Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

Zhang Ruoxue suddenly raised her head, looking at her fourth senior brother in disbelief.

Gu Xingzhuo gave a stiff grin and said:

"I'll leave the Guardian Army to you, Junior Sister."

"Senior brother...?"

“I have things I need to take care of, so I have to stay.”

He spoke calmly, as if he were about to face someone who was just a stranger he had met by chance.

But Zhang Ruoxue knew that wasn't it.

She silently accepted the token, opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. She just glanced at Gu Xingzhuo with a hint of worry, and then let out a long sigh.

She wasn't a thoughtful person, so since Gu Xingzhuo hadn't chosen to run away, he must have his reasons. Zhang Ruoxue wouldn't ask too many questions.

She asked Fang Yan, "What do I need to do?"

"With this token, this token is my proof. With this token, I can give orders to the Guardian Army, and none of them will dare to disobey."

"But what if there's a traitor within, or someone strongly opposes it... like Lü Chonghou who disregarded this order..."

At this point, Fang Yan slowly closed his eyes.

As if making a firm decision, he tried his best to speak in a calm voice:

“You have the right… to execute them on the spot.”

"Execution?"

Zhang Ruoxue was startled: "Is this...?"

Fang Yan's expression remained unchanged. He said emphatically, "The important thing is the thousand Guardian Soldiers... not just one or two individuals. Consider the bigger picture..."

“One or two or three people… can be abandoned.”

Fang Yan spoke these words with an extremely heavy tone.

He was indeed advising Zhang Ruoxue, but it seemed he was also advising himself.

Zhang Ruoxue bit her lower lip and remained silent for a moment before nodding.

The worry in her eyes had not yet disappeared. She looked down at the approaching black tide below, and then at Gu Xingzhuo's pale, ashen profile.

"Senior brother... hold on until I get back."

"Go ahead without worry." Gu Xingzhuo did not respond to Zhang Ruoxue's gaze, as if he dared not meet her eyes, and simply said, "General Fang and I will guard this place."

"it is good."

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhang Ruoxue gripped the token tightly and quickly stored it in her storage ring.

Standing atop the city wall, he turned back to look at his senior brother with a heavy heart, before disappearing from the towering, dilapidated wooden wall with a touch of reluctance.

After Zhang Ruoxue left—

Gu Xingzhuo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then rubbed his forehead with a slightly helpless expression.

His hands trembled slightly, and he dared not even look down at the familiar figure leading the black demonic dynasty that was sweeping in. His face became increasingly like that of a corpse.

Those eyes seemed to hold something called fear.

—It's so tiring... having to pretend in front of my junior sister...

He knew he would have to face her sooner or later... but he didn't expect that day to come so quickly. He wasn't even mentally prepared when his former lover appeared before him in the form of the dead... Demon Dynasty.

"General Fang..."

Gu Xingzhuo's voice trembled.

Even so, he still tried his best to suppress the fear in his heart: "When the battle begins later, could you leave that demon general to me to deal with?"

"you……"

Fang Yan looked astonished, not understanding what Gu Xingzhuo meant by those words.

Before Fang Yan could get any information, Gu Xingzhuo interrupted him—

With a slightly pleading tone: "General Fang... I'm begging you."

"..."

Fang Yan didn't understand why Gu Xingzhuo would make such a request.

But at this moment, Gu Xingzhuo's eyes were filled with panic and confusion... yet also with a barely perceptible trace of courage—Fang Yan couldn't understand it at all.

After a moment, he could only sigh helplessly.

Don't force yourself.

“I know… I never force myself.”

"Then... I'll leave it to you."

"Ah."

Gu Xingzhuo nodded, his gaze fixed on the figure wielding a giant axe who had already arrived at the foot of the city.

His heart, which should have stopped beating long ago, was filled with an extremely unbearable pain.

That delicate face lifted slightly, as if sensing someone's gaze, and looked up at the figure on the city wall.

One person is dead, and so is the other.

The two, who had finally reached a consensus on life and death, were now on completely different sides: one stood on the city wall, while the other led 20,000 demon soldiers...

Eyes facing each other.

