Chapter 178

"Disgusted?"

The boy reached out and touched his face, asking back with childish innocence:

"Brother, are you disgusted with yourself?"

Li Zhuiyuan's body was trembling slightly.

The sense of hatred in the bottom of his heart was boiling crazily.

The boy spoke again: "Brother, look, I have already helped you kill her; I helped you, didn't I?"

Li Zhuiyuan attempted to isolate the boy's voice, but discovered he failed; the boy's voice seemed to be able to go straight into his heart, fueling that dark and cold fire.

"Brother, take me away; I will be very obedient; I will be your little follower, your shadow; when you are tired and want to rest, I can even replace you."

Just at this moment, Li Zhuiyuan's trembling body gradually calmed down.

The coldness in his eyes was slowly fading, and a soft light was cast on them.

The illness that should have recurred was now suppressed back down.

Li Zhuiyuan turned his head slightly, looked at the boy on the altar, and a mocking arc appeared at the corner of his mouth.

The boy's expression changed.

He could feel the change in Li Zhuiyuan's state of mind; he originally thought he could destroy him, and even just now, he had already seen the dawn of success, but suddenly, everything went out.

The boy: "Why?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't answer, and the arc at the corner of his mouth gradually faded.

This meant that this boy had even lost the impulse to make him laugh. 【

A flash of anger appeared in the boy's eyes, and he clenched his fists, shouting unwillingly:

"Why, I am clearly exactly the same as you, exactly the same!"

Li Zhuiyuan said indifferently: "Exactly the same?"

"Isn't that so?"

"You are merely a failed product."

Redness welled up in the boy's eyes, and he began to roar: "What right do you have to call me a failed product, what right!"

"Because you can only make me feel a fleeting sense of disgust."

The boy could not understand.

"Don't get it? It's normal not to get it." Li Zhuiyuan also raised his hand and pinched his own face. "On your face, there isn't even any human skin to tear off."

The boy mimicked the youth's movements and pinched his own face again in confusion; he forcibly tore off that piece of human skin, held it before him, and observed it carefully.

"Li Lan would probably like you more. If I were to take you as a gift and give you to her, she would probably be quite satisfied."

"Li Lan?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce her; she is my mother."

They, mother and son, are the hurdle that neither can overcome; the moment they meet, they cannot help but involuntarily tear the human skin off each other.

The most disgusting thing about them is that they both squat on the ground, desperately trying to stick the damaged human skin back onto their own faces.

What others see is the perfect version of them.

Only when they look at each other can they see the dense, messy stitching on each other's faces.

As for the boy, although he looks exactly like him, he lacks this action; when he performs, there are no traces of human skin stitching on his face at all.

He is playing himself, without even needing makeup.

Pure, clean, and untainted, yet because of this, he has lost the most important point of resonance.

Li Zhuiyuan: "You are the child of the Old Hag. Under the Mother-Son Heart-Link Gu, even if you are molded to look exactly like me, it still cannot change your essence. You are actually just another continuation of the Old Hag's life...

You are the Old Hag."

"No, that's not it, that's not it. Someone as stupid as her, how is she worthy of being my mother? She is not worthy!"

The boy acted almost manic on the altar, stomping his feet and waving his hands incessantly.

Li Zhuiyuan said very calmly:

"She is not your mother, because you have no mother."

The boy froze.

The next moment, he turned his head to look at the human head lying quietly in the distant corner.

Immediately, he suddenly hugged his own head and shook it frantically:

"No, I have one, I have one, I am not the Old Hag, I am you, I am not a child without a mother, I have a mother, your mother is my mother, Li Lan, right, Li Lan, Li Lan is my mother, Li Lan is my mother!"

Li Zhuiyuan sighed and nodded: "If the conditions didn't forbid it, I would really like to pack you up and mail you to Li Lan as a Mother's Day gift."

A scene appeared in the youth's mind: Li Lan receives the package, opens it, and inside squats this eight-year-old boy, shouting "Mom" at her.

Whether Li Lan would feel pleasantly surprised by this, he didn't know, but he was indeed quite looking forward to this scene.

Unfortunately, for something like this, let alone taking it out to mail, he wouldn't even allow the other party to leave this place.

This guy killed his own mother the moment he was born.

When conversing with him, he employed mental influence; he keenly probed or rather perceived his own weaknesses and began to attack him.

He is a more dangerous Old Hag.

