139: Chapter 139 Yes, it's all your fault...

Chen Shanshui was dead.

His head had been severed from his neck and rolled away, spinning a few times on the ground before finally coming to a stop at Gu Changming's feet.

Gu Changming stood there like a statue, staring at the head by his feet; the sounds of the world seemed to be drained away in an instant.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Gu Changming just stood there, staring at Chen Shanshui's frozen face.

"Xiao Gu!"

"Gu Changming!"

Sun Ye's roar reached him, and simultaneously, the blocked-out external world flooded back into Gu Changming's mind.

Gu Changming looked up to see Sun Ye locked in a struggle with those two gaunt, gray figures.

Cheng Yubai stood to the side, continuously casting spells to buff Sun Ye or interfere with the enemies.

"Stop dazing off!" Sun Ye shouted through gritted teeth. "Deal with them first! Otherwise, we're all going to die here!"

It wasn't that he was heartless or not grieving.

It was just that right now, there was simply no time for sorrow.

Gu Changming took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging, uncontrollable emotions in his heart.

Then, with his fingers slightly spread, the Telekinetic Shuttle suspended in mid-air shimmered with silver light and turned into a blurred afterimage, heading straight for the back of one of the gaunt figures' heads.

That figure was exceptionally agile, as if it had eyes in the back of its head; with a tilt of its neck, it narrowly avoided Gu Changming's attack.

The battle continued.

After losing Chen Shanshui, their side became increasingly strained, and the situation was sliding toward an irreversible state.

"Xiao Gu!" Sun Ye suddenly shouted during the intense exchange. "I'll restrain one of them in a moment; take the chance to kill it!"

Hearing this, Gu Changming's heart tightened.

They were currently at a disadvantage. Restrain? How could he restrain it?

Sun Ye continued to shout, giving Gu Changming no time to think, "As long as we take one down, there'll only be one left. The four... three of us can definitely win."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Ye exerted sudden force, using his longsword to parry a slash from the enemy on the right.

Immediately after, he completely abandoned his defense and lunged bodily toward the gaunt figure on the left.

The opponent was slightly taken aback by Sun Ye's move, but then the Bone Blade in its hand swung out violently, hacking deep into Sun Ye's lunging left shoulder.

Blood gushed out instantly, staining his clothes red.

But Sun Ye's body only swayed; his momentum didn't falter. He used the impact to slam into the opponent's chest, his arms locking around the gaunt body like iron hoops.

"Now!" Sun Ye roared.

Although Gu Changming was equally shocked, he didn't miss the opportunity. The Telekinetic Shuttle traced an arched silver line through the air.

"Pfft."

The dull sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh.

The silver tip of the shuttle, carrying immense force, plunged into the side of the gaunt figure's neck and came out the other side.

As the silver light pierced the gaunt figure's neck, it also carried the tightly locked Sun Ye and his opponent backward several meters before they crashed to the ground.

It worked!

A flicker of joy from surviving a desperate situation flashed in Gu Changming's eyes.

Then, the fallen Sun Ye struggled, staggering to his feet from the ground.

He looked at Gu Changming, steadied himself, and was about to speak.

In the next instant.

"Pfft!"

A soft sound, like cloth being easily pierced by a sharp tool.

A section of a grayish-white Bone Blade with an eerie curve protruded from the position of his heart on his chest.

The gaunt figure that should have been killed by the pierced neck was now standing steadily behind Sun Ye.

The wound on its neck was still there, the flesh turned outward, but there was no heavy bleeding. It seemed that for their race, the neck was not a vital spot.

Sun Ye's body froze.

He looked down at the blade tip emerging from his chest, then slowly raised his head to look at Gu Changming a few meters away.

He opened his mouth, but could only make a wheezing sound of escaping air.

Blood rapidly stained a large area of the front of his clothes.

This scene caused Gu Changming's mind to go blank instantly.

The two locked eyes. Sun Ye looked at him, seemingly realizing something, and then, with great effort, he twitched the corners of his mouth into a strained smile.

