Fierce Battle

The Eight-Handed Monster waved its arms, its body hidden behind Ma Bianlang, making it impossible to see what it looked like. Judging from the arms it had exposed, they showed seven-colored hues.

My heart jolted in spite of myself. When I had fallen asleep last night, I had felt as if a giant spider were crouched on the window outside. Spiders had eight legs, and now it seemed that last night, it must have been this Eight-Handed Monster peering in at me through the window.

And this Eight-Handed Monster felt like something I had seen somewhere before. I suddenly remembered that along the roadside in Qingya Village were all kinds of stone idols, and among them was an Eight-Handed Monster.

I sneered. "Ma Bianlang, we agreed to have the gu battle last night. But you already pulled tricks last night. That Gu Spirit behind you—did it run outside the window and spy on me in secret?"

The killing intent in Ma Bianlang's eyes grew even stronger. His hands rubbed the black jar as he said, "The Gu Spirit lives in Qingya Village. It can go wherever it wants. It is not something I can restrain. It merely happened to arrive outside your window."

The black leather gloves rubbed against the black jar, polishing the entire vessel until it gleamed. In an instant, the ancestral hall grew colder and colder, and the corpse qi throughout the hall became increasingly dense. That strange smell from the afternoon also thickened.

With two creaks, the front door and side door of Qingya Village's ancestral hall both shut.

"Ma Bianlang, is this the Super Divine Gu of your Qingya Village?" I took two steps forward, finally stopping beside the table. I placed the black cloth bag embroidered with auspicious clouds on the table and took out the Yellow Jar containing the Three-Corpse Snake Gu.

Chen Junfeng could not help but start. He cried, "So it's the Dong People!"

Ma Bianlang said conceitedly, "That's right. This is the Super Divine Gu our Qingya Village keeps hidden in the Corpse-Raising Cave. Once it emerges into the world, it will never rest until it has taken a human life."

It had been taken out of the Corpse-Raising Cave. No wonder the corpse qi was so thick.

I was a little closer to Ma Bianlang now, and I could finally make out the Eight-Handed Monster's face. The monster was a spirit body and did not have a human body. Its spirit form was vague and illusory, yet the appearance it presented was that of a small child.

The child's eyes were hollow. The skin on its face was not human skin, but looked like the skin of some kind of toad, making it seem extremely eerie. The clothes on its body were even more brilliantly multicolored. Such a strange combination made a person's heart panic.

I could not help sighing inwardly. Before, when the Blood Infant followed the Blood Mantis, it had also looked like a small child. The Eight-Handed Monster was actually in the form of a small child too. Could it be that when Gu masters raised Gu, they mostly liked to use children's ghosts to refine Gu Spirits? This art of raising Gu really did carry an evil nature.

Perhaps children's ghosts were easier to control, I convinced myself inwardly. Larger Gu Spirits like the Golden Silkworm Deity had become evil spirits that could not be controlled.

The Eight-Handed Gu Spirit was crouched on Ma Bianlang like a giant spider, guarding its prey.

"Looks like today, either you die or I perish." Cold sweat beaded on my forehead. "You've talked for ages, but all I know is that this Gu is called the Super Divine Gu. Does it have a detailed name? My Three-Corpse Snake Gu does not kill nameless rats!"

Ma Bianlang shouted, "Xiao Kunlun, you are far too arrogant! This is Qingya Village's Nine-Colored Divine Gu! It has been invited out this time precisely to clean up a thief like you and take your dog life."

I could not help frowning, thinking to myself: Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet—if all seven colors are present, it is the Seven-Colored Gu. How could the Nine-Colored Divine Gu have two extra colors? What two colors were added? After a moment, I thought perhaps black and white had been added.

Guo Ni cried, "If it truly has nine colors, then calling it the Nine-Colored Divine Gu would not be an exaggeration."

The Nine-Colored Snake Gu had two more colors than the Seven-Colored Gu. It should be much more formidable.

