Zhang Zhu cursed at the top of his lungs, but he was ultimately swept into the chaos as well. The two of them fled for their lives through a harrowing chase, shaking off one flying elephant before finally running to the edge of a cliff — where two flying elephants blocked their only escape route.
The ground trembled as the elephants charged.
"Kid, split up and run!" Zhang Zhu roared, lunging to the left.
"Oh my god!" Chen Xin screamed, but before he could even react, a flying elephant slammed into the cliff face. A massive crater was smashed into the rock, and ivory tusks were driven deep into the stone.
Both flying elephants were momentarily pinned.
"Heaven has blessed me — I'm not meant to die here!" Zhang Zhu gasped heavily several times before collapsing limply to the ground...
The cliff wall shook. Both elephants roared in fury, repeatedly wrenching their heads back and forth. Gravel and rock shards flew in all directions as the holes where their tusks had been driven only grew wider.
Zhang Zhu watched in alarm, knowing the two elephants would break free soon. He forced himself upright and struggled to his feet.
Just as he stood, a whistling sound reached his ears — and his entire body shuddered.
*Tsss.*
A white bone spear, etched with spiral grooves, pierced clean through from his back to his chest, the tip driving into the ground and pinning him fast.
Blood trickled down the shaft of the bone spear, dripping onto the earth.
Zhang Zhu's body went rigid. His mouth fell slightly open, and a stream of crimson blood immediately spilled from the corner of his lips.
He slowly lowered his gaze and saw the fatal spiral bone spear.
At first, he thought it was the tusk of a White Feathered Flying Elephant. But in the next instant, he realized — this was unmistakably a Gu Master's attack.
"Who is it?" He tried to twist around, to catch sight of the assassin behind him.
But the next second —
*Tsss.* Another bone spear shot through the air!
This one pierced straight into the back of his skull and burst out through his mouth, the tip driven into the ground.
Zhang Zhu was pinned in place like a grotesque statue. His eyes widened in futile disbelief, his pupils contracted to pinpoints.
He was dead.
Dead with his eyes open.
From a concealed corner, Fang Yuan watched from a distance.
Over these past days, he had thoroughly investigated Zhang Zhu's background. This Zhang Zhu was an obstacle — one that had to be removed.
The two white bone spears gradually disintegrated, dissolving into motes of white light that scattered into the air.
Without their support, Zhang Zhu's corpse toppled face-first into the dirt.
One White Feathered Flying Elephant wrenched its tusks free and charged toward Zhang Zhu's body. It stomped down with one massive foot, crushing him into a pulpy mess — bones pulverized, flesh splattered.
White feathers scattered through the air as the elephant took flight again, soaring back into the sky.
Only then did Fang Yuan withdraw his gaze. Zhang Zhu was thoroughly dead. The elephant had trampled the corpse beyond recognition, saving Fang Yuan the trouble of cleaning up the crime scene.
He quietly slipped away.
Shortly after he left, the other White Feathered Flying Elephant also took to the sky.
Its tusks had punched clean through the cliff, leaving behind two deep holes the size of bowls. A large section of the cliff face was caved in, with rubble strewn all around.
Suddenly, the pile of rubble trembled, and a head emerged from within.
"Oh heavens, that scared me half to death! Thank goodness I had the Earth-Burrowing Gu... I barely made it through..." Chen Xin scrambled up from underground, panting heavily, drenched in cold sweat, still trembling from the close call.
The Earth-Burrowing Gu allowed a Gu Master to burrow underground and hide temporarily. The drawback was that once activated, the user could only remain buried in one spot, completely immobile. Furthermore, maintaining it required the Gu Master to continuously feed it large amounts of True Essence.
Chen Xin had been chased relentlessly, and only at the very last moment had he found the time to use it.
"Things are getting more and more chaotic — there's even a Gu Master assassinating Zhang Zhu." He glanced at Zhang Zhu's remains — trampled into an unrecognizable mass of flesh — swallowed hard, and fled in panic.
The herd of elephants rampaged for over an hour before finally departing.
Shang Xinci and Xiaodie supported each other as they stumbled out of the rainforest.
They were caked in mud from head to toe, utterly wretched. Xiaodie's face bore blue-purple bruises — clearly she had slammed into something during the desperate flight.
"Miss..." She was terrified out of her wits. Death had been so terrifyingly close that her body shook with every step.
Shang Xinci patted her hand in comfort. In truth, her own face was deathly pale.
Along the road, corpses lay scattered everywhere, blood pooling across the ground. Shattered wagon wheels, the mangled bodies of Camel Chickens, and the remains of Black-skin Fat-armored Insects and Winged Snakes lay across the trade route.
As the survivors gradually gathered together, the air filled with groaning, wailing, and weeping.
As the caravan leader, Jia Long's face was ashen. The casualties this time were catastrophic — the entire caravan had been devastated, with barely one in ten remaining. They had been utterly decimated.
After mustering everyone together, only slightly over a hundred people were left. The majority were Gu Masters, with a small number of mortals among them.
The strongest factions — the Jia family and the Chen family — had been severely battered, to say nothing of the others. The Lin family had only three Gu Masters left. Some of the less fortunate family groups had been wiped out entirely.
The rainforest held its own dangers as well — many had not been killed by the White Feathered Flying Elephants' trampling and charges, but by the "warm welcome" of the forest's savage beasts and venomous insects.
"Yun Bai, I'm so glad to see you. Back in the rainforest, thank you for luring one of the White Feathered Flying Elephants away from us." Spotting Bai Ningbing among the crowd, Shang Xinci approached to express her gratitude.
Fang Yuan had not trusted Bai Ningbing, worried she might collude with Zhang Zhu, so he had gone to assassinate Zhang Zhu personally. Bai Ningbing, meanwhile, had been tasked with secretly following Shang Xinci and protecting her life.
"It was nothing. I've always believed in repaying kindness. Miss Zhang, the one who saved you wasn't me — it was your own past good deeds," Bai Ningbing said.
She was usually taciturn, almost never speaking. When she did speak, she deliberately altered and lowered her voice.
Now, however, she made no effort to disguise herself. Her normal speaking voice was cool and clear — unmistakably feminine. This drew a subtle look of surprise from both Shang Xinci and her maid.
"Oh, Yun Bai, have you seen Uncle Zhang Zhu?" Shang Xinci asked, her expression anxious. "I've searched everywhere, but I still haven't found him."
Bai Ningbing sighed inwardly. Since Fang Yuan had already returned, she knew Zhang Zhu must be dead.
"There's no need to worry, Miss. Zhang Zhu is a Gu Master of considerable skill. Perhaps he's simply —"