Gu Mang flew across the roof ridges and eaves, breathing heavily.
The night wind brushed against his black robes. Beneath the golden mask, the triumphant, carefree expression he had worn earlier was long gone, replaced by a face somewhat twisted with pain.
His head throbbed with wave after wave of agony, his memories tangled and chaotic.
He knew very clearly that the black demonic energy inside him was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress. He did not know how much longer he could keep forcing himself to hold on.
At the very least…
He had to deliver the Blood Demon Beast he had captured to the Chonghua military camp.
His ghostly blue eyes glanced backward.
He could keenly sense the State Preceptor and the elite black magic cultivators continuously closing in on him. At this speed, he would never make it to where Mo Xi was fighting.
His only choice was to flee toward the main city gate.
“Gu Mang, how much longer are you going to remain stubbornly deluded? Chonghua once bestowed upon you the title of Fierce Beast of the Divine Altar. Are you really going to be their lackey for the rest of your life?”
The State Preceptor had not yet arrived, but his voice had already traveled secretly into Gu Mang’s ears like an awl.
Gu Mang endured the increasingly chaotic state of his consciousness and gritted his teeth as he retorted, “I’m fighting for myself, you bastard. Go be your own damn lackey!”
With that, he accelerated his lightness technique even further and sped toward the main city gate.
The two armies were engaged in fierce combat there, with flashes of fire exploding everywhere.
The wind howled past his ears. The city gate drew closer and closer.
But at that very moment, the State Preceptor of Liao, empowered by the Drifting Snow technique, rapidly caught up.
His wide robes billowed as he drifted toward Gu Mang like a fluttering paper kite.
“Drifting Snow is the technique of Pear Spring’s number-one master of lightness kung fu.” The State Preceptor sneered from about ten zhang behind Gu Mang. “Gu Mang, do you really think you can escape alive?”
Cold sweat had already appeared on Gu Mang’s forehead.
Suddenly, his gaze caught sight of dozens of detonation talismans fluttering atop the inner-city wall.
Almost without thinking, he ran toward the direction where the talismans were posted.
The faint, composed smile at the corner of the State Preceptor’s lips had not yet disappeared when he saw Gu Mang land steadily on top of the city wall.
He stopped running.
Gu Mang turned his head, showing half his face.
“Hey. How about we see who’s crazier?”
The State Preceptor suddenly realized what he intended.
“Gu Mang—you—!”
The wind roared violently.
Gu Mang sneered and raised his hand, pointing toward the wall.
Flames shot from his fingertips.
The instant they struck the wall, they triggered a tremendous explosion!
The State Preceptor cursed under his breath and was forced to retreat.
Flames soared into the sky, sending wave after wave of scorching heat outward.
The instant the talismans detonated, Gu Mang tensed his entire body and shot backward—
BOOM!!
A chain of explosions nearly shook the heavens and earth.
Bricks and stones rolled everywhere. Shockwaves surged through the air, rapidly separating him from the pursuers from Liao.
That move had been far too dangerous.
Even though Gu Mang had retreated as quickly as possible while concentrating with all his might, the force of the blast still hurled him violently from the roof ridge.
He had no time to care about the pain.
Before the State Preceptor could catch up, he rolled to his feet and dragged his battered body onward, continuing to flee.
The spell-light in his eyes grew increasingly bright.
The sounds of the two armies clashing were right beside his ears.
Finally, he suddenly leaped upward, soaring into the air.
Before the completely unprepared Liao defenders could react, he broke through them and plunged into the Chonghua battle formation!
The area around the city gate had long since become a river of blood.
The flames of war had burned half the sky into daylight.
Amid the rolling smoke, Chonghua cultivators and Liao cultivators fought and clashed. Spells collided, spirit beasts howled, and everywhere there were people whose eyes had gone red with bloodlust and splattering blood.
Gu Mang took a breath.
But escaping here did not bring him even the slightest moment of relief.
His vision was becoming heavier and heavier, as though the black demonic energy might swallow his consciousness at any moment.
He anxiously widened his eyes and searched through the chaotic battlefield for the commander’s banner—
Found it.
But at that very moment, a sinister chill rose behind him.
