Hong Qi and Gu Qingyun, fighting side by side to hold back the enemy, saw that defeat was unavoidable. They could not stop the enemy's advance, nor could they curb the rout of the armies under their command. They knew it was all over. Amid the ferocious attacks, the two exchanged a distant glance, then swiftly fled together.
Suddenly, both felt a chill at their waists and lost all sense of direction. They fell from the sky together, each seeing the lower half of their body, severed from the rest, still spurting blood. Their faces changed drastically as they crashed heavily to the ground, rolling into each other face-to-face. Blood bubbled from Gu Qingyun's lips as he looked at Hong Qi with a bitter smile. "Who would have thought this would be our ending?"
Blood also continuously poured from Hong Qi's mouth. Through bubbling blood, he said, "We chose wrong!"
Gu Qingyun strained to turn his head and glance at the dense ranks of demonic forces slowly advancing through the air. Then he laboriously seized Hong Qi's hand, his breath weakening. "What did you say...?"
Hong Qi gripped his hand tightly in return. He forced his eyes wide open, but his pupils were gradually dilating. His breath came in ragged gasps as he said, "Back then, Master made Zhang Peng and me choose between the Gold Art and the Earth Art... I chose the Gold Art... If I had chosen the Earth Art... today, we could have... escaped this calamity through the ground..."
After forcing out those words, his gaze completely scattered. No one knew whether Gu Qingyun, whose eyes remained fixed wide open, had heard him. In any case, their hands remained tightly clasped together, and neither moved again...
The mist above the base was swept completely away by