The Gap

Howls, angry curses, and screams...

The noise was incessant in his ears, and Liu Feng's vision began to clear.

A moment ago, he had been sprinting through the seemingly deserted North District; now, he stood on an old street.

The surroundings were filled with dilapidated tile-roofed houses, and the refugees who had previously been cowering inside had become utterly deranged, all of them rushing out into the street.

The darkness that they usually suppressed in their hearts seemed to have been ignited all at once today.

"Fourth Master!" A shout came from not far away; it was that long-faced bandit.

Liu Feng did not look back, instantly shifting into his Twenty-Two Eyes state.

His compound eyes blinked, and with him as the center, the scene in every direction was laid bare before him.

Aside from the long-faced bandit, he could not see Shen Yushu, Zhu Li, or any of the others who had entered with him.

Of course, Liu Feng did not care about them; the only person he cared about was the Medicine Slave, Li Si.

If the Medicine Slave, Li Si, was not by his side, it would be impossible to bring back the Eldest Senior Brother, and he would even struggle to protect himself.

After all, not counting that Eldest Senior Brother from the Insect Valley, it was highly likely that a Second Realm Daoist from the White Sun Sect was also in this place.

"I must find Li Si immediately." As the compound eyes on his face blinked, Liu Feng's figure naturally flickered to the left.

A frail old woman with bloodshot eyes lunged past him, and immediately after, two more madmen pounced.

Front, back, left, or right—not a single madman who had set their sights on Liu Feng could touch him.

"Fourth Master, save me!"

Liu Feng did not need to turn around; the compound eyes on the back of his head blinked, and he saw hundreds of Gu insects descending from the air, locking onto the long-faced bandit.

Liu Feng swung his arm, and roughly two hundred Intermediate Gu shot out like bullets.

He wanted to see whether his double-count of Intermediate Gu would prove superior to that Eldest Senior Brother's hundred.

"Buzz, buzz..." The two swarms of Gu insects met in mid-air.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths... in less than five breaths.

Severed limbs and broken wings rained down; not one of Liu Feng's two hundred Intermediate Gu survived. Most were devoured, and the rest were gnawed into pieces.

"The gap is actually this wide!"

Liu Feng's heart sank as a grim suspicion took hold; he suspected that the Eldest Senior Brother's Intermediate Gu had already undergone a qualitative transformation.

The majority of a Gu Child's body consisted of Mortal Gu, which could not evolve and were considered rankless.

Liu Feng, having become a Gu Master, had converted his entire stock into Intermediate Gu, and Intermediate Gu did have ranks.

If they were both First-Rank Intermediate Gu, it would be difficult to decide a winner in a few breaths even with double the numbers, let alone have one side completely wiped out.

"Ah, ah..."

While Liu Feng was lost in thought, the long-faced bandit's face turned blue-black, and he collapsed to the ground, the poison having taken effect.

The hundred-odd Intermediate Gu had a clear target; they went straight for his heart-blood, and once finished, they did not linger, flying straight toward the nearby Liu Feng.

Liu Feng's figure moved rapidly among the madmen, but the hundred Gu insects ignored the others, pursuing him relentlessly.

Seeing that evasion was difficult, Liu Feng slashed his palm, and with a flick of his hand, his crimson blood transformed into a blood mist, pulling open a net of fire with a "poof."

"Sizzle, sizzle..."

The hundred Gu insects charged in, crashing into the fire net, their wings completely incinerated.

Liu Feng glanced down; only a small fraction of the Gu insects on the ground had died, while the rest of the survivors were merely scorched black.

His Intermediate Gu could not compete, and his Exotic Gu techniques could barely burn them; Liu Feng could almost conclude that the Eldest Senior Brother's Intermediate Gu had already surpassed the First Rank.

"There is no need to worry about the hidden dangers of the Insect Valley's restrictions; Pang Gang has likely succeeded in his second rebirth." Thinking of this, Liu Feng's heart grew heavier.

