"Lord Mosquito... is dead?"
Huo Lang stared blankly at the two halves of the giant mosquito corpse on the ground, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Beside him, Big Y gripped Huo Lang's arm so tightly that his nails dug into the flesh, leaving deep red marks.
Neither of them felt a thing.
"Isn't Lord Mosquito supposed to be incredibly strong?"
"How was he killed in a single strike?"
"That's impossible..."
Huo Lang and Big Y racked their brains but couldn't make any sense of it.
Just a moment ago, Lord Mosquito had been overwhelming Jiang Xinglan. How could he suddenly be gone?
The nearby Loose Cultivators overheard their conversation and sighed, their faces filled with disappointment and helplessness.
"Lord Mosquito had some unorthodox methods, but in the end, his strength was only at the Void Refining Realm First Layer. His foundation was clear to see."
"Jiang Xinglan is the number one prodigy of Luoping City's younger generation, and his Cultivation is at the Integration Realm Peak. He's almost two full Grand Realms higher than Lord Mosquito."
"The power gap between them is just too vast. It's not something that can be bridged with skills or special abilities."
The others sighed in succession, and the atmosphere instantly grew somber.
"What a pity for Lord Mosquito."
A middle-aged Cultivator covered his face, his voice choked with sobs.
"We finally had someone who would stand up for us Loose Cultivators, someone who dared to confront the Eight Great Clans."
"But it's a shame... he's gone just like that."
"The Eight Great Clans are too powerful. An ordinary Loose Cultivator could never hope to challenge them. Sigh..."
"With Lord Mosquito dead, Gu Yuexi is finished too."
"Without her Beast Pet to protect her, how can a mere Divinity Transformation Realm cultivator fend off Jiang Xinglan?"
"It's a shame. Such a beautiful ice queen is about to have her life cut short."
"She's still holding Jiang Qingyao's life in her hands. Jiang Xinglan will definitely not let her go."
"At the rate she's currently damaging the Soul Guardian Bottle..."
"...I'm afraid Jiang Xinglan will reach her long before Jiang Qingyao actually dies."
"Let's go, let's go. I don't want to see the cruelty that's about to unfold. It's too upsetting."
"Let's disperse. Everyone should just go about their business."
"From now on, when we run into people from the Eight Great Clans, we'll just have to keep our heads down and behave."
'Is this the only way? Just accept our fate?'
Some Loose Cultivators hung their heads, utterly dejected.
Some wore vacant expressions, their eyes lifeless.
And some began to slowly shuffle away, preparing to leave the scene.
In their hearts,
Chu Sheng's battle against Jiang Xinglan had long since ceased to be a simple personal grudge.
It represented a challenge from the Loose Cultivators to the authority of the Eight Great Clans.
But in the end, Chu Sheng lost.
He lost cleanly and decisively.
There was no suspense in his defeat.
The small flame of hope that had just been ignited in the hearts of the Loose Cultivators was completely extinguished.
Once again, they had failed to hold their heads high before the Eight Great Clans.
...
From their vantage point on a high-rise building, Ye Guxuan and Chu Nianci—representatives of the Ye and Chu Families of the Eight Great Clans—watched the scene unfold.
Although they had anticipated this outcome, they couldn't help but feel a little impressed.
"A pity. We weren't able to bait out more of Jiang Xinglan's trump cards. All we forced out was the Law of Gravity," Ye Guxuan said, shaking his head in regret.
He had just been saying
that with Chu Sheng's power, they might get to see more of Jiang Xinglan's hidden skills.
But Jiang Xinglan had cut Chu Sheng down with a single sword strike.
This result,
though expected, had come far too quickly.
So quickly that neither Ye Guxuan nor Chu Nianci had time to process it.
Compared to Ye Guxuan,
Chu Nianci was much more optimistic.
She smiled and said, "It was still quite impressive."
"A mere Void Refining Realm First Layer Demon Beast managed to force out one of the strongest trump cards of an Integration Realm Peak expert."
"It even scarred Jiang Xinglan's face and made a complete fool out of him."
"Jiang Xinglan... no, the entire Jiang Family will remember this mosquito."