If he cannot be resolved and allowed to leave this place, he will inevitably stir up an even greater catastrophe.

"Li Lan, my mother, Li Lan, she is my mother, my mother is Li Lan!"

The boy muttered to himself, then suddenly paused. He mimicked Li Zhuiyuan's previous appearance, tilted his head slightly, and a mocking smile appeared at the corners of his mouth:

"No, Li Lan is your mother. My mother will only be more excellent than yours. I will find her, a mother worthy of me. I will move back into her belly, hee hee."

This is no mere childish talk.

Because he truly has this ability.

At this moment, the boy's laughter and expression overlapped completely with the previous Old Hag.

The mountain of corpses at the bottom of the lake where he entered consisted primarily of children.

That was the obsession belonging to the Old Hag; she was searching for her most excellent child.

For this boy, his obsession is searching for his most excellent mother.

Once he is set free, he will go and prey on pregnant women, cut open their bellies to take out the children, and move in himself.

If he feels it's not suitable, he will just switch to the next one.

He will search over and over again, kill over and over again, and once he truly finds a mother he is satisfied with, he will also hold a blood sacrifice for his "new mother," just like the Old Hag did back then.

At this, even Li Zhuiyuan had to admit that this boy is not just someone who looks like him.

This child had only just been born, yet he had already completed the reverse engineering of the evil art of the Mother-Son Heart-Link Gu.

To a certain extent, the Old Hag's goal of giving birth to an excellent child has indeed become a reality at this moment.

Although this reality is not what she originally intended.

The smile on the boy's face grew thicker, and he pointed at Li Zhuiyuan, laughing:

"Hahahaha, I see it now. You thought of it, you thought of it, right? You thought of what I will do next, right?

That's right, it is exactly as you thought; I will do exactly that.

Look,

We are indeed the same, we here..." The boy reached out and poked his own forehead, "... are both very smart."

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head: "You are not as smart as me."

"Yo... that remains to be seen, brother."

The boy's fingertips flickered.

A roar came from outside, followed immediately by two consecutive booms.

"Snake Aunt" doesn't even have a head, so where would a roar come from?

It can only be that something else has joined the battle, so Runsheng is now facing two.

Immediately after, the booming sounds continued; it should be two fierce beasts chasing Runsheng and launching attacks.

Originally, when it was one-on-one, Runsheng could still fight back and forth, but when it was one-on-two, Runsheng could only evade and maneuver.

Even if all his Qi gates were open right now, Runsheng's best outcome would be to perish together with the two opponents. Even if Runsheng didn't die, he would fall into paralysis due to the side effects of opening all Qi gates and would be unable to enter here to help him.

The boy: "Brother, look, you have no helpers to count on now."

Li Zhuiyuan: "To kill you, I don't need helpers."

"Kill me?" The boy seemed to have heard something extremely funny. "This is my delivery room. Do you think you have the ability to kill me here, or can I kill you here?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Want to try?"

The boy: "Come on then."

As soon as the words fell, the boy leaped toward Li Zhuiyuan.

This guy absorbed the vitality of the mother and forged his tendons and bones, so in terms of physical fitness alone, he is indeed much stronger than him.

At the very least, Li Zhuiyuan couldn't jump from a standstill and launch himself like a small cannonball.

However, Li Zhuiyuan did not panic; he simply drew his copper coin sword with his left hand, held it horizontally before him, and tapped lightly on the sword body with his right hand.

The copper coin sword scattered but did not fall; instead, it hovered before him, forming a barrier.

The boy's head slammed directly into the copper coins.

In an instant, a scene of fire and oil appeared; the boy let out a miserable shriek and retreated.

A layer of skin had been burned off his head, revealing a bloody patch.

"Damn it!"

The boy's figure darted out again, but this time, he didn't slam into him head-on; instead, he moved rapidly around the perimeter, trying to find Li Zhuiyuan's flaw.

Li Zhuiyuan stood where he was, unmoving.

Due to his age, he couldn't practice martial arts; this was his weakness, but that didn't mean anyone could bully him by relying on physical prowess.

If he truly encountered physical fitness on Runsheng's level, breaking techniques with brute force, then there would indeed be no way, but this boy was still far from that level.

Li Zhuiyuan deliberately left a flaw behind him.

The boy charged toward his back, grinning: "Do you think I'll fall for that?"

But when he rushed behind Li Zhuiyuan and was about to launch an attack, a ball of karmic fire suddenly rose up, and the boy slammed directly into it.

