The last trace of blood-red afterglow on the horizon sank into silence, and night had already descended.
Gu Mang stopped on the roof ridge of the Governor’s Residence.
From where he stood, he could see the city walls in the distance, where Chonghua and the Liao Kingdom’s cultivators were engaged in fierce battle. Spells collided with spells, bursting into dazzling radiance. Seen from afar, they looked like countless fireworks blooming and vanishing in an instant, magnificent beyond words.
The sounds of explosions drifted over with the east wind. Shouts and cries of grief tore through the smoke and flames, reaching Gu Mang’s ears. But Gu Mang knew that the battle over there had little to do with him at this moment.
He lowered his head and looked at the compass in his hand. The needle was pointing straight toward the room at the very center of the Governor’s Residence. The room was brightly lit, and the soft, delicate sound of a qin continuously flowed out from within.
“Looks like this is the place.”
Dealing with the Liao Kingdom’s defenses might have been difficult for others, but for Gu Mang, it was easy. Although he had lost the memories of his five years in Liao, when the State Preceptor had tempered him back then, he had engraved countless black magic spells into his very bones. Even though Gu Mang remembered none of it, he could still cast those techniques with ease.
With just a few simple black magic spells, the cultivators inside the government office all fell into a deep sleep. Gu Mang lightly leaped down from the roof beam. When he landed in the courtyard, he realized that there were not many people stationed here, and almost all of them were ordinary cultivators with shallow cultivation.
They might have been enough to send word and report an emergency, but if they really had to fight, they probably wouldn’t even be enough for him to crush beneath a single finger.
Gu Mang pressed his fingertip against the neck of one of the junior cultivators to test him. As expected, the spiritual energy within him was extremely weak.
His gaze gradually turned solemn.
The compass indicated that the Blood Demon Beast’s remnant soul was inside this room. The Liao Kingdom had not immediately taken it away, clearly for one reason—the seal on Shen Tang had not been completely undone. Before that happened, the Liao army did not dare rashly take it away from within the Daze territory.
But with such an important spiritual soul here, why were there so few guards around it, and why was their magic so weak?
As he pondered this, Gu Mang suddenly heard a man’s low singing from inside the room:
“Five years, one sword, and spring and autumn change; ten years, one sword, and the vicissitudes of life turn against me. This sword, peerless, can sever water; in this life, it is hard to sever my heart’s devotion to you.”
Within the small courtyard, the pine and bamboo swayed. The moon was pale, the breeze clear. In the distant battlefield, flames of war rose one after another, and the cries of slaughter shook the heavens.
Yet inside the main room of the government office, a thread of qin music drifted like fine silk, floating and sinking, elusive and unending, as though endless dust had been stirred up by the wind, lingering without end in infinite sorrow.
On one side, blood flowed like a river.
On the other, qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
For a moment, the atmosphere was bizarre beyond words.
A room lacking proper guards, unceasing qin music, a lone and valiant warrior who had ventured into Liao territory at night, and lyrics that somehow seemed vaguely familiar.
Gu Mang suddenly felt that all of this was so familiar, as though he had seen a similar scene somewhere before…
But the battle situation was urgent, and he had no time to think about it.
His eyes darkened. A ghostly light flickered in his pupils as he murmured, “Demonic hearts heed my call; all come at my summons.”
Although the junior cultivators of Liao had never undergone tempering, the cultivation methods they practiced caused them to accumulate a certain amount of evil demonic energy within their bodies. And these junior cultivators were extremely easy to control.
Thus, with Gu Mang’s command, the Liao cultivators he had previously bewitched all opened their eyes, their pupils flashing with a deep blue glow.
“Go!”
The Liao junior cultivators immediately sprang into action. More than ten of them formed ranks on either side and violently crashed toward the main residence’s door!
With a loud bang, the door was smashed open.
Amid the splintered wood and billowing dust, Gu Mang saw the dead family members of the Governor’s Residence hanging throughout the room like wind chimes.
And at the deepest part of these “corpse wind chimes,” a man dressed in a white-and-gold robe sat with his back toward him. Beneath his slender, pale fingers was a human-skin ancient qin lying horizontally, with nine eyeballs embedded in it, each one rolling around restlessly.
Almost instantly, Gu Mang felt an icy chill rise from the soles of his feet and violently invade his entire body.
He remembered where he had seen a similar scene.
The Sword Demon Li Qingqian’s memory illusion!
