“Good child, don’t be upset. I’ve lived for such a long time. It is my honour to do something for the Alliance before I die. You and Rong Yuan…should continue living well together.”

Rong Huachang did not give Gu Lingzhi any chance to persuade her before she rushed out of Wenrong Palace. She was so quick, the guards at the door only saw a shadow flash past.

“Grand-aunt, wait……” Gu Lingzhi reached out her hand as fast as she could but missed Rong Huachang by half a second.

How could Rong Huachang still be so rash at her age? Gu Lingzhi could barely hold off her tears. She had a way to save everyone and not expose her identity!

With a helpless sigh, Gu Lingzhi glanced at the guards outside the palace before she retrieved the mask that she had not used for a long time.

This was the mask she used when she first learned forging. Though her weapon forging skills had improved later on and even added a function which allowed her to isolate her consciousness and spy on others, the appearance of her mask was still just as ugly.

Placing the mask onto her face properly, Gu Lingzhi carefully avoided the guards at the palace door and headed in the direction that Rong Huachang took off to.

Before she could go any further, the ground beneath her feet shook violently. Pan Luming’s detestful voice rang through the palace “Lord Fashen, it is rare that you are in the North Qiu Kingdom. Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. If your old friends here know about this, they would be upset with you.”

“Thank you for your offer, but I prefer to be with the Alliance and I shall not trouble you further,” Lord Fashen replied.

His muscles were clenched tightly out of nervousness.

In the past, he did not think highly of Pan Luming. However, in the split second before he attacked Pan Luming, the Life Whip sprung to action and three stoneman that possessed the strength of Demigods appeared out of the blue.

The stonemen did not experience pain like human beings would and they attacked Lord Fashen without hesitation. These stonemen only heeded the order of the person who created them and hence, they did not hold back when they attacked Lord Fashen. Additionally, Pan Luming stood by a side and aided in the attack causing Lord Fashen to be placed in a tight spot.

As the battle progressed on, the stonemen would perish after a certain duration. Yet Pan Luming would create new Demigod-ranked stonemen. This dispirited Fashen and it seemed to him that the battle would not end.

At this point, he was only battling against Pan Luming and he was already in such a dangerous position. To make matters worse, he could sense the aura of a few other Demigods in the palace lurking nearby.

They had been too careless!

He had been overconfident in his cultivation rank and threw himself into enemies waters. Was he going to die that day?

After living for such a long time, Lord Fashen was unafraid of death. But what about the citizens of the Alliance? Without him, the Demigods of the Empire outnumbered the Alliance, was there still a chance for the Alliance to win?

Many of the Demigods who watched the battle from the below wore pleased looks. They originally had no intention to battle against Lord Fashen since they had the Sacred Weapon with them. Yet, they had not expected that he would arrive to collect it from them. Heaven was helping them. Once Lord Fashen was killed, the Alliance army could be annihilated easily.

Bam!

A loud explosion sounded as a stoneman struck against Lord Fashen’s chest. Fashen was thrown backward uncontrollably and a stoneman followed closely behind him. A thick earth- and gold-based spiritual energy filled fist was thrown in his direction.

If Fashen was struck by this blow, he would definitely die!

Right at that moment, a light orange figure flew out and struck against the stoneman. In the next instant, blood shot out of the mouth of this figure and the body flung lifelessly onto the ground.

“Princess Rong!” Lord Fashen screamed in shock. It was Rong Huachang who came to his rescue right after she spoke to Gu Lingzhi.

“Why are you still here? Didn’t I tell you to leave if anything went wrong?”

Rong Huachang mustered a light chuckle as she coughed blood involuntarily again, “If anything happened to you, what use is there even if I manage to escape?” She would be ruined when the Alliance was destroyed by the North Qiu Kingdom either way.

“How…how can you be so dumb?” Lord Fashen scolded. At his cultivation rank, it was hard for him to be killed unless he was ganged up on. If Rong Huachang had escaped, she might be able to save herself. Her actions had only put more pressure on him. What was he going to do now?

“What a bright woman. Let me guess. You must be Princess Rong of the Xia Kingdom right? Lord Fashen is so lucky to have a beautiful woman accompany you to your death bed. It really makes me jealous!” Pan Luming smirked and said sarcastically.

“What are you worth if your strength only comes from the Sacred Weapon? If you are strong enough, you should fight with Lord Fashen alone!”

“Hmph, the Life Whip is also a source of strength. Am I not fighting with him alone now?” Pan Luming burst into laughter.

Rong Huachang was at a loss for words. Strictly speaking, a weapon was considered a part of what determined the strength of a Martial Artist. Pan Luming was technically fighting with Fashen alone.

