âOne two three, stepâ
âFour five six, wave your handsâ
âSeven eight nine, move your jaws, rattle your shouldersâââ
Gu Qing Shan muttered the dance moves and followed the rhythm as he carefully danced.
On the War God UI, lines of glowing text continued to scroll:
[The Demon Dragonâs power is being suppressed]
[Youâve obtained the love of Occult-type Mystic abilities, your body has grown slightly sturdier]
[Your dance was praised by a mystical existence, your affinity with Mystic abilities had grown a tiny bit]
[Your bodyâs sense of balance had been increased]
Gu Qing Shan continued to sweat bullets as he danced.
Even as a Three Thousand Worlds realm cultivator without his powers sealed away, he would still be tired by performing this dance, let along right now.
Both his body and soul felt like it was going through a tough journey whenever he did the Living Being Sacrificial Dance.
Several dozen seconds later.
He finally finished the dance this time around.
Shannu gave him a cup of spirit spring water and asked: âGongzi, what now?â
Gu Qing Shan panted heavily as he drank the entire cup at once.
âThis is my fault this time around since I forgot the time for the Danceâ
He helplessly sighed.
âSince sheâs already dead, how about we just leave now?â Shannu suggested.
âNo, according to what she said, she was already betrayed once, so this is quite a rare occasion for her to trust meâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Shannu appeared troubled: âBut her body had already been washed away by the stream. Gongzi, even if we take the time to put her back together, who knows how long itâll be until she revivesâ
Gu Qing Shan shook his head and told her: âIf we leave right now, she might not trust anyone ever again. Furthermore, if we leave and she just happens to revive, then come to the 900 million World Layers to find me, that will be some real troubleâ
âThen...â
âThen we must find and put her back together, then explain everything clearlyââ- trust me, for true martial artists like her, even if she seems like she doesnât mind a lot of things, sheâs actually a very obsessive personâ
Shannu sighed: âThen we have to slowly gather her body parts, wait for her to revive, then spend the effort to convince her that you didnât plan to kill her, and finally get her to not force you to come with her to the Reality Gate since gongzi still has things to doâ
âThat sounds complicated, and very hardâ Gu Qing Shan muses.
âIt is extremely hard. You should still remember that sheâs an Abyssal monster, gongziâ Shannu reminded him.
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit, then closed his eyes and carefully sensed inside his body.
The manifestation of the Earth Saint Pillar now resided within his body, which he could call upon any time he liked.
And right now, Gu Qing Shan really needed a bit of help to accomplish this relatively arduous task.
Following his thought, a silvery golden glow appeared from inside his body, gathered at his palm to form a pattern of light.
At the same time, lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Master of the Earth Saint Pillar, please choose the power you would like to activate]
[Powers that can be chosen: True Luck, Absolutely Prohibition, Shelter]
Gu Qing Shan swiftly skimmed through and silently muttered in his mind: âUse [True Luck]â
A new notification appeared on the War God UI:
[You have chosen True Luck]
[This ability has been activated, duration 12 hours]
[After this ability runs out, you must wait for 30 more days before you may use the power of the Earth Saint Pillar again]
All the glowing text vanished.
Everything returned to normal.
Gu Qing Shan looked down at the picture of the Coin of the Earth in his hand and felt a familiar sensation.
It was the same strange sensation that he felt when he first arrived in the Earth World and received the Earth Creatorâs blessing.
âLetâs goâ he said.
âGongzi, where are we going?â
âTo gather her body partsâ
â...Thatâs going to be a very long and arduous taskâ
âRegretfully, thereâs only two of us right now. But itâs fine, just donât think about it too much, weâll slowly gather themâ
While Gu Qing Shan was consoling Shannu, he abruptly went quiet.
He and Shannu both looked in the same direction.
Something seemed to be moving along the bank of the stream.
And that thing also noticed them.
âAh! So you two are here as well!â the other party called out.
ââso it was the doll.
