"Kill Shroud? Why would you think I'd do that?" Atley smiled and asked.

Gu Qing Shan ignored that and continued: "When things became dangerous, you and Reneedol abandoned us, I really can't think of a reason why you would return at this point in time"

Atley shook his head: "We were still friends once; I don't want to make this difficult. Give me everything Shroud is carrying then I'll let you leave"

Long blades of green-colored wind manifested behind his back.

One of them abruptly disappeared.

Rumble---------

The ground was split in half, reaching all the way to Gu Qing Shan's feet.

Atley triumphantly boasted: "Rhode, leave everything Shroud has behind, then you can bring Shroud, Epta, and Scarlet with you"

Gu Qing Shan was looking at him with a strange expression.

From the sky, the giant bird of death descended and landed on Gu Qing Shan's shoulder.

It turned back into boiling black flames that drifted behind Gu Qing Shan before manifesting into a long-handled black scythe.

Gu Qing Shan flourished the scythe in his hand and said: "Where did you get the confidence that you'd be able to make me submissively hand over Shroud's things to you?"

He lightly tapped his feet and abruptly rushed towards Atley.

Atley's eyes opened wide and shouted: "Cut!"

Over a dozen green blades of wind behind his back shot forward, striking the black scythe in Gu Qing Shan's hand.

The green glow and black flames clashed against one another, rising up all the way to the horizon.

The sky went dark for a brief moment, storm-force gusts of wind intensely swept in every direction, blowing the clouds directly above them away.

Gu Qing Shan rode the wind and returned to his original spot, brandishing his scythe once again: "I only used 10% of my strength just now. If you want to die, I'll make it into reality with my next strike"

Atley took a step back, cautiously looking at the scythe.

He could sense that the other party was truly holding back.

Otherwise…

Atley stayed silent for a bit, then abruptly said: "You're forcing my hands"

He reached his hand into the carriage and took someone else out.

Reneedol.

------Reneedol had been tied up so well that she couldn't even struggle.

Atley put two fingers together and manifested a green blade of wind from it.

He put the blade of wind against Reneedol's neck and shouted:

"Give me everything Shroud has, or else I'm going to kill her!"

Gu Qing Shan froze.

------what kind of third-rate act is this?

He turned to Reneedol.

Reneedol was glancing towards Shroud on the ground, her expression slightly surprised.

Not good!

Gu Qing Shan instantly felt alarms ringing and realized what had happened.

Reneedol could directly obtain all of someone else's powers.

Since Shroud is silently lying on the ground, there could only be one reason why Reneedol appeared surprised--------

She had tried copying Shroud's powers instead of Atley's.

------she had realized that Shroud was recovering his strength!

Gu Qing Shan's heart felt heavy, so he swung the long-handled black scythe with his full strength.

A wave of black flames was cast forward from the scythe, manifesting as hundreds, as thousands of black flame birds that flew straight towards Atley and Reneedol.

Atley was shocked and shouted: "Rhode, do you want to kill Reneedol?"

He pulled Reneedol with considerable force in front of him to use her as a shield.

Before the black flames even arrived, Gu Qing Shan had already leapt into the air, travelling several dozen meters forward and raised his scythe.

The scythe howled harrowingly as it slashed towards both of them.

Right at this point, the black flames had already arrived in front of Atley and Reneedol.

As the black wave of flames arrived without leaving any space to dodge, Gu Qing Shan had melded into the darkness to reap their lives with his scythe.

In a mere breath's worth of time, he had completed this scenario.

---------now that Reneedol had been restrained, it was already too late for her to unleash her Fate ability.

She had also just changed from Atley's Law of Wind powers into Shroud's Radiance powers, but Shroud is currently in a strange state where he no longer had a covenant with an Overlord.

For Reneedol, all of Shroud's current abilities were foreign, which she couldn't grasp in such a short period of time.

-------this is the best and possibly only chance to kill her!

Another wave of black flames rained down from the scythe above.

"No-------" Atley desperately called out.

Suddenly, the intense black flames all around them completely disappeared.

All supernatural phenomena had vanished.

A single person stood in front of Gu Qing Shan to stop his scythe.

Shroud.

He spat up some blood, then struggled to speak: "Rhode, don't kill Reneedol"

Gu Qing Shan froze.

Scarlet shouted from afar: "Shroud, take a careful look at the current situation. The two of them abandoned you, now they've come to try and-----"

Before she even finished her words, a curt grunt was heard, followed by the smell of blood.

Scarlet was stunned, unable to say the rest.

Shroud also turned around.

-------Reneedol had somehow broken out of her restraints and used a dagger to stab through Atley's heart.