"Ahhh!"

He let out a miserable shriek and retreated again; this time, both his hands were half-melted, revealing white bone.

"Why, how could this be?"

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at him and said: "As long as I stand still, I have no flaws."

The boy's breathing became rapid, and he shouted: "This is unfair! I was just born, you've learned so many more things than me, it's unfair!"

Li Zhuiyuan flicked his left hand, and the copper coin sword condensed again, pointing at the boy:

"When I was dragged into the River-Walking, no one explained to me whether it was fair. Liking to shout about fairness just proves you really haven't grown up yet."

Immediately, Li Zhuiyuan moved.

He dared not delay any longer; he believed that the Old Hag's methods were definitely not limited to just these. This child was just born, and many methods had not yet been comprehended or learned.

Strike while he is young, take his life!

If it were any other evil spirit, this amount of time wouldn't be enough for it to do anything, let alone learn things, but unfortunately, this evil spirit looks very much like himself.

When taking the initiative to attack, there are more flaws, because Li Zhuiyuan's speed is not fast.

The boy turned sideways, wanting to seize an advantageous position.

But Li Zhuiyuan clenched his right fist, and four black ghostly shadows appeared beside the boy. The shadows squatted down together, and an invisible pressure appeared, forcing the boy to squat down as well.

Li Zhuiyuan's copper coin sword swept over.

The boy let out a roar, forcibly breaking the restraint of the Four Ghosts Carrying the Sedan, and retreated.

However, a large gash was cut into his neck by the copper coin sword—it was deep, so deep that if an ordinary person were hit like this, they would certainly die.

But the boy did not; he covered his neck with his left hand and kneaded it rapidly, actually causing the wound to stick back together, though the skin on his neck became very twisted and wrinkled.

Li Zhuiyuan thought it a pity; if his speed could be faster and his sword strike more ruthless, directly slicing off the boy's head, then it would be completely over.

Failing in one strike, Li Zhuiyuan closed in again.

In this Zhao Jun Temple, the boy was chased everywhere by Li Zhuiyuan, and the wounds on his body became more and more numerous.

The boy felt very suppressed, because every time he wanted to counterattack, Li Zhuiyuan would use unfathomable techniques to restrain him, and they were never the same, making him impossible to guard against.

Actually, Li Zhuiyuan was also a bit suppressed; it was clearly a job where he held all the advantages, yet he couldn't finish it off.

Every time it was just a little bit off; he could only wound him but couldn't kill him. He could only insert a formation flag under his feet every time he attacked.

However, just as Li Zhuiyuan controlled the boy with a technique again and thrust his sword out.

Two crystals suddenly flew over, blocking this sword for the boy.

Li Zhuiyuan knew that a change had come.

The scarred boy stood behind the crystals, a strange smile appearing on his face: "Brother, I seem to have learned some new things."

Under the boy's control, the crystal cones above began to fly toward Li Zhuiyuan continuously.

Li Zhuiyuan let out a sigh, formed a seal with his right hand, and inserted the copper coin sword into the ground before him with his left hand to serve as the formation eye.

Formation, activate!

The crystals flying in from all around were all blocked outside by the formation.

Originally, this formation was prepared specifically for the boy during the battle; Li Zhuiyuan wanted to use the power of the formation to completely imprison him and then finish him off.

But unfortunately, he was just one step too late.

"Brother, how many things have you learned exactly?"

The boy continued to control the crystals to maintain continuous suppression on Li Zhuiyuan, and then he himself walked onto the altar.

With a flick of his fingertips, the thickest crystal fell and pierced into the center of the altar.

"Brother, I can't break your formation, but I said, this is my home after all. Look at this move; this is the technique that thing—which isn't worthy of being my mother—was best at.

Mirrors don't just reflect people; the things reflected in the mirror can actually kill people too."

The boy placed both hands on the crystal in front of him, and wisps of fresh blood surged from his hands, gathering into the crystal.

The originally crystal-clear crystal gradually turned blood-colored, and then, red light began to emit, not only existing here but also extending outward, covering everything.

The blood light fell on those empty coffins, on the large dead Gu insects in the insect pool, on the destroyed murals, and on the two incomplete fierce beasts fighting with Runsheng.

The boy: "Things damaged in reality can achieve a fleeting recovery and completeness in the mirror, hee hee."

The fresh blood was just a facade; what the boy was inputting into the crystal was actually his own vitality.

