Liang staggered as he ran away.
The sound of wind whooshing behind him caused Liang to dodge to one side as an arrow stabbed into the ground in front of him.
A man with a twisted expression quickly gave chase with a bow and arrow in hand, the person whose mind was twisted by Xu Fu.
Liang had experienced the sensation of having one's mind twisted beyond recognition even by oneself. If his thirst for vengeance hadn't snapped him out of it, he might have become a puppet with an irrational mind as well.
This faint sensation…
Looking at the approaching human puppet, Liang's body could faintly sense the other party getting closer. He could feel the wicked, twisted piece of flesh embedded into that person's body; quite obviously, Xu Fu's hand that had fused into Liang's body was granting him the ability to sense the other party's flesh.
Or rather, this was his reward for resisting the willpower contained within the hand. Since he managed to assimilate Xu Fu's flesh, he had also managed to obtain the ability to recognize Xu Fu's existence.
Taking a deep breath, Liang stood back up before using all his strength to rush towards this human puppet while also focusing his mind to sense the other party's thoughts.
During this process, Liang's mind seemed to have undergone some sort of breakthrough. After some blurred images flashed through his mind, he accurately perceived the human puppet's thoughts, he then lowered his form and threw a full-power right hook towards the human puppet's head. At the same time, his willpower borrowed this punch to also enter the human puppet's mind.
After the human puppet fell on his back, his twisted soul was somewhat remedied. Looking back at his tribe that had begun to burn at some unknown point, his face became filled with regret as he started showing signs of petrifying.
"Liang…" the human puppet helped Liang stand back up with a pained expression, then handed the bow and arrow in his hand to Liang: "I can't hang on for too much longer. I can sense that wicked willpower still trying to twist my soul. Most likely, in no time at all, I'll become the puppet of that monster again. Kill me, then run"
"You can temporarily fix my will, meaning you can oppose Fu, but you're still too weak right now. Head to the Central tribe, report our situation to them. You'll be able to obtain more power in that place" as he spoke, the human puppet's expression slowly became more twisted.
Watching the man in front of him, Liang mustered his strength once more to grab an arrow and stabbed it through the man's eye, killing him. His corpse slowly became petrified before turning into ash and disappeared.
Once again, Liang staggered towards Xu Fu's home, took the stone demon mask hidden inside his beast hide bag, then began fleeing out of the village.
…
"Garbage" Xu Fu casually broke a hunter's hand, then pierced his hand into the hunter's neck to leave a blob of flesh inside.
As each of the puppets whose mind had been twisted stood up, Xu Fu's gaze carried almost solid pressure as he sensed the existence of the mask from afar.
"You bunch, chase after anyone who fled and kill them. And all of you, follow me" Xu Fu ordered, then brought a few men to chase after the mask following his sense.
To make it more convenient to act, as well as because his mind wasn't quite as clear as it currently was right after his conversion, Xu Fu left the mask in his house. He didn't expect that someone would suddenly fuse with his hand, notice the mask's existence, then steal it as well.
Xu Fu was very fast. After consuming a large amount of flesh, his abilities had also grown considerably stronger. His skin was now as hard as lava rock, he felt like he would never feel tired, his physical strength was growing increasingly greater, and he could even feel an ability awakening from the living statue's power of emotions.
Liang, on the other hand, was slow; after all, he was currently injured. Soon, Xu Fu caught up with him next to a cliff.
Placing the mask on one side of the cliff, Liang glared straight at Xu Fu full of hate, it was him who destroyed everything.
"I really must say, Liang, you've once again gone above my expectations. I judge you worthy of becoming my equal, put the mask on Liang, you'll obtain unlimited power, and a nearly ceaseless life" Xu Fu took one step closer.
Liang immediately shouted: "Don't come any closer. I'm not going to become a monster like you, if you dare take another step, I'll throw this mask into the ravine, the waters below will wash it away"
"You're trying to buy time for the other tribesmen" although Xu Fu couldn't control the flesh inside Liang's body, he was able to easily borrow that flesh to read Liang's mind. Chuckling, he didn't stop moving forward: "I can sense that mask, no matter where it is. I can simply look for it again, but you, on the other hand, are driving my already limited patience thin"
"Put on that mask and become my equal, or die at my hands" step by step, Xu Fu approached Liang closer and closer.
While breathing heavily, Liang was still glaring straight at Xu Fu while calculating the distance.
Once again, Liang had shown himself to be nothing short of an absolute genius. After noticing that Xu Fu was able to read his mind at a close distance, he instantly realized that this was an opportunity.
Before Xu Fu caught up with him, he had already formulated a plan, then forced himself to no longer think about it, instead, he thought about buying time for his tribesmen to flee, thus deceiving Xu Fu and clouded his judgement.
Seeing Xu Fu getting close enough, he leapt down from the cliff without hesitation and let go of the mask.
Right away, Xu Fu leapt down with him, catching the mask with one hand while piercing his hand through Liang's body with the other; at the same time, his leg thrust forward like a blade into the side of the cliff, hanging his body on it.
"Idiot, I deceived you" Xu Fu laughed triumphantly.
"I'm the same!" Liang replied, once again focusing his mind to enter the same state as before. He then grabbed Xu Fu's body tightly, infused his willpower into his fist, and threw a punch towards Xu Fu.
A grey color began to spread from where the punch connected.
With mutual death in his mind, Liang's punch contained everything he had, causing Xu Fu's body to quickly petrify.
"Damn it… I was careless" Xu Fu was able to sense his body petrifying, his body stiffening, followed by his mind.
As he became petrified, some information regarding the stone demon mask also flowed into his mind.
He had indeed inherited the powers of the living statues from the stone demon mask, but the living statues weren't natural living beings of this timeline. Although Xu Fu could utilize these powers and keep his flesh and blood body, once his willpower contained within that flesh and blood was blown away, his essence of being a living statue would be discovered by the world. Unable to adapt to this world, he would turn into a motionless statue.
It wouldn't be until his flesh and blood once again enveloped his body that he would return to his original state.
By the time he comprehended this bit of information, over half of Xu Fu's body had become petrified. Since he could no longer apply any force on his legs, his body swiftly fell.
Using the last chance he had, Xu Fu transferred his final order to his puppets: "Find me, use the flesh and blood of the enemy to awaken me"
Liang closed his eyes and descended into the bottom of the ravine while holding onto Xu Fu's petrified body. The rushing current would sweep them into the ocean, where they would remain forever.
With a flash of light, a phone booth that definitely did not belong to this era appeared in this place.
A mechanical arm reached out from within to catch Liang, while the Xu Fu statue continued to hold onto the mask as he fell, his petrified eyes staring straight at Liang.
Things seemed to be far from over.
