"Primordial Heavenly Venerable?"
Li Xianzong froze in his tracks, immediately recognizing the young man leading the Orderly Faction as his target.
Across the way, Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "Li Xianzong?!"
Li Xianzong? Matched into the same Instance?
What a twist of fate.
"Primordial Heavenly Venerable!" The gaunt middle-aged man's voice suddenly rose. "The Primordial Heavenly Venerable from the Songhai Branch? The one with the fifth-highest bounty on the Underground Black Market?"
The other three companions exchanged astonished glances.
"That's right, it's him!" Li Xianzong grinned. "Interesting. You're in Yin-Yang Town too? I was planning to kill you for the bounty after this Instance, but this saves me the trouble."
"Oh yeah, I heard Li Xianzong almost killed this guy recently. Talk about a twist of fate," the gaunt man chuckled.
"Twist of fate?" The man in the suit's eyes flickered as he deliberately raised his voice. "This kid dares to call himself Li Xianzong's rival? You need to be evenly matched for that! This brat deserves nothing more than to kneel before Li Xianzong and beg for mercy. You Orderly Faction pups are dead meat."
The gaunt man immediately understood his companion's intent. Whether it was a street brawl or a full-scale war, psychological warfare was crucial.
Shouting Li Xianzong's name, he roared:
"The Five Elements Alliance is truly in decline! The rookie they praise so highly is nothing more than prey for our Captain. Kid, did your legs go weak at the sight of Li Xianzong? Kneel down and call me 'Grandpa' a few times, and we might just leave you with a whole corpse!"
The Evil Class members cackled maniacally.
The faces of the Orderly Faction members darkened.
Though they knew the enemy was deliberately trying to demoralize them, it was impossible to remain unaffected by such a formidable foe.
We're matched against Li Xianzong? Queen's expression flickered slightly as she instinctively glanced at the Captain beside her. Li Xianzong was a notorious criminal high on the official wanted list—even the Primordial Heavenly Venerable couldn't defeat him.
She remembered the discussions after Li Xianzong's terrorist attack in Songhai, which nearly killed the Primordial Heavenly Venerable. The consensus had been that the Primordial Heavenly Venerable was far inferior to Li Xianzong.
So he still can't escape this "fate"... No, it's not just him. I'm in danger too.
Grass on the Plain, a Freelancer, wasn't particularly attuned to news from the outside world. But hearing Li Xianzong's name suddenly reminded him of what Queen had said when introducing the Primordial Heavenly Venerable.
This Li Xianzong is the Captain's nemesis? And the Captain was defeated by him?
The Wood Spirit Youth's heart tightened.
While the Huode Star General's anger flared at the enemy's taunts against their Captain, the others grew somber.
At that moment, the Mage standing between the two factions surveyed the scene, then snorted coldly.
"The Court's hounds have finally found their way here."
Before anyone could respond, the Mage, convinced both sides were the Court's lapdogs, raised his head and exhaled a stream of emerald-green gas that rapidly spread like thick smoke.
Encouraged by the wind, the verdant gas surged toward both sides.
"Retreat!"
The gaunt middle-aged man roared, opening his Inventory and grabbing a White Jade Toad, which he held aloft.
The emerald-green gas swarmed into the toad's mouth, instantly transforming the White Jade Toad into a deep green hue.
On the other side, the Queen shielded her teammates, her palms raised in a lifting gesture. With a thunderous roar, the river water coalesced into a raging Water Dragon, soaring and twisting through the air as it devoured the mist-like emerald-green gas.
The Water Dragon's color immediately shifted to a pale green.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out from the distance. In the instant the emerald-green mist dissipated, the Orderly Faction's marksmen ambushed the Evil Faction.
The Evil Faction's Walkers, ever vigilant and aware of their surroundings, reacted calmly and swiftly, dodging with practiced ease—rolling, ducking, or diving to the side.
As the gaunt man dove to the ground, he heard a muffled thud behind him. A deep bullet crater appeared in the earthen wall, smoke curling from the impact.
"Heh, trying to snipe me from that distance?"
A scornful smirk had barely formed on his lips when another gunshot rang out. This time, the target wasn't him, but the dark green toad that had fallen nearby.
The jade toad shattered instantly, fragments scattering in all directions. The emerald-green gas sealed within surged out, engulfing the area.
The shooter wasn't Guan Ya, but Li Chunfeng. His shot was merely a diversion, covering Guan Ya's true attack.
Seeing this, the Queen immediately abandoned her plan to disperse the Water Dragon. Instead, she shifted her palms from cupping to pushing, transforming the Water Dragon into a torrential rain that cascaded down upon the poison gas-shrouded Evil Faction.
At that moment, the black-robed mage drew a three-foot-long staff from the cloth pouch at his waist. The staff was as black as ink, its tip adorned with an egg-sized piece of Black Jade.
Raising the staff high, he intoned a deep, authoritative declaration:
"All shall perish!"
The Black Jade at the staff's tip suddenly glowed, emitting a dim, ominous light.
At the alley entrance, Guan Ya, who had been aiming her gun, clutched her chest as a sharp pain pierced her heart. Her heart stopped beating. She slowly sank to her knees, gasping for breath in agony.
Li Chunfeng suffered the same fate.
On the plaza, Zhang Yuanqing, Queen, Grass on the Plain, Li Xianzong, and the others simultaneously clutched their hearts, their faces ashen.
