On the satellite surveillance footage, the Soul Shrieker and Raging Flame Traveler were quickly moving forward.
This time, they paid close attention to their surroundings and managed to avoid several forced teleportations.
Finally, they arrived in the city.
On top of an observation deck, Zhang Ying Hao raised his rifle.
âOne shot, one chanceâ
He muttered and slowly entered a state of absolute concentration.
Within his crosshair, the Soul Shrieker and Raging Flame Traveler were slowly approaching the research center.
They abruptly stopped.
In front of them, Gu Qing Shan, Ye Fei Li, and Ye Ru Xi stood waiting at the gate of the research center.
The Soul Shriekerâs gaze fell onto Ye Ru Xi.
ă ă Unawaken Deity of [Chaos], I am the same kind as you, you should come with me ăăthe Soul Shrieker stated.
Hearing that, Ye Ru Xi couldnât help but look at it.
One half of its face had the visage of a cruel man, while the other half was of a grudgeful woman.
Six arms.
Half-naked.
Same kind...
Ye Ru Xi scowled: âSomeone like youâââ is my same kind?â
ă ă Indeed ăăthe Soul Shrieker started exuding grey fog from its body, displaying the Law of [Chaos] for Ye Ru Xi to see.
It then continued: ă ă I wield the unlimited divine power from the Era of [Chaos], I can help you, grant you power, and allow you to awaken faster ăă
Ye Ru Xi took a step back and casually said: âYouâre too weak, no need to tell me such nonsenseâ
Seeing how resolute she was, the Soul Shrieker gave up on that idea for now.
ââ-if she is so sure about that, Gu Qing Shan must have used some sort of method to win her trust.
I was so slow that Iâve already lost that chance.
The Soul Shriekerâs killing intent began to boil and focus on Gu Qing Shan.
ă Gu Qing Shan ă
ă From the Age of Old until this moment, it has been a very long time ăthe Soul Shrieker spoke first with its female voice, then changed to its male voice: ă It is finally time for us to end this ă
âIndeed, Iâve been waiting for a very long time for todayâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The Soul Shrieker scoffed: ă ă Waiting? Havenât you been fleeing all this time? ăă
âBecause I couldnât defeat you back thenâ Gu Qing Shan answered straight.
The Soul Shrieker took a step forward and shouted: ă ă And you assume you can win against me now? ăă
Gu Qing Shan simply replied: âYour powers have already been sealedâ
He reached into the void of space and grabbed the twin swords Heaven and Earth in both hands.
His sword qi surged forward.
The Soul Shrieker was drawn by the twin swords, then started speaking with a deeply ingrained tone: ă ă Gu Qing Shan, you do not deserve to wield these two Soul Artifact swords, they both have their own missions to accomplish ăă
Gu Qing Shan concentrated on those words and replied: âI remember that the forging of these two swords was originally your planââ- what did you initially intended to use these swords for?â
The Soul Shrieker didnât answer.
Gu Qing Shan continued: âThe Greatest Above the Crown Star once told me that these two swords were created for the sake of defeating the wicked creature guarding the bottom of the Abyss, but I highly doubt that you would have dedicated yourself to doing such a thing for the Abyssâ
The Soul Shrieker suddenly grinned.
ă ă If youâre talking this much, you are surely attempting some sort of different scheme or plotââ a dead man shouldnât be talking so much! ăă
It rushed towards Gu Qing Shan.
In an instant.
Gu Qing Shan faced it with his swords.
Before any change occurred.
The entire world fell silent.
Lines of text appeared in front of everyoneâs eyes:
[An emergency mission had been issued]
[Please cease your fighting and focus on completing the Apotheotic Combat as your priority]
[No one, regardless of who they are, can go against the will of Chaos nor kill your competition, as all of you must complete this pivotal mission from Chaos]
[Violating the above rules will result in the immediate disqualification of your Apotheosis]
Clang!
The twin swords clashed against a spear.
Intense gusts of wind blew in every direction.
Gu Qing Shan and the Soul Shrieker both stood still.
Ye Fei Li had already wielded the Forgetting River Soul Flaying Hook and blew a high-pitched whistle to cause the two monstersâ bodies to briefly freeze up.
Bang!
The sound of gunshot resounded from afar.
The Raging Flame Traveler was struck and halted from advancing further.
At this split second, a sword appeared from behind, deeply cutting into his neck.
âââGu Qing Shan.
This was the real Gu Qing Shan!
He wielded the Chao Yin sword as he stood behind the Raging Flame Traveler, only a hair away from beheading the other party.
All the grey text had finished displaying.
Gu Qing Shan stopped.
âTsk, so we canât kill competitors, why didnât you say that sooner?â he regretfully said.
The âGu Qing Shanâ who was holding the Soul Shrieker back suddenly turned back into Shannu.
Both Shannu and the Soul Shrieker retreated.
Neither side continued to fight.
Everyone looked at the grey text floating in front of them.
