“Didn’t expect you to let your companion escape,” the custodian said in a low voice, his gaze cold as he stared at Fang Ming.
Now it had stopped mutilating itself. Sharp bone spurs protruded from its body, and mouths of various sizes appeared on different parts of its body. Its strength had reached a terrifying level, and it was now likely that even an ordinary fierce fiend wouldn’t be its match!
“You’re too weak, not worthy of him making a move,” Fang Ming said defiantly, sneering.
“Ridiculous.” The custodian raised his giant axe, his target fixed on Fang Ming. “Then I’ll kill you first, and then find him!”
“Fight!” Fang Ming held his blade with one arm, shouting loudly, and quickly attacked the custodian.
The custodian stopped wasting words. He raised his giant axe and leaped up, meeting Fang Ming with the force of an axe cleaving Mount Tai.
“Boom!”
Upon contact, Fang Ming was sent flying, crashing into a cultivation tank like a cannonball. His long saber was also knocked away by the immense recoil, embedding itself in a distant cultivation tank with only the hilt protruding and trembling.
“Cough, cough!” Fang Ming climbed out of the shattered cultivation tank, clutching his chest. The cultivation fluid poured all over the floor. Fang Ming was forced to drink some, and it was somewhat fishy, he didn’t know if it was his own blood or nutrient solution.
“Thump, thump, thump…” The custodian walked towards Fang Ming step by step, his giant axe slung over his shoulder.
“You’re no match for me at all, you can’t even defeat my most basic state. You’re truly disappointing.”
The custodian looked down at the struggling Fang Ming, his tone revealing disappointment. A foe of this strength could be easily killed by any half-fiend. It was not worth its self-mutilation to increase its power.
Fang Ming forced a smile at this, “I’m not dead yet. It’s not certain who will lose.”
“Ridiculous,” the custodian chuckled dismissively and raised his giant axe, bringing it down. This blow would surely smash the stubborn fellow into a pulp.
“Boom!” The ground shook.
“You still have the strength to escape?” The custodian was surprised. This attack, which he believed to be unavoidable, had missed, and the axe had only struck the ground.
Just now, Fang Ming had used all his strength to barely evade the custodian’s attack, rolling away to avoid it, and then, holding his breath, he got up and quickly moved towards his saber.
The custodian watched Fang Ming’s struggle like a cat playing with a mouse. After missing his attack, he looked at Fang Ming heading for his saber with amusement in his eyes.
It wanted to see how long this fellow could last.
“This is…” Fang Ming only realized when he reached his saber that it had pierced a purple cultivation tank. Beside it was another tank of purple nutrient solution that Qingmian had broken earlier.
A bold idea took shape in Fang Ming’s mind, but it required a fight to the death!
Fang Ming drew his saber. Its smooth surface now reflected his rather disheveled appearance, his hair unkempt and his face stained with blood.
“That’s why I have to find my parents!” Fang Ming gritted his teeth. He had suffered too much in the past decade. Compared to these grievances, death was no longer terrifying!
“Kill!” Fang Ming roared, flicking his saber. A saber’s cry echoed, “Come on, monster!”
The custodian scoffed, swung its giant axe, and charged at Fang Ming.
Closer, and closer!
Fang Ming meticulously calculated the distance between them. The custodian’s ugly, disgusting eyeballs grew larger in his eyes, filled with excitement and bloodlust.
“Now!” Fang Ming’s heart stirred. The giant axe was inches away. He quickly rolled to dodge, narrowly avoiding the axe’s attack, which also aggravated his injuries, causing him to cough, and blood from his abdomen uncontrollably surged from his mouth.
“Bang!” The giant axe smashed fiercely into the cultivation tank, instantly shattering the entire container. The nutrient solution inside splashed everywhere like scattered flowers, and the custodian, being the closest, bore the brunt of it.
“Ahhh!” The custodian screamed and struggled. Its scales, as if encountering sulfuric acid, were rapidly corroded, and then peeled off piece by piece, exposing large areas of flesh unprotected by scales.
“I’ll make you—die!” The custodian finally understood that it had fallen into Fang Ming’s trap. It raised its giant axe to cleave Fang Ming, but the pain that pierced its very soul made its movements sluggish.
Fang Ming seized the opportunity and quickly attacked the custodian. This was his only chance. Once it recovered, he would surely die!
“Squelch!” Fang Ming leaped up, his saber flashing. Half of the custodian’s arm flew off. The custodian, unprotected by scales, was very fragile. Coupled with the inherent power of Qingmian’s saber, it was easy to lop off one of its arms.
“Comfortable~” The custodian moaned in relief. The severed arm began to grow rapidly. Without the torment of the corroded arm, the custodian felt quite comfortable.
Fang Ming’s heart sank. It seemed that only a killing blow would work, otherwise, he would be helping it!
Where was its weakness then? The heart? The head? Or somewhere else?
Fang Ming suddenly realized that he didn’t even know where this guy’s weak spot was. How could he talk about killing it?
What to do?
“With your strength, even if you break through my defenses, you won’t be able to kill me!” the custodian sneered.
This was the truth, and Fang Ming could not refute it.
“Let’s try and see,” Fang Ming gripped the hilt of his saber and took a deep breath.
“Kill!”
