The mysterious attacker was…Gu Lianhun!!

His arrival was a tidal wave of shock to crash against Bai Yunfei’s heart—how in the world was Gu Lianhun here in this place?!

According to the Wind Saint, Gu Lianhun was supposed to be stuck in one of the last few barriers…did he manage to break free from it?!

A barrier the Saint of Fate had been unable to break free from…how did Gu Lianhun managed to free himself from that?!

And even if he did break free…how coincidental was it that he was lying in wait here of all places to attack them when they least expected?!

All sorts of questions entered Bai Yunfei’s mind then as he raced to figure out why Gu Lianhun was here.

But none of that was important. The most important thing was that Gu Lianhun was nearly upon them!

“Ahh!!!”

Gritting his teeth, Bai Yunfei prepared to defend himself. His hands pushed outward to send the Cataclysmic Seal—and its protective barrier—forward!

“Whoosh!! Crack…”

Gu Lianhun’s right fist struck against the barrier with a clattering smash. For a brief moment, the barrier held out against his fist before—

“Crack!”

Splintering under his fist, the barrier began to show cracks all over its surface and then…it shattered!

“What?!”

Bai Yunfei’s eyes widened in shock—he didn’t think his barrier would shatter that face. But before he could properly register his shock…

“Boom!!”

Gu Lianhun’s right fist opened up into a palm the moment when he shattered the barrier and slapped the Cataclysmic Seal straight on!

It was before the Cataclysmic Seal could expand in size. In one swift motion, the Cataclysmic Seal was slammed against and…forced backward!!

The Cataclysmic Seal failed!

“You brat—die!!” Gu Lianhun sneered confidently.

He was looking absolutely sinister in his confidence. Mustering strength to his palm, Gu Lianhun slammed his palm straight onto Bai Yunfei’s chest and sent him flying away like a cannonball!

“Pft!!!”

A mist of blood spurted out from Bai Yunfei’s mouth—the attack from Gu Lianhun was far too much for him to bear!

It wasn’t just blood he spat out, bits of his flesh and organ had also been forced out!

……

It had all happened far too fast. Bai Yunfei’s brain couldn’t even comprehend what was going on as he traveled through the air. He couldn’t understand how this enemy had appeared so fast or how he had been so easily tossed aside.

Only when his chest started to hurt did Bai Yunfei realize the severity of his situation. Shaking his head to clear the pain from his head, Bai Yunfei looked up and was immediately confused by what he saw—or rather, what he didn’t see!

Shen Pojun and the others were nowhere to be seen!

“How?!”

He was starting to panic now. How was this possible?

What in the world was going on?!

Before the answer could come to him, a fierce gust of wind assaulted his face, alerting Bai Yunfei to a sudden advent of gray light. Blades of wind the color of ash were flying at his head!

“Ahh!!!”

Activating the +10 additional effect of the Returner Armor in his panic, Bai Yunfei hurriedly had the whirlpool materialize to protect him.

“Whoosh!”

The gray light was immediately sucked into the whirlpool, much to Bai Yunfei’s relief. He was about to sigh in relief, but then he realized Gu Lianhun’s aura was no longer in front of him!

Now, the stench of death was strongly apparent from right behind him!

Acting on pure instinct, Bai Yunfei immediately activated the +10 additional effect of the Core Stone!

“Whoosh!”

His figure shimmered in the light just in time for a palm to go straight through where his neck was. Gu Lianhun’s hand had just barely missed him!

Two seconds wasn’t much time, but it was all the time Bai Yunfei needed to readjust himself to the situation. As surprised he was with how no one else was here, Bai Yunfei began to go through several handseals to prepare for battle!

“Boom!!”

A furious wave of soulforce exploded out from Bai Yunfei upon the very last handseal.

Dual Flame Artes: Berserk Mode!

He didn’t care what happened anymore, he had to fight for his life!

His soulforce was elevated to the levels of a Late-stage Soul Emperor in a heartbeat. Waving his hand, Bai Yunfei magnified the Cataclysmic Seal several hundred times in size before directing it to crash into Gu Lianhun’s body from the right!

“Tsk!!”

Bai Yunfei clicked his tongue as the Cataclysmic Seal moved in to strike. His feet were already taking him into a perpendicular direction before his eyes could even see if the Cataclysmic Seal would land.

“Whoosh!”

As fast and intimidating the Cataclysmic Seal was, it managed to hit nothing but air. Gu Lianhun was simply far too fast for the Cataclysmic Seal.

Already, Bai Yunfei could feel a blast of wind fly toward his head!

“Tzk!!”

Dodging as quickly as he could, Bai Yunfei was unable to stop the fabric on his left shoulder rip apart and a fresh fountain of blood splurt out from it!

Pained, Bai Yunfei attempted to widen the distance between him and Gu Lianhun by several hundred meters. His left shoulder was drenched entirely with blood now, and the flesh where he was cut was so deep that he could see the bones in his body. There was also a faint black aura radiating from the wound that seemed to be corroding his body!

His entire left arm would’ve been gone if he had been just a half-beat slower!

“Ahhh!!!”

Almost instantly, Bai Yunfei felt his body and soul be ransacked by an excruciating amount of pain as the dark aura entered his body via the wound on his left shoulder. As if millions of tiny blades were cutting into him, the dark aura began to spread around his body and drive him to scream out in uncontrollable pain!

It was terrible, the pain! Worse than what he could bear, Bai Yunfei could hardly help but scream at the top of his lungs. Not even the Vampiric Demon Edge was bad as this!

—The damage Gu Lianhun did onto him was twofold. Not only was it a serious wound to his body, it was also capable of damaging his soul!!

“N—no way! He didn’t use a soul attack…so how did this happen?!”

Bai Yunfei thought to himself. Eyes bloodshot, he quickly had the Soul Sentinel Scarf grant him some semblance of relief and the ability to think rationality without losing his soul.

Certainly, Bai Yunfei looked quite mad right now. Both his hands clutched at his head as his fingers seemed to bend at the joints as if attempting to pry his head from his neck.

“No—no—no!!”

He howled to himself multiple times. The struggle in his eyes grew more and more pronounced along with a bright light in his eyes.

“Bothersome gnat…die!!”

A voice boomed into his mind a second later. Bai Yunfei’s head snapped up at the voice as he realized Gu Lianhun was now standing just a few steps away from him. Snarling, the man reached at him with a sharp claw-like right hand to rend his head apart!

It…it was far too close to his head for him to dodge!

What awaited Bai Yunfei was a fate most similar to a watermelon being crushed if he didn’t do something about it!

In this moment of peril, Bai Yunfei was somehow actually rooted to the spot! Instead of attempting to dodge or defend himself, Bai Yunfei was actually doing nothing!

But his eyes shined with the light of determination instead of despair!