He sensed that the furious State Preceptor of Liao had already broken through the sea of flames and was closing in.
He could not help shouting:
“Murong Lian!!!”
The commander responsible for attacking the main city gate, Murong Lian, was astride a Golden-Winged Drifting Snow Horse.
He seemed somewhat indifferent to the battle situation. Taking advantage of the protective barrier constructed by the defensive cultivators, he simply watched from the sidelines, showing no intention whatsoever of personally entering the fray.
He was even biting his water pipe and narrowing his peach-blossom eyes as he smoked his Fusheng Ruomeng.
Caught off guard by the shout, Murong Lian was startled.
He coughed several times and raised his hazy peach-blossom eyes toward the chaotic battlefield.
At a glance, he saw a Liao grand cultivator dressed in white and gold sweeping through the darkness like a ghost, closing in on an attendant of Lord Xihe.
And that shout had come from this battered little attendant, who was running toward him while calling for help.
“…What’s going on?”
“Take this Qiankun Pouch!!”
The attendant shouted as he ran through layer upon layer of raging battle toward him.
His eyes were filled with anxiety and urgency.
“Take it to Mo Xi!!”
“Don’t even think about it!”
The State Preceptor’s robes fluttered in the wind as he landed lightly on the ground.
His hand shot out like lightning, and with a single move, he seized Gu Mang by the shoulder.
Gu Mang violently struck him away.
The two instantly exchanged more than ten moves.
Although the State Preceptor lacked stamina, Gu Mang was even more severely wounded, and he quickly fell into a disadvantage.
But as they fought, the two gradually moved closer and closer to Murong Lian’s barrier.
Gu Mang turned his head and flung the Qiankun Pouch containing the Blood Demon Beast’s remnant soul toward the edge of the barrier.
Then he shouted:
“Go!”
Murong Lian, however, was an extremely cautious man.
Fearing that there might be a trap, he did not immediately pick up the brocade pouch.
Instead, he stared at Gu Mang.
“The technique you’re using—is it Liao’s black magic?”
“I…”
Murong Lian narrowed his eyes.
“How am I supposed to believe that you’re not a deception sent by the Liao army?”
Gu Mang suddenly found himself utterly unable to explain.
He only knew Liao’s techniques.
His spiritual core was damaged, so he could no longer cast Chonghua’s spells.
How could he prove his identity now?
While blocking the State Preceptor’s attacks, he desperately racked his brain for an answer.
His blue eyes spun chaotically.
The State Preceptor struck with his palm, coming close to Gu Mang’s face, and chuckled beside his ear:
“What did I tell you? As long as black demonic power flows through your entire body, there is nowhere in the Nine Provinces where you can belong except Liao.”
With that, he reached for the remnant soul.
Gu Mang swiftly retreated, then suddenly rolled and once again protected the Qiankun Pouch against his chest.
Although he managed to reclaim the pouch with that move, he could not evade the State Preceptor’s attack.
The instant he rose and dodged, his vision suddenly blurred.
The next moment, the State Preceptor’s spell slammed viciously into his waist and ribs.
Gu Mang suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed to his knees at the edge of the barrier, where blue light flowed.
He raised his head and looked at Murong Lian, whose gaze wavered uncertainly.
He could not say that he was Gu Mang.
The moment he did, the Chonghua soldiers around them would certainly erupt in an uproar.
But he also had no way to explain why he could only use Liao’s black magic spells.
His bloodstained lips trembled as they opened and closed.
His fingers pressed against the barrier’s glowing formation.
Murong Lian narrowed his eyes.
Through the mask, he could not see what kind of face lay beneath it.
And because of the masking spell, what others saw when they looked at Gu Mang’s eyes was their ordinary appearance rather than the blue eyes that would expose his identity.
For a moment, Murong Lian still could not determine whether there was some deception involved.
Yet somehow, he felt that this person’s gaze was extremely familiar.
Just as his heart trembled, he heard the man quietly say:
“That day, when I went to your residence, it was because I missed her very much.”
“…What?”
This attendant hoarsely uttered two words that were enough to prove his identity to Murong Lian:
“Aunt Ni…”
Murong Lian was instantly struck as though by a bolt of thunder!