Back then, at Murong Chuyi’s home, Gu Mang had not directly seen the illusion. But afterward, Mo Xi had used magic to recreate Li Qingqian’s experience for him.
Gu Mang knew that back then, Li Qingqian had gone alone to the Liao Kingdom’s State Preceptor’s Hall to avenge Hongshao. At that time, the defenses had likewise been completely empty. A man playing the qin had turned around, wearing a mask from which golden light flowed, and revealed a sinister row of white teeth.
It was practically a replay of that memory.
Only the State Preceptor’s residence had been replaced by the Governor’s Residence.
The State Preceptor of Liao turned his head. He raised the face concealed behind the golden mask and grinned.
“Long time no see, Marshal Gu.”
Even though his memories of his five years in Liao were incomplete, Gu Mang had still not forgotten the person who had once imprisoned him in a secret chamber and reforged him by stripping and tempering his bones.
So the person personally guarding the Blood Demon Beast’s remnant soul…
was actually the State Preceptor of Liao.
No wonder.
The State Preceptor of Liao’s own movements were already so strange and unpredictable that if it was him, there was simply no need for any other guards.
“Someone told me that you were captured by the Chonghua ruler and subjected to the black magic trials, and that by now your mind has collapsed and your limbs have been damaged,” the State Preceptor said calmly. “But judging from the situation now, Jiang Fuli has certainly nursed you back to health quite well. He really was born with a pair of hands that love meddling in other people’s affairs—you still came.”
As he spoke, the State Preceptor glanced at the Liao cultivators being controlled by Gu Mang.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Just look at how proficiently you wield black magic. What a pity.”
His gaze returned to the mask Gu Mang wore and lingered over it repeatedly. He smiled sweetly.
“Your motherland doesn’t acknowledge you. After returning home for so long, you only qualify to serve Chonghua while wearing a mask over your face.”
Gu Mang had no intention of wasting words with him. He quickly swept his eyes around the room and immediately spotted the small puppy lying beside the ancient qin, emitting a silver-white glow.
Perhaps because of the dense black demonic aura surrounding him, he could almost instantly sense it—
This unremarkable-looking beast was precisely a strand of the Blood Demon Beast’s sealed remnant soul!
Gu Mang’s eyes darkened.
“Break formation!”
The more than ten controlled junior cultivators immediately dispersed into an attacking formation inside the room, surrounding the State Preceptor.
Gu Mang knew that their spiritual energy was weak. Thus, he twisted his fingers and gathered a stack of evil demon talismans swirling with black energy, scattering them into the cultivators’ bodies.
The junior cultivators immediately erupted with low roars, and the spiritual energy around them suddenly surged!
They howled as they charged toward the State Preceptor.
The State Preceptor was certainly no pushover. He rose with the qin in his arms, his fingertips flowing across the strings as the music rang out. While dealing with the junior cultivators, he said:
“At the very least, the two of us worked together for five years. We’re old acquaintances. Now that old friends have reunited, you won’t even exchange a few pleasantries before trying to start a fight.”
He paused, then smiled sweetly.
“Marshal Gu is awfully impatient these days. Who spoiled you?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Oh?”
The State Preceptor’s smile grew even brighter.
“Quite a hard mouth. The spies said you’ve recovered your memories. It seems that wasn’t false at all. But after returning to Chonghua, you completely forgot everything you did in Liao. Even I find that rather surprising. Have you really forgotten how you used to advise me and lead our armies into battle?”
“……”
“Have you forgotten how many Chonghua civilians died by your hand back then? Forgotten how many battles you led our people to victory in?”
Gu Mang raised his hand and slowly wiped the Yongye stiletto in his palm until it gleamed. Wherever his fingers passed, the blade erupted with sparks of spiritual energy.
The blade’s radiance illuminated Gu Mang’s cold eyes.
Gu Mang said icily, “Whether I remember those things or not, I don’t want to answer you. But there is one thing I’m quite happy to say.”
“What?”
“Under normal circumstances, State Preceptor, you would never talk this much nonsense.”
The final word had barely fallen when his figure shot toward the State Preceptor like a hunting leopard!
With a sharp clang, the qin strings rang out urgently. The Nine-Eyed Qin instantly spread open a golden barrier, colliding violently with Gu Mang’s stiletto.
In an instant, sparks exploded in all directions. Demonic weapons and magic rang together, and the pupils of both men reflected the brilliant light of their fierce confrontation.