"You could say it was a worthy death."
"If it had any descendants, they'd have bragging rights for generations of mosquitoes."
Ye Guxuan nodded, no longer dwelling on their failure to see more of Jiang Xinglan's trump cards.
He turned to look at Gu Yuexi on the field below, his eyes tinged with regret.
"What a shame. Such a beautiful and spirited Female Cultivator is about to..."
Before he could get the word "die" out,
Ye Guxuan suddenly froze, his brow furrowing sharply.
"Something's wrong!!!"
"What is it? What's wrong?"
Chu Nianci asked, looking at him in confusion.
Ye Guxuan's brow was knitted tightly, his gaze fixed sharply on Gu Yuexi as he spoke rapidly.
"Gu Yuexi and that mosquito signed an equal contract."
"I sensed the contractual fluctuations earlier, so there's no mistake."
"Under normal circumstances, if the Beast Pet dies, the master who signed an equal contract with it will also die."
"Their Divine Soul might even be obliterated, leaving no chance for rebirth."
"But Gu Yuexi is still alive and well, with no signs of injury whatsoever. That can only mean..."
Chu Nianci instantly understood what Ye Guxuan was implying. She blurted out in a horrified voice,
"That mosquito isn't dead?!"
Ye Guxuan and Chu Nianci locked eyes, both seeing the profound shock mirrored in the other's gaze.
'Feigning death to escape right under everyone's noses...'
'How on earth did that mosquito manage it?'
'Even the corpse was so realistic. It fooled us, too!'
Chu Nianci muttered to herself, feeling as if her entire worldview had been shaken.
Ye Guxuan's brows remained tightly furrowed as he stared intently at the field, his mind racing.
"I don't think it's that simple."
"That mosquito had the upper hand the entire time, with an endless array of tricks."
"It shouldn't have just run away because it couldn't block one of Jiang Xinglan's sword strikes."
"Besides, Gu Yuexi is still there. There was no need for it to feign death."
"Unless..."
Ye Guxuan's voice was filled with uncertainty.
"...that mosquito is looking for an opportunity to strike a fatal blow, deliberately playing dead to lower Jiang Xinglan's guard."
"That's..."
Chu Nianci wanted to object. After all, the gap in their Realms was undeniable.
It was one thing for Chu Sheng, a Void Refining Realm cultivator, not to take the chance to escape.
But to prepare a counterattack and try to kill an Integration Realm Peak expert like Jiang Xinglan?
No matter how you looked at it, it sounded like a fantasy—completely absurd.
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized she had no grounds to refute the idea.
Finally, she could only shake her head helplessly and turn her gaze back to the battlefield.
"Forget it. Let's just keep watching. This is getting more and more interesting."
The spectator sees more of the game than the player.
Because Gu Yuexi was still alive, Ye Guxuan and Chu Nianci had keenly spotted the flaw in the situation and guessed that Chu Sheng wasn't dead.
But Jiang Xinglan, drunk on his victory, hadn't considered any of this.
At this moment, he was completely immersed in the joy of having slain a powerful foe.
He spat contemptuously at the giant mosquito corpse on the ground. "Ptoo!"
"Hmph! A moment ago, you were shouting so fiercely at me. What a joke."
"You overestimated your own abilities, daring to oppose me. Your death was well-deserved."
Jiang Xinglan smugly dusted off his sleeves, then turned to face Gu Yuexi nearby, reassuming the arrogant posture of a prodigy.
"Gu Yuexi, your Beast Pet is dead, reduced to two chunks of rotting flesh."
"Release my sister immediately and surrender without a fight."
"I'm in a good mood, so I might grant you a quick death and leave your corpse intact."
"If you persist in this foolishness and continue to oppose the Jiang Family..."
"Hmph! I will make you wish for death. You will taste every form of torture the Jiang Family has to offer."
In Jiang Xinglan's eyes,
Gu Yuexi's greatest reliance was that bizarre mosquito.
Now that the mosquito was dead, he was certain she would be terrified enough to surrender obediently.
He had already thought it all out.
Once Gu Yuexi surrendered, he would decide how to torture her to get revenge for being ignored and having his face disfigured.