Chapter 394: Is the Outer Realm Fierce Beast Truly Dead? The True Owner of the Nails

The destination: a deep pit.

The dust kicked up by shattered rocks gradually settled.

The terrifying environment, originally under a million times the force of gravity, had been thrown into a state of chaos by this single sword strike.

The extremely dense rocks were pulverized by the Sword Qi, then, under the pull of gravity, began to coalesce again like quicksand.

At the bottom of the pit.

That once-invincible Outer Realm Fierce Beast now lay quietly as a massive corpse split in two.

Dark blood flowed out, emitting a nauseating, foul stench that corroded the ground with a SIZZLING sound.

"Huuuh."

In mid-air, Gu Yuexi let out a long breath.

With a CLANG, the Divine Sword in her hand returned to its sheath.

In that instant, she seemed to have been drained of all her energy and spirit.

Her face paled and her body swayed, then she went rigid and plummeted downwards.

Just as she was about to hit the ground.

BUZZ!

A black-and-gold light appeared out of thin air.

Immediately after, a giant mosquito with a slender body and wings shimmering with divine patterns steadily caught her body.

It was Chu Sheng, having reverted to his massive mosquito form.

Chu Sheng flapped his three pairs of wings, counteracting the terrifying downward force and bringing Gu Yuexi to a gentle landing.

The moment they touched down, his body shrank, and he changed back into a harmless-looking little black mosquito, landing on Gu Yuexi’s shoulder.

"Hey, you’re not dead, are you?!"

Chu Sheng poked Gu Yuexi’s pale cheek with his foreleg.

"That was a pretty cool sword strike, I’ll give you that. You almost took yourself out with it."

Gu Yuexi had finally caught her breath.

She quickly pulled a few Top Grade Qi Recovery Pills from her Storage Ring and stuffed them into her mouth.

As she felt a trace of Spiritual Qi finally moisten her depleted meridians, a bit of color returned to her face.

She opened her eyes and snorted softly.

"You damned mosquito. Took you long enough."

"See? This time, I handled it myself, without your help."

In many previous crises, it had always been Chu Sheng, the mosquito, who had to step in at the last moment to resolve things.

As the Little Empress, Gu Yuexi had to save face sometimes!

"Yes, yes, of course. Lady Empress is mighty and domineering, second to none in the world."

Chu Sheng rolled his eyes internally.

’Of all the times to be proud and stubborn...’

He didn’t continue bickering with Gu Yuexi. Instead, he took flight and flew suspiciously toward the two halves of the Fierce Beast’s corpse.

’Is this thing really dead?’

Chu Sheng circled the corpse twice, feeling a growing sense of unease.

’In the memories I just saw, this thing survived a brutal beating from the Emperor Realm Powerhouse, Little Black. Its Life Force was as tenacious as a cockroach’s.’

’Gu Yuexi’s strike was ferocious, and she even borrowed the power of the Divine Sword, but... could she really have insta-killed it with one blow?’

’That seems a little too easy, doesn’t it?’

’Or maybe its Origin was depleted from being suppressed for so long?’

He continued observing as he spoke.

"By the way, what was your real reason for coming here?"

"Surely it wasn’t just to kill this thing, right?"

"Killing it was secondary."

"I came for the things on it—or rather, the things that were suppressing it."

Gu Yuexi got to her feet and also walked toward the Fierce Beast’s corpse.

’Things?’

Chu Sheng paused, his gaze sweeping over the body.

There were only two kinds of objects on the Fierce Beast’s exterior.

The first was the four chains, which Little Black had forged ten thousand years ago by using his great powers to condense them from the earth’s core essence gold.

Unfortunately, after the beast’s final outburst, the chains had completely lost their luster and were now just four piles of scrap iron scattered around.

The second was the three ink-black nails.

Chu Sheng flew directly toward one of the nails, extended his two front claws, and tried to pick it up.

However, the nail was surprisingly much heavier than he had imagined.

Chu Sheng put in more effort and grabbed it again!

"Lift!"

The nail didn’t budge.

"Hm?"

Chu Sheng refused to believe it.

"I said, LIFT!"

Chu Sheng used all six of his claws, flapped his wings frantically, and gave it everything he had.

The nail finally wobbled, and Chu Sheng managed to hoist it up slightly.

’Holy crap, this thing is unbelievably heavy!’

At the same time, Gu Yuexi walked over to another nail.

She looked down, extended her slender fingers, and gently pinched the nail, lifting it up.

It was as effortless as picking up an embroidery needle.

She glanced at Chu Sheng, a look of exasperation on her face.

"Alright, stop with the theatrics."

Chu Sheng: "???"

’But... ’

’I’m really not acting!’

’Wait a minute...’

A flash of insight struck Chu Sheng’s mind as he suddenly remembered the white-robed Empress from his memories.

’These three nails belonged to the "Gu Yuexi" from ten thousand years ago!’

’An object returning to its rightful owner... the nails recognize her, so for her, they feel as light as nothing?’

’Doesn’t this just prove that there’s a connection between the Gu Yuexi from ten thousand years ago and the Gu Yuexi of this era?’

"No wonder... This belongs to you, so it’s normal that you can lift it."

Chu Sheng buzzed the words subconsciously, his tone filled with sudden realization.

Gu Yuexi froze.

She frowned slightly, looking at Chu Sheng in confusion.

"My things?"

"What do you mean?"

’In my last life, I stumbled upon this place by accident. I only discovered these three nails after killing the Fierce Beast, so I took them with me. They ended up being incredibly important later on.’

’That’s why I made a special trip to retrieve them in this life.’

’But to say they were mine to begin with?’

’How is that possible?’

Gu Yuexi shot Chu Sheng a suspicious glance.

’This damned mosquito... it sounds like there’s a hidden meaning behind his words.’

Chu Sheng mentally smacked himself.

"Ahem, it didn’t mean anything!"

He gave a nervous buzz, tossed the nail aside, and flew off to examine the Fierce Beast’s corpse.

’This nail and I aren’t meant to be. I’ll just let Gu Yuexi get it.’

’I need to take a good look and see what other value can be squeezed out of this thing!’

’For example, is there any Essence Blood? An Inner Core? Can I harvest Evolution Points from it? Can I recover any Life Essence?’

’A Fierce Beast this large, even its corpse, shouldn’t be wasted.’

...

Gu Yuexi shook her head, deciding not to press the issue.

She strode toward the other two nails.

Just as she collected the second nail and moved toward the third...

A deep, powerful voice carrying the might of the Emperor Realm suddenly boomed from above the deep pit, echoing throughout the canyon.

"Junior."

"Put down the treasure in your hands."

Gu Yuexi froze mid-step, her expression instantly turning icy.

At the edge of the deep pit.

The figure of an old man in the special-grade uniform of the White Eagle Empire stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down on them condescendingly.

It was that Emperor Realm Powerhouse—Eagle Eye.

His greedy gaze swept over Gu Yuexi’s hands before landing on the two giant halves of the Fierce Beast’s corpse.

"This Celestial Trace Abyss is the territory of my White Eagle Empire."

"Every inch of land here, every treasure, naturally belongs to the White Eagle Empire."

Eagle Eye took a step forward, unleashing the full might of his Emperor Realm pressure without reservation.

"Everyone present."

"From this moment on, refrain from making any extraneous movements."

"Otherwise... you will be killed... without... pardon!"