As Zi Ying turned, her pupils briefly contracted, but she saw Gu Jun Shi casually crush the "black token" with her fingers.
Thin strands of black skin fluttered from her fair fingertips, the black river beneath her feet surging like a thousand-strong army. The mist, steamed by vapor, veiled and unveiled everything. She lightly lifted her foot, her white robes spreading, as if shimmering with a layer of white light, about to ride the mist to the heavens.
"What are you doing?! Stop!"
Zi Ying's heart clenched, and she blurted out in a sharp voice.
Gu Jun Shi didn't even flutter an eyelid, continuing indifferently. The hard outer layer twisted and cracked, revealing the true core, the size of three fingers pressed together—an oval shape with undulating, moon-white ridges, like hills.
Seeing this, Zi Ying's eyes widened, "That's..."
The Underworld King's Token?!
The real Underworld King's Token?
Her astonished gaze froze for a moment. When she looked at Gu Jun Shi again, caution and hostility were almost palpable. "How do you know about the true Underworld King's Token?"
Gu Jun Shi finally looked up. The token, now stripped of its outer layer, no longer held its previous ancient and unadorned appearance. It had transformed into a teardrop shape, with a prominent "Underworld" character in the center. Its edges were worn smooth and rounded, giving it a clear, translucent quality like rippling water. Yet, its moon-white hue was reminiscent of bright moonlight scattered on water in a quiet night, imbued with a profound, cold, noble, and majestic aura.
Gu Jun Shi felt a sense of long-lost completeness fill her heart. She sighed softly, "Because it was always meant to be mine."
Zi Ying didn't believe a word of it.
"It's yours just because you say so?"
She scoffed dismissively, her turned face instantly darkening.
Clutching the demonic sword in her hand, she showed no outward expression, but privately commanded "Gu Ye Jin" to cooperate with her sneak attack.
"Gu Ye Jin" remained silent for a moment before replying, "Alright."
The moment he moved, Zi Ying seized the opportunity and swung her sword horizontally towards Gu Jun Shi, blocking her path and forcing her to retreat.
However, Gu Jun Shi seemed to have seen through her feigned move. She didn't retreat as Zi Ying expected. But Zi Ying was also a cunning and resourceful person. Seeing that her opponent wasn't falling for the trap, she transformed into an invisible form amidst the chaotic demonic shadows and stealthily approached Gu Jun Shi.
She reached out with one hand, intending to seize the "Underworld King's Token." Logically, even if Gu Jun Shi couldn't react in time to her action, she would at least make some compensatory follow-up move. But she still didn't move, as if watching a mischievous child, indulging her in foolish and pointless actions.
Zi Ying suddenly had an ominous premonition, but she was unwilling to be intimidated by Gu Jun Shi's composed and indifferent demeanor. Ignoring the sharp warning in her mind, she reached out to snatch it anyway—
Before she could even touch the token, the "Underworld King's Token" suddenly reacted, emitting a corrosive stream of energy that engulfed her.
Zi Ying reacted with lightning speed. Perhaps she had been wary from the start, managing to withdraw most of her body and avoid being caught by the "stream of energy."
"Ah—"
A pained scream, as if her throat were being choked, was squeezed from between her soft Adam's apple, piercing the air.
Zi Ying's entire arm, which she had no time to withdraw, was corroded by the Underworld energy, turning into a white bone. Some red and white matter continued to decay, and she gasped for breath, her eyes trembling with terror.
"What's happening?! My hand—"
She shivered from the pain, her face pale and ashen, like a ghost.
Gu Jun Shi playfully held the Underworld King's Token in her palm. "The Underworld King's Token is not something that mortals can touch casually, unless you no longer want your physical body."
"You must have done something?! Gu Yi, you said it's not something living people can touch, but what about you? Why can you touch it?" Zi Ying screamed at her maniacally.
Gu Jun Shi witnessed her hysteria, knowing that after such a significant loss, she would undoubtedly refuse to accept the fact that she couldn't even touch the "Underworld King's Token."
"Who told you I was alive?"
Gu Jun Shi's expression showed no hint of jest.
"You... you're a ghost?" Zi Ying couldn't believe it.
The wind blew Gu Jun Shi's hair across her ears, revealing her smooth, full, and supple forehead, her straight and beautiful nose, and her thin, colored lips curved slightly. "Perhaps not."
This scoundrel... was she toying with her? Zi Ying's mind felt as if it were about to explode, her eyes reddened with anger.
At that moment, Zi Ying's peripheral vision caught a shadow appearing behind Gu Jun Shi. Her eyes widened suddenly, like a flickering light, but quickly darted down, her excitement and anticipation hidden from view. She transmitted her thoughts via spiritual sense, gritting her teeth, "Gu Ye Jin, kill her!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she switched hands to hold the sword, infusing demonic power into its blade. A dense, gloomy yin energy surged from the demonic sword, transforming into solidified black tar that clawed and writhed. She unleashed the sword technique "Black Flood Dragon Emerging from its Cave," and more than a dozen python-thick colossal serpents lunged towards Gu Jun Shi.
She had expected "Gu Ye Jin" to cooperate with her surprise attack from behind, but he remained silently behind Gu Jun Shi, unmoving.
Zi Ying was stunned. Due to her overconfidence and the sheer absurdity of the scene, she involuntarily voiced her inner thoughts, "You... why aren't you acting?"
His eyes were hollow sockets filled with blood, his pain long since numbed, the bleeding stopped, leaving only the scars of his disfigurement vivid.
He had not failed to act.
But his target was not to attack Gu Jun Shi.
Instead, he had positioned himself in front of Gu Jun Shi, intercepting her sword strike. The scattered black energy fluttered around them. He wasn't truly capable of being Gu Jun Shi's shield, but Gu Jun Shi behind him had protected him, ensuring that her sword strike didn't harm him in the slightest.
"Gu, Ye, Jin—Do you know what you're doing?!"
Zi Ying was at her wit's end, truly infuriated. She couldn't understand why "Gu Ye Jin" would betray her. She had used her pupil technique to bewilder him; she had replaced the person most important and loyal to him. He shouldn't have betrayed her!
"I know." Those two simple words were all the emotion the ghost infant could offer her.
Gu Jun Shi swept her sleeve behind her back. With this single action, she dispersed the corrosive Underworld power that had begun to consume. It did not belong to this realm; if it were fully unleashed, all things in the world would become like the Underworld.
But even though Gu Jun Shi could so nonchalantly resolve the Underworld energy released by the "Underworld King's Token," anyone else, even the most formidable figures among the thirty-two heavens, would not have been able to do so.
"Using my name, my identity, and the protection I've established, it's one thing for you to benefit from it, but what is wrong with my people being loyal only to me?"
Zi Ying didn't understand "Gu Yi's" meaning at first, but her mind quickly processed it, and she was left dumbfounded.
"It's you—the monarch he's always calling for, the face he's always looking at, it's all you?!"
Zi Ying felt as if her head were about to explode, an unbearable pain, like a thousand needles piercing her, sharp and deep. Simultaneously, something seemed to trap her thoughts, preventing her from coherently recalling certain events.