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Translated by: La0o9
Edited by: Dr.Lock
Proofreader:? Arya
The night wind slowly blew.
Gu Qing Shan leapt into the sky and looked down.
The girl was looking up at him.
Their gazes locked.
Gu Qing Shanâs eyes were calm.
The girlâs gaze suggested that she was worried about something.
As the Demon Scorpion Empress saw the [Unbreakable Mountain Range] attack, she stopped and commented: âThat technique is quite the powerful one, but this manâs martial arts foundations arenât very solid, he canât show the full power of that attackâŠâ
âBig sis Demon Scorpion, help me catch him quick!â the girl hurriedly spoke.
âGot itâ
The Demon Scorpion Empress leapt into the air with her shield and the True Crimson Demon Lance in hand.
Both of the girlâs hands quickly moved in the void of space, quickly drawing two full hands of cards.
As she was about to use another cardââ
An autumn-like blue steel sword carrying a chilling presence swiftly appeared from behind her and lightly pressed against her throat.
The sword was cold as ice.
Holding the sword, Gu Qing Shan was standing right behind her.
âYouâââ the girl exclaimed in surprise.
Gu Qing Shan lightly pressed against her neck a bit more.
She went quiet.
Then she suddenly cried.
âYou want to kill me?â
The girl was sobbing as she asked.
âNo, Iâm curious about somethingâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Thanks to the unique characteristics of the Tribulation realm, whenever he would be close to death, he would be able to feel itââ this was a unique type of spirit sense given to him by the karmic adversity.
But during their battle just now, he wasnât able to sense anything related to his karmic adversity.
Combined with the girlâs actions so far, he concluded that she was someone who had a lot of powerful cards but held no killing intent towards him.
Her weapon prohibition, humanoid sentient puppets, the Demon Scorpion Empress summon, as well as the True Crimson Demon Spear, any of these would count as an extremely powerful ability in any other world.
ââand yet she claims to want to rob me.
Iâm a newcomer without a penny to my name, what can she actually get from me?
âDismiss all of your cards, then we can talkâ Gu Qing Shan said.
The girl obeyed.
All her cards and summons were dismissed.
The only one who didnât leave right away was the Demon Scorpion Empress.
She landed on the ground, standing in the desert as she silently watched.
âDonât worry, my contract with the card is already over, Iâm only staying here to watch because Iâm curiousâ she smiled at him.
Gu Qing Shan glanced at her.
She is a very powerful entity, but she wasnât serious at all from the very start.
As far as I know, a summoned card will share the card userâs thoughts, acting according to the card userâs will.
The reason that the Demon Scorpion Empress was slacking during the battle just now was probably because the girl didnât hold a very strong fighting spirit in the first place.
So Gu Qing Shan ignored her and asked the girl: âFrom the very start, you already paid attention to me and specifically invited me to join your party?â
âYesâ the girl obediently answered.
âSo you planned to rob me from the very beginning?â
âHmâ
âBut I donât have any money, why did you choose someone like me to rob?â
âIâm not after your moneyâ the girl hurriedly denied.
âThen what did you want?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
The girl lowered her head, her shoulders trembled a bit as drops of tears fell down her face onto the desert below.
Itâs all over, I tried so hard to get out, luckily ran into a small glimmer of hope, but it still ended in despair.
The girl dejectedly answered: âI just wanted⊠the card you haveâ
Card?
Gu Qing Shan was briefly stunned.
He then took out a card.
A bright red card that depicted a giant monster with two vertical irises and a grim pair of wings on its back.
Behind the monster was an endless sea of monsters.
They stood orderly in line, each carrying a weapon in their hands as they gave off a fearless aura.
As Gu Qing Shan took this card in hand, lines of glowing text appeared in his retina.
[Youâve received the War card: Blood Sea God Army]
[Youâve received ownership of this card]
[For unknown reasons, Blood Sea God Army had actively formed a contract with you, giving you the ability to call upon and control it]
ââin Aboul, when Su Xue Er took Gu Qing Shanâs [Predictor of Fate] card, she gave this card to him.
Su Xue Er said that the card would be a deposit in exchange for his.
But in truth, as soon as Gu Qing Shan received it, he had passively signed a summoning contract with the [Blood Sea God Army]
This was one of many ways that Su Xue Er tried to protect Gu Qing Shan.
She was afraid that Gu Qing Shan might run into some sort of danger while she wasnât with him, so she gave the most powerful card she had to him and forcefully helped him sign a Blood Sea contract.
âYou wanted this card?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âAh, yes, that one!â
The girlâs eyes glittered as she saw the Blood Sea card, completely forgetting that there was a sword on her neck.
âWhat do you want this for?â
âActually, I sneaked out here without permissionâ
âHm?â
The girl sighed: âI was being imprisoned by an extremely powerful person. He wanted me to surrender myself to him and become his slave, but due to some restrictions, he wasnât able to do that within a short period of time, similarly, I couldnât escape from the shackles that he had placed on meâ
Gu Qing Shan couldnât help but ask: âBut you have so many powerful cardsââ I can tell, you still have a lot more that you havenât used, and youâre still no match for them?â
âHah, when I was in slumber, he used several extremely powerful Law-grade cards to shackle me, so whenever I attacked him, all of my powers would be nullifiedâ
âAnd this card here can help you escape from those shackles?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
The girl looked at Gu Qing Shan with a sincere begging expression: âYes, among all the decks, Blood Sea is a unique series of cards, as long as I have a card from the Blood Sea deck, I would be able to assimilate myself with the Blood Sea deck to fight against him while borrowing their powerââ- which means I will be able to escape from the restraints of his Law-grade cards and escapeâ
When Gu Qing Shan wanted to ask more, he suddenly realized something.