Just as he thought…
From that single exchange, Gu Mang could already feel the State Preceptor’s obvious exhaustion.
In order to restore the Blood Demon Beast Jingchen’s remnant soul as quickly as possible, the State Preceptor had played the Nine-Eyed Qin continuously for two days and one night without sleep.
Although he was still powerful, his spiritual energy was already far weaker than usual.
That was why he had deliberately dragged out the battle, intending to slowly accumulate some strength.
How could Gu Mang possibly let him succeed?
He immediately unleashed one killing move after another upon the State Preceptor, swift as wind and snow, while directing the junior cultivators to coordinate their attacks from both sides.
For a moment, the Governor’s Residence was filled with sinister winds and surging demonic aura.
The State Preceptor praised him as he fought:
“Excellent technique.”
At the same time, his fingers moved faster across the strings.
Seeing Gu Mang bring his blade down once more, the State Preceptor shouted:
“Frost Cold, answer my call!”
As soon as his voice fell, another eye on the Nine-Eyed Qin suddenly opened wide.
Gu Mang sensed movement beneath his feet and immediately leaped into the air.
Almost at the exact same moment, dozens of razor-sharp ice spikes burst from the ground, stabbing straight through the spot where Gu Mang had just been standing.
If Gu Mang had been even a moment slower, he would probably already have been turned into a sieve.
Gu Mang did not dare relax. His entire body grew even more tense, his translucent blue eyes fixed intently on every movement of the State Preceptor.
The Nine-Eyed Qin… the Nine-Eyed Qin…
He desperately tried to remember, attempting to recall more details about this demonic qin.
He had once worked alongside the people of Liao for five years. He should have known very clearly what abilities this qin possessed…
“Ugh!”
But the moment he tried to think carefully, a piercing pain tore through his skull.
The sound of the demonic qin was like a sharp blade stabbing into his mind, leaving his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
The Nine-Eyed Qin.
Clang! Clang!
Two more heavy notes rang out.
The State Preceptor plucked the strings and struck the bridge, and suddenly the ice spikes burst through the floor tiles, instantly piercing three of the slower junior cultivators!
In an instant, foul blood rose more than a zhang into the air and splattered across Gu Mang.
The overwhelming stench of blood further stimulated his skull.
The Nine-Eyed Qin…
Several scattered fragments suddenly flashed through his chaotic mind—!
It was in the great hall of Liao.
The State Preceptor had smiled as he played the human-skin ancient qin.
“This demonic weapon was crafted with all my heart. Each of its nine eyes once belonged to someone with extraordinary abilities. Some could communicate with the spirits of divine beasts; some could unleash attacks of ice spikes…”
“With this qin at my side, it is as though those nine experts are constantly accompanying me. It is far superior to ordinary attendants.”
That’s right.
Gu Mang vaguely remembered now.
The State Preceptor of Liao truly possessed such a perverse ability.
He could seal a person’s magical technique within their eyes and then embed those eyes into this Nine-Eyed Qin.
“These nine eyes don’t necessarily remain with me forever, either. If I discover a cultivator with greater abilities, I will discard whichever eye is the most useless and replace it with a new one.”
The State Preceptor in his memory had laughed coldly and viciously.
“Through this endless cycle, the Nine-Eyed Qin will only grow stronger with the passing years, until it becomes invincible…”
In his moment of distraction, dozens more ice spikes burst through the floor tiles, piercing the last few junior cultivators to death before immediately pursuing Gu Mang.
Gu Mang leaped upward and traveled along the roof beams. After catching his breath, his gaze rapidly swept downward.
The Blood Demon Beast Jingchen was firmly protected behind the State Preceptor’s barrier.
If this entanglement continued, there was no way he could use the Soul-Seeking Rope to capture it.
He closed his eyes for a moment and heard that the State Preceptor’s qin music had changed its tune again.
This melody was infinitely eerie, like vengeful ghosts dancing and countless demons running wild.
Gu Mang let out a muffled groan.
He could feel the demonic energy within his chest churning violently, all of it being drawn out by the sound of the demonic qin.
At this moment, the State Preceptor chuckled.
“Marshal Gu, I told you five years ago that from the moment you nodded and agreed to have black demonic spiritual energy injected throughout your body, you became a monster that was neither human nor demon.”
“In all the Nine Provinces, only Liao could tolerate you.”
Gu Mang knelt halfway on the beam, one hand braced against the roof support as he gritted his teeth and gasped for breath.