I swallowed and said, "Ma Bianlang, if I win, your Qingya Village must let me, Ma Erlei, and Xiaodao leave. And Guo Ni's freedom—you are not allowed to interfere with that either!"

Ma Bianlang looked as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. He asked, "Did I hear that correctly?"

I said, "If I lose, naturally I won't even have my life. My Earth Egg will be given to your father, and my other Gu will be yours to dispose of as you please. But if I win, you must do as I say. I ask you to swear a poisonous oath in the name of Great Emperor Chiyou!"

If I lost, not only would my life be gone and the Earth Egg lost, but Ma Erlei, Xiao Yudao, and Guo Ni would not come to good ends either. I had never expected that the first Gu battle of my life would force me to face such a tragic scene.

Ma Shi said, "Bianlang, in a Gu battle between two sides, the stakes must be agreed upon beforehand. He is staking his own life, so his resolve is great. Do as he says!"

Ma Bianlang raised his right hand above his head and swore, "I, Ma Bianlang of Qingya Village, swear to Great Emperor Chiyou that if I lose today's Gu battle, I will absolutely not make things difficult for Xiao Kunlun's friends. They may do whatever they wish. If I violate this oath, may ten thousand Gu bore into my heart and may I die bleeding from all seven orifices!"

I cried, "Good! I don't understand the rules of Gu battles, so we'll do it your way!"

Ma Bianlang's pupils shifted slightly, and he said, "My rules are very simple. We switch places. I put my hand into your jar and let your Gu insects bite it as they please. You put your hand into my jar and let my Gu insects bite it as they please. Whoever calls for a stop first loses."

I blinked, thought for a moment, then agreed to Ma Bianlang's proposal.

This was the simplest and also the cruelest way to fight a Gu battle.

When Ma Bianlang put his hand into the jar, the Three-Corpse Snake Gu would attack him. At the same time, he would drive the Nine-Colored Snake Gu to protect him, while also controlling the Nine-Colored Snake Gu to attack me.

It was the same for me. While suffering the Nine-Colored Snake Gu's attack, I would drive the Three-Corpse Snake Gu to protect me, and at the same time give orders for the Three-Corpse Snake Gu to attack Ma Bianlang.

"Good! We'll switch places!" I nodded and said.

The two of us moved around the table. The Eight-Handed Monster clinging to Ma Bianlang suddenly opened its mouth, revealing two rows of dense, blackened, needle-sharp teeth. A long red tongue coiled out, and immediately afterward, I heard an ear-piercing, heart-wrenching shriek.

I stopped in front of the Nine-Colored Snake Gu. Ma Bianlang also stopped in front of the Three-Corpse Snake Gu.

The Eight-Handed Monster's piercing cry rang out, and my heart panicked wildly. A nauseating feeling even rose in my chest. It had not begun yet, but I already had the urge to vomit.

I glared at the Eight-Handed Monster and cursed viciously, "Little monster, if my Gu Spirit were here, it would definitely tear all eight of your hands off!"

The lamplight inside the ancestral hall grew even dimmer.

Ma Bianlang took off his gloves, untied the rope sealing the Three-Corpse Snake Gu, and lifted the oilpaper. Only a faint trace of Sha Qi drifted out.

"If the Three-Corpse Snake Gu can give off blue, red, and white Sha Qi, then it can be considered truly raised to completion! Unfortunately, this Three-Corpse Snake Gu is not mature enough yet!" Guo Ni said with some regret.

I also untied the jar containing the Nine-Colored Snake Gu. The moment my right hand touched the black jar, I felt the skin of my fingers go numb, and a large patch at my fingertips had already turned black. How poisonous. No wonder Ma Bianlang had to wear gloves.

I quickened my movements and lifted the oilpaper. A fierce surge of corpse qi poured out from within, followed by an incomparably powerful resentment. Poisonous insects sealed inside the vessel, killing each other—those dead insects were bound to harbor resentment.