This was so shocking that it caused his expression to warp.
He exclaimed in disbelief: âWait a minuteââ if what youâre saying is true, could it be that you were a card!?â
Seeing how much Gu Qing Shan was in disbelief, the girl pridefully lifted her chin and boasted: âThatâs right, I am a card, one that had just woken up from countless years of slumber, otherwise why would I allow someone to put shackles on me like that?â
Gu Qing Shan rubbed the bridge of his nose, forcing himself to calm down for the moment.
As soon as I came into town, I got deceived by a card, then was subjected to that ârobberyâ just nowâŠ
Wait, no, thatâs not important.
Whatâs important isâââ
âDonât you know that besides robbing someone, thereâs a more peaceful way to get something from another person?â he asked.
âYou mean that kind of transaction?â
âYes, I mean a transactionâ
The girl looked at him gloomily, lowered her head and stuttered as he spoke: âIâm not âthatâ kind of card, no matter what you thinkâ
After a brief moment of silent confusion, Gu Qing Shan suddenly understood what she meant.
He yelled out: âWhat do you mean âno matter what I thinkâ! Why are you even thinking about âthatâ in the first place!?â
âYou were obviously talking about âthatâ, and here I thought you were a decent guy, turns out youâre just as bad as the rest of them!â the girl refuted.
Gu Qing Shan was incredibly shaken by this claim.
He forced himself to control his emotions and not to mistakenly slice off her head.
He inhaled, exhaled, then inhaled again, exhaled again, and finally calmed himself down.
âThe transaction Iâm talking about is using something that both sides want to conduct an equivalent exchangeâ he finally spoke.
âAh? Thatâs what you mean?â
The girl was stunned, then took out a notebook from behind her and appeared shocked: âIâm sorry, I actually looked at the wrong meaning, so you meant a pure transactionâ
âThen, I want that card you have, what do you want from me?â the girl asked.
Gu Qing Shan slowly spoke: âI want youâââ
The girl covered her chest: âYou pervertâ
âI still havenât finished!â
âAs soon as I heard the first few words, I can already tell what you really want!â the girl stared straight at him.
Gu Qing Shanâs veins were bulging, he almost couldnât help himself from swinging his sword.
âI want you to help me heal a certain person, do you have the ability to heal people?â he said it all at once.
âAh? Is that what it was?â the girl trembled a bit and asked again.
âOf course thatâs what it is, what did you think I was going to say!â Gu Qing Shan shouted.
Watching this on the sidelines, the Demon Scorpion Empress couldnât help but chuckle, muttering to herself: âQuite a good trip this timeâŠâ
The girl replied: âI have a lot of healing cards that can be used for various different types of wounds, no problemâ
âWhat if itâs a wound that not even a Divinity can heal?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âIf thatâs the case, Iâll have to take a look first, I canât guarantee anythingâ the girl seriously answered.
Gu Qing Shan nodded.
If sheâs acting that serious, itâs worth a shot.
ââif she had boasted about her abilities instead, I wouldnât have believed her.
Suddenly, the girlâs expression changed: âOh no, heâs coming to take me back!â
Various black thorned shackles manifested on her body, binding her tightly.
âThis is what was sealing you?â Gu Qing Shan looked at the chains and asked.
âYes, hah, I wonât be able to complete the transaction with youâ the girl spoke sorrowfully.
The black chains pulled her to the air before heading in a certain direction.
Gu Qing Shan considered for a split second.
Yun Jiâs life is already like a burning ropeââ-
If I miss this chance, Iâll have to spend a lot of time and effort to make money, without any guarantees of finding the correct way to heal her.
Not to mention whether or not I can bring that method to her.
Gu Qing Shanâs eyes became fierce.
The Six Paths Great Mountain sword suddenly flew up.
Countless stars emerged from the sword like meteors streaking across the sky, slashing the immediate area around the girl
Sha sha sha sha sha!
Secret Art, [Silver Star].
The blinding starlight transformed into soft, thin strings that consecutively struck the intersection of the girlâs shackles, cutting them apart.
[Law Breaker]!
The black thorned shackles were broken, fell down, and disappeared.
The sword flashed and returned next to Gu Qing Shan.
The girl appeared to be in joy, before immediately turning into fright.
She shouted at Gu Qing Shan from afar: âHeâs coming, we need to escape now!â
Gu Qing Shanâs figure flashed and appeared next to her.
âIf you donât want to be caught, turn into a card now!â
He said curtly.
This time, the girl obediently did as he said and turned into a card.
Gu Qing Shan put the card away into his Inventory Bag.
He then expanded his inner sight to its maximum range and activated [Ground Shrink]!
In a flash, he vanished from the air, reappearing several hundred miles away right at the edge of the inner sight.
Not allowing himself any time to rest, Gu Qing Shan once again activated [Ground Shrink] without minding his spirit energy expenditure!
In just a few seconds, he vanished again and again, quickly escaping far away.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
Where they were fighting before.
A black figure descended from the sky.