92. Chapter 92: An Eye for an Eye

At the resting camp, hidden by the shadows of the trees, Du Long rode Lie Feng, the great lion, out of the camp without a sound. Under the guidance of the spirit-guard beauty, he easily skirted several hidden and open sentries before vanishing into the pitch-black depths of the forest.

Racing swiftly along the mountain path, several dozen miles meant nothing at all to the great lion. In less than half an hour, it carried Du Long to the entrance of Twin Gorge.

As its name suggested, Twin Gorge was a collective term for two long, narrow ravines.

Like two twisting serpents coiled together, the ravines shared a common entrance and exit. In simple terms, though they seemed separate, they were actually linked front to back.

Human caravans usually chose to pass through the bottom of the ravine on the right, since that side was relatively flatter and better suited for larger horse teams to move quickly.

Because the gorge stretched for more than ten miles, any detour would require at least an extra hundred miles of travel to reach the far end. For that reason, this place had become an unavoidable passage for Du Long and the others.

At that moment, more than three hundred men in black were hidden on the rugged slope above the middle of Twin Gorge, gathered in small knots and chatting idly.

On a higher ridge two miles away stood a dozen black-clad men surrounding a middle-aged man. Beside them lay two enormous beasts, each seven or eight meters tall: a black leopard with golden markings and a blue bull with purple eyes.

"Lord Fan, could Rote's squad have been discovered?" one black-clad man asked in confusion. "It's only a journey of a little over a hundred miles, and yet those people are taking two full days to cover it?"

"Hmph. Even if that brat Rote were discovered, he wouldn't dare leak our plan. Otherwise, everyone in his family back in the capital would be finished!" the middle-aged man said with a cold snort. He was none other than Fan Liang, a branch clansman of the Fan family, the very man Rote had confessed everything to.

"Whether the Du family brat has received the news or not, so long as their people are still in this Beast Forest, they will never escape my grasp, Fan Liang!" he said savagely. "In any case, the old master has given his order. This chance is rare. We must seize it and wipe out the Du family brat together with Princess Fire Phoenix and the others!"

"What Lord Fan says is right! So long as they remain in this forest, they absolutely cannot escape the pursuit of two fourth-rank demonic beasts. At most, a few will slip through the net," another black-clad man said respectfully.

"Exactly. If everything had gone according to plan, once the Du family brat's group entered Twin Gorge, we would have had the two fourth-rank beasts flank them from front and rear. By then, with several hundred men trapped inside, not one of them would likely have gotten away. It would have been perfect, a dead tale with no witness, and no one would be able to tell what beast did the killing."

"Now we can only wait until tomorrow and see whether they choose to continue into Twin Gorge and die, or retreat instead. Whatever the result, we will have to make our move."

Outside Twin Gorge, Du Long clearly saw in his mind the positions of this group and the two fourth-rank beasts, and he heard every word spoken by Fan Liang and the others.

Only then did he understand that Fan Liang and his men had chosen Twin Gorge as their ambush site with the intention of wiping out his entire group of several hundred people in one stroke.

"Hmph. Since you intend to be so ruthless, don't blame me for being merciless," Du Long said, the killing intent in his heart no longer suppressible. Whatever pity he had left for the Fan family was completely replaced by murderous resolve.

"Little Lie! Do it! Kill them all if possible. Leave not one alive!" Du Long gave the great lion his order of total annihilation, word by word.

"Understood! Just two fourth-rank little brats in the early and middle stages, and they dare dream of wiping us out? Hmph, let me see how I deal with them!" Sensing the hatred in Du Long's heart, the great lion slipped alone into the dark forest.

The spirit-guard beauty guided it remotely around the outer sentries, and Lie Feng, now reduced to the size of an ordinary lion, arrived soundlessly at the position where Fan Liang and the others were stationed.

Du Long stood atop a great tree, watching the entire operation. The spirit-guard beauty projected its movements clearly into his mind.

Roar!

Appearing silently beside Fan Liang and the others, the great lion suddenly let out a thunderous roar. Its body swelled in an instant, and its terrifying aura burst forth. A flame-horned lion, twenty meters tall, appeared behind them at once, a sight shocking enough to freeze the blood.

The two fourth-rank beasts, which had been lying on the ground resting, were stunned senseless by the terror of that sudden aura. The pressure of a fifth-rank beast made them tremble all over.

"Enemy attack!" Fan Liang, the first to recover, immediately shouted the alarm and then barked an attack order at the two beasts beside him. "Damn it, it's actually a fourth-rank flame-horned lion? How did it get here?!"

