still young and soft, and cried aloud: "Kill!" Behind her, a dozen or more flood dragons stirred, stretching out their necks, murderous in spirit, mouths open in a great roar: "Maha—" Snow Fox leapt onto the back of the Ink Flood Dragon, drew a little sword, pointed it upward, and joined the dragons in their cry: "Maha—" The dragons were in a frenzy; before the battle had even broken out they carried the little fox soaring into the sky, charging into the black mass of demons surging toward them! "That girl Ling'er—she loves to act reckles