A large tiger head fell to the ground rolling for 2-3 meters.
Gu Qing Shan put the [True Crimson Demon Spear] away, then clasped his hand towards the void of space: âCorporal of the Southwest 15th observation tower, Gu Qing Shan, reporting for dutyâ
The void fluctuated.
That tiger head quickly vanished, followed by a low shout: âCome in quicklyâ
Gu Qing Shan took a few steps forward and entered the formation.
Only to find that there were cultivators all over this military camp, each of them wearing their armor and frigid expressions on their faces.
Several enforcer cultivators were shouting orders, urging squad after squad of cultivators to stand up and enter the warp formations to retreat to the backline.
As Gu Qing Shan entered, he saw some scout-looking cultivators examining the tiger head.
âIt has been confirmed, it is the Ghost Feeder Tiger Kingâ a scout stood up and reported.
Hearing that, the General who was standing with his commanders laughed: âHow great! I had heard of Corporal Guâs rapid breakthroughs in cultivation, but I did not know that Corporal Gu was in charge of securing the rear today, otherwise, I wouldnât have had to send scouts in search of the Tiger Kingâ
Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist and calmly replied: âChang Yu Li and Bai Zhuo have most likely fallen victimâ
The Generalâs smile immediately faded, a sense of sorrow could be felt from his eyes.
Everyone else also went silent.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the group, observing that they all had been injured to some degree, weapons ready in hand, and slightly exhausted spirit.
Seems like this was the final camp responsible for securing the rear as the main army retreated.
A jade tag appeared in the Generalâs hand.
While reading it, he muttered: âCorporal Gu, the war situation is urgent, so Iâll make it shortâ
âPleaseâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The General continued: âThis morning, all posts reported a rumor that the Corporal easily and successfully faced your Tribulation, thus becoming a {Yama King} realm cultivator. Unfortunately, before we could confirm it, the frontline had already collapsedâ
Gu Qing Shan didnât reply and simply listened.
The General muttered: â{Yama King} realm... very well, I will now give you three choicesâ
âFirst, you may follow the previous plan and retreat to the backline, once your contributions are fully tallied, you will be promoted and would resume duties as orderedâ
âSecond, official promotions and positions can be left for after the war situation had settled down, I will provide you a group of subordinates in advance, temporarily instating you as a Sergeant; by which you will immediately resume active dutyâ
âThird, because you were able to eliminate the Ghost Feeder Tiger King by yourself, furthermore, a sword cultivator; in consideration, that commanding troops will affect your strength in combat, I will instate you as a scout. By this, you will gain freedom of movement, your orders will be to scout any information of the enemy, as well as assassinating any powerful monsters that you might be able toâ
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit, then clasped his fist: âThis humble one will join the scoutsâ
ââin his original plan, Gu Qing Shan was supposed to immediately move and meet up with his Shifu, but now the situation had changed.
During this defeat, Iâm right in the middle of the frontlines, so as long as I go back, I should be able to obtain information directly related to the battle of Mount Sumeru.
Not only would this be more direct, but it would also be easier to reach the turning point of this world.
Gu Qing Shan was also an expert at commanding troops in battle, but after the obtained the cultivation inheritance from the world fragments, his swordsmanship, cultivation, spell techniques, and the six arts had been advancing at a rapid rate through âenlightenmentâ.
Right now, whenever he entered the âenlightenmentâ state, it would be very easy for him to look past matters in the outside world.
And this was highly inappropriate if he was placed in charge of a team.
So it would in fact be better if he went alone.
Seeing such an attitude from him, the General praised: âGood, for cultivators like us, cultivation level alone doesnât mean much, only those willing to traverse into enemy territory alone can be considered great men!â
Gu Qing Shan continued: âI have a conditionâ
The General asked: âWhat kind of condition?â
Gu Qing Shan replied: âI need supplies, and Iâll most likely need quite a bit of supplies of all kindsâ
The Generalâs eyebrows relaxed and laughed: âThat is no condition at all. A {Yama King} realm cultivator would be allotted more supplies regardless, and since youâre going into enemy lines by yourself, this General would guarantee that you have enough even if weâre a bit lackingâ
âââmen, bring me a badgeâ
Very quickly, a black badge was brought to the General.
The General wrote the military decree on it with red ink before tossing it to Gu Qing Shan.
As Gu Qing Shan received it, he saw the words written: [Roaming Cavalry Independent General]
Everyone was surprised.
Because this meant that Gu Qing Shan had been promoted to the ranks of commander.
Even if the âIndependentâ rank was the lowest commander rank, it was still above that of a soldier.
At the same time, Gu Qing Shan noticed a change.
The jade badge that Mount Sumeru provided him that was in his Thought Sea also shook a bit and changed.
Some information was transferred from the jade badge to his Thought Sea.
Gu Qing Shan immediately understood.
Mount Sumeru had borrowed the hands of these cultivators to help him settle his place in this world.
Compared to when he first came in, he now had access to more resources and a certain amount of influence.
This change in status meant that he was gradually being recognized by Mount Sumeru.
The General swung his hand.
âGo, receive your supplies and return to the frontlines, kill as many monsters as you can and report any findings you come across through talismanâ
âSir, yes sirâ
Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist and left.