Gu Qing Shan, Zhang Ying Hao, and Ye Fei Li all had the same mission:
[You have obtained Ye Ru Xiâs recognition]
[She will follow you and leave this world, then locate a unique path for Chaos that leads toward âthatâ secret palace]
[To gain victory in this Apotheotic Combat, you must accompany her and aid her in locating that unique path]
[You only have 30 minutes!]
[Attention, this will be the decisive 30 minutes, as well as a pivotal moment for the Era of Chaos itself, do not waste time with your competitors!]
The three of them exchanged glances.
For [Chaos] to suddenly issue such a mission.
Something definitely must have happened.
Gu Qing Shan asked: âWhat if our competitors insist on wasting our time?â
A new line of grey text appeared:
[During this Apotheotic Combat, your competitors have received an entirely different trial, they will not interfere with you]
[Remember, this is the Apotheotic Combat of Chaos, and Chaos retains the right of final judgment]
Ye Fei Li read the last line and couldnât help but ask: âWhat does this mean?â
âIt means that we shouldnât stay here to fight them to death, we need to follow the rules of the Apotheotic Combatâ Zhang Ying Hao replied.
Whoever [Chaos] pronounced as the victor would undergo apotheosis and become its Deity.
At a time like this, if they angered [Chaos], the Soul Shrieker could still become the founding Deity for the Era of [Chaos].
Which meant they would still not be able to kill it.
âAlright, letâs go then. Although this is a bit unexpected, as long as we still want to kill the Soul Shrieker, we would need to kick it off its Deity pedestalâ Gu Qing Shan stated
The four people turned to the Soul Shrieker and Raging Flame Traveler.
These two monsters stood in place, apparently receiving a new mission.
The Soul Shrieker turned around, refusing to face the four of them.
Gu Qing Shan took notice of that and asked: â[Chaos], what is their mission?â
[To help you prevent and stop any possible assailants] â [Chaos] replied.
Gu Qing Shan was surprised.
...No wonder the Soul Shrieker refuses to say a single word.
We were still enemies who wanted to kill one another just a moment ago, but now they had suddenly been ordered to protect their enemies.
No one would want to face the other party in such a situation.
...
A few moments later.
The warp fluctuations slowly calmed down.
Their group of four now stood on a certain beach.
Gu Qing Shan, Zhang Ying Hao, and Ye Fei Li all looked at Ye Ru Xi.
âI can see a notification, is this the power of [Chaos]?â
Ye Ru Xi watched the void of space, seemingly also reading something.
She pondered a bit, then told him: âIf the place my UI referred to was âthatâ place, we need to do something first before we can goâ
âWhat is that?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
Ye Ru Xi looked towards the void of space behind him and explained: âUnder the current situation, only your sword can take us thereâ
Gu Qing Shan asked: âSo when you looked at my sword that time, it was because you could feel its power?â
âYes, I have a certain unique ability to appraise the unique abilities of items by looking at them. Your sword is able to part open the sea, as well as undoing the seal that the Oceanic Divine Artifact has on my bodyâ Ye Ru Xi explained.
âA seal?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
The void of space fluctuated.
The Chao Yin sword appeared from the void of space and landed in his hand.
âWhat should I do?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âCome with me into the sea, open the seal of the ocean, and release my powerâ Ye Ru Xi replied.
The three of them were stunned.
âYouâre currently in a sealed state?â Zhang Ying Hao asked in disbelief.
Ye Ru Xi appeared nostalgic, then replied: âEver since I was 5 years old, I had been able to summon inexplicable things and entities into existenceâ
âAs I grew older, this ability became stronger and strongerâ
âAccording to my own estimations, by the time I reach 10 years old, the summoned object would become unimaginably powerful, and its mere presence would destroy this entire worldâ
âSo I prayed for 3 full days and night, which ultimately ended with the summoning of a certain entity who pitied my circumstancesâ
âThat entity used a certain sealing technique to suppress the power contained within me into an Oceanic Divine Artifactâ
âThis way, I would be able to enjoy a relatively normal life while also calling upon a certain amount of power that would ensure I donât destroy this worldâ
The three of them silently listened.
Zhang Ying Hao wiped the sweat off his forehead and whispered: âIn other words, your current strength is only your power after it was sealedâ
âYesâ Ye Ru Xi replied.
Gu Qing Shan carefully recalled the memory he witnessed.
At that time...
When she summoned the bronze finger that crushed an entire city.
She seemed to have already grown older than 10 years old.
In other words, even after she was sealed, she could still summon such immense power.
Then, if she was unsealed, how unimaginable would her power actually be!?
Ye Ru Xi continued: âOnce my power is unsealed, I will be able to open a unique path heading towards a certain world, so we now need to find and unseal that artifactâ
She pointed at the ocean.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and replied: âLetâs go, weâll do it immediatelyâ
He wielded the Chao Yin sword.
The ocean retreated.
All the seawater parted ways to reveal a straight road that headed directly into the depth of the sea.
The monsters who remained under the sea could not escape from the water, helpless to do anything but be swept away by the Chao Yin swordâs divine power and be chased away.
âEastward, 300 milesâ Ye Ru Xi stated.