Realizing he was out of runes, Gu Zhan hesitated no longer and turned to flee.
At that moment, the lord's mansion was right in front of him. He slapped the door with his palm, and the lavish, heavy door shattered with a bang, splintered wood flying past Gu Zhan's face.
Without the protection of the magic runes, Gu Zhan was just an ordinary person with a frail physique.
He even felt that this instance had restricted his stamina, making him weaker than normal.
With the defensive runes gone, he still had some offensive runes left.
He took out a wind rune, tore it apart, and an instant gale filled the corridor.
The carpet, the wall murals, and even the decorations nailed to the walls all flew into the air.
"Clang, crash!" The chaotic debris knocked the pursuing lord off-balance, but it was also indiscriminate collateral damage for Gu Zhan.
A sharp, glimmering candelabrum was propelled by the wind, hurtling straight toward Gu Zhan's chest. Fortunately, he was quick enough to dodge aside. The candelabrum's tip grazed his clothing and left a scratch on his skin.
Gu Zhan broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly commanded the wind to cease.
As soon as it stopped, the lord lunged at him.
In the narrow corridor, Gu Zhan had no room to evade; he could only tear apart another wind rune, sending the wind crashing into the lord, distorting his face.
Gu Zhan was too close; not only was he assaulted by the stench, but he also saw maggots writhing beneath the decaying skin of the lord, which had long since rotted away.
Gu Zhan kicked him away and fled to the side.
Ahead was a window, and as Gu Zhan's hand rested on the windowsill, he inadvertently glanced outside and spotted a familiar figure in the courtyard of the castle.
Was that Garen?!
How did he end up in the lord's mansion?
Moreover, he was being pursued by several members of the Church in white robes.
Garen was fleeing in disarray, covered in dust, one shoe even lost in his flight.
There was no time to waste; if he got caught…
Gu Zhan had no doubts about Mo Tuo’s efficiency, even the fact that he left to handle another altar felt like an excuse to watch the show in silence.
The only critical factor was what he could do here.
Gu Zhan turned back, just in time to see the original lord attack.
No, he had to think of a way to deal with this lord quickly.
The magic runes in his hand were running low, and the offensive runes weren't effective…
This lord didn’t seem like someone who would lose mobility after being injured; he couldn’t just cut the lord into pieces, throw him back on the bed, and put him together again…
While Gu Zhan was contemplating this, he suddenly noticed the curtains floating high nearby.
In this lavishly decorated castle, there were carpets, thick curtains, and fabric decorations hanging on the walls everywhere.
After the recent whirlwind, the walls and floor items had been displaced, and the windows had blown open.
At that moment, with the wind rune temporarily at rest, the wind from outside blew back in, stirring the curtains and making them dance in the corridor.
The city lord happened to walk next to the window, completely unaware of avoiding it since he had already become a sacrifice. The curtain heavily slapped against his face. However, he wasn’t relying on his sight to act, so he didn’t care and continued to walk towards Gu Zhan.
Suddenly, a thought struck Gu Zhan.
He tore apart another wind talisman, and a fierce wind whipped up in the corridor again, but this time, it wasn’t as violent as the last. The main target of the attack wasn’t the city lord but rather the curtain next to him.
The curtain was blown by the wind, layer upon layer sticking to the city lord’s face.
At first, it merely obstructed his view, which was of no concern to the city lord, so he ignored it.
However, it soon went from obstructing his view to affecting his movement.
“Bang—”
“Puff—”
Layer after layer, the curtain quickly and accurately stuck to the city lord, binding his limbs and preventing him from moving.
The city lord’s legs were still moving quickly, about to reach Gu Zhan.
But due to the obstruction of the curtain, he lost his balance and, with a loud “bang,” fell at Gu Zhan's feet!
“Whew… Hiss!!” The city lord let out an angry roar, not expecting Gu Zhan to obstruct him in such a manner!
Just a few pieces of fabric!
The city lord waved his sharp claws, tearing apart the curtain wrapped around him.
The curtain was made thin as a cicada’s wing for effect, and was easily torn; in no time, it was like snow falling all around.
Gu Zhan furrowed his brows and controlled the wind to blow more curtains, wrapping this sacrifice up like an onion.
The city lord tore at the curtains quickly, but the wind was even faster, pulling in the scraps that had fallen to the ground.
How many curtains were there in this long corridor?
Let’s just say, more than enough.
As the curtains layered on, a line from a song flashed unbidden in Gu Zhan’s mind.
“… Layer by layer, peeling away my heart…”
Gu Zhan’s expression remained unchanged as he added another layer of curtain.
It’s a good song, but don’t sing it again next time.
As the curtains continued to pile on, even the carpet beneath was lifted; this carpet was far sturdier than the curtains. With all these layers wrapping around, just the friction alone reached a point where “two horse-drawn carriages” couldn’t pull apart.
Once the city lord lost his space to move, his limbs could no longer exert force, leaving him with nothing but impotent rage.