"Reneedol!"

Atley shouted and raised his hand, manifesting a howling green sphere.

Reneedol tossed the dagger away and shouted: "Shroud, save me!"

Shroud rushed forward without hesitation, opened the Book of Prophesized Destiny, then released a halberd made of pure golden light.

The halberd shot forward and sent Atley flying.

After he did that, Shroud spat up more blood.

Reneedol hurriedly embraced him and sobbed as she spoke: "It was Atley who forced me to leave you, if I didn't follow him, he said he would kill you!"

Shroud nodded and forced out a reply: "As long as you're safe…"

Gu Qing Shan's expression turned grim.

Shroud was clearly at the most crucial point of recuperating, yet he risked it all to stop me and hit Atley away.

------this was Reneedol's charm ability!

Gu Qing Shan's figure flashed and flew towards the cliff just a few hundred meters away.

As he looked down, he saw that Atley had just fallen to the bottom of the cliff.

Gu Qing Shan followed the cliff down and quickly landed next to Atley.

------after Atley's heart had been pierced through, he received another full-power attack from Shroud, then rolled down an entire cliff, so he was already at his deathbed.

"Atley…" Gu Qing Shan crouched next to him and called out in a low voice.

Atley appeared to be unresponsive, blood continued to flow from his mouth.

"Atley!"

Gu Qing Shan silently transferred his spirit energy into the other party's body.

Atley's body shook, then regained his consciousness.

He abruptly caught Gu Qing Shan's hand.

"Rhode, I… I was deceived by a devil…"

His eyes regained their clarity and tears of regret began to flow.

His love for Reneedol seemed to have vanished.

Gu Qing Shan pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.

Atley sobbed: "Rhode… I've always… considered you guys to be my brothers"

Gu Qing Shan held his hand tightly and whispered: "Don't say anything, we also consider you to be our brother"

"But… Reneedol…" Atley hesitantly.

Gu Qing Shan's tone became even softer: "No one will blame you, I'll call Shroud here right away, we'll explain it to everyone, we'll all remain as good brothers"

Atley sighed in relief, then smiled satisfactorily.

He said nothing else.

Gu Qing Shan silently watched him.

This young man had already admired Shroud's strength and wished for nothing but to be stronger.

This young man, no matter how fearful he was, had never abandoned his companions, he had even made a bed for Shroud by himself.

But now, he is dead.

He died because of Reneedol's charm and manipulation.

Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes.

A second later, he abruptly disappeared.

…

On the other side.

Reneedol embraced Shroud and gently asked: "How are your injuries?"

Shroud shook his head: "My most serious injuries have already healed. I was a bit heavy-handed just now, could Atley have-----"

Reneedol shed tears: "I don't know what came over him, he even wanted to kill me earlier, I had no other choice but to act first"

Shroud's lips twitched as if he wanted to say something.

Suddenly, Reneedol felt a chill run through her entire body.

Some sort of extreme danger was causing her to tremble.

This was an unprecedented experience for her.

Shroud could also feel it.

They both turned in the same direction.

An unfamiliar person was standing on top of a rock.

He wore a pure-white mask painted with black shade to depict a pair of eerie thinly opened eyes that flickered between black and red.

He was wielding a single sword in his hand, completely stationary, devoid of any killing intent or presence. It was as if he was only an illusion or a shadow, something that didn't exist.

But anyone who looked closely at him would find themselves soaked in a cold sweat as if they were witnessing some sort of unprecedented ghost anomaly.

"Red Wraith!"

Reneedol exclaimed in shock.

As soon as she said that, Shroud had already disappeared from her embrace.

Reneedol was shocked.

This is [Shadow Shift]---------

Space had already been sealed by the Law Behemoths; how could he still be so fast!?

Reneedol attacked without hesitation, only to find the golden light halberd that she unleashed had struck her instead.

One second.

One fleeting moment.

Victory and defeat had been decided.

Chills spread all over Reneedol's body.

In her last moments, the only thing she saw in front of her eyes was Red Wraith's mask.

His sword had stabbed so deeply into her neck that she couldn't even utter a single word.

At the very next moment.

"Release her!"

Red Wraith suddenly turned Reneedol's body towards Shroud.

"Don't move, if you even twitch a single muscle then she dies" Red Wraith said.

Shroud had no choice but to remain still.

Red Wraith only paused for that single split second as he leaned into Reneedol's ears and spoke with a hoarse voice: "Sparing no means to achieve a goal, you're not the only one who knows how to do that"

He lifted his sword.

Reneedol felt heaven and earth turning around themselves.

The world became dark.