Pan Luming was still hesitant while Pan Yue'er turned her gaze towards Rong Yuan as she wanted to catch him and use him to threaten Gu Lingzhi. Unexpectedly, before she could make a move, Gu Lingzhi had already read her thoughts and said, “Don't bother on wasting your efforts if your plan was to catch Rong Yuan and threaten me. Either way we will die together, will I be so foolish so as to trust you again?”

These words were mocking Pan Luming for going back on his words, “So? What are you going to do now? If something were to happen to my husband, I cannot guarantee what I would do.” With that, the Phoenix Sword on her hand was swung once again. It brought a larger amount of fresh blood out of Gu Lingzhi's neck this time.

They were at an absolute disadvantage before, but Gu Lingzhi's self-harming behaviour had given them the upper hand instead. Pan Luming stared gloomily at the wound on Gu Lingzhi's neck. With his enhanced eyesight, he could see that Gu Lingzhi's self-harming behaviour was not a pretense. After debating a while in his head, Pan Luming then made the tough decision, “...Release them.”

“Chief Duke, this…” Pan Yue'er was shocked and wanted to convince him to wait a while as they might be able to think of a solution. Judging by the speed at which Gu Lingzhi's blood was dripping, she might have already pa.s.sed out from the blood loss before they could even come up with a solution.

“Stupid! Can't you see that she is really planning on dying?” Pan Luming scolded.

The hand at which Gu Lingzhi was holding onto the sword was stable yet firm. She did not hesitate in making the two cuts. Pan Luming had no doubt that if something were to happen to Rong Yuan and the others, Gu Lingzhi would just end her life. The Pan Family had been waiting numerous years for a descendant of the Spirit Tribe. He could not afford to take this risk.

Pan Luming gave his command and the North Qiu's people could only temporarily retreat back to their camp in North Qiu. Rong Yuan relentlessly chased after the nearest opponents before dealing a final blow to them. He then returned gloomily to Gu Lingzhi's side.

Gu Lingzhi lowered her eyes out of guilty conscience as she was afraid to look at the expression on Rong Yuan's face. After keeping her Phoenix Sword, she took a peak before applying medicine on her neck and made eye contact with the opponent whose eyes were becoming more and more stormy. Her body s.h.i.+vered and she almost dropped the medicine bottle she was holding.

Rong Yuan stared intensely at this little woman who dared to hurt herself so as to protect him. He really wanted to eat her up so that she would not do anything else that would make him angry. Or he could just bend her over his lap and give her a hard spanking on her b.u.t.tocks. If all else fails, he could press her directly on the ground and do something indescribable such that he would be blacklisted once mentioned. It's pretty good that the exercise would cause her to be exhausted such that she would no longer have the energy to harm herself…

Various dark thoughts emerged from his heart but Rong Yuan simply wriggled his lips and said nothing. At last, he was defeated by Gu Lingzhi's begging gaze. He grabbed the medicine bottle from her hand and applied the medicine for her. Even though the ferocious wound on the slender neck was already covered with medicinal powder to stop the bleeding, he still continued on applying until the entire bottle of medicinal powder was used up. He then crushed the empty bottle and threw it on the ground.

Gu Lingzhi swallowed her saliva, thinking that it was her neck that Rong Yuan wanted to crush.

Although Rong Yuan was angry with Gu Lingzhi, he could not bear to see her upset and retrieved a Heaven-Level Spiritual Medicine from the Storage ring for Gu Lingzhi to consume. The gloomy expression was then a.s.suaged.

The young couple were silently displaying their affections while Pan Luming and the others were being a little impatient, “I have already sent them over, can you come over now?”

The young couple was immersed in the warmth and continued to demonstrate their affection for each other despite the current situation. When Pan Luming urged her to fulfill her promise the second time did Gu Lingzhi then whined and said, “I'm going to go now, be careful.”

Just as she lowered her head and was about to leave, her hand was yanked by Rong Yuan with a strength so strong that it almost broke her wrist. Only when he heard Gu Lingzhi's whimpering did Rong Yuan relax the force exerted. He turned around and did not look at her before speaking in a gruff voice, “Go. Anyway…I won't let you be alone.”

Gu Lingzhi's eyelashes fluttered for a few times as she knew that Rong Yuan was warning her on protecting herself well for he would not continue to live by himself and would choose to die with her.

Seeing that Gu Lingzhi had been lingering beside Rong Yuan for a long time and had finally shown signs of wanting to come over but was stopped by Rong Yuan instead, Pan Luming was so angry that he coughed a few times. Pan Yue'er patted his back to help him soothed his breathing and yelled at Gu Lingzhi, “Why are you still dawdling? Are you regretting your decision? Let me warn you that we have surrounded a ten miles radius around this area. If you dare to regret, I don't mind re-catching the people around you so as to threaten you once again.”