This vitality was what he had forcibly absorbed from the Old Hag earlier, and now, it was being injected into the crystal.

The things in the mirror are fake, but the vitality is real; at this moment, they are undergoing some kind of miraculous transformation.

And the boy's originally tender body began to sag, his black hair began to turn yellow and withered, his skin became wrinkled, and his overall spirit and energy continued to decline.

However, he didn't care about this; as long as he left this place, he could look for "Mom" while making up for his losses.

Those infants in bellies, each one, contained the purest and most immense vitality.

How wonderful, he couldn't wait.

Li Zhuiyuan took the initiative to withdraw the formation at this time and rushed forward.

The crystals that had been blocked outside by the formation all crashed down behind him.

After closing the distance to the altar, Li Zhuiyuan rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, and the crossbow bolt strapped to his arm fired a shot at the boy.

"Bang!"

Just as the crossbow bolt was about to hit the boy, a small crystal fell and knocked the bolt away.

The boy tilted his head, a playful look on his face: "Brother, I still have strength."

Immediately, the boy looked upward and summoned more crystals to fall.

Failing in one strike, Li Zhuiyuan retreated rapidly; during the retreat, he used the copper coin sword to cut the inside of his arm, and fresh blood gushed out.

He was running, wanting to leave.

But when Li Zhuiyuan ran to the two stone tablets at the entrance of the Zhao Jun Temple, the crystals whistled toward him; if he ran any further, he would be nailed into a hedgehog.

Li Zhuiyuan stopped, knelt on one knee, and slapped the ground with his bleeding right hand.

The fresh blood flowed rapidly, drifting to the surroundings, and the same formation pattern as before emerged again.

Only this time, because there was no time to rearrange the formation flags, Li Zhuiyuan used his own fresh blood to serve as the formation points.

Every time a crystal struck, although it was intercepted, a large amount of blood would be violently drained from the wound on Li Zhuiyuan's right arm.

Very quickly, Li Zhuiyuan's complexion turned pale due to excessive blood loss.

The crystal on the altar continued to emit a blood-colored luster; the boy let go of his hands, walked down the steps step by step, and walked toward Li Zhuiyuan.

His fingers flicked forward continuously, and crystal after crystal smashed toward Li Zhuiyuan, were deflected, continued to smash, and were deflected again.

If Li Zhuiyuan had stayed in the original formation he had set up, he really would have had no way, but now, Li Zhuiyuan had come out.

"Brother, you are indeed very smart; you saw what I was going to do at once, but it's too late. You can't stop me at all.

Also, my vitality sacrifice is finished. Although I feel very weak right now, how much longer can your blood support this formation of yours?

Brother, your body is only a few years older than mine; you shouldn't have much blood to spare for this kind of consumption, right?"

Li Zhuiyuan remained silent, only continuing to maintain the formation with his own fresh blood to block the crystal attacks.

"Brother, are you feeling sorry for your subordinates? They're just subordinates; if they die, just recruit more.

Oh, no, Brother should be worried that if your subordinates die, they won't be able to stop the things outside. Once they come in from the outside, Brother, you will be in a desperate situation. Might as well just gamble it all now, right?

But too bad, you gambled and failed!"

The boy accelerated the waving of his arms, and crystal after crystal struck the formation at an even faster frequency.

At the entrance, one Dead-Fall had already had its head sliced off by the Bai He Master Master Tongzi with a trident and was lying on the ground, beginning to turn into pus.

The other Dead-Fall was also pinned down by the Bai He Master Master Tongzi, who attacked it incessantly with the trident; it would soon be finished off as well.

And on the Bai He Master Master Tongzi's body, many wounds had also appeared.

Facing two alone, while intercepting them, the boy also wanted to perform better—that meant killing them sooner so he could go in and provide support.

He wanted to perform well.

With this goal, the price paid was naturally higher.

"Puchi!"

Finally, the boy slaughtered the Dead-Fall beneath him as well.

He stood up, his figure swaying slightly, and suddenly saw that above the originally empty twelve coffins, twelve blood-colored mirrors had appeared.

Blood energy radiated from the mirrors and was absorbed by the empty coffins.

Immediately, twelve phantom images of Dead-Falls stood out from the coffins.

Among them were the two Dead-Falls he had just slaughtered, as well as the one that died at the construction site during the day.

They let out a collective roar and pounced toward the Bai He Master Master Tongzi.

