# 1660
Chapter 1660: Willow Tree
"What impressive手段." The robed Huo Qubing said in a deep voice. "看来,本侯还是小看你了……"
"Surrender now, and I may spare your life." The armored Huo Qubing swung his spear, and the flames burning within Chang'an City transformed into fire dragons that surged toward him, condensing a blazing fireball dozens of meters in radius at the spear's tip.
The robed Huo Qubing gave no answer. He stomped heavily on the ground, and the thick city wall collapsed with a thunderous crash. Countless stone fragments盘旋在他身侧, like a floating boulder formation in mid-air.
"A fake is a fake—no matter what手段 you employ, you cannot replace me." The robed Huo Qubing gripped his spear tightly, his blood-stained robes fluttering without wind!
Swoosh—!!
The boulders beside the robed Huo Qubing suddenly exploded. A shrill phoenix cry swept toward him, and he frowningly dodged backward. The razor-sharp blade of light grazed his nose, slicing a smooth crack into the earth.
Gongyang Wan—with the fierce muscular man's face—gripped a longsword she must have picked up from somewhere, coldly staring at the robed Huo Qubing. The air around her blade vibrated rapidly, as if another attack was brewing.
"Still calling others fakes at this point… You people are truly hopeless." Gongyang Wan held her sword in one hand, while the other arm—a willow branch—coiled serpent-like at her side. A诡异 eyeball stared fixedly at the robed Huo Qubing.
"Gongyang Wan… Where did that eye of yours come from?" Upon seeing Gongyang Wan's appearance, the robed Huo Qubing's brow furrowed deeply.
"Is that any of your business?"
Gongyang Wan's form blurred. In an instant, she shot forward dozens of meters, her longsword producing a phoenix cry as it slashed toward the robed Huo Qubing once more!
The robed Huo Qubing raised his palm, and Gongyang Wan instantly froze in place. A splitting pain erupted in her mind, as if her entire body was about to tear in two!
"Damn it! How can you also control the 【Heart-Returning Gu】?!" Gongyang Wan's longsword clattered to the ground. She clutched her head with one hand, screaming in agony.
But the next moment, the pain in her mind vanished.
The armored Huo Qubing raised his hand as well, his expression grave. "Be careful. He and I both possess the power of 【Dominion Emperor】. Both can activate the 【Heart-Returning Gu】… You should retreat. I can handle him."
Gongyang Wan's expression shifted multiple times. Without much hesitation, she quickly retreated backward.
She had been captured by Huo Qubing in the first place. If not for her unwillingness to see the people of Chang'an suffer, and the constraints of the 【Heart-Returning Gu】, why would she have helped Huo Qubing? Now that both the real and fake Huo Qubing could use the 【Heart-Returning Gu】 to put her in mortal danger, why should she take such a risk?
BOOM—!!
A violent explosion rang out from within the prismatic mist. Both Huo Qubings and Gongyang Wan turned their heads simultaneously, only to see the approaching prismatic mist suddenly churning violently…
…
Three minutes earlier.
Two streaks of light shot into the mist. The dazzling,迷离 light flowed endlessly before their eyes, creating a sense of vertigo.
"Once inside here, the concepts of direction and distance become blurred." Lin Qiye's gaze swept across their surroundings, taking in the endless prismatic glow. It reminded him of the last time he'd been in this place.
At the time, he hadn't noticed, but now that he thought about it carefully, there were many strange things about this mist. When he was first engulfed by it, the area had seemed roughly the size of a mountain valley. At his speed, he should have been able to reach the boundary quickly, but no matter which direction he went, the mist around him seemed infinite.
Moreover, after he encountered Wu Quan, the rope that should have been only two hundred meters long had seemed kilometers long within the mist… Fortunately, his doppelganger had voluntarily walked out of the mist, and through the rope on Wu Quan's hand, they had managed to escape as well. Otherwise, getting out would have required considerable effort.
"Then how do we find the本体 of this mist?" Wu Quan asked, puzzled.
Lin Qiye stopped walking and thought seriously. His eyes caught sight of the scattered stones on the ground, and an idea struck him. His eyes brightened slightly.
"Wu Quan, how far can your 【Dominion Emperor】 extend?"
"Right now, roughly four kilometers."
Lin Qiye nodded slightly. He raised his foot and stamped hard on the ground beneath him. The terrifying force instantly shattered the earth within a four-kilometer radius. Dense fragments of rock scattered in all directions, and a hemispherical crater appeared beneath their feet.
"Use your 【Dominion Emperor】 to control these碎石, keeping them pressed against the ground as they move with us. Remember, they must stay贴着地面."
"Why?" Wu Quan did as Lin Qiye instructed, using his ability to dominate all the rocks within his maximum range, forming a giant circular formation beneath their feet. At the same time, he asked in confusion.
"Within this mist, both human perception and physical distance are affected… but Forbidden Ruins are not." Lin Qiye said slowly. "Your 【Dominion Emperor】 can only extend four kilometers at most. No matter how powerful this mist is, it cannot amplify or shrink your limit. Therefore, this four-kilometer range of yours is our best measuring tool."
Wu Quan suddenly understood. "I see… So our next step is to use these four kilometers as a standard, to measure the mist and locate its body?"
"That's right." Lin Qiye nodded. He reached out and grabbed Wu Quan's wrist, ensuring Wu Quan remained within his line of sight at all times. "From now on, follow me. If any of the rocks within your ability's range touch something else, immediately alert me."
"Understood."
Lin Qiye led Wu Quan as they began walking through the mist.
Based on Lin Qiye's visual estimation of the mist's coverage area from outside, it occupied at most十几 square kilometers. At their speed, a complete exploration should take less than a minute.
The flowing colors continued to drift past them, like walking through clouds. After an unknown time, Wu Quan suddenly stopped.
"I found it!" He pointed in a direction.
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed. He brought Wu Quan toward that direction immediately. As they approached, within the dazzling prismatic mist, a massive shadow hundreds of meters tall slowly emerged!
From its appearance, it resembled a gigantic willow tree. Its thick trunk stood on the earth like a mountain, with countless writhing black branches like human hair gently swaying in the wind. Where roots should have been, densely packed human legs supported the entire trunk, like a bizarre centipede slowly carrying the tree toward some unknown destination.
Lin Qiye and Wu Quan stood at the base of this giant willow tree, barely reaching the height of the human-leg roots. They had to crane their necks to see the full silhouette of this tree shrouded in mist.
"What… what is this thing??" Looking at such a monstrous and uncanny willow tree, Wu Quan felt his scalp go numb.
Lin Qiye, however, had already encountered Cthulhu Faction creatures before, so he wasn't particularly surprised. His eyes slightly narrowed as he observed that on the trunk of this willow tree, bizarre pustules bulged outward, and from their appearance, they resembled human forms.