Gu Qing Shan came over and crouched down in front of the doll, asking doubtfully: âWhy are you here?â
The doll lowered its hat first to greet him, then explained: âThereâs a very rare rock in this part of the stream called the Water Flower Gem, Iâm just trying my luck to see if I can find itâ
âThe Water Flower Gem?â Gu Qing Shan asked with interest.
âThatâs right, itâs an ivory-colored rock with naturally forming water ripples that looks like flowers blooming on them, so theyâre called Water Flower Gemsâ the doll explained.
It then sighed: âIâm only missing this one last rock before I can join a rock exhibition, but unfortunately, these Water Flower Gems are the rarest kind of rock on the Gemini star. Itâs really good at hiding itself in the water, only showing up once every 1000 yearsâ
Gu Qing Shan suddenly felt something pressing against his foot.
He picked up a rock from the water, glanced at it, then put it in front of the doll.
âThe Water Flower Gem you talked about, is it similar to this one?â he asked.
âAh, thatâs right, it looks exactly like thisâ
The doll glanced at it and nodded.
Wait a miâââ
The doll opened its eyes wide and shouted in excitement: âOh my god! That IS the Water Flower Gem!â
It circled around and around the Water Flower Gem, wanting to touch it, but hesitant to.
Gu Qing Shan said: âYou can take it since I donât need such a thingâ
He pushed the rock towards the doll.
The doll was so excited its face was flushed and hurriedly asked: âCan I really?â
âGo aheadâ Gu Qing Shan smiled.
The doll was stunned briefly, as if making some sort of decision, and replied: âI canât take such a precious thing for free, I have to repay you somehowâ
It swung its cane up and down.
âI heard what you were talking about just nowâ the doll raised a thumb towards him: âYouâre a good person, so Iâll help you bring that womanâs body backâ
While they talked, something seemed to be flowing upwards from downstream.
When Gu Qing Shan focused his attention, he found that they were pieces of chopped-up body parts.
ââthe tall slender womanâs body!
The doll swung its cane again.
The several dozen pieces of body parts were washed up onto the river bank by a sudden wave.
âThereâs a pixie in this stream, sheâs a good friend of mine, so I asked her for a favorâ the doll told him as if bragging.
âBut she and I donât really understand how to put bodies back together, so youâll have to do that yourselfâ
âThatâs more than enough, thank youâ Gu Qing Shan sincerely expressed his gratitude.
Seeing his reaction, the doll nodded and spoke: âIâll be going first, you know how to find me, I want to return and quickly sort through my rocksâ
âSee you laterâ
âHm, see you laterâ
The doll waved its cane and vanished.
Gu Qing Shan and Shannu exchanged glances.
âThen this first part is over with, all we need to do is put her body back together againâ Gu Qing Shan said.
âYes, then let us try to reassemble her bodyâ Shannu replied.
The two of them went up to the bank and began their work.
...
âShannu, how do you put this piece in?â
âI think itâs, ermââ the place is right, but you need to put the chest area on top firstâ
âAh...â
...
âGongzi, give me the piece in your right haââ- wait, that part is the right leg, you placed it on backwardâ
âSorry about that, I canât quite make it out.
...
Gu Qing Shan silently felt puzzled.
I have True Luck helping me for a duration of 12 hours, so why do I keep messing up the body reassembly?
Iâm a great cultivator, and a top-class chef, reassembling a body should be nothing but childâs play for meâââ so why is luck holding me back?
Shannu cut in: âHah, alright. Gongzi, youâre too clumsy, this female body clearly isnât suitable for you to put together, let me do itâ
Gu Qing Shan was surprised and instantly understood.
He put the severed body parts in his hand back down and said: âThatâs right. Shannu, return to your original appearance and put her back together, this way you can prove that I didnât reassemble her bodyâ
Shannu also just realized: âAh, thatâs right. Otherwise, if she knew that you were touching her bare body, she would definitely get angry and try to fight you againâ
Gu Qing Shan smiled bitterly: âItâs still ok if sheâs only fighting me on this planet, but if she grows furious and acts the same way she does when searching for the Bygone Era humans, I wonât be able to endure her pursuing me for over several ten thousand yearsâ