The Bai He Master Master Tongzi's vertical pupils narrowed again, and he charged toward them.

They had no physical bodies, but under the injection of vitality, they formed a special state.

The Bai He Master Master Tongzi slashed and killed continuously, tearing three of them to shreds, but the remaining nine continued to charge toward him.

With no other choice, the Bai He Master Master Tongzi took the initiative to pull out a Soul-Breaking Talisman Needle and pierced it into his own chest.

The Bai He Master Master Tongzi's aura climbed again, and a bursting sound came from within his body; he was furious:

"Ghosts without physical bodies dare to act presumptuously before Me!"

What is reflected in the mirror is the past, that is, the scene before the Zhao Family Long Wang came here back then.

This is not resurrection, nor is it time reversal, but a kind of temporary completion carried out with vitality as a sacrifice.

By the insect pool, Yin Meng was still calculating the poison dosage, drawing safety poison circles for herself incessantly.

But just at this moment, the sunken carapace of the large Gu insect that had long since died in the insect pool was filled in by blood color, and red light flashed in its extinguished eyes.

It crawled out of the pool; although its whole body was filled with death energy, its momentum was still astonishing.

The relaxed and leisurely look on Yin Meng's face disappeared; she didn't hesitate, threw out a large amount of poison bottles, and then whipped them with her leather whip, smashing them all onto that large Gu insect.

Colorful poison mist erupted continuously on the large Gu insect. The large Gu insect opened its mouth, and the surrounding poison mist was completely sucked into its mouth. Its body twisted for a moment and swelled slightly, but it was clearly still a long way from being poisoned to death, because in its lifetime, it was a top-tier poisonous creature raised in the Miao region.

It raised its head, and terrifying black poison mist spread, wrapping toward Yin Meng; even the dense, swarming small Gu insects around it turned into corrosive water the moment they touched this poison mist.

At the cave mural, Tan Wenbin was originally using his two resentful infants to lead everyone in playing games and telling stories.

Although the scene was extremely eerie, it also exuded a sense of harmony.

This fragile balance could have continued to be maintained until the blood light appeared, filling in the terrifying grooves that had been carved above the mural.

The previously obedient resentful spirits' auras became powerful, one by one their fierce flames erupted; they were no longer satisfied with being guided and suppressed by the two resentful infants.

Tan Wenbin pursed his lips; he didn't know exactly what had happened, but he was clear that if he didn't make a decision immediately, there would be no place for him in the future.

No longer hesitating, Brother Xiaoyuan wasn't here, so he would make the decision himself.

Tan Wenbin began to perform the Ghost-Controlling Art.

He shouted loudly:

"Children, start drilling!"

"Snake Aunt" was the first one; it wasn't difficult to deal with because its reactions were relatively slow.

The giant gecko that appeared later only had front legs and a head, without the back half of its body; it reacted quickly, but its movements were sluggish.

Although these two fierce beasts were huge in size, due to these physical defects, they had been giving Runsheng the opportunity to continue maneuvering.

But suddenly, "Snake Aunt's" originally lost head reappeared in the form of blood-colored light and shadow; although it wasn't a complete physical entity, this completion greatly compensated for its shortcomings.

The back half of the giant gecko's body was also completed by the blood light, and its figure became even more agile than before.

The suddenly increased pressure caused Runsheng to lose the space he had previously used to maneuver and wait; he was suddenly besieged by these two fierce beasts, leaving him no room to dodge.

But at this moment, although there had been movement from deep inside, Xiaoyuan still hadn't sent him a signal.

Even if the sound couldn't get out, Xiaoyuan only needed to create some specific movements; with the tacit understanding between him and Xiaoyuan, he would be able to grasp it immediately.

However, there was just nothing.

This forced Runsheng to have to make a choice himself.

"Pfft..."

After being whipped by "Snake Aunt's" tail and slamming into the rock wall, Runsheng spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood.

There was no other way; he raised his head, madness revealed in his eyes. He was going to gamble—gamble that after he finished off these two things, he would still have a bit of strength left to go in and help Xiaoyuan.

Although he was very clear that this was almost impossible—if he had opened all his Qi gates earlier, he might have been able to slay these two fierce beasts, but now... it was doubtful.

But at this moment, he had no other choice.

Air waves rolled, and his aura climbed.

Sixteen Qi gates, all open!

"Brother, your people are all fighting for their lives now, right? Guess how much longer they can hold on before they die?"

