Life and Death Crisis

"What do you want with my master?" Gu Qingfeng asked warily, his expression guarded.

Young Master Yin's eyes flashed with impatience. "Ant, you have no right to know. This young master's patience is limited. Summon your master at once, or I will show you the meaning of cruelty."

Gu Qingfeng narrowed his eyes. "One last question. Answer this, and I'll call my master immediately."

"Oh? And what might that be?" Young Master Yin suddenly grew curious about what this insignificant ant could possibly ask.

"Tell me, are you... human?" Gu Qingfeng enunciated each word slowly, his gaze locked onto Young Master Yin as if the answer held life-or-death importance.

Young Master Yin froze for a moment before erupting in fury. "How dare you compare this young master to those lowly humans!"

At those words, Gu Qingfeng's face lit up with unrestrained glee, a wild grin threatening to break out.

But the next sentence from Young Master Yin froze that grin in place.

"This young master is of the Sacred Race! The greatest race in existence!"

Sacred Race?!

Gu Qingfeng stiffened.

What the hell kind of race is that? Where did they come from?

So, was this the "they" Jue Mingzi had warned about?

Refusing to give up, Gu Qingfeng silently questioned his system: "System, does this mean that as long as it's not a human attacking me, I can grow stronger?"

"This system is called the Become Stronger When Attacked by Demons System. Understood?" The system's icy voice echoed in his mind.

Damn it! Useless system!

"Then, System, does anything that isn’t human count as a demon?"

"No."

The system’s cold reply shattered Gu Qingfeng’s hopes.

Now that he thought about it, if everything non-human counted as a demon, wouldn’t getting bitten by a dog also make him stronger?

Damn it! Useless system!

Still, that didn’t stop him from cursing the system in his mind.

After his mental tirade, Gu Qingfeng’s brain kicked into overdrive, scrambling for a plan. The useless system was no help—his opponent was clearly at least a Divine Realm expert, possibly even stronger, given his arrogance.

Fighting was out of the question. Escape was the only option.

Once decided, Gu Qingfeng suddenly looked past Young Master Yin with exaggerated excitement.

"Master! You’ve finally arrived!"

But Young Master Yin didn’t turn around. Instead, he smirked coldly at Gu Qingfeng. "You think such a cheap trick would fool this young master? You planned to flee while I was distracted, didn’t you? Not a bad idea, but how could an ant comprehend the might of my Sacred Race? No one in this world can appear behind me without—"

Before he could finish, a ripple of spatial energy surged behind him.

Someone had teleported in.

Young Master Yin’s expression shifted as he whirled around—only to freeze in shock.

"Gu Qingfeng?! How is this possible...?"

He stared at the Gu Qingfeng standing a short distance behind him, his mind struggling to process the sight.

Wasn’t Gu Qingfeng right in front of him? How had he appeared behind in an instant?

Disbelieving, Young Master Yin glanced back at the original Gu Qingfeng—only to see him grinning and waving, his other hand clutching the activated Fox God’s Eye.

A faint black sphere enveloped his body.

"Later, dumbass."

In an instant, the black sphere shrank to nothingness.

"You wretched ant! You dare?!"

Young Master Yin’s fury erupted. He wasn’t stupid—he knew he’d been played.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingfeng’s mirror clone unleashed the Cross-Shaped Netherworld Flame Sword.

A colossal black-and-white flame slash engulfed Young Master Yin.

Enraged, Young Master Yin flicked his folding fan, summoning a tempest that seemed to draw every gust of wind in the world.

Whoosh!

A hurricane-force gale erupted, extinguishing the Cross-Shaped Netherworld Flame Sword and obliterating the mirror clone in an instant.

---

A thousand miles away.

A black sphere materialized out of thin air.

The sphere vanished, revealing Gu Qingfeng—but he didn’t waste a single second before reactivating the Fox God’s Eye to teleport again.

Young Master Yin’s power was unfathomable. Even a thousand-mile jump didn’t feel safe. He had to keep running—straight to the Demon Kingdom. Only there might he find a sliver of hope.

His earlier escape had relied on the mirror clone as a distraction.

The clone had initially been sent to release the demons imprisoned in the Demon-Suppressing Tower, delaying its return.

So, Gu Qingfeng had ordered it to use Shadow Swap, slipping through the shadows of the capital’s buildings to appear behind Young Master Yin and buy time. The plan had worked perfectly.

Young Master Yin’s momentary confusion at seeing two identical Gu Qingfengs had allowed the real one to escape.

Now, Gu Qingfeng vanished once more.

But the instant he disappeared, a figure clad in pristine white robes materialized in his place.

Young Master Yin.

Tracking the spatial disturbance left by Gu Qingfeng’s teleportation, Young Master Yin sneered. "Run all you want. Where do you think you can hide?"

Then, he too vanished.

And so, Gu Qingfeng fled desperately, never pausing. He didn’t know how powerful the Sacred Race was, but if they had driven all deities into hiding, their strength spoke for itself.

Against such an enemy, he had to push his limits just to survive.

Then—

A violent spatial repulsion force erupted out of nowhere.

Gu Qingfeng’s heart lurched as his teleportation was forcibly interrupted, his body ejected from the spatial tunnel.

"Keep running, ant."

Young Master Yin’s mocking voice rang out from just a few miles ahead.

Gu Qingfeng’s expression darkened. There was no escaping now.

He never imagined Young Master Yin could interfere with spatial energy itself.

If not for the earlier distraction, he might not have even activated the Fox God’s Eye in time.

A life-or-death crisis.

This was truly it.

Gritting his teeth, Gu Qingfeng drew the Wood King Sword, steeling himself for a final stand.

With no way out, all he could do was fight—even if the odds were zero.

A cultivator fears no battle!

At least he still had Blood Rebirth as a last resort.

"Planning to fight?" Young Master Yin laughed. "How amusingly naive. Very well, this young master will show you the power of a god! Before divinity, mortals aren’t even fit to look upon us!"

Without so much as a gesture, an invisible force radiated from Young Master Yin, swiftly enveloping Gu Qingfeng.

Gu Qingfeng resisted with everything he had—but to no avail.

The force reached him.

"Ha! Tremble in des—Wait, why aren’t you affected?!" Young Master Yin’s triumphant roar cut off abruptly.

Gu Qingfeng blinked.

What just happened?