"He is only a sage?!"

"Although Yan Xiu killed Sir Ling Ning, judging from his cultivation and Enlightenment State, he should be waiting outside. Is he not afraid to die by charging in like that?"

The Monster Race and Demon Race were completely stunned when they saw Yan Xiu charging into the breath of death.

He was courting death.

To them, the breath of death represented death. One ought to be considered lucky if one was even able to stay in the breath of death for a minute.

Yet, Yan Xiu charged in like that?

Was he really not afraid to die?

Besides the Monster Race and Demon Race, the disciples of the Human Alliance and the sect leaders of various sects were also extremely stunned as they felt that Yan Xiu was overly rash.

In this situation where the situation inside the breath of death was unclear, the safest method was to kill Lin Yu with Yan Qianli and Ping Yang first.

As long as Lin Yu was dead, even if Fang Zhengzhi lost to "Chou Qi", the humankind still had the hope of winning as after all, "Chou Qi" would have suffered severe injuries in order to win Fang Zhengzhi.

After that, the three of them could fight against "Chou Qi".

They would still have at least 40 percent of chance of winning!

"Yan Xiu is way too rash, the breath of death set by 'Chou Qi' is so powerful and he charged into it like this. Does he not understand the significance of this battle?"

"Exactly, he is too young and ras.h.!.+"

"How unfortunate, the hope that we could turn the tides is going to perish in his hands."

The sect leaders in the Human Alliance sighed.

"Old man Mu, do you have nothing to say?" Mo Shans.h.i.+ asked as he saw that Mu Qingfeng had chosen to keep silent.

"What should I say?" asked Mu Qingfeng.

"Regarding Yan Xiu's actions?"

"Sigh… I have nothing much to say, I am not surprised at all." Mu Qingfeng shook his head. He also knew that Yan Xiu was slightly rash.

However, so what?

Yan Xiu was rash and so was Fang Zhengzhi. A year ago, Fang Zhengzhi had charged to the Yin Yang Hall alone in order to save Yan Xiu. He was so rash that it made others speechless.

Friends?

Mu Qingfeng looked at the figure who had disappeared into the breath of death and sighed in his heart. There were really such friends in the world.

"You are not surprised?" Mo Shans.h.i.+ went into deep thought after hearing what Mu Qingfeng said. However, he soon smiled. "Haha, Indeed, you shouldn't be surprised as Fang Zhengzhi was trapped inside and Yan Xiu was the one who charged in!"

"Yes… because he is Yan Xiu!" Wu Yuer sighed too when he saw the scene.

…

Yan Xiu was unaware of the commotion outside.

His body had been surrounded by a red armor made from the Dao of Asura. He used it to break open the breath of death and charged inside immediately.

"Wait for me, you have to wait for me!" Yan Xiu's eyes were bloodshot and the red armor was being burnt by the surrounding breath of death. However, he did not seem to mind at all.

That was because he only had one thing in mind: to reach Fang Zhengzhi in the shortest time as possible.

Puff!

Finally, Yan Xiu reached the center of the breath of death. Due to the battle, the breath of death had become much thinner there.

Yah Xiu quickly noticed the two people standing at the center.

"I've found it!" Without any hesitation, Yan Xiu charged towards the blue figure as he knew that it was Fang Zhengzhi.

However, halfway through, he froze on the spot and widened his bloodshot eyes.

"Nangong… Mu?!"

"Erm? Yan Xiu?" Fang Zhengzhi took a glance back when he heard Yan Xiu's voice and saw him.

"Where's 'Chou Qi'?" Yan Xiu stared at Nangong Mu, the black cloak on his body and the gray aura that flowed from his body.

It was the breath of death.

However, he did not believe in such a strange scene as, like Fang Zhengzhi, he could not believe in something that he thought was impossible to happen.

"Nangong Mu is Chou Qi, Chou Qi is Nangong Mu," explained Fang Zhengzhi as he saw the shock in Yan Xiu's eyes.

"I get it, let's attack." Yan Xiu nodded and stopped asking.