Li Zhuiyuan didn't answer, only silently using his left hand to grab his right hand, continuing to maintain this posture.

The crystal impacts in front of him continued, and his barrier was gradually shrinking, showing signs of being about to dissipate.

Is this the Old Hag's true ability?

Sure enough, evil objects in history that could make the Long Wang take action personally would never be simple.

The boy squatted down; some spots appeared on his face, and his voice became somewhat mature.

Yet he still continued to pinch his throat, making himself sound at least like a child's voice in terms of tone.

"Brother, do you know? At first, when I let you enter here, my first goal was that I wanted to replace you.

I wanted to replace your identity, I wanted to replace your life, I wanted to live in your stead.

But when I was born and saw you, I found that I couldn't do it, because our apparent ages are different, which really disappointed me.

Since I can't replace you, then I will destroy you.

I can feel your weaknesses, but I found that I couldn't break through your weaknesses; instead, you found mine.

But even destroying you is very difficult.

It was really dangerous just now; I was almost killed by you, Brother.

Fortunately, I learn things fast. This point should be the same as you, Brother, right?"

Li Zhuiyuan spoke: "Are you sure you learned it yourself?"

Hearing this, the boy's complexion turned ugly.

Li Zhuiyuan continued: "To learn things, you either need books or someone to teach you. Can what you suddenly comprehended be called learning?"

The boy's breathing began to become rapid.

Li Zhuiyuan: "So, do you still want to continue lying to yourself now?"

A low growl similar to a beast's came from the boy's throat.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Actually, you know very well in your heart what kind of thing you are."

"Ah!!!!"

The boy let out a shriek.

"Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell!"

Violent crystals bombarded him again.

Li Zhuiyuan's figure, kneeling on one knee, began to sway somewhat.

"Brother, how much longer can you hold on?" The boy calmed down. "Do you really want to drain yourself dry? How pitiful."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Think about your mother."

The boy: "I said, she is not my mother. How is such a stupid thing worthy of being my mother!"

Li Zhuiyuan: "But she did indeed treat you as her child; she wanted to give birth to a child, she didn't want to replace you."

The boy: "Does that matter? Her giving birth to me is her original sin, and also a stain on my life; she will inevitably be erased by me."

Li Zhuiyuan: "Have you forgotten how good she was to you?"

The boy frowned: "Brother, don't you find it ridiculous and absurd to say these things to me now?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Have you forgotten the time you spent together?"

The boy's eyes widened: "Brother, have you lost too much blood and are hallucinating?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Your mother is already dead."

The boy let out a cold laugh: "I said it before, I will find a mother worthy of me. I will look slowly; as long as I look enough, I will definitely find one, hee hee."

Li Zhuiyuan also laughed.

The boy: "What are you laughing at?"

Li Zhuiyuan: "Idiot."

The boy: "Brother, you disappoint me. I didn't expect that before you died, you would say so much low-level nonsense. This seriously damages your image in my heart; I'm even considering whether I should continue to call you 'Brother'."

"Do you think those words just now were meant for you?"

"Otherwise? There's only me and you here..."

The boy suddenly thought of something.

Li Zhuiyuan: "Finally remembered? I am not your brother, but in reality, you actually always had a brother. Have you forgotten him?"

The boy's gaze began to scan the surroundings.

He was looking for something, but he couldn't find it.

Finally, he looked forward again. Li Zhuiyuan in front of him was pale, kneeling on one knee on the ground. The formation maintained by fresh blood had dyed this area blood-colored, not only obscuring his vision but also obscuring his perception.

The boy pointed at Li Zhuiyuan: "You did it on purpose. You deliberately left the formation and moved here. You did it on purpose!"

The Old Hag's mirror secret technique uses vitality as a sacrifice to form a completion within a specific period of time.

This is enough to show how much effort that Zhao Family Long Wang put in to suppress her during the Old Hag's peak period.

The boy comprehended this secret technique and performed it, completing all the burial guardians that had already died at the bottom of the lake, allowing them to revive in another way.

But he overlooked one point: if we are talking about completion, who would be the most powerful one at the bottom of this lake?

Although he was personally slain by the Long Wang back then, he still managed to forcibly preserve a bit of vitality for his mother under the Long Wang's hand.

The Old Hag was truly giving birth to a child; she intended to raise the child, and that first child also truly treated her as a mother, sparing no cost to protect her.