An armament officer brought him to the armory, then provided him the supplies in accordance to his Roaming Cavalry Independent General rank: two sets of formation plates, a stack of talismans, five bottles of pills, two sets of armor, a row of ancient coins, and an appropriate amount of spirit stones.
âOnly these?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
The armament officer carefully replied: âAh, yes, these are all important items on the battlefield, the last bit of supplies in the camp, do you have any other requests?â
Gu Qing Shan replied: âIâm not the kind of person who knows only greed, but there are things that I canât use, so Iâd like to exchange them for something elseâ
The armament officer smiled and replied: âThat is fine, as long as General Gu is willing to exchange them for the appropriate price, we still have two very good offensive artifacts, I can guarantee their power. General Gu can exchange for either of themâ
Gu Qing Shan shook his head: âI want some ingredients and cooking utensilsâ
âWhat? Ingredients, foodstuff?â
The armament officer was surprised, afraid that he might have misheard.
Under Gu Qing Shanâs insistence, the armament official took back all of his talismans and one formation plate in exchange for a large amount of cooking ingredients as well as a set of kitchen utensils.
Everything was properly prepared.
âThank you for the arrangementâ
Gu Qing Shan was pleased as he clasped his fist.
The armament officer also clasped his fist, his mouth opened and closed a few times, unsure of what to say.
He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he watched Gu Qing Shan leave.
...
The night turned deeper.
At this point, it had stopped snowing, allowing the frigid air to freely permeate everything under the sky.
While flying, Gu Qing Shan touched his face.
It felt completely cold.
His spirit energy barrier wasnât able to block out the natural cold from the atmosphere, this was the first time Gu Qing Shan had ever seen such a thing occur.
In this place, the Earth swordâs full power strike couldnât break the earth too deeply.
This Divine Mountain worldâs Origin must be truly vast and unbreakable.
ââWhich leads to the Laws and Reality in this place being unimaginably powerful as well.
On the other hand, there was a difference in the Origin of each world in the 900 million World Layers, but it wouldnât be too great.
This was because the Divine raceâs world creation was stable throughout, making sure not to create any outliers.
Comparing them, Gu Qing Shan had a sudden thought.
Before entering the Divine Mountain, I noticed that the worlds within Mount Sumeru were interconnected.
Could it beââ
Some sort of huge problem occurred as these worlds connected to one another?
Gu Qing Shan abruptly stopped this train of thought, formed a hand seal, and fully concealed his presence.
He leapt onto a high treetop, took out a formation plate, and arranged a camouflage formation in the blink of an eye.
ââGu Qing Shan had been directly âenlightenedâ and gained the greatest knowledge of many cultivation worlds, so after his modifications, this formation plate could be used in ways that the cultivators from before couldnât possibly imagine.
He silently remained on top of the tree without moving.
A second later, three flying swords appeared from the void of space.
Gu Qing Shan made a âcarefulâ gesture.
The three flying swords remain still, circling around him.
A few moments later.
A slight tremble could be felt from the ground.
From the frontlines, a boundless tidal wave was sweeping in across the land.
This tidal wave moved like a tsunami, growing faster and faster as it moved.
ââ-a sea of skeletons.
Innumerable skeletons moved along the ground, bobbing up and ground while swallowing up everything in their path.
Clack clack clack clack clack!
They swept forward along the ground beneath Gu Qing Shanâs feet, giving off a mind-numbingly loud series of repeated noises.
While glancing down at the skeletons, Gu Qing Shan also used the Devil King Warden Rod within his Thought Sea.
The scepter vibrated a bit and remained still.
ââ-they arenât the souls of the dead.
Then what exactly are these things?
Gu Qing Shan shook his head and glanced afar.
In the darkness of the night, the mountain was so vast that only a small portion of it could be observed through his inner sight.
However, this sea of skeletons eventually covered the entire mountain, and were gradually growing stronger and stronger without any end in sight.
This was such an unprecedented sight; Gu Qing Shan hadnât witnessed such a sea of skeletons even in the 18 layers of Hell.
âHow bizarre...â
Gu Qing Shan muttered, taking out the Roaming Cavalry Independent General armor, and put it on.
As soon as he did, he turned around as if sensing something.
A sky-high fire rose from the direction of the military camp.
In that direction, the ground was turning faint and illusory.
At the same time, the faint image of another world appeared to overlap it for a few moments.
Gu Qing Shan narrowed his eyes to look.
He saw various kinds of strange and eerie creatures that he had never seen before in that illusory world.
All of a sudden, the two illusory worlds fully overlapped, and the mirage disappeared.
Everything on top of the military camp, including trees, snow, and grass, disappeared without a trace.
Gu Qing Shanâs expression changed.
Iâve seen this before.
It was exactly like when that red gate from Huang Quan performed the Divine Skill â [Circulation of Life and Death].
The exact same thing happened back then.
Was everyone in the military camp taken to Huang Quan?
No.
That isnât right.
That world earlier wasnât Huang Quan!
ă Ah? Did a fish slip through the net? ă
A heavy voice resounded.
A giant claw reached out from the sea of skeletons, swiftly went through Gu Qing Shanâs formation, and grabbed him.