"I told you so many times..." His voice was very faint and intermittent. "I didn't expect that at the critical moment, I'd be the one who didn't remember... I forgot to finish it off..."

His gaze fell on Gu Changming, yet seemed to pass through him, looking somewhere further away, or perhaps simply losing focus.

As his voice trailed off, the light in his eyes vanished.

His head slumped powerlessly, and the weight of his entire body seemed to be drained in an instant as he collapsed forward limply, no longer making a sound.

The hunched, gaunt figure flicked its wrist, and with a slight jerk of the Bone Blade, it tossed Sun Ye's corpse aside.

Gu Changming watched as the corpse rolled a few times on the ground before stopping.

This scene caused the anger in Gu Changming's eyes to surge like boiling water.

However, in the next second, the two gaunt figures walked toward Cheng Yubai on the other side.

Gu Changming's heart tightened. He immediately drew his backup short blade and lunged forward, forcibly interposing himself between them and Cheng Yubai.

At the same time, he shouted, "Run! I'll hold them back!"

Cheng Yubai was the team's support and had almost no ability to face enemies in direct combat.

Chen Shanshui was dead, Sun Ye was dead... now, it was his turn.

Gu Changming held the blade in a reverse grip, prepared to fight the two figures to the death.

However, they ignored him as if he didn't exist, passing by him on either side without attacking or even glancing at him.

Gu Changming froze in place, his hand holding the short blade suspended in mid-air, his brain going completely blank for a moment.

"Pfft."

From behind him came the familiar dull sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh.

Gu Changming whipped his head around.

Cheng Yubai was half-kneeling on the ground, a section of grayish-white Bone Blade having entered from his chest and pierced through his entire body.

He looked up at Gu Changming, his eyes behind his glasses wide. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to tell Gu Changming to run, but only blood gushed out.

The two gaunt figures stood on either side of Cheng Yubai, and now they slowly turned their heads, their sunken eye sockets looking at the dazed Gu Changming.

Their withered mouths seemed to twitch upward, forming a blurred, indecipherable curve.

Gu Changming felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, which was then replaced by even more intense rage and panic.

Just as he was about to rush forward to fight them, the two gaunt figures flickered like smoke dispersed by the wind, their forms blurring before vanishing into thin air, leaving only Cheng Yubai kneeling alone on the spot.

"Thud."

Having lost support, Cheng Yubai's body tilted forward and hit the ground.

"Teacher Cheng! Teacher Cheng!"

Seeing Cheng Yubai in that state, Gu Changming didn't care about revenge anymore and scrambled to his side.

He knelt down, frantically trying to support Cheng Yubai, his hands touching a warm, sticky wetness.

"It's okay, it's okay, Teacher Cheng, hang in there..."

Gu Changming repeated incoherently, one hand trying to cover the horrific wound while the other fumbled at his waist.

But his hands were shaking so violently that the healing potion felt as if it were coated in oil; he managed to pull it out, but because of the shaking, it fell to the ground with a "clack."

Gu Changming hurriedly reached out to grab it, but a blood-stained, trembling hand gently covered the back of his.

"The... the potion..." Gu Changming's eyes were red with desperation, his vision blurred by a layer of moisture.

Cheng Yubai shook his head, looking at Gu Changming with eyes that were already beginning to glaze over.

This wound... it had pierced his heart. If another Healer were present, there might be a sliver of hope, but now... these ordinary healing potion couldn't save him.

"It's all my fault... it's all my fault..." Gu Changming buried his head, his voice muffled and broken. "If it weren't for me... if I hadn't asked you to come... if I hadn't..."

He repeated himself incoherently, his shoulders shaking violently.

Looking at the crumbling Gu Changming, a faint, weak light seemed to gather in Cheng Yubai's glazed eyes.

"Yes..."

Gu Changming jerked his head up, looking at him through tear-filled eyes, and grasped Cheng Yubai's hand.

"It's all your fault," Cheng Yubai continued. "If you hadn't said we should continue... Shanshui and Sun Ye... none of us would have died here..."