But his mother was killed by this boy in front of him!

Li Zhuiyuan: "I'll give you a chance to avenge your mother."

After saying this, Li Zhuiyuan dismantled the formation. In an instant, he felt a wave of dizziness and slumped backward onto the ground.

The three huge crystals in front, no longer blocked by the formation, were about to pierce through his body.

Li Zhuiyuan snapped his fingers.

"Snap!"

A child's figure appeared before Li Zhuiyuan.

He was nothing but withered bones, but blood light adhered to him, forming another kind of flesh-and-blood texture.

The three crystals slammed into him and instantly turned into powder.

Seeing this, the boy turned and ran, wanting to destroy the blood-colored crystal on the altar.

The Gu Master Tongzi flashed and appeared directly before him, grabbed the boy's neck, and pressed him firmly to the ground.

At this very moment, the intense killing intent on the Gu Master Tongzi was like substance.

The boy pleaded pitifully: "Brother, my own brother, we are own brothers! We are own brothers born of the same mother!"

The Gu Master Tongzi only pressed him down without killing him.

This made the boy feel he still had a chance; he immediately looked at Li Zhuiyuan, who was swaying as he stood up, and shouted:

"It's him! It's him who brought people to kill Mother! It's him who harmed Mother to death! Our mother was harmed to death by him!

Brother, own brother, hurry and kill him! After you kill him, I will give you—no, I will give us—Mother back!"

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the boy with pity.

"I said, you are very stupid."

Then, Li Zhuiyuan mimicked the movement the boy had been doing all along and waved his palm downward.

The Gu Master Tongzi received the order, let out a roar, and launched the most ferocious strike.

"Boom!"

Li Zhuiyuan witnessed with his own eyes that guy who looked almost exactly like him explode completely right before his eyes.

He died, died on his birthday.

Earlier, when he performed this mirror secret technique, Li Zhuiyuan knew what was going to happen.

The boy didn't even recognize his mother, so naturally, he wouldn't recognize his brother. Therefore, Li Zhuiyuan deliberately changed positions, sparing no amount of fresh blood, just to isolate that stone tablet so the boy wouldn't remember his brother.

It's just that the boy could make this oversight, but Li Zhuiyuan couldn't.

If the Gu Master Tongzi were allowed to revive like this, he would kill the boy, but he would also inevitably kill him and all the outsiders at the bottom of the lake.

Therefore, from the beginning, it was actually Li Zhuiyuan secretly helping the boy suppress the Gu Master Tongzi. No choice, he really was a "stupid younger brother."

However, the Gu Master Tongzi's life level was too high; he was, after all, an existence that could be slain by the Long Wang during his peak period. Trying to control him using the method from the Wei Zhengdao Black Book was truly too difficult.

Fortunately, the boy cooperated actively; his every word of blasphemy against the Old Hag, his mother, ignited the Gu Master Tongzi's inner desire for revenge.

The Gu Master Tongzi not only stopped resisting being controlled by him but instead actively cooperated to be controlled by him, so he could kill this younger brother who killed his mother.

After killing the person, the Gu Master Tongzi stood where he was, unmoving.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at the blood crystal on the altar; the vitality the boy had sacrificed inside hadn't been completely consumed even now.

The youth pointed his finger at the blood-colored crystal: "Destroy it."

The Gu Master Tongzi's figure appeared on the altar and crushed the blood-colored crystal with one hand.

The blood light disappeared.

The "flesh and blood" on the Gu Master Tongzi's body disappeared; he turned back into a set of withered bones and slumped to the ground.

The originally noisy bottom of the lake fell into silence at this moment.

It was fortunate that the boy had taken the initiative to lead him into the "core delivery room" and had also committed matricide.

If the Old Hag had spared no cost to perform a sacrifice and use this secret technique, the Gu Master Tongzi would inevitably have been controlled by her.

It was also fortunate that his companions had bought him enough time; otherwise, if any "native" had come in from outside, he wouldn't have been able to complete the control of the Gu Master Tongzi.

Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but wonder: Was the intensity this time too severely over the limit?

An evil spirit of this level, if one is not careful, will truly bring about a total wipeout for one's side!

This made Li Zhuiyuan have to suspect: when his team came to resolve this wave, would Jiang Shui have arranged another batch of people to act as a relay?

To prevent his failure here from causing a crisis.

He now truly had the feeling Xiong Shan had before Taohua Village.

