“Hei Qi, you’re still injured! You need to rest!” Gong Jun insisted.

Hei Qi ignored him and stood up. “Where’s Han Wu? Where are you, Han Wu?! Come fight me to the death!”

Gong Jun frowned. Hei Qi was stubborn beyond belief. If not for Gan Xiangyu’s orders, he would’ve abandoned Hei Qi a long time ago.

“This is Wushuang City’s secret realm: the Planetcore Forge. You lost to Han Wu, and I rescued you from imminent death!” Gong Jun explained.

“Impossible. I’m stronger than even Brother Xiangyu. How could I lose to Han Wu?! You’re obviously lying to me. You must be. I know, Han Wu must’ve bought you off! You and Han Wu are in this together!”

Hei Qi’s eyes became crazed. Under the influence of the Evil God Contract, his consciousness blurred, and he even developed false memories. He recalled Gong Jun and Han Wu working together to defeat him. They even killed Gan Xiangyu.

“You traitor!” Hei Qi roared. “Xiangyu trusted you, yet you joined hands with Han Wu to kill him. I'm going to kill you!”

The black sword flew into Hei Qi’s hand. When Hei Qi grasped it, an eye opened on the blade. More false memories planted themselves in Hei Qi’s mind, causing him to lose himself in boiling rage and dizzying madness. The black sword then shot out several black blade pressures, forcing Gong Jun to retreat from the cave.

This guy is nuts! Gong Jun inwardly cursed.

He had helped Hei Qi escape, only to be hunted by him instead. This sheer absurdity of the situation drove Gong Jun to stop caring about Hei Qi altogether. He mounted his flying Divine Weapon and prepared to leave. When the one-day timer was up, he would leave this place, uncaring of whether Hei Qi lived or died.

Just as he took off, he spotted Han Wu in the air, staring at him with a smile.

“You're not dead?!” Gong Jun exclaimed. He had seen Han Wu fall into the sea of fire! How strong was his life force that he could even withstand the lava?

Damn it! Gong Jun cursed in his heart. What is he? A ghost eternally haunting me that I can never get rid of?

“Give me the token for opening the portal, and I won’t kill you,” Han Wu said, blocking Gong Jun from leaving.

Naturally, Gong Jun didn’t hand over the token, but instead mocked, “You want the token? You think you can get the token from me?”

With that, Gong Jun turned his flying Divine Weapon around and flew in the opposite direction. His flight speed was extremely fast. Even those with mastery over flying would find it hard to catch up.

Unfortunately for Gong Jun, he had once again underestimated Han Wu. The Armament Spirit of the Explosive Locust Blade was the Firebat King, a native organism of this place. Racing it on its home turf was futile.

Shortly after Gong Jun fled, he realized that Han Wu was flying right next to him. Han Wu even waved.

Infuriated, Gong Jun accelerated further, staging a high-speed race against Han Wu above the sea of lava. This stirred the Firebat King’s competitive spirit. How could it, the Firebat King, lose in a flying race?

It gathered its strength and absorbed the ambient Fire Energy in the air. Then, the Firebat King transformed into a ball of flames that launched forward with a sonic boom, swiftly catching up once more.

Gong Jun summoned his Divine Weapon and fired a cannonball at the Firebat King in a fit of rage, but the Firebat King nimbly dodged the attack.

Han Wu wasn’t about to let that slide. If Gong Jun wanted to shoot at him with his cannon, then Han Wu could just as easily return fire with his Gatling gun. Locust-V appeared on Firebat King's body, transformed his raised arms into gun barrels, and fired at the flying Divine Weapon beneath Gong Jun.

The flying Divine Weapon's durability rapidly dropped, forcing Gong Jun to find an area far from the lava sea to land before its durability was exhausted.

Even then, Gong Jun refused to give up. He summoned his many Divine Weapons, which consisted mostly of firearms, and unleashed a barrage of bullets on Han Wu.

Han Wu remained unmoved.

Locust-V swept the area with gunfire. Its bullets intercepted and detonated all the cannonballs and incoming bullets in mid-air. The Firebat King also charged toward Gong Jun under Han Wu's command before detonating itself.

A massive explosion rocked the area. Huge plumes of fire exploded upward. The already unbearable heat rose by another few degrees. Gong Jun managed to block the damage from the explosion with his Divine Weapons, albeit disheveled and covered in dust, but two Divine Weapons were destroyed as a result.

Meanwhile, Han Wu’s Explosive Locust Blade reformed, and the Firebat King reappeared. It had instantly revived with full health!

Its sharp little eyes locked onto Gong Jun again, ready to make up for its failure to blast him to bits with another attempt.

The surrounding temperature was a sweltering furnace. Gong Jun’s body trembled when he noticed the Firebat King’s eyes on him.

What the hell, is this ever going to end?!

Gong Jun ran.

The Firebat King chased after him. Han Wu already knew Gong Jun’s attempt to escape was futile.

Another self-detonation from the Firebat King, and Gong Jun sacrificed another two Divine Weapons to protect himself. This time, though, the force of the blast still blew him back. Sacrificing his Divine Weapons wasn’t enough to keep him completely safe.

Serious burns marred his body. If not for his strong life force, the Firebat King’s Explosive Flare would’ve already roasted him.

“Go ahead and run! Let’s see where else you can go!” Han Wu called, gleefully watching the show from the sidelines. As he was preparing to seize the token from Gong Jun’s body, he suddenly sensed danger.

Han Wu instinctively dodged. A black sword stabbed at where he had been standing. When he saw the black sword, he immediately thought of its owner, Hei Qi!

Hei Qi abruptly appeared beside his weapon, grabbing and raising it high.

“Han Wu, you will pay for this!” he roared, slashing at Gong Jun.

Han Wu was stunned. What’s happening? Why is he attacking his own comrade? Is this some kind of strange new tactic?

Gong Jun, however, was so furious that he even coughed up blood. “Are you stupid? You’re attacking the wrong person!”

Thoughts of revenge and the corruption of the evil god had long clouded Hei Qi’s consciousness. He was far beyond reason.

Ignoring Gong Jun, he snarled, “Han Wu, it feels bad to see your friend get hurt, right?” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Han Wu had no idea what Hei Qi was doing. I don’t feel bad at all. In fact, I really want to laugh.

“Stop pretending not to care! I know what you’re thinking!” Hei Qi roared, striking at Gong Jun again.

The sharp blade sliced through Gong Jun’s neck.

Gong Jun’s wide eyes and gaping mouth as he died seemed to express something along the lines of: “Hei Qi, you idiot! I should’ve left you to die outside Everlight City instead of saving you!”