After hearing that, Gu Lingzhi transformed to the delicate and pleasant self before raising her eyebrows and chuckling, “Relax, I am not like certain people who go back on their words. When I say something, I won't go back on my words.”

Even though she spoke with confidence, the steps she took were small and pathetic. She took small leisure steps as if she was strolling in the backyard of her own house. Pan Yue'er could no longer stand it after a quarter of an hour and commanded the DemiG.o.d beside her to bring her over.

The man acknowledged the command and was about to go forward when Gu Lingzhi spoke just before he moved, “Why? Are you about to go back on your words again?”

“What a joke. It's obvious that you are deliberately delaying time.”

“Am I?” Gu Lingzhi sneered, “Since I'm being used in exchange for their safety, I thought that it was only right to watch them leave the siege safely. However, I've been walking forward for so long yet I don't see the siege dispersing and letting them leave.”

“Are you treating us as fools?” Pan Yue'er was extremely angry, “If they were to escape while you choose to die, wouldn't it be like carrying water to the sea?”

Gu Lingzhi looked at her seriously and said, “What if you were to catch them after controlling me? Wouldn't it be like walking into the lion's den and seeking my own doom?

For a moment, Pan Yue'er was unable to rebut her statement. Because in her heart, she was planning on doing that. Rong Yuan was already able to kill another DemiG.o.d when he had just ascended into one. He then managed to escape with Gu Lingzhi despite having so many DemiG.o.ds surrounding him. With such talents, he was about to be comparable to someone like Lord Fashen overtime. How could they possibly let such a threat off?

Seeing this, Gu Lingzhi said sarcastically, “I see that the North Qiu Kingdom was indeed planning on this idea.” With that, she rather stopped moving and resorted to standing still. If they were not able to give her a satisfactory answer, she would just call it off and leave.

Pan Yue'er was itching all over her body. Until today, she had never wanted to tear someone apart so badly before. However, she could only look at Pan Luming helplessly and see what he would decide.

Currently, Pan Luming's anger towards Gu Lingzhi was no less than Pan Yue'er. But as he was much older, he could control his emotions better. His eyes glowed with fury as he stared at Gu Lingzhi and said, “If you still don't believe me, I can make a vow here. As long as you obediently follow me back into the palace, I will release them and vow to not pursue.”

By saying this, he thought that Gu Lingzhi would no longer have any reason to further delay. But he did not expect that Gu Lingzhi would laugh and look at him like an idiot after listening, “Elder Pan, are you kidding me? You vowed to not chase them but the others did not vow to do so. Your vow seems to be meaningless.”

Pan Luming choked upon hearing and coughed again. The heavens could vouch that he had not thought so far when he made that vow. He had decided to let Rong Yuan and the rest off temporarily. But he did not expect Gu Lingzhi's imagination to be so rich such that she would have even thought of this. After hearing what she meant, did she want everybody present to make a vow too?

If this matter were to spread, wouldn't it become a laughing stock of the entire Continent?

But looking at Gu Lingzhi's face that beared a stance where she would not compromise without the vows, he could only grit his teeth and commanded everybody to repeat his earlier vow. This would then shut Gu Lingzhi's mouth completely.

Unexpectedly, after the entire group of people had made their vows and were staring at Gu Lingzhi, Gu Lingzhi spoke once again, “There are so many people vowing at once, how would I know who took the vow and who didn't? Who do I reason with if there are a few who did not take the vow and had launched an attack when I'm gone?”

“You…Unreasonable!” Pan Luming pointed angrily at Gu Lingzhi and managed to utter these words even though his hand was shaking. He could tell that Gu Lingzhi had no intention of leaving with them and was coming up with methods to delay time.

But what was the use of this? In the end, wouldn't she have to follow them back obediently?

Wrong! Pan Luming quivered suddenly and felt that he had seized something important within that moment. He screamed loudly, “Catch her! She's deliberately delaying time!”

The people beside were all stunned. Everyone could tell that Gu Lingzhi was deliberately delaying time, why must Pan Luming react so intensely? But since he had already pa.s.sed the command, they had to obey it naturally.

Thus, the scene from an hour ago reappeared. The s.p.a.ce that was normal for a short while became a purgatory setting once again. One by one, the DemiG.o.ds and Martial Sages rushed fiercely towards Gu Lingzhi.

“It was discovered so quickly…” Gu Lingzhi sighed and used the Sparrow Wings movement technique to retreat. Rong Yuan's realm stretched over her, protecting her with countless small s.p.a.ces.

The fierce battle was triggered once again. If Gu Lingzhi were to re-use her trick of self-harming, it was foresaw that it would be futile this time.

At this moment, a long beep was suddenly heard from a distance and a majestic voice rolled like thunder, “Such a large battle against two juniors? Pan Luming, aren't you ashamed of yourself!”