The Zhongzhou forces were completely thrown off by the rebels' series of maneuvers. For a brief moment, everyone stood frozen, eyes wide, staring at Lie Feng—who had dared to appear alone before them.
Even the rebel army was inwardly shaken after witnessing the flames just now.
They had known from the day Lie Feng first appeared that he was powerful, but they never imagined he would be this terrifyingly strong. Thinking back to how they had nearly come to blows with him before, many of the rebels felt a lingering fear.
For a moment, no one made a move—until Yuan Hong let out a furious shout, snapping them back to their senses.
"All units, listen up!
You deal with the rest of the rabble. Leave this one to me!"
With the order given, the Zhongzhou troops charged toward the rebels who had previously launched the ambush.
At the same time, even more rebels—who had been hiding nearby—burst forth. Both sides clashed fiercely, and the sounds of battle erupted in every direction: shouts, screams, and the violent ringing of weapons colliding.
Yet Yuan Hong and Lie Feng remained motionless, facing one another.
Yuan Hong hesitated.
Although his cultivation had improved with the help of the Xuantian Pill, deep down he still lacked full confidence.
Fighting Lie Feng alone, without external support, is too risky, he thought.
Perhaps retreating first and seeking assistance from the lords of nearby cities would give me better odds.
While he was still wavering, Lie Feng had already closed the distance and swung a punch at him.
Yuan Hong might have been thinking relentlessly, but his eyes never once left Lie Feng.
Drawing on years of battle experience, he sidestepped the incoming blow with precise timing. Still, he knew Lie Feng's assault wouldn't stop there.
He intended to widen the distance and use ranged techniques to suppress his opponent—but Lie Feng pressed in relentlessly, maintaining close-quarters pressure from the moment he approached. Yuan Hong couldn't shake him off and was eventually forced to raise both arms to block Lie Feng's strikes.
After barely blocking a few blows, Yuan Hong felt his arms start to strain. If he continued defending passively, defeat was inevitable. Gritting his teeth, he shifted from defense to offense and began trading blows head-on with Lie Feng.
When their palms collided, Yuan Hong felt something deeply unsettling.
Within Lie Feng's palm were two completely different types of spiritual power.
One was pure and gentle—the kind refined from orthodox cultivation.
The other was entirely unfamiliar: violent, frenzied, and overflowing with destructive force. Clashing against it caused an inexplicable agitation to rise in his mind.
In this clash of raw power, Yuan Hong was actually being faintly suppressed.
Though it was his first time encountering such strange energy, Yuan Hong instantly guessed its nature based on prior intelligence.
He shouted in disbelief,
"You're actually able to wield both righteous and demonic cultivation at the same time?! How can such mutually repelling energies coexist? How could such a technique even exist?!"
Lie Feng had no interest in answering. He merely replied coldly,
"It's too late for you to realize that now."
Before the words had fully left his mouth, Lie Feng had already launched another assault.
Though Yuan Hong had advanced in cultivation, Lie Feng had compensated for the gap through an entirely different means.
Lie Feng's total spiritual reserves were originally lower than Yuan Hong's. However, the Hunyuan Art allowed him to fuse both righteous and demonic energies into a single usable force—effectively doubling his available power.
In truth, his overall strength had now slightly surpassed Yuan Hong's.
In their previous battle, Yuan Hong had relied on superior cultivation to suppress Lie Feng.
Now, the situation had completely reversed.
The realization gnawed at Yuan Hong. He had never imagined being driven into such a desperate position.
With every collision of techniques, his confidence steadily eroded. He could keenly feel that in both combat skill and raw strength, he was inferior to Lie Feng. The fact that he had managed to hold out this long without falling was already remarkable.
But he knew—if the fight continued, defeat was inevitable.
He cast a glance at his subordinates still locked in battle with the rebels. As if making up his mind, he suddenly unleashed a massive surge of spiritual energy, blasting Lie Feng back, then immediately fired a gigantic fireball straight at him.
Lie Feng did not dodge.
Because in the midst of battle, he had already noticed something important—there were people nearby.
The commotion from their fight was far too enormous. It was impossible that the nearby townsfolk, already asleep, wouldn't be awakened.
When residents opened their doors and saw the chaos unfolding, they were momentarily stunned, unsure how to react. Many simply stood there, watching the mass slaughter in shock, before hastily shutting their doors upon realizing how dangerous the situation was—hoping no harm would come to them.
When the massive fireball erupted from Yuan Hong's hand, blazing like a miniature sun and illuminating the entire area, they finally understood that calamity had truly arrived.
When Lie Feng had unleashed the pillar of fire earlier, he had already been worried about accidentally setting nearby buildings ablaze. To avoid causing a fire, he had deliberately held back—otherwise, that single attack would have been enough to wipe out most of Yuan Hong's subordinates.
He had restrained himself out of concern for the lives of strangers.
Yet Yuan Hong—the city lord—showed complete disregard for the lives of his people.
A surge of anger rose within Lie Feng.
He channeled his spiritual power and violently lifted one hand upward.
From the ground, a thick wall of ice burst forth, instantly rising to block the incoming fireball.
The fireball punched a massive hole through the ice wall. Steam billowed, and melted water streamed down from above in scorching rivulets.
By then, Yuan Hong had already flown far into the distance, reduced to a small figure in the sky.
Lie Feng did not immediately pursue. He merely watched coldly.
Meanwhile, although Yuan Hong's subordinates were already at a disadvantage against the rebels, they had continued fighting stubbornly.
But now, seeing Yuan Hong flee so decisively—clearly abandoning them as expendable pieces—their fighting spirit shattered completely.
Suddenly, someone shouted,
"The City Lord has fled!"
Panic spread instantly. The remaining cultivators fled for their lives.
The rebels pursued them relentlessly, and the battlefield quickly turned into a one-sided slaughter.
Yuan Hong, meanwhile, fled at full speed toward the outskirts of the city.
Then something utterly unexpected happened.
The city-protecting formation activated.
A translucent barrier enveloped the entirety of Zhongzhou City, cutting off all passage in or out.
Yuan Hong stood frozen midair. From the very beginning, every one of his actions had seemed anticipated in advance.
Who… who is orchestrating all of this behind the scenes?
The events of the night threw him into utter confusion. He hovered there, momentarily unable to decide what to do next.
"Not running anymore?"
Lie Feng appeared not far away and said coldly,
"This was a little surprise specially prepared for you. How do you like it?"
Yuan Hong glared at him and roared,
"What have you done?!"
"Nothing much," Lie Feng replied indifferently.
"We simply took advantage of the moment when your estate was emptied and seized control of the city formation. He said that if I worked with him, you'd have no way to escape. Looks like he was right."
"Who is this he you keep referring to?" Yuan Hong demanded.
"What does it matter?" Lie Feng said calmly.
"You won't be alive much longer anyway."
Yuan Hong's voice dropped, heavy with fury.
"You really think you've got me cornered?"