And if there were a backup team arranged this time, who would be the most suitable candidate?

Li Zhuiyuan thought of one person.

Leaning against the wall, the youth walked out of the Zhao Jun Temple.

After arriving outside, he saw the sliced-up corpses of the two fierce beasts, and Runsheng, who was dragging himself slowly toward here while leaning on a shovel amidst the huge corpse chunks.

"Xiaoyuan..."

Upon seeing Li Zhuiyuan, the string that had been taut in Runsheng's heart finally snapped. He leaned forward, fell to the ground, and fell into a coma after opening all his Qi gates.

Li Zhuiyuan walked over and tried his best to help Runsheng turn over, preventing him from drowning face-down in the pool of blood.

Just doing these actions left him panting and exhausted. He was clear that he had to conserve his strength; otherwise, he might not be able to leave this bottom of the lake.

The youth stood up, took a can of Jianlibao from his mountaineering bag, opened it, and walked outward while drinking.

In the corner of the mural cave, Tan Wenbin's eye sockets were sunken, looking like someone whose Yang energy had been drained dry.

The original mural only had a huge groove above it, but now, it was completely covered in graffiti, looking like a mess. These were all Tan Wenbin's handiwork; he had polluted this place in his own way.

If one looked closely, one could find that on the remaining murals, there were scenes everywhere of the two resentful infants tearing and devouring other mural images.

If someone who didn't know the situation saw these, they would probably mistakenly believe that the murals here were specifically recording the deeds of these two resentful infants.

Fortunately, Tan Wenbin's eyes could still move, his gaze following Li Zhuiyuan as he walked here.

Passing by his side, Li Zhuiyuan said softly: "Brother Binbin, you take a nap for a while."

Tan Wenbin closed his eyes.

Walking out of the cave and arriving at the insect pool, he didn't see Yin Meng.

A sense of unease rose in Li Zhuiyuan's heart. Did Mengmeng fail to hold on and die?

"Plop..."

A slit appeared by the mouth of the large Gu insect that had already stopped moving, and Yin Meng slid out from inside.

Her whole body was pitch black; she must have been poisoned by a potent toxin.

Li Zhuiyuan bent down and felt her breath; she was still breathing, not dead.

It's just unclear whether she was swallowed by the large Gu insect or if she had actively crawled into the large Gu insect's mouth to try to poison it.

The latter possibility was much greater.

Li Zhuiyuan noticed Yin Meng's right hand, which was clenched tightly; two black whiskers were poking out from inside, appearing to be living things, as the black whiskers were still swaying.

She was unconscious, yet still clenching a small Gu insect in her hand?

Except for the one clenched in Yin Meng's hand, all the other insects here had been poisoned to death. Li Zhuiyuan was able to safely wade across the insect pool and arrive at the outermost platform.

Lin Shu You was kneeling there on one knee, his upper body straight, the trident placed horizontally across his knees, with eight talisman needles inserted into his chest.

The scene was quite tragic, and the angle was chosen extremely well—facing inward, so as soon as he came out, he would be able to see it at first glance.

Without needing to check for a pulse or breath, Li Zhuiyuan was clear that A-You was definitely still alive.

Because this posture was clearly one that the Bai He Master Master Tongzi had set up with his last bit of strength before leaving.

Under normal circumstances, it is not a simple matter to keep a trident balanced on one's knees without it falling.

Xue Liangliang was squatting by the lake smoking, with a pile of cigarette butts at his feet.

They had been down for so long, why was there still no news?

Xue Liangliang was very anxious, but had no other way. He didn't even dare to go down and take a look, fearing that if he went down, he wouldn't be able to help and would instead become a burden to them.

Just at this moment, Xue Liangliang saw ripples appear on the lake surface in front of him, and immediately after, a figure floated up from below.

"Xiaoyuan? Xiaoyuan!"

Swimming out from the bottom of the lake, Li Zhuiyuan had already exhausted his last bit of strength.

After being dragged to the shore by Xue Liangliang, the youth forced himself to stay awake, making his pronunciation as clear as possible:

"Brother Liang, you go down and bring them up."

"Okay!"

Xue Liangliang didn't say a word and began to take off his clothes with extreme familiarity.

"There are many corpses below; remember to use talisman paper to hide your aura, don't wake them up..."

Xue Liangliang waved his hand:

"Rest assured, no need.

Jumping into rivers to dive and avoiding corpses, I'm a professional!"

(End of chapter)