He was just about to search for the Medicine Slave, Li Si, but before he had even made it half a street away, an opponent appeared in his path.

Among the madmen not far away, a wide-faced youth with a deathly pale complexion was particularly conspicuous, for like Liu Feng, he was one of the few who remained clear-headed.

As the two met, they both recognized the other's identity as a cultivator.

"A demonic Daoist of the White Sun Sect." Liu Feng's compound eyes caught the folds on the other's neck; he was clearly wearing a human skin mask.

And Liu Feng's Twenty-Two Eyes appearance also led the other to identify him as a Gu Master.

"A Gu Master? You are that thief's junior brother! Die!"

The wide-faced youth did not hesitate in the slightest, shaking his sleeves as he snatched a dozen Human Skin Talismans into his left hand.

His figure leaped onto a courtyard wall, and as he moved, he formed a seal with one hand and flung the Human Skin Talismans with the other.

"Poof, poof, poof..."

Nether Fire ignited, and fourteen balls of flame surged toward Liu Feng.

On his side, whether it was the influence of the evil object's true form or his desperation to find Li Si, Liu Feng's gaze became far more ruthless than usual.

Naturally, his strikes were also more vicious than on any ordinary day.

As he channeled Buddhist power into his limbs, his figure flickered, his movements far more agile and superior to those of the White Sun Sect Daoist.

"Mind Eye Technique."

Under the horrified gaze of the White Sun Sect Daoist, Liu Feng charged headlong into the Nether Fire, dodging every flame as if he were a shadow.

As the distance between them closed to within half a zhang, an insect limb lashed out from behind Liu Feng, piercing the wide-faced youth's abdomen on the spot.

With a sharp tug of the insect limb, he hauled the wide-faced youth off the courtyard wall. Mimicking the punching stance of an Ape Spirit, Liu Feng delivered a blow imbued with Buddhist power.

"Thud." With a dull impact, the wide-faced youth's head snapped to the left, his neck bone shattering.

Having finished off one White Sun Sect disciple, Liu Feng did not pause, shifting several steps to the left to evade six clusters of Nether Fire that struck from behind.

"Having eyes in the back of your head is truly convenient!" A cold sneer came from the corner behind him, and another youth draped in human skin appeared.

Liu Feng turned to face the man, observing that his internal organs were already brimming with vitality nourished by True Qi, far surpassing that of an ordinary White Sun Sect Daoist.

"The White Sun Sect Eldest Senior Brother?"

"Oh, you can guess my identity; you are a clever one."

This long-haired youth who had just appeared was none other than the White Sun Sect Eldest Senior Brother.

The two stood ten or so zhang apart, having exchanged only a single sentence upon meeting.

The next moment, five insect limbs erupted from Liu Feng's back, and with a ferocious glare, he charged straight ahead.

The long-haired youth cursed, "Seeking death," and with a wave of his hand, dozens of human skins slid across the surrounding walls.

"This man is not like us who have already achieved enlightenment; he has been influenced by the essence of the evil object, yet he is laughably unaware."

"By the urgent command, by the law command, as the gods are angered... slay the evil..."

The White Sun Sect incantation that Liu Feng had heard once before rang out. The long-haired youth pinched a seal with both hands, and fourteen human skins formed two formations before him.

The talismans within the human skins began to glow, and it seemed as though two Fire Lotuses were about to bloom.

However, in the next instant, the target before the long-haired youth vanished without a trace; the frantically charging Gu Master was gone.

This sudden change caused the White Sun Sect Eldest Senior Brother to instinctively pause, his hands faltering as he sought to shift his position to locate his target.

"No, it's an illusion, he is still..." His reaction was by no means slow, and he realized the truth in an instant.

Yet, it was precisely in that split second of hesitation that a crimson fire flared above his head—a flame as surging and violent as the Fire Lotus he had been casting.

"Poof, poof..."

A half-foot-long gash tore open on Liu Feng's arm, and as blood streamed down, the crimson Gu Fire swept across the half-zhang space in front of him.