# 1707
Chapter 1707: Dueling Kusuen
BOOM——!!
Several houses were crushed into fragments by Gongyang Wan, and flames rose one after another. The panic in the western city began spreading frantically.
Countless terrified civilians fled in one direction—that was the escape route Gongyang Wan had chosen for them... Of course, many soldiers charged toward her, but none could get close to her body.
Now, although Gongyang Wan was merely "Klein," everyone in this city combined couldn't match her.
The raging flames reflected Gongyang Wan's face in a crimson glow. Clad in a cyan long skirt, she walked calmly across the ruins. The soldiers around her recoiled in fear at her presence. In their eyes, she seemed like a demon risen from hell.
Suddenly, her steps faltered slightly, and she began murmuring to herself:
"A Zhuo... I know, but this is the best way."
"..."
"So what if others judge me? Their gazes mean nothing to me... If the entire world wants to hunt me down, let them come. I'll kill however many arrive."
"..."
"Why should I explain to them? I've already explained, A Zhuo. Did you see them listen?"
"..."
"Sometimes, fear is the best form of governance. I learned that lesson at Qinglong Fortress."
"..."
"Go back to help Zhan Yuwu and the others? No, that's too dangerous. I can't bring you along for this."
"..."
"Don't be stubborn! You know you admire Huo Qubing the most! But this isn't the time for you to show off! I promised to stand at the pinnacle of the world with you, never to be bullied by anyone again. There's no need to risk our lives for this so-called righteousness... If I die, it's fine, but not you."
"..."
Watching Gongyang Wan carry on this one-sided conversation, the soldiers' eyes filled with confusion. They were about to seize the opportunity to launch a coordinated attack when their weapons were effortlessly shattered. They were tossed onto a carriage like chicks, and with a crack of the whip, the carriage raced out of the city.
After finishing all this, Gongyang Wan turned her gaze. The wall near Kunlun Mountain was already shrouded in dazzling, iridescent mist. Although Zhan Yuwu and Yan Zhong had successfully bought time, they had only barely managed to evacuate the civilians from the western city.
A massive willow tree silhouette moved slowly through the mist, its sky-blocking branches writhing like serpents descending from the clouds—a scene of impending apocalypse.
"Ah——!"
At that moment, a tragic scream rang out from a nearby street.
Gongyang Wan followed the sound. A young boy, ragged like a beggar, had tripped over collapsed rubble. One of his legs was twisted out of shape, beads of sweat dripping from his brow, his youthful face contorted in agony.
Gongyang Wan's brow furrowed. She instantly appeared before him and lifted the broken wall off him.
"Why haven't you fled yet?" Gongyang Wan said coldly.
"I... I thought hiding behind the stone pillars might let me escape..." The beggar boy also recognized this woman as the terrifying demon. Suddenly his pain seemed to vanish, and he stuttered as he spoke.
"Idiot!" Gongyang Wan cursed, but when she saw that dirty face, it vaguely overlapped with Gongyang Zhuo's in her memory, and her heart softened.
She reached down to pull the boy out of the rubble. At that instant, a willow branch shot out from the mist at lightning speed, seizing the boy's ankle with tremendous force and yanking him out of Gongyang Wan's embrace!
The turn of events was too swift, and with Kusuen's overwhelming strength, Gongyang Wan had no way to resist. By the time she came to her senses, the boy in her arms had been swallowed into the shimmering mist and vanished.
Gongyang Wan stood frozen. The face, bearing a resemblance to her younger brother, still lingered in her vision.
A sharp shriek echoed from the willow tree's main body within the mist. It sounded like mockery, like a threat. Countless willow branches surged toward Gongyang Wan, and terrifying Cthulhu Faction divine pressure descended abruptly!
Gongyang Wan stared fixedly at the massive silhouette within the mist, her fists clenched tight!
"Damn it!!"
She howled. Her appearance shifted in an instant, and sharp sparrow cries rang out from her palms, severing several branches in an instant. She shot forward like lightning!
But with just her speed and strength, she might have stood a chance against a first-generation offspring outside Chang'an City. Against a true Cthulhu Faction god in its entirety, she had no room to resist. In mere moments, countless branches had encircled Gongyang Wan, sealing off every possible escape route.
If she hadn't reached out to save that beggar boy, perhaps she could have slipped away with a slim chance... But in the end, she had been dragged into this battle.
Yet at this moment, there was not a trace of regret in her heart—only boundless fury!
Her palms became blades, sparrow cries erupted, and she furiously slashed at the surrounding branches. Her eyes were crimson red, as if she wasn't cutting through Kusuen, but rather carving through unjust fate and a tragic past!
However, her assault couldn't hold out much longer. Her hands were bound tight by the branches, and her entire body was lifted into the air, suspended above the giant mouth gaping open in the willow tree's crown...
Looking at that maw like an abyss, a despairing thought rose in Gongyang Wan's heart.
"A Zhuo..." she whispered.
BOOM——!!!
In that instant, a thundering dragon roared as it crashed down from the clouds!
A gap shattered through the layered branches. In that fleeting moment, Gongyang Wan glimpsed a spear piercing through heaven and earth. Then, her body suddenly felt light, caught and steadied in midair by a palm.
She looked up in astonishment. Huo Qubing, draped in his black-gold marquis attire, was gazing calmly at the willow branch monster.
Sensing Gongyang Wan's gaze, Huo Qubing glanced down slightly. A rare smile appeared on his perpetually stern face:
"Gongyang Wan, this Marquis did not misjudge you."
Those simple words made Gongyang Wan's heart surge. She gracefully landed on a pile of rubble nearby before snapping back to reality.
"Why are you here?"
"When this Marquis descended from the high heavens, I saw the western city shrouded in mist, so I came directly." Huo Qubing's gaze returned to the willow tree wrapped in mist. "After this monster swallows living beings, it needs time to absorb their life force. Therefore, Yuwu and Yan Zhong are still alive..."
"Are you insane? That's a god from beyond the realm! You couldn't even beat Zhurong—how could you possibly defeat Him?!"
"This Marquis didn't defeat Zhurong because at that time, this Marquis's life force was already at its limit..."
A spear intertwined with fierce lightning roared back into Huo Qubing's hand. That erect figure, spear in grip, stood like a giant shrouded in dust, facing the foreign god before him.
"Thanks to Lin Qiye's Peaches of Immortality, this Marquis now has the capital to fight.
Although this Marquis possesses no Divine Laws and cannot slay gods... that does not mean this Marquis cannot defeat Him!"