—Gu Mang?!!
And at that very moment, the State Preceptor’s second strike came crashing down!
Blood splattered everywhere!!
In the blink of an eye, Murong Lian’s barrier suddenly opened.
But he had not had time to pull Gu Mang inside.
The moment Gu Mang flung the Qiankun Pouch into the barrier, the State Preceptor struck him in the back.
If the State Preceptor had not been concerned that the violent spiritual energy would affect the remnant soul and therefore used only ten percent of his strength, Gu Mang would probably have already lost his life.
Murong Lian’s face turned deathly pale.
He watched Gu Mang violently cough up another mouthful of blood, yet still waved his hand and repaired the barrier’s formation of light.
“Give it to Lord Xihe…”
“You…”
“You don’t understand his techniques. You won’t be his match.”
Gu Mang took a breath.
“Hurry up!!”
“…”
“Why are you still standing there? Do you hate me so much that you’d let it go this far?!!”
The light and shadows in Murong Lian’s eyes were extraordinarily complicated.
He bit his lip, ordered someone to bring up the Qiankun Pouch that had fallen to the ground, and gripped it tightly in his palm.
The Qiankun Pouch had long since been dyed bright red with fresh blood.
There truly was an indescribably evil spiritual energy surging from within.
Murong Lian’s heart pounded violently, and for a moment, he did not know what he was feeling.
Gu Mang shouted angrily:
“Get the hell out of here! I can’t hold him off anymore. You’re next!”
The people around them had no idea what was happening, much less what kind of secret exchange this golden-masked attendant had made with their Lord Wangshu.
Seeing Murong Lian’s complicated expression, they watched as he finally tucked the brocade pouch into his robes.
He then ordered the most elite defensive cultivators around him:
“Withdraw to the northern city gate and rendezvous with Lord Xihe!”
“Yes!”
The State Preceptor’s gaze instantly turned vicious.
He and the high-ranking cultivators from Liao immediately tried to stop them.
But unexpectedly, Gu Mang wiped away the blood at the corner of his lips.
At his chest, he drew one vertical and one horizontal line, forming a spell seal…
“Not good!”
The State Preceptor immediately retreated.
Almost at the same instant, an overwhelming wave of black demonic energy erupted from Gu Mang’s body like a terrifying tide, surging endlessly into the heavens and earth!
A wolf-like, ghostly blue chill flashed within Gu Mang’s eyes.
Behind him rose an eerie flame shaped like a lone wolf.
This move had clearly been completely beyond the State Preceptor’s expectations.
Because once Gu Mang used it, he was destined to be devoured by the black demon.
And he could only maintain it for the brief duration of one incense stick.
His bloodstained lips opened and closed.
Gu Mang stood directly in the path Murong Lian had taken to flee.
He raised his eyes, glowing with the eerie radiance of a dark abyss, and coldly uttered four words:
“Lone Wolf. Release the Seal!”
At once, violent winds swept across the ground.
Clouds and mist gathered.
From deep within the earth, it seemed as though the howls of countless millions of wolves could be heard.
Then sand and stones rose in torrents, swirling around Gu Mang.
The State Preceptor’s eyes flashed with intense excitement.
His pearly teeth clenched.
“Good… very good.”
“You actually refined this technique?”
“Gu Mang, in the end, I was the one who underestimated you. You truly are… formidable for one so young!”
“But you’d better think carefully.”
“After using this technique, whether black magic or Chonghua techniques, I’m afraid you won’t be able to use either anymore.”
“And at most, you can maintain it for only one incense stick…”
“What will you do after that?!”
Gu Mang slightly raised his chin.
There was a heavy, vicious air between his brows, along with an arrogant and unyielding defiance.
“You shouldn’t concern yourself with what I do afterward.”
“You should worry about whether beating you up before that hurts.”
The State Preceptor sneered.
“Acting on impulse.”
“I’ll do whatever the hell makes me happy.”
With that, his body, engulfed in rolling demonic energy shaped like an妖狼, suddenly leaped into the air.
In an instant, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, slashing straight toward the State Preceptor standing rigidly on the ground!!