“Wang Xiaomo…”

Gu Xingzhuo softly called out this name that held great significance for him.

He closed his eyes, as if he had made up his mind, and then took a step forward.

On the city wall, the white-haired boy plummeted down at lightning speed, landing in front of the city gate of Broken Wood City just seconds later.

boom.

The ashes that fell to the ground were scattered by a strong wind, and the boy stood there unharmed, alone in front of the demon army.

However, in his eyes, there were no 20,000 elite soldiers of the Demon Dynasty at this moment, but only a figure remained.

The figure was all too familiar to Gu Xingzhuo.

"I am coming."

He looked at Wang Xiaomo with unbearable sorrow and said bitterly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

I've been absent for so long before~

I'm so sorry!

But it's a new year! Happy New Year!

18. Long time no see, Mad Dog.

Zhang Ruoxue knew she couldn't be slow.

Within the territory of the Demon Dynasty, on a vast expanse of black, scorched earth, a blurry figure raced at an incredibly fast speed, like a whirlwind, towards a certain location. The fierce wind around it seemed to tear through the air, preventing anything from getting any closer.

The filthy demons, twisted and contorted on all sides, as if they had just awakened from the abyss of demons, were all crushed into dust by the surging waves created by Zhang Ruoxue's every step—demons at the mere Transformation stage could be easily crushed by the aftershocks caused by Zhang Ruoxue's full-speed attack.

She had no intention of paying any attention to the demons or even the blood spirits around her; there simply wasn't enough time for her to make any extra moves.

After all, his senior brother was facing old friends at this moment, and there were only seven hundred soldiers in Broken Wood City. How long could they hold out against the twenty thousand demon army? Nobody knew.

If we cannot recall those thousand Guardian Soldiers to Broken Wood City in a short time...

Whether it's the previously established plan, Gu Xingzhuo, or Fang Yan... they will likely all fall victim to the Demon Dynasty's wickedness, and whether they can survive is a huge question.

However, she did not encounter any demonic cultivators along the way. All she saw were blood spirits wandering around, and she could not find any demonic cultivators at all.

This is obviously not in line with common sense.

Zhang Ruoxue had been in the Demon Dynasty's territory for about ten minutes. Given her speed, it was impossible for her to still be lingering on the outskirts of the Demon Dynasty's territory. Logically speaking, she should have already penetrated deep into the heart of the territory and not seen a single person around her.

This is obviously not in line with common sense.

Although she was not in the Demon Dynasty's Demon Palace in the Desolate Heaven Domain, but only in the encampment of the Demon Dynasty's troops stationed on the border of the Lantian Empire, it shouldn't be that she couldn't see a single person.

And it was at this moment—

The strong smell of blood filled her nostrils, causing Zhang Ruoxue to stop in her tracks, furrow her brows, and warily survey her surroundings.

This bloody smell is different from the smell of blood spirit. The blood spirit has a putrid, extremely pungent and unpleasant odor. If you smell it for too long, you'll definitely vomit up your dinner from last night.

But the smell of blood right now... to be honest... is fresher.

Although Ruoxue is not a dog, her sense of smell is indeed quite sensitive.

"I don't think so..."

Zhang Ruoxue realized something and hurriedly ran towards the direction from which the smell of blood was coming.

Within half a minute, a scene appeared in her field of vision that confirmed her ominous premonition.

Dozens of armored corpses lay scattered in pools of blood, most of them with huge holes pierced through their chests, their hearts seemingly crushed, and their necks mostly broken by immense force.

Numerous magical artifacts were discarded like trash to the side, and there were hardly any signs of battle around them—the difference in cultivation levels between the two sides was probably terrifying.

Each of these people had a black token hanging from their waist, similar in style to the one Fang Yan had given them earlier, but with slight differences in some details.

Zhang Ruoxue recognized her.

This is the token of the Guardian Army.

In other words, the dozens of corpses in front of her... were all members of the Guardian Army.

"Ah...ah..."

A very faint sound came to my ears.

Zhang Ruoxue recovered from her shock and hurriedly looked towards the source of the voice. She saw a female cultivator who looked to be in her early twenties, and who was about the same age as herself.