The mermaid looked over the king and declared: âDescendant of the God of Life, I am a servant under Her Grace, the Tide Callerâ
âIf you want me to serve you, show me your proofâ
The king raised his hand: ă The ring of descendant is in my hand, surely you can see it ă
He was showing the golden ring on his finger.
The mermaidâs gaze focused on the ring and nodded:
âSure enough, it is the God of Lifeâs ring, that is indeed true, please hand it overâ
The king took the ring off, then suddenly recalled something and shook his head: ă I donât remember such a step from my unsealed memory ă
He continued: ă Now, please take us allââ ă
A black flash of light.
The trident pierced through the kingâs body and pinned him closely on the ground.
Coughing up blood, the king cried out in desperation: ă No! ă
The souls in his body had all been taken away by Ye Fei Li, so he only had one last life.
The mermaid displayed a cold expression and declared: âHand over the ring, exchange it for your lifeâ
Right after she declared so.
A gust of wind emerged.
Her head was severed and blown away by the wind.
The mermaid had a shocked expression on her face but was swiftly diced into pieces by another sword that had been waiting in the air.
âWhatâs the matter?â Gu Qing Shan walked up to the king and asked.
The black trident seemed to have some sort of mystical power, after stabbing the king for just a few seconds, his face had already sunken in so much that he looked almost like a skull.
The king seemed to have realized something.
He put the golden ring up to Gu Qing Shanâs face and said: ă Help me pass it toââ ă
Clink clank!
The golden ring fell to the ground.
Before he could finish his words, the king was already dead.
Before anyone could even react to what just happened, the ruler of Calming Soul Country meaninglessly lost his life.
Gu Qing Shan waved his hand to take the golden ring into his hand and told everyone: âPrepare for battleâ
âHm? Didnât you already kill that mermaid?â Zhang Ying Hao asked in confusion.
âNo, itâs not deadâ Ye Fei Li appeared to be listening as he continued: âI canât hear any soulsâ
The group looked towards the water fountain.
Only to find the headless body swiping the void of space and taking out a small crimson shield.
The shield had a single vertical pupil that stared straight at the group.
A set of skin-colored armor filled with vertical pupils then slowly manifested on the headless body.
ă Fresh food... youâve disturbed my slumber...ă
A frigid voice resounded from the headless body.
Laura shrunk behind Gu Qing Shan and nervously said: âGu Qing Shan, that thing is causing me to feel numb to my coreâ
Gu Qing Shan asked in return: âBoss, do you know whatâs going on here?â
âThis is a kind of spirit within the space vortex, an Occultism entity that cannot be defended againstââ it has the ability of parasitism. It can burrow inside the body of any creature, then transforms that body into a weapon and defensive equipment through consuming the entirety of that creatureâs flesh and soul!â Boss hurriedly explained.
âWhy didnât you say that sooner!â Zhang Ying Hao shouted.
ââ-canât be defended against, leeching the body of any creature, then consume their flesh and soul
How can anyone fight against that?
Its enemy wouldnât be able to do anything but wait for their death!
âIâve only ever heard of it before; this is the first time Iâve ever seen it!â Boss answered.
Gu Qing Shan quickly asked: âDoes its ability have any limits? Or is it simply a parasite that can leech any creature just by thinking about it?â
Boss replied: âI donât know either!â
Everyoneâs heart sank.
Gu Qing Shan abruptly grabbed the Earth sword from the void of space and swung it towards the black trident.
The Earth swordâs abilityââ- [Sanctuary] was instantly activated, combined with Gu Qing Shanâs full-power strike.
Kih!
An intense ring resounded throughout the surroundings.
The black trident turned into a black streak of lightning that ripped through the void of space and vanished.
ă Despicable! My Divine Armament! ă
A frigid and vicious cursing sound emerged from the headless mermaid body.
Originally, the black trident would have gotten extremely powerful from absorbing the kingâs soul and power.
But now, it had been sent flying into oblivion.
Gu Qing Shan shrugged: âIâm sorry, but I felt like it would be best to prevent you from being able to completely overpower us if thereâs going to be any hope of achieving an agreementâ
ă Agreement? ă
The voice paused briefly, then chuckled:
ă You misunderstand, there will be no agreement, and I donât want to waste any words on any of you ă
ă You are nothing but my food ă
Gu Qing Shan was surprised.
An enemy who wasnât even willing to talk was quite rare.
The headless mermaid raised its vertical pupil shield and howled: ă Even without my trident, I can still massacre you without any efforts! ă
Countless black shadows abruptly poured out from the shield that went into everyoneâs bodies like a sudden lightning strike.
