“Heh……”
A few dull laughs emerged from Gu Li’s mouth. Lips pursed, he turned around and shrugged helplessly.
“What’s this about?”
Swoosh.
The Xuan-Yuan sword returned to Ye Zichen’s hand. His expression was terrifyingly dark.
“Do you want to fight?”
Lips pursed, Gu Li shrugged as if he didn’t care at all and said, “Your behavior is really reckless. Actually, it terms of numbers, I’m not at a disadvantage at all.
As he said this, the two souls Fatty had risked everything to seal emerged, breaking through the soul-locking formation.
Once their souls re-merged into their bodies, Houqing and Yinggou got up and stood behind Gu Li, glaring darkly at Ye Zichen as they did so.
Ye Zichen’s eyebrows twitched involuntarily. How could they have been this fast?
Both he and Nuwa were baffled by this same question. An hour couldn’t possibly have passed so quickly.
“You must be wondering why, despite it having been less than an hour, they were able to emerge from the soul-locking formation. Actually, this is largely thanks to Brother Su. He spent all his time in the Demon Realm intensively researching formations. My relationship with him has always been pretty good, so I picked up a few things here and there.”
“Is someone like you worthy of calling Yiyun your brother?” snorted Ye Zichen.
“My apologies,” said Gu Li. “I can’t believe I forgot about your relationship with him. Truly, compared to you, I have no right to call Su Yiyun my brother.” His smile hadn’t once disappeared.
He glanced at Ye Zichen mockingly, and laughed before continuing. “But even though your relationship was so good, he still joined the Demon Realm, didn’t he? I’ve never seen the two of you fighting side by side either, have I? A formation master like Su Yiyun is hard to come by. If he was with you, why, it’d absolutely be like adding wings to a tiger. Then I simply wouldn’t dare act presumptuously in front of you!”
“Brother….” Su Yan had just woken up and was still somewhat dazed, but the moment she heard Su Yiyun’s name she struggled free of Su Zhu’s embrace and called out to Gu Li. “You know my brother? How is he doing now?”
“Him?” Gu Li’s lips curved upward. “His current situation isn’t too good.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Su Yan nervously.
Ye Zichen’s heart throbbed inexplicably with terror. So much had happened between them, but he was obviously still interested in any information related to Su Yiyun. Clearly, he still cared about him.
“He ought to be like a dog that’s lost its master right about now,” said Gu Li, smiling and pacing back and forth.
As he spoke, he glanced intermittently at Ye Zichen, as if looking forward to seeing his expression change.
“You’re just a little bird in a stolen nest,” said Ye Zichen contemptuously. “Who are you to slander others like that? ‘A dog that’s lost its master,’ my ass.”
He’d known about the Demon Realm’s changes since Xiao Yumei returned.
He’d originally thought Gu Li had been referring to something else, but once he heard the words ‘dog without a master’ he understood.
“You’re quite well-informed,’ said Gu Li. He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows in surprise. “I wouldn’t have guessed you knew even about the situation in the Demon Realm.”
“You’re the one whose methods are impressive. It’s shocking that you managed to get your hands on the Demon Realm,” said Ye Zichen.
Su Liu’er’s expression changed. Ye Zichen had already known about this, but she hadn’t. The Demon Realm……
Was shockingly now in Gu Li’s hands.
“You’re too kind. This was just a small effort,” smiled Gu Li. “But your bro’s situation really isn’t too optimistic. For the sake of studying formations he’s used up way too much life force. He’s like a candle flickering in the wind; he shouldn’t have much time left to live.”
“Nonsense,” shouted Ye Zichen.
“It’s your choice to believe me or not.” Gu Li shrugged indifferently, then turned with a smile. “I’ve been in the Demon Realm for so long, I’m really not used to the Three Realms’ dense spiritual energy. Whatever, I won’t waste words with you. Bye for now.”
He took a few steps forward, then suddenly turned back around and looked them over.
“How about I dispose of you while I’m here?”
“……”
Ye Zichen and the others tensed instantly.
Their battle with just two of Zombie Progenitors had already been extremely taxing, and Fatty Yin could no longer place a soul-locking formation. On the other side, all four Zombie Progenitors had reunited…
Hanba’s gaze lingered on Su Liu’er, the one who’d frozen her in ice.
The others focused their gaze on Nuwa, who they had both old and new grudges against. The moment Gu Li gave the word, they’d attack in unison.
“Ha ha ha, I’m just kidding!” Gu Li’s dark expression suddenly changed to a smile as he grinned mockingly at them. “Don’t be so nervous. I don’t need your lives right now. Your heads get to stay on your necks a while longer.”
“Why not just kill them and be done with it? You don’t need to do anything. The four of us can absolutely clean them all up ourselves,” said Yinggou, cracking his neck threateningly.
“Hm?” Gu Li’s expression darkened. “Do you really want to go against me?”
“Don’t get too full of yourself. We call you our boss, but do you really think you’re in charge? Don’t forget, our relationship is one of equals,” frowned Jiangchen.
“Ha……”
An ambiguously grim light flashed in Gu Li’s eyes, but he quickly adjusted his face back into his usual smile and said, “You’re right, but now isn’t the time to fight. I know you have a grudge against Nuwa, but the current her is just a spiritual body. You should be able to tell as well, right? Also, don’t forget that you still need my help…You won’t forget, right?”
“Are you threatening me?” snorted Jiangchen.
“How could I? I’m just discussing things with you,” said Gu Li through squinted eyes. “Of course, I can’t rule out a possible threat to you.”
“……”
The four Zombie Progenitors expressions’ darkened. After a long pause, Jiangchen opened his mouth to speak.
“We aren’t attacking. That’s fine.”
“There, that’s right. If you really want to….Well, it’s still better to listen to me.”
Gu Li grinned, then turned to Ye Zichen and laughed, “I’m really quite embarrassed that you had to see that. Well, I won’t infringe on your hospitality any longer. If it’s fated, we’ll meet again.”
To tell the truth, just then Ye Zichen had been hoping the Zombie Progenitors would turn on Gu Li and take him out in a fit of rage.
But in the end they’d chosen to submit.
It seemed as if Gu Li had something on them, something that forced their allegiance. Since that was the case……
“Wait a moment.”
Ye Zichen spoke suddenly. Gu Li, who’d been on the verge of leaving, turned and looked at him inquisitively.
“What is it? Shouldn’t you all be hoping I leave as soon as possible?”
“Some debts and grudges, if suppressed for too long, will make a person sick,” said Ye Zichen through squinted eyes. “I stopped you for personal reasons. I’d just like to ask….for single combat, just the two of us, to resolve our personal grudges once and for all. Do you dare?”
Earlier, when he’d drawn his sword, that already represented he couldn’t endure any longer. By now he simply couldn’t bear to just let Gu Li walk away.
“Single combat？”
“Right! One-one-one, do you dare?”