Gu Zhan looked at this freshly wrapped ball and thought for a moment before pushing him towards the bedroom.
Aside from the struggle of getting him onto the bed, everything else went smoothly.
But… if he was all wrapped up in layers of curtains and carpets, how could he align with the red lines of the formation? If he remembered correctly, part of the formation should be drawn on him.
But he couldn’t let him go; this undying creature wouldn’t calm down until he was chopped into city lord paste.
Gu Zhan could only roll him around on the bed, trying to find a suitable angle to align the two…
After rolling for a while, the red lines of the formation on the bed suddenly emitted a bright light, followed by the red lines on the city lord’s body glowing as well.
The light seemed to have a penetrating quality, visible even through the thick curtains.
At the same time, the entire room's formation began to shine.
An eerie, ominous red light enveloped the whole room, making the city lord’s mansion seem to transform from a lifeless object into a living being, emitting coarse breaths.
Gu Zhan began to quickly modify the formation according to Mo Tuo’s instructions, aiming for a reversal effect.
As he was making changes, he suddenly felt something was off in the room. Tilting his head to look, he saw that the city lord, who was wrapped up in layers, had opened his eyes at some point. His eyeballs were bulging out, seemingly about to fall out at any moment…
He looked like he was in great pain.
Gu Zhan glanced around and noticed a candlestick on the table beside him. He grabbed it, pierced through the carpet, and began to peel back the curtains layer by layer.
Once all the curtains were stripped away, he saw the city lord’s once-decayed body gradually swelling and becoming transparent.
He seemed to be becoming a part of the formation, some horrifying energy coursing through his body.
Just looking at that energy gave Gu Zhan a feeling of “very strong, very tempting.”
Suddenly, an impulse arose within him to push the city lord aside and lie down in that position, letting all that energy flow into his own body.
Maybe he could become an existence like the God of Shadows or the God of the Sun!
Realizing this thought in an instant, Gu Zhan opened his system, and sure enough, his sanity points were decreasing.
The city lord lying on the bed didn’t seem happy at all; in fact, he looked to be in pain and despair.
His bulging eyes fixed desperately on Gu Zhan, emitting the last trace of human-like pleading: “Please… kill… kill… me… please…”
Countless broken words condensed into one sentence.
He didn’t want to continue being this focal point of the formation.
This truly was an evil focal point, forcing someone to utter such a sentence.
According to Mo Tuo, once the reversal of this formation was completed, the city lord would indeed die, preventing that group from reigniting the resurrection formation of the God of Shadows.
Gu Zhan looked at this city lord, realizing that it was his desire to live that had led him into such a trap.
After a while, he suddenly said, “Do you want to live? Do you want to return to your original self and continue being your city lord?”
The city lord’s murky eyeballs suddenly radiated a glimmer of light as he looked at Gu Zhan with longing: “I want… I want…”
How terrifying.
This person was already dead, yet his obsession with living was strong enough to make him nod.
Gu Zhan said, “I’ll lock you in a room in a moment. You must stay there honestly. As long as you can wait until dawn, you’ll be able to return to your original self. The nobles in the city miss you very much. They say that without you, Hassan City is in chaos, and this place cannot do without you.”
After a bit of coaxing from Gu Zhan, the city lord surprisingly calmed down.
He stopped roaring and struggling, remaining still as the energy from the formation flowed backward through his body.
With the flow of energy, the sun... rose from the west.
This bizarre scene was as if a day’s video tape had been pressed in reverse, with bright sunlight streaming in through the window, shining on the city lord. This creature, hidden from the light, seemed to be suffering painfully under the sun.
He was a sacrifice to the god of shadows, and encountering the sun should be a torturous experience.
Seeing that the energy had almost reversed, Gu Zhan yanked him out of bed.
A large portion of his back was rotten, as if it had been burned by the red lines of the formation, and the red lines on his body had also dimmed.
But perhaps the previous deception had taken effect, as this time the city lord did not attack Gu Zhan but obediently curled up on the ground.
Gu Zhan grabbed the corner of his clothes and dragged him toward the nearby wardrobe.
He opened the wardrobe, kicked the city lord, and said, “Get in. By the time dawn comes, your body will be able to recover.”
God knows that there would be no dawn in the wardrobe.
But the monster did not realize this; he stumbled in as if it were his last hope.
Gu Zhan closed the door and searched the room for some torn rags to tightly secure the wardrobe door.
This monster could bend iron bars in a dungeon; a regular wardrobe should be child’s play for him.
He didn’t know how long he could keep him trapped.
For now, he should focus on the task at hand.
One of the altars had been destroyed, and the sun outside was already angry.
As the sun continued to reverse outside, Gu Zhan stepped out and began searching for Garen's figure.
The sky was already bright, yet the church next door showed no signs of activity. Gu Zhan was quite worried and decided to use the underground passage to go to the church.
However, there was no one in the passage; the entire church territory was silent.
What was going on? Had it worked or not?
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