At this moment, it was too late to stop him. I had to stand and watch Dorgon draw the arrow and pull the string!

Luckily, Li Mazi’s reflexes were good. He immediately cocked his head to one side and successfully avoided the fatal shot.

However, he was still hit at his shoulder. The fiery arrow burned his shoulder, which left a charred area. Li Mazi screamed in pain.

Through his gritted teeth he said, “Why are you freaking standing idle there? Move!”

“Ptui!” As soon as he said that, he spat blood. Dorgon shot another arrow at him.

Ye Chen saw the dangerous situation and left the formation. He grabbed Dorgon’s bow and pulled it as he screamed at me. He wanted me to take action.

“Damn it!” I cursed as Dorgon was beating the living daylights out of them. Then, I looked around. There were mountains and trees, but no water. Without water, Li Mazi’s Five Elements Great Formation couldn’t work well. It was no wonder it was broken so easily!

When arranging the Five Elements Great Formation, one must pay special attention. If one of the elements representing the Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth is missing, the power of the formation will be greatly reduced.

At this moment, I couldn’t care much. I relocated the formation and sat down cross-legged. After closing my eyes, I started to read the Five Elements spell to activate the formation.

However, it was frustrating that I couldn’t activate the Five Elements Formation because there was no water!

Li Mazi and Ye Chen had blood all over their bodies now. They couldn’t resist for a long time.

“Little Brother Zhang, run! Run as far as you can! Help me take care of my son and daughter!” Li Mazi said with difficulty as he spat blood.

When he recognized that I couldn’t activate the formation, he asked me to run away. At the same time, he clutched onto Dorgon in an attempt to trouble him and deviate his aim. It was the first time I saw Li Mazi act like this. He was not afraid of death.

It was our comradeship—the higher form of friendship—that made us stay together through life and death. It made Li Mazi willing to sacrifice his own life.

“Brother!” My nose felt sour. I gritted my teeth and looked at Dorgon. He was also looking at me. His eyes showed his content and disdain.

“I’ll risk my life with you!” I didn’t believe that I couldn’t activate the Five Elements Great Formation. I took out a dagger and cut my finger. Using my blood, I drew a ring in the middle of the formation then four arrows extending from the ring, which pointed at Mount Changbai, the virgin forest, the earth underneath, and the river in the far distance respectively. Moreover, with the Yang flame in my blood, I had gathered the five elements successfully!

I read the spell as my blood continued to drip into the ring. The more blood the ring had, the farther the four arrows could extend.

This formation had been activated by my blood. I was thrilled and read the spell faster and faster. I wanted to make the Five Elements Great Formation cover Mount Changbai in its entirety. I wanted to see how Dorgon could escape!

When I began to shiver due to the shock from blood loss, the four arrows started to glow. At the same time, a big glowing ring emerged above Mount Changbai.

Then, I heard countless people screaming and crying. Deep in my soul, the pain was so extreme that I felt like a hundred or a thousand mice were nibbling my brain and my heart.

The attacks were made by the wandering ghosts within the coverage of the light ring of the Five Elements Great Formation. They were attacking the formation to escape. It was the first time I had set up such a colossal formation, and I finally understood why my grandpa had kept reminding me to never stay in an expanding formation.

Before I could deal with Dorgon, I had to endure the attacks from the other ghosts and monsters! Since I hadn’t thought about this crucial point, I had to endure it now.

Gradually, the feeling of having mice nibbling my heart subsided. It meant the ghosts were eradicated.

I was exhausted. The beads of sweat on my forehead were as big as soya beans. I shivered and felt so cold. It was as though I was in an ice chamber. I began struggling as I read the spell. My eyes felt so heavy. I wanted to sleep.

Soon, the light in front of me disappeared. Li Mazi and Dorgon were gone. I felt like I was in the middle of chaotic space. Feeling exhausted, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

“My grandson, wake up. Don’t sleep, my grandson! If you sleep, you will never wake up again.” Before I completely lost my consciousness, I heard my grandpa’s voice. My eyes flew open, but my grandpa wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

The ring of light was still there but it was dimmer. Dorgon didn’t have the mind to take care of Li Mazi and Ye Chen. I didn’t know when it had happened, but he had left Mr. Jin’s body. He was spinning and floating in the air.

It seemed my grandpa hadn’t come here. It was my love for my grandpa that had awakened me right before my death.

I felt somewhat lost, but when I saw Li Mazi and the others lying on the ground, a sense of responsibility arose in me. I pulled myself together and started to read the spell.

At this moment, Dorgon and I were in a back and forth situation. However, I knew I couldn’t endure things for a long time. Now was my last chance! I bit the tip of my tongue and spat my essence blood into the ring of light in front of me!

With a swift rattle, the Five Elements Great Formation in front of me glowed brightly, which illuminated the surroundings as though it was broad daylight.

Dorgon was struggling. Then, he halted. After a terrifying scream, his soul perished. I gave a reluctant smile. After the ring of light scattered, my body felt so light. My eyes shut.

When I resumed my consciousness, it felt like everything had been a dream. I heard noises, but besides a hazy white space in front of me, I saw nothing else.

I heard Yin Xinyue crying. My eyes flew open all of a sudden. I found myself in a patient ward in the hospital. People were standing around my bed.

I saw Yin Xinyue, Li Mazi, Mr. Jin, and Ye Chen.

“What’s wrong?” I tried to get up from the bed, but my head felt so dizzy. I had to shake it a few times.

Yin Xinyue hurled herself into my chest and wept loudly. “Jiulin, you woke up. I thought you would never wake up.”

Yin Xinyue looked weary. There were dark circles under her eyes. Li Mazi and the others also looked tired. Moreover, I recognized that the wounds on their bodies had relatively healed. It turned out I had been unconscious for half a month!

Yin Xinyue was still crying. “The doctor said if you didn’t wake up soon, you would be a man in a vegetative state.”

I was scared, but I didn’t regret it. The worst consequence was living in a vegetative state. However, if I hadn’t created the slaughtering formation, Li Mazi and the others would have been killed.

People’s lives were neither long nor short. The important thing was to live with responsibility and courage!

It was similar to when Li Mazi had decided to sacrifice himself to save me.

It was the most precious quality a person possessed. It was the kind of great friendship and comradeship that differed us from animals.

Since I had woken up, I didn’t want to trouble Mr. Jin any longer. Moreover, I wasn’t hurt that much. I just needed time to heal my internal wounds. We left the Mount Changbai area after that.

Mr. Jin wanted me to stay with him and treat me for a while. Their family felt so grateful to me. However, since I insisted on leaving, Mr. Jin gave me the bronze bow.

At the same time, when Mr. Jin’s mother learned that Yin Xinyue was my fiancée, she gave her a gift that wasn’t ordinary at all. It was a pair of carved golden bangles made of pure gold. The inside was made of agate.

Mr. Jin’s mother said that it was the Jin family heirloom, an item the imperial family used to treasure.

Since she was so persistent, I asked Yin Xinyue to accept the gift. In return, I didn’t accept Mr. Jin’s payment. It seemed that after this business case, I had earned myself another good friend!