That was because Fang Zhengzhi had made it very clear. "Chou Qi" was Nangong Mu, no matter how much he refused to, he chose to believe it as Fang Zhengzhi was the one who said it.

"Yan Xiu, leave, you can't even stay for a minute in here with your level of skills," said Nangong Mu after taking a glance at the red armor on Yan Xiu.

"One minute is enough." Yan Xiu did not seem to be bothered and waved his Silver Blood Fan to block out the breath of death surrounding him.

"Hmm, it's definitely enough." Fang Zhengzhi nodded his head slightly.

Initially, he wanted Yan Xiu to leave immediately after he saw him entering as Yan Xiu could not stay long in the breath of death.

However, he did not speak his mind.

That was because he knew that Yan Xiu would not leave. Since he would not leave, it was meaningless for him to waste time persuading him.

"I will attack first." Without much words, Yan Xiu charged towards Nangong Mu.

"Both of you do not have much time, you stand a slight chance only if both of you attacked at the same time." Yan Xiu waved his green and blue swords and two beams of sword radiance shot out at Yan Xiu.

It was a casual strike.

But the speed was extremely fast.

The two-colored radiance of green and blue attacked Yan Xiu from the front and back.

However, Yan Xiu did not dodge.

That was because he knew Fang Zhengzhi was behind him.

As predicted by Yan Xiu, just as the two sword radiances were about to hit Yan Xiu, a few different colored chains shot out from his back, traveling at a speed that was as fast as lightning. They were the h.e.l.l Near-Life Chains and every chain had radiance flowing on it.

Boom! A loud boom was heard when the h.e.l.l Near-Life Chains collided with the two-colored sword radiance and the sword radiance was broken instantly.

"Strike!"

"Of!"

"Slas.h.!.+"

At the instant of the collision, Yan Xiu roared coldly and struck his Silver Blood Fan at Nangong Mu.

Buzz!

The bright red radiance turned into a gigantic crystal-like sword in the air. There was a bright red h.e.l.l Near-Life Chain on the blade of the gigantic sword.

"Hmm?!" Nangong Mu froze.

He knew that Fang Zhengzhi and Yan Xiu had not met for a long time and there was a huge difference in their level of skills.

Even so…

Both of them could still coordinate so well with each other?

What was the reason?

Was it trust?!

Nangong Mu retreated extremely quickly but the gigantic red sword which was chained up by the h.e.l.l Near-Life Chains had already reached the top of his head.

"I'll split it!" Nangong Mu moved his green and blue swords to form a cross on the top of his head before a sword radiance that was shaped like a cross zoomed up towards the sky.

However, at this moment…

He suddenly heard a cold voice.

"Combination of Asura!"

Boom! A loud sound was heard.

The gigantic red sword was stained with a beam of gold and had seemingly gained its own life. It was so sharp that it sliced the s.p.a.ce apart immediately.

Nangong Mu's body shook violently.

That was because instead of the gigantic red sword above his head, the blue sword in his hand broke into two.

The sword broke!

But it was Nangong Mu's sword!

Spat! Nangong Mu spat out a mouthful of blood.

Nangong Mu was injured. However, that was not what mattered the most to him. He was more concerned with how Fang Zhengzhi and Yan Xiu were still able to coordinate so well even after not meeting each other for such a long time.

Most importantly…

There was a stark difference in their skill levels.

With this stark difference, they were still able to fuse their moves together so perfectly and produce an extraordinarily powerful move.

Why?

Trust, the trust amongst friends, was it really that powerful?

Nangong Mu had always wanted a friend whom he could trust with his life. In fact, he thought he had found one.

However, a while ago…

He decided to forgo.

He had forgone his friend and their friends.h.i.+p, he gave up on his determination because he had the blood of the descendant of Emperor Yan flowing in his body and had no choice but to complete his mission.

"Hahaha…" Nangong Mu laughed until his entire body shook. He was laughing so wildly and agonizingly that his face became terrifyingly twisted.

Was that wrong?

Was he really wrong?!