“Alright, what is the point of arguing? I will send you on your way now!” Pan Luming swooped down from the sky and brought the Life Whip close to the pair.

Without hesitation, Lord Fashen reached his hand out and pulled Rong Huachang behind him in a protective stance. However, a large force suddenly forced him away.

Lord Fashen and Pan Luming exclaimed in surprise.

A soft yellow light started to glow from Rong Huachang’s body. She was emitting gold and water spiritual energy!

“Shit, she is going to self-destruct!” Someone yelled.

Pan Luming and Fashen could tell what Rong Huachang was planning to do. Cursing to himself, Pan Luming ordered the stoneman to protect him before he flew off as fast as he could.

Self-destructing was a Martial Artist’s last resort and it involved sacrificing his life. No one used this move unless they were about to die. If Pan Luming knew Rong Huachang wanted to self-destruct, he would have killed Lord Fashen as fast as he could. The self-destruction of a Demigod was strong enough to destroy an entire palace. He had to assemble with the other Demigods to minimise the damage to the North Qiu palace.

Yet, Lord Fashen did not leave immediately and he stared at Rong Huachang with a mix of emotions in his eyes.

“Lord Fashen, hurry up and leave!” Rong Huachang shouted in desperation.

She had decided to self-destruct to give Fashen an opportunity to escape.

Why was he still here?

“I refuse to leave!” Self-destruction was reversible; Rong Huachang could stop her self-destruction as long as she could still maintain control over the spiritual energy in her body. Lord Fashen wanted to persuade her out of it. As a man, he would never allow a woman to sacrifice herself for him.

“My lord, this is not the time to be stubborn!” Rong Huachang’s voice was a pitch higher this time. The spiritual energy of her body glowed brightly around her and threatened to lose control. Could Lord Fashen be convinced easily? No one could change his mind.

Afar, Pan Luming and a few other Demigods from the Pan Family were rushing to gather spiritual energy to form a barrier around the palace. People rushed away from the palace, desperately running for their lives. The palace became hell at that point, as fear overwhelmed the area.

Right as everyone ran desperately, a masked figure rushed towards Fashen and Rong Huachang. This figure stood out from the crowd as she was headed in a direction opposite from everyone else.

“Stop! Princess Rong! I have a way for both of you to escape!” Gu Lingzhi, who now took on the identity of the Black Thorn rushed to the pair in the nick of time.

“You are…the Black Thorn?” Rong Huachang jumped in surprise as she recognized the personal guard of Gu LIngzhi. She quickly glanced at her surroundings and heaved a sigh of relief when she could not find Gu Lingzhi nearby.

“Did Lingzhi ask you to come? Go back, I ordered you to return and she will not blame you for this.”

Gu Lingzhi was at a loss for words and she paused for a while before she repeated, “Princess Rong, I have an idea to get the two of you out!”

At that instant, both Rong Huachang and Fashen gaped their mouths open in shock. They had recognized the voice of Gu Lingzhi.

“You…” Rong Huachang was so anxious she had to hold back her tears. Her plan of self-destruction was going down the drain. Initially, she had been determined to self-destruct to save Fashen. Were they destined to die together?

She directly regarded Gu Lingzhi’s words as a lie to persuade her out of self-destruction. After all, how can a Martial Sage do something even a Demigod could not?

Gu Lingzhi’s arrival immediately caused her to think through self-destructing again.

If the people she wanted to protect refused to leave, what was the use of self-destruction?

In the distance, Pan Luming and the other Demigods sealed the surroundings as fast as they could. Regardless of whether Rong Huachang would self-destruct, the trio would not be able to escape.

At the sight of Rong Huachang wavering, Gu Lingzhi suddenly reached her hand forward and tore through the yellow light that even Lord Fashen could not break through. In a swift motion, she pulled Rong Huachang out of it and carried her on her back. She barked, “Come with me!”

Gu Lingzhi turned and dashed towards a palace not far away.

Under normal circumstances, Gu Lingzhi would not have been able to pull Rong Huachang so easily. However, Rong Huachang was distracted with controlling her spiritual energy for self-destruction and this meant channelling all her spiritual energy into her elixir field. With only the yellow light protecting her body, Gu Lingzhi could easily reach for Rong Huachang. This action cut off the process of self-destruction and the spiritual energy within Rong Huachang’s body flowed out of her uncontrollably. With her injury and exhaustion, Rong Huachang chided, “Why don’t you listen to me? If you cut off my self-destruction, I will be a disabled person for life. What is the point of leaving me to live now?”

“Grand-aunt, don’t be angry now. Once we are out, you can scold me all you want,” Gu Lingzhi laughed slightly as she led the group out of the palace.

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