I simply had not expected the resentment inside the Nine-Colored Snake Gu to be this powerful. Only Wu Daochao's great jar from a few days ago could compare.

Ma Bianlang smiled darkly and said, "Before you lifted the oilpaper, you still had a chance to beg for mercy. Now, just wait peacefully for death. If you want to run now, even if you flee to the ends of the sky and the corners of the sea, the Nine-Colored Snake Gu will still chase you."

I did not answer Ma Bianlang. All my attention fell on the black jar, but inside it was wrapped in a mass of dense mist, and I could not see the Nine-Colored Divine Gu's appearance at all.

But that mass of mist was dazzlingly multicolored, as if it possessed a powerful life force. I placed my hand five centimeters above the jar.

Guo Ni's beautiful face lost all color, and she cried, "Xiao Kunlun, I was wrong. I harmed you."

I looked back at Guo Ni and said with a smile, "You'd better not curse me to death again." As soon as my words fell, I thrust my right hand into that black jar wreathed in mist.

Ma Bianlang refused to be outdone. Gritting his teeth, he thrust his right hand into the jar that held the Three-Corpse Snake Gu.

Three-Corpse Snake Gu, just knock Ma Bianlang down. Don't take his life... I said in my heart. If Ma Bianlang dies, Erlei and Xiao Yudao won't have any good days ahead of them. And don't worry about me. If I can't withstand the Nine-Colored Divine Gu, then let me die!

I had already settled on a strategy in my heart. As long as Ma Bianlang fell first, I would count as having won. As long as I won, it did not matter if I lost my life. That way, I could preserve a path to survival for Ma Erlei, Xiao Yudao, and Guo Ni.

So the order I gave the Three-Corpse Snake Gu was to attack Ma Bianlang with all its heart and soul, and not bother with me.

I was going to endure the Nine-Colored Divine Gu to the death.

Though the ancestral hall's main doors and side doors were shut, cold wind still came whistling through. My body began to tremble. That cloud of mist wrapped around my right hand, and almost in the space of a breath, stabbing pain spread through every inch of me.

My vision went black, my head buzzed, and all the strength in my body was drained away in an instant.

I hurriedly braced my left hand on the table. If I collapsed and died before even three seconds had passed, that would be far too humiliating.

I clenched my teeth, and my eyes began to fill with blood. A smile hung at the corner of Ma Bianlang's mouth as he said, "Xiao Kunlun, in the colored Gu series, there is a saying: one in ten, one in a hundred, one in a thousand. The Seven-Colored Gu is one in a thousand. The Nine-Colored Divine Gu is one in ten thousand. You truly don't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is. You won't even last one minute."

Ma Bianlang chatted as calmly as ever. His pale face showed no change at all, and his eyes were excited and crazed with arrogance. The Eight-Handed Monster crouched on his body began waving four of its hands, its mouth letting out strange shrieks. The noise rattled my mind and spirit, and the defensive line of my will was about to collapse in an instant.

I braced my left hand on the table, all five fingers beginning to warp out of shape. I lowered my head and looked, and abruptly discovered that my left arm had already turned red, while my fingers were starting to swell.

Every second felt as long as a year. Ma Bianlang's words, the Eight-Handed Monster's cries, the torment of the Nine-Colored Divine Gu's poison—they stabbed into my heart, blade after blade.

No. I, Xiao Kunlun, could not fall. I absolutely could not fall. I clenched my teeth and used every bit of strength to tell myself that I absolutely could not let anyone look down on me. I absolutely could not die.

Luo Benjie had burned down my Gu God Temple, and I had not taken revenge on him. Master's death had still not been investigated clearly. How could I lose to an ugly freak like Ma Bianlang?

"The Nine-Colored Divine Gu is one in ten thousand!" Black blood flowed from the corner of my mouth as I gritted my teeth and shouted, "But my master said I'm a child not found in ten thousand!"