A curse—a powerful curse.
"This... this can't be," the young man with the missing left ear whispered in agony. "A Level 4 Saint's curse shouldn't be this potent."
While a Level 4 Saint could curse any of them to death individually, this was a widespread curse, and its power shouldn't be so overwhelming.
A brilliant golden light erupted as Zhang Yuanqing, who had been crouching, dispelled the curse's effects. He hurled the Demon Subduing Pestle from his hand and activated Night Roaming, charging toward the Mage.
The golden-glowing pestle shot forward. With a flick of his staff, the Mage deflected it with a sharp clang.
The dark aura emanating from the black jade immediately dissipated, and the curse vanished.
The Demon Subduing Pestle's curse-breaking function had activated.
Zhang Yuanqing lunged forward, catching the spinning pestle mid-air.
Guan Ya leaned back against the earthen wall, sliding from a crouch into a seated position. She raised her long rifle, aimed at the Mage, and pulled the trigger.
She had decisively abandoned her plan to target the Evil Class members individually. The Mage was too powerful; a single misstep could lead to their annihilation. At this moment, prioritizing targets was crucial.
Bang!
The bullet struck the Mage's head, but it pierced only a shadow.
The Mage reappeared several meters away, staff in hand. His robe had inexplicably torn open, revealing a towering two-meter frame encased in rigid armor. His legs, though lean, were powerfully muscled, resembling the hind limbs of a locust.
His face had transformed into a grotesque, insect-like visage, with menacing mandibles and two antennae protruding from his forehead.
Guan Ya racked the slide, ejected the spent cartridge, and fired again.
The bullet struck another afterimage. The Mage reappeared on the opposite side of the plaza, his locust-like legs and antennae granting him unimaginable reflexes and speed.
Finally, the Mage noticed her, his obsidian eyes locking onto her.
Guan Ya's heart sank. Just then, she saw Zhang Yuanqing recklessly charge forward, throwing himself at the Mage to protect her.
The Mage shifted his gaze to Zhang Yuanqing, but the enemy suddenly vanished.
The antennae on the Mage's forehead twitched slightly, perhaps sensing the airflow or emitting some signal. He abruptly bent his knee and unleashed a vicious whip-like kick to his right.
Crack!
A figure was flung out—Zhang Yuanqing, his arms crossed protectively over his chest.
He soared through the air, tumbled to the ground, and landed with a sickening thud, a metallic sweetness rising in his throat.
The Mage's knees buckled as he prepared to pursue, but he suddenly lowered his head, his cold eyes fixed on his calf. A deep gash there oozed thick, emerald-green fluid.
He raised his head, his staff pointing at Zhang Yuanqing, the black gemstone emitting a dark, ominous glow.
Zhang Yuanqing felt a sharp pain in his calf as the flesh silently split open, the wound widening rapidly. Without hesitation, he plunged the Demon Subduing Pestle into his thigh.
Bathed in golden light, the flesh-rending process immediately halted.
"Be careful! He can use his own injuries as a medium to cast curses," Zhang Yuanqing warned. Even as he spoke, the Mage, now transformed into a Gu-infused creature, streaked toward him, leaving trails of afterimages.
His vision sharpened to its peak, allowing him to anticipate the Mage's movements.
Without thinking, he rolled to the right.
Bang!
The staff slammed into the ground, shattering the stone tiles.
As the Mage raised his staff again, the Huode Star General, standing nearby, leaned back and hurled a ball of intensely compressed fire at him.
Boom!
The fireball exploded on impact, creating a massive crater. The Mage's figure vanished in the shockwave.
Zhang Yuanqing looked up and shouted, "He's coming!"
The Huode Star General retreated, hurling fireballs to blanket the advancing space.
The Mage's figure flickered left and right, evading the fireballs with uncanny speed as he closed in on the Huode Star General. With a swift strike, he slammed his fist into the burly warrior's abdomen.
The Huode Star General's body convulsed, his pupils dilating wildly.
A violent inferno engulfed the Huode Star General, while a dozen meters behind the Mage, a small flame suddenly erupted, transforming into the Fire Master, clutching his abdomen and kneeling on the ground, gasping for breath.
In just two exchanges, two of the Orderly Faction's key members were already in dire straits.
"This boss is a real handful. Should we retreat for now?"
The Evil Faction, having escaped the poisonous gas, watched the scene unfold with silent awe.
"No," the young man with a missing left ear argued. "With the Orderly Faction holding him off, we have a chance to kill him. If the Mage wipes out these minions first, we're all doomed."
He continued, "The Gu Insect the Mage fused with is of an extremely high level, possessing perception, agility, strength, and self-healing capabilities. It's beyond comprehension how he managed to cultivate such a creature. In close combat, even your Seductive Demons wouldn't stand a chance against him."
Li Xianzong nodded slowly, his expression grave.
"Dogs of the Court," the Mage's grotesque maw opened and closed, his voice dripping with malice, "today shall be your final day."
Suddenly, a crimson light erupted from the Mage's pupils, and a dark aura enveloped his head.
The Mage clutched his head in agony, letting out a beast-like growl as his reason rapidly dissolved under the oppressive darkness.
At the alley entrance, Li Chunfeng glanced sideways and saw Skinny Chi Ou eating a lotus root. In his hand, he held a Scarecrow whose features eerily resembled the insect-transformed Mage.
An opportunity!
The eyes of Walkers from both factions lit up.