The voices echoed in his head repeatedly. He recalled how he first met Fang Zhengzhi and fought with him for the first time on the battle stage.

Perhaps, he had once experienced friends.h.i.+p too.

Perhaps, he should be the one standing beside Fang Zhengzhi and fighting against the Monster Race and Demon Race with him.

Perhaps…

There should not be any more 'perhaps'.

That was because he had already made a choice, a choice that determined the loss of all his friends, a choice that determined his loneliness for the rest of his life.

However, there was no turning back.

That was his character.

He was unwilling to regret and go back to square one after he made a choice.

Just like the famous officials in the past who could betray once but never a second time, Nangong Mu chose to betray.

He betrayed his friends.h.i.+p and his friends. Therefore, he would never change his mind again. Even if the path was filled with darkness, he would continue walking.

"I have already chosen to betray my friends so I will definitely not betray my family, Fang Zhengzhi, Yan Xiu, both of you have to die today!" Nangong Mu's eyes were bloodshot.

An extremely thick red light radiated from his body.

Boom! A bolt of blood-red lightning struck.

It struck the top of Nangong Mu's head and formed an extremely huge Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration with eight extremely complicated symbols on it

Blood Offering, eight directions!

Meanwhile, white sticks of branches surged from Nangong Mu's body. The branches rose up and spread extremely quickly and were about to touch the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration on his head.

"Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration and the Tree of G.o.d?" Fang Zhengzhi froze. This scene was extremely strange and moreover, he could not recall a legend like this in his past life.

Was it not recorded?

Fang Zhengzhi was not sure how was this world related to the past world but he felt that there were a lot of repet.i.tions of the legends.

For instance, the Cosmic Disaster recorded in the stone tablet.

It was similar to the legend of Nüwa.

'Wait a minute!'

Similar?!

A thought suddenly struck Fang Zhengzhi. Yes, the legends in the past world were similar to that in this world, but not identical.

Although it seemed to be a small difference, it gave Fang Zhengzhi a whole new train of thought.

Tree of G.o.d…

Talking about the records of the Tree of G.o.d…

The types of Tree of G.o.d recorded in the ancient books flashed across Fang Zhengzhi's mind. Amongst them, there were five Trees of G.o.d. The first one was the "Immortal Tree".

It was recorded in the "Sea and Mountain Scripture".

The legend stated that the immortal trees grew on the land of an immortal country in the Southern lands. One would become immortal if they ate the fruits of the immortal tree.

It was rather exaggerated.

But if they applied it to the current context of this world…

It could be interpreted as 'the fruits on the tree gave one superpower such that one could become a sage and have an extended life expectancy and increased power'.

That was related to Nangong Mu's Tree of G.o.d.

Initially, Nangong Mu and Nangong Hao's powers increased tremendously after consuming the fruit on the Tree of G.o.d and entered the Sage state from the Rebirth State.

Besides that, there was another record of a Tree of G.o.d.

The legend stated that it grew on the Eastern Sea and the G.o.ddess of the Sun had once ridden on it for her son.

The tree was claimed to be the door that connected the G.o.dly Realm and the world of life and death. However, after Hou Yi stood on it and broke it while trying to shoot down the sun, the three realms could no longer be connected.

These were seemingly two completely different legends and records. However, if one put them together, one could see the similarities with Nangong Mu's Tree of G.o.d.

However, what was the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration for?

Why did Nangong Mu fuse the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration and the Tree of G.o.d?

Fang Zhengzhi could not figure it out but he had a premonition that there would be a terrifying turn in events.

The Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration…

Emperor Yan?

Nangong Hao and Monster Emperor Baizhi seemed to have mentioned about this on the Heaven Zen Mountain.

The Tree of G.o.d was planted after the great battle and only descendants of Emperor Yan could control it. This was easily understandable.

However, Fang Zhengzhi could not understand something.

What was the relations.h.i.+p between the Blood Offering Ill.u.s.tration and the Tree of G.o.d?Hou Yi is a mythological Chinese archer that shot down the sun