If it had been just one fourth-rank beast invading unexpectedly, the two beasts by his side could still have put up resistance. Unfortunately, the attack had come so suddenly that he did not even notice his own beasts were already quaking in fear.

At that moment, how could the two beasts possibly obey his orders? They did not attack Lie Feng at all. Instead, they turned and tried to flee from this cursed place. Sadly, because they were too frightened, their speed was badly affected.

Lie Feng would not let them escape. With a flash, it appeared beside the black leopard, the fastest of the two, and swept a claw across it. To carry out Du Long's order of total slaughter, it used its full strength, and blazing red fire flickered continuously between its claws.

The black leopard only managed one cry before the slash tore a wound several meters long across its right flank. It was flung away with a whimper, and a string of colorful intestines could be seen hanging from its belly. It had clearly been gutted.

Lie Feng did not miss this perfect opportunity. In another flash, it came alongside the leopard, brought both claws down at once, and ripped with all its strength along the very place it had just clawed open. With a miserable scream, that poor fourth-rank golden-marked black leopard beast was torn in two.

Knowing the creature was doomed, the great lion immediately turned and charged the other fourth-rank beast, the blue-eyed bull. Up to this point, it had still not revealed its true strength at the spirit rank, and had been running swiftly across the ground rather than flying.

The spirit-guard beauty continued to guide its attacks from afar, forbidding it to fly so as not to expose its true level.

After all, killing several hundred people was hardly realistic. If word got out that a fifth-rank flame-horned lion had done it, the Fan family would certainly become suspicious, because fifth-rank beasts did not ordinarily appear in this region.

The blue-eyed bull, seeing its companion slain in a single exchange, was already terrified out of its wits. It kicked up all four hooves and fled desperately, trampling and ramming down anyone in its path, friend or foe alike.

Unfortunately, no matter how wildly it ran, it still could not match Lie Feng. In only a few leaps, Lie Feng was upon it once more, and again swept a claw down with full force.

This blue-eyed bull truly deserved its reputation for defense. Though its cultivation had reached the middle stage of the fourth rank, even Lie Feng's full-strength claw merely carved a wound two meters long and half an inch deep. The gash was long, yet not a single drop of blood spilled out.

Though the injury was not fatal, the bull was still knocked sideways by the tremendous impact. Given its immense size and the fact that it had already been fleeing at full speed, the fall sent it crashing through more than ten great trees, forcibly smashing and pressing out a broad passage before it.

By this point, Fan Liang and the others finally understood what sort of terrifying beast they had run into. One exchange had killed the black leopard, and the blue-eyed bull seemed certain to meet the same fate very soon.

"Damn it! Just where in the world did I offend this cursed thing?!" Fan Liang cursed inwardly at his unlucky fate, yet still managed to shout at the top of his lungs, "Retreat! Everyone retreat at once!"

After yelling the order, he led his dozen trusted subordinates in a desperate dash toward the southwest without looking back. Fan Liang finally saw the situation clearly: that fourth-rank blue-eyed bull probably was no match for the great lion either. If they did not run now, there would be no chance later.

Though his heart bled at the loss of the two fourth-rank beasts, he could not care less at the moment. Whatever punishment the old master might mete out later was a matter for later. First he had to survive. Only the living could be punished.

For the moment, Lie Feng had no time to bother with the scattering humans. It charged straight at the great bull and again sent its razor-sharp claws sweeping across the big, thick-skinned brute.

Perhaps because pain had stirred its fury, the blue-eyed bull, after struggling upright in a miserable state, did not continue fleeing. Its enormous purple eyes blazed red, and with its head lowered and its pair of green horns aimed squarely at the great lion, it actually stamped all four hooves and launched a furious countercharge.

What a fellow. That full-force sprint shook the ground underfoot. With a deafening boom, its great horns met Lie Feng's claws head-on.

The tremendous rebound force sent the massive bull staggering backward, while the great lion Lie Feng was also thrown back several steps by the shock, its forepaws aching from the impact.

Moo!

The blue-eyed bull seemed to find confidence in that collision. With another furious bellow, it charged again at Lie Feng, all four hooves pounding the earth in a fight-to-the-death frenzy.

"You idiot, Lie Feng! Trying to match strength with a stupid ox? That makes you just as stupid! If you don't finish that thing off quickly, those villains will all get away!" The spirit-guard beauty's angry scolding suddenly rang out in Lie Feng's mind. If it had been human, it would surely have blushed red with shame by now.

Roar!

A dignified fifth-rank beast had actually been held up by a fourth-rank bull in the middle stage. After letting out a thunderous roar, Lie Feng flashed forward once more and charged straight at the blue-eyed bull!