Zhang Ying Hao, Ye Fei Li, Laura, Boss, and even the black cat all froze.
They quickly lost all signs of life and collapsed on the ground.
Only Gu Qing Shan remained.
The frigid voice resounded again: ă You sent my weapon flying, that is a Divine Armament I spent countless years to craft ă
âAnd you killed my companionsâ
Saying so, Gu Qing Shan showed no emotion on his face.
Holding the Earth sword tightly in hand, he slowed his breathing down and carefully recalled the attack he used to kill the mythical [Chaos] creature.
Everyone else was already dead, he was left alone.
And he could feel the shadow of death over him.
Over his long years of fighting, this would turn out to be the most dangerous battle yet.
The monster slowly and mockingly spoke: ă Coming here as a team, the difference in your strengths must be not that great ă
ă To make sure that you suffer the greatest degree of pain and torture, I shall have your companions band together and kill you ă
Black strings appeared from the vertical pupil shield and attached to the corpses of Zhang Ying Haoâs group.
Zhang Ying Hao, Ye Fei Li, Laura, and Boss stood up.
They were all staring blankly at Gu Qing Shan.
âDie, Gu Qing Shanâ Zhang Ying Hao muttered.
âWe shall kill you togetherâ Ye Fei Li called out.
âDo not resist, weâve been your trustworthy companions for so long, after allâ Laura said.
âYou wonât be able to win against the four of usâ Boss declared.
They all headed towards Gu Qing Shan.
A chilling cold chuckled resounded from the shield:
ă Come, struggle against your companions, die in your despair, this is the end that Iâve arranged for you! ă
A second later.
Gu Qing Shan let go of the Earth sword and grabbed the Chao Yin sword from the void of space.
The sword swung forward.
Secret Art, [Life Seeker]!
Secret Art, [Crescent Slash]!
Both Secret Arts were performed at once, a crescent-shaped sword phantom flashed into existence for a split second and vanished.
His four companions collapsed at once.
ââ-before they even got close, their limbs had already been completely severed by the multitudes of light blue sword phantoms that manifested from thin air.
The voice from the vertical pupil shield turned frigid again:
ă To kill your allies without a single bit of hesitation, what an iron will you have ă
Gu Qing Shanâs expression remained emotionless.
He mused briefly before speaking: âAnd you still havenât killed me... it seems youâve made two miscalculationsâ
Gu Qing Shanâs eyes faced the vertical pupil head-on and continued:
âFirst of all, my companions are actually quite weak, Iâm the only one that actually knows how to fightâ
âSecondly, Iâm sure that you didnât hold back just to torture meâ
While saying so, he raised his finger that was wearing the golden ring for the other side to see.
The monster spoke: ă This is the first time Iâve ran into an insect that is as arrogant as you are. I will have you understand that death isnât the end, but merely the beginning ă
Gu Qing Shan chuckled, then lightly stated: âYou only attacked the king after he took off his ringâ
He paused and glanced over the other party.
The monster didnât say a single word.
Gu Qing Shan continued: âIt seems that you received quite a bit of recoil when you devoured the Tide Caller, then became trapped here by the oath of the servant of Deityâ
Hearing that, the monster abruptly shouted in response, clearly angered:
ă Within this infinite void, nothing can restrain me! ă
Gu Qing Shan let go of the Chao Yin sword and let it hover in midair, continuing:
âIs that so? But you only demanded that the king remove his ring in the beginning, it wasnât until afterwards that you attacked and threatened him to exchange for his life with the ringâ
âThe ring is a crucial part of the God of Lifeâs oath, and you seem to be affected by that oathâ
While speaking, Gu Qing Shan continued to stay on guard.
However, aside from taking control of his companions to attack him, the monster hadnât tried to directly harm him yet.
Gu Qing Shanâs tense heart slowly relaxed.
ââ-seems like my guess was correct.
After devouring the Tide Caller, for some reason, they took over an oath for the Tide Caller.
Since Iâm wearing the ring, it couldnât attack me.
What a dangerous situation that wasââ-
I was literally a split second away from death.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and stared closely at the shield:
âSo, you clearly understand what the ring is and what it does. And here I thought you were a straightforward monster, who knew youâd be so full of lies?â
The vertical pupil on the shield stared straight at him, then abruptly questioned: ă Why is it that when I took control of your companions and forced them to kill you, not only did you kill them so easily without hesitation, but you could still also keep this insignificant matter in mind? ă
âInsignificant? What do you mean?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
ă The ring ăthe monster replied.
âAh, so that was what you mean. Simply put, thereâs no such thing as an insignificant detail in a battleâ
Gu Qing Shan slowly replied.