Fang Ming charged straight at the custodian. Seeing this, the custodian instead boldly put down its axe and spread its arms, letting Fang Ming attack.
“Damn it! What does it want to do?” Fang Ming grumbled incessantly as he ran, unsure of the custodian’s intentions. Was it truly confident, or was it bluffing him?
But now, the arrow was nocked and the bowstring was drawn. Fang Ming had no choice but to press on. He had only one chance, and failure meant death!
“Chii!” The long saber pierced the custodian’s chest and passed through, dripping blood from the tip.
Did it succeed?
“You stab very accurately, but unfortunately… my weakness isn’t my heart.” The custodian’s mouths all turned into cruel smiles at the same time. Its two arms suddenly embraced Fang Ming, who was still in front of it.
“You…” Fang Ming was shocked and quickly tried to break free, but how could his strength contend with the custodian? No matter how he struggled, he couldn’t move.
“Heh heh, why don’t you run? You’re quite good at running, aren’t you?” the custodian cackled sinisterly, its arms tightening their grip, making it increasingly difficult for Fang Ming to breathe and causing him excruciating pain.
“I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill the other rat, no, two of them,” the custodian chuckled sinisterly. This feeling of making others despair as they slowly die was too exciting for it, more exciting than cleaving them to death with its axe!
“Snap, snap…” The sound of bones breaking echoed.
“You… you just…” Fang Ming’s mouth overflowed with blood, and his consciousness began to blur.
Was he going to die? Fang Ming gave a bitter laugh in his heart. This fellow was simply too strong, despairingly strong. He hadn’t even met the “Professor” yet and was about to die at the hands of one of his experiments.
“Fang Ming!” A childish voice suddenly rang out.
Fang Ming, with the last trace of consciousness, vaguely saw a familiar small figure appear in his vision.
“Nannan… Run quickly…” Fang Ming uttered this in his mind. His lips moved a few times, but no sound came out, and then he fell into complete silence.
“Fang Ming…” Nannan suddenly felt a string in her heart snap. She was still too late…
At that very moment, Nannan’s black hair began to grow wildly, turning from the roots to the tips into a blood-red color. Numerous snake-like fiends condensed from resentment began to weave through her hair, her icy gaze fixed on the custodian.
Simultaneously, Nannan’s size also began to increase, only stopping when she grew to nearly adult height. Her blood-red hair automatically covered her body, concealing her nakedness. Beneath her feet, a blood python tens of meters long emerged from the void and coiled obediently below her, its gaze towards the custodian far from friendly.
“Who exactly are you?” The custodian, having abandoned the lifeless Fang Ming, looked warily at Nannan floating in mid-air.
“Die.” Nannan’s face was cold, as if detached from worldly affairs. She slowly raised a jade-like finger and pointed at the custodian.
The custodian suddenly felt a great terror descend, as if something extremely horrifying was about to happen. It wanted to dodge, but had no idea where to go.
“Ahhh!” The custodian began to scratch its body in pain, even trying to chop open its own body with its axe. “What did you put inside me?”
Soon, its body provided the answer.
“Screech, screech…” The custodian’s body suddenly stiffened and began to tear like leather. In a moment, a blood custodian, its size comparable to the custodian itself, tore out of its body.
“Master.” The blood custodian approached Nannan and knelt on one knee.
Suddenly, the blood python beneath Nannan moved, swallowed the blood custodian in one bite, and then obediently returned to its position under Nannan.
Nannan showed no reaction to this. She stepped off the blood python, her demeanor still cold, but with a hint of sorrow. She walked slowly to Fang Ming’s corpse, her gaze fixed on him, remaining motionless for a long time.
She had no memories of Fang Ming in her mind, but she knew that this person was extremely important to her.
“Tears?” Nannan touched the tears on her face, finding it incredible. Did she still have tears? Weren’t these things only possessed by lower beings?
Why was she crying? Because of the human in front of her?
Who was he?
“My condolences.” Qingmian arrived from the mirror, only to witness this scene.
Although he didn’t recognize Nannan’s current appearance, he could sense her aura. It was just that for some reason she had become like this, which filled him with dread.
“Who are you?” Nannan turned her head to look at Qingmian.
“Me?” Qingmian suddenly understood, then shook his head helplessly. “So you’ve forgotten us. No wonder.”
For a moment, he didn’t know if Fang Ming’s actions were worth it.
“Speak,” Nannan’s voice began to turn cold. She strongly disliked Qingmian’s dawdling. She had forgotten that Qingmian was actually a person who rarely spoke nonsense.
“I really hate your tone right now,” Qingmian said, somewhat annoyed, especially since Fang Ming had sacrificed himself to help Nannan escape, and Nannan had become like this!
“Die.” Seeing that Qingmian wouldn’t speak, Nannan directly chose to act. Instantly, Qingmian felt an unknown fear descend, startling him into fleeing back into the mirror.
“Out!” But who knew, Nannan extended her arm, and a few strands of blood-red hair drilled into the void, forcibly dragging Qingmian out!
“How is this possible…” Qingmian was shocked.
At the same time, those few strands of blood-red hair transformed into several blood-red snakes with ferocious expressions, lunging at Qingmian. Qingmian knew with his toes that being bitten would definitely be the end.
He never expected to die not at the hands of an enemy, but of an ally.
Qingmian gave a wry smile.