“You think I left so few guards around me simply because of my abilities?”
“That’s not the reason.”
“The truth is, I’ve been waiting.”
“Even though someone told me that you were seriously wounded and absolutely would not come to the front lines, the facts have proven that they greatly underestimated Jiang Fuli’s medical skills…”
“And they underestimated your heart.”
As he spoke, the State Preceptor calmly sat down beside Jingchen.
“I had a feeling you’d definitely come.”
“Earlier, when I kept dragging things out with you, it wasn’t actually to accumulate spiritual energy.”
“It was to make you use more techniques and stir up the demonic energy inside your body.”
With every word, the qin music beneath his fingers became increasingly sinister, practically transforming into a pair of invisible deer-bone claws that peeled away the demonic energy buried deep within Gu Mang’s bones, layer by layer.
Luring the demon out of its cage.
The State Preceptor laughed sinisterly.
“Gu Mang, your persistence is far too meaningless. Why not simply live according to your heart?”
With that, the melody suddenly rose sharply.
It forced Gu Mang to cry out in agony and curl into a ball, actually rolling off the roof beam and crashing to the ground.
Bang!
The sound of flesh striking the floor was painful enough to make anyone hearing it wince.
Gu Mang gasped heavily, his face deathly pale as he raised his eyes and stared hazily toward the ancient qin.
“Don’t play anymore…”
His lips trembled as cold sweat continuously streamed down his forehead.
“Stop playing… please… I’m begging you… please—”
The final trace of his anguished voice had barely fallen when a flash of cold light suddenly erupted.
Gu Mang unexpectedly sprang up from the ground and charged straight toward the barrier while the State Preceptor had relaxed his guard.
“Yongye, Temper the Spirit!!!”
With a furious shout, the Yongye stiletto erupted with dazzling radiance.
Gu Mang poured all of his demonic energy into it and viciously stabbed toward the State Preceptor’s barrier.
Gold and black intertwined.
Spiritual energy trembled.
The clash of power lasted only a brief instant.
A moment later, the barrier created by the Nine-Eyed Qin gave a dangerous cracking sound.
Then it exploded violently into fragments and dust!
Gu Mang seized the Soul-Seeking Rope at his waist. His gaze was sharp as a blade as he swung his hand and lashed it around the Blood Demon Beast Jingchen curled up in the corner.
The State Preceptor’s expression changed drastically.
Even through the mask, it was obvious how savage his expression had become.
He gritted his teeth.
“Gu Mang—you bastard…”
A bastard who what?
It was true that the black magic had broken and tormented him.
It was also true that he was constantly on the verge of losing his reason.
But Gu Mang’s will was as hard as iron. He had suppressed that inhuman agony through sheer force of will.
He had not pretended to be weak so that he could seize the soul at the right moment.
He had genuinely resisted the suffering and broken through the barrier.
For a moment, the State Preceptor did not even know what words he could use to curse him.
He tried to snatch it away, but Gu Mang was no opponent so easily dealt with.
He had already bound Jingchen and stuffed it into his Qiankun Pouch.
He staggered to his feet, fiercely wiping the blood from the corner of his lips.
His eyes burned as he stared at the State Preceptor.
On that face tortured almost beyond recognition by demonic energy, a fierce and triumphant smile unexpectedly blossomed.
“Whether the land of the Nine Provinces can tolerate me isn’t important.”
“What’s important is, brother, this world can’t contain you either.”
With that, he leaped into the air and, carrying the Blood Demon Beast’s remnant soul, quickly retreated toward the direction of the Chonghua army.
How could the State Preceptor possibly allow that?
His eyes seemed practically tempered in raging flames.
He flicked his fingers and shouted:
“Drifting Snow, answer my call!”
The third eye of the Nine-Eyed Qin abruptly opened wide.
Layer upon layer of wind and snow surged around the State Preceptor.
He stepped out of the room. With a raise of his palm came the sound of thunder, and a messenger talisman slammed violently into the ground.
Before long, dozens of elite black magic cultivators rushed over in response to the summons and knelt one after another.
“State Preceptor!”
“We await the State Preceptor’s orders!”
The State Preceptor of Liao said coldly:
“The Blood Demon Beast’s remnant soul has been taken by that man named Gu.”
“He’s heading toward the main city gate and the outskirts. Follow the Blood Demon Beast’s aura and you’ll find him.”
“Follow me!”