Black flames swept through the ground.
The soldiers on the ground were either unconscious or experiencing immense pain.
They had no way to defend against such an attack.
Wherever the black flames swept through, the flesh and blood of the soldiers were instantly reduced to nothing, leaving only their skeletons behind. The skeletons would then continue to burn until they turned into ash, expelling their soul and all the powers previously within their body as black smoke.
After a bit, all the smoke from the bodies flew into the air and started converging.
They were converging towards Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan stood still and let the black smoke pour into his body from every direction.
âUgh...â
Gu Qing Shan uttered a curt grunt.
The power from thousands of soldiers had formed a massive wave that would overwhelm the bodies of any normal mortal if they tried to absorb it.
Waves of pain were radiating throughout Gu Qing Shanâs body, causing him to scowl.
ââbut his body was currently that of the Demon Dragon, having already absorbed the power of at least 3 other dragons, the current situation wasnât that tough for him.
A few moments later.
Once he had finished absorbing all the black smoke.
Gu Qing Shan slowly closed his eyes as a giant dragon made of nothing but black smoke manifested behind him.
Burning text appeared in front of himââ
[One final soldier remains, hiding 3,900 meters to your Southeast, underground]
Gu Qing Shan muttered: âHmâ
The giant dragon behind him rushed forward and enveloped his body.
He then transformed into a giant dragon several hundred meters in length and flew into the air.
This dragon whose entire body was clad in razor-sharp scales flew Southeastward, then directly struck the ground with all his strength.
Rumble rumble rumble!
The ground itself intensely shook.
A small bit of black smoke flew out from the ground, silently entering the black dragonâs body.
âHm...â
The black Demon Dragon grunted satisfactorily.
The burning text appeared again, asking doubtfully: [It was only a single soldier, why expend so much power?]
The black Demon Dragon turned back into Gu Qing Shan.
He released his inner sight to check his surroundings, confirming that there was no longer anyone left alive.
âBecause Bloodkins mature very rapidly. I donât want to deal with trouble in the futureâ
He explained.
The burning letters asked: [Youâre afraid that the other party would return to kill you after maturing?]
âNo, when a normal human turn into a dragon, the abrupt rise in power would result in a psychological imbalance, no one could predict what someone like that would doââ I can only feel assured with this power lying on my hands and my hands aloneâ
Gu Qing Shan replied.
âââsince his conception, Demon Dragon should have been able to infinitely absorb power from all living beingsâ soul and body using the Bloodkin power, but he was under constant restraints by the Bygone Era Humans.
Furthermore, his soul belonged to the Wraith realm and was under their control, whose ruling power made sure to suppress his growth as much as possible; even resorting to killing him off in the end.
Without these dual restraints, no one would be able to tell just how many living beings the Demon Dragon would have devoured and how powerful he would have grown.
This power, later on, fell into Gu Qing Shanâs hands.
He always made sure to keep the Demon Dragon Bloodkin power under check without abusing it because he knew just how vicious and terrifying this power was.
A gust of wind blew past.
The land was barren.
All the soldiers had died.
The battle was over.
âDid their deaths benefit you?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
Next to him, the burning cloaked figure almost seemed like it could manifest if they wished.
Burning text appeared in reply:
[My power is growing; the other Law Behemoths were able to sense my change and had been temporarily discouraged from offending me]
âThatâs a good thingâ Gu Qing Shan smiled.
The burning text abruptly paused a bit before changing:
[There are signs of death on your companionsâ side]
Gu Qing Shanâs expression changed.
He pulled his aura back and directly used [Ground Shrink] to disappear from the wilderness.
...
There was a barren mountain at the edge of the wilderness.
Right as Gu Qing Shan reached the foot of the mountain, and found the cave, a cautious voice called out from inside: âWho is it!â
âItâs meâ
The voice delightedly exclaimed: âRhode, youâre back!â
Gu Qing Shan entered the cave.
This place was very narrow, there wasnât even enough space to fully hide someone inside.
Shroud was lying on the ground, once again unconscious.
Epta and Scarlet were guarding him.
ââReneedol and Atley were nowhere to be seen.
âWhereâs Reneedol and Atley?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âRhode, I donât know how to tell you...â Epta replied.
âWhatâs the matter?â Gu Qing Shan was surprised.
Epta was sobbing, a bit speechless.
Scarlet patted her shoulder and calmly said: âIâll explainâ
âAtley finally managed to form a covenant with the Law Behemoth of Wind, becoming powerful enough to take us to this placeâ
âBut then Shroud suddenly said that the Overlord of Radiance had diedâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded, then asked: âWhat happened after that?â
âAfter that, Shroud abruptly coughed up blood and fell unconscious, his body also weakened more and moreâ
âââat that point, Reneedol noticed how bad things have gotten, so she immediately used her Fate ability to absorb Atleyâs power and finally helped us escape pursuitâ
Gu Qing Shan walked up and put his hand on Shroudâs head while examining him with his inner sight.
Shroudâs wounds havenât gotten worse, but his life signs are growing weaker.
This is strange...
Gu Qing Shan said: âIf there were two covenant bearers of the Law of Wind, our side should have gotten much stronger, so what happened? Why are both Atley and Reneedol missing?â
Scarlet lowered both her gaze and her head: âWe ran into a group of unfamiliar Professionists. As soon as they found out that we came from the World Valley, they immediately wanted to kill usâ
âIn that battle, Reneedol was heavily injuredâ
Gu Qing Shan froze.
âAtley said that if everyone wants to kill us, we canât continue like thisâ
âHe left with Reneedol, saying that he wanted to find something to heal Reneedolâs wounds firstâ
âAnd then, you were left behind?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âYesâ Scarlet replied.
Gu Qing Shanâs gaze became sharp as he casually asked: âEptaâs main specialty was in the field of healing techniques, and he still wanted to bring Reneedol to find someone else to heal herââ did Reneedol not reject?â
Scarlet coldly chuckled: âReneedol said that if so many of us stay together, it would be too easy to find us, so splitting up was a good idea and that they would return to find us once her wounds are healedâ
Gu Qing Shan didnât say anything else.
Epta was a healing expert, Scarlet was a support expert, both of them had their specialties, but they werenât great combatants.
Shroud had lost the power of the Overlord of Radiance and fallen unconscious.
And yet at this point in time, they wanted to split up!
Never mind Reneedol, what happened to Atley?
Gu Qing Shan paced around the cave.
Epta was already crying out loud.
Scarletâs gaze remained on Gu Qing Shan as if glued to him.
Gu Qing Shan carefully considered everything that had happened recently.
Suddenly, he recalled something he saw in the past:
...
âReneedol is too beautiful, the most beautiful girl Iâve ever seen in my entire life. She makes me feel my youth once again, awakening my slumbering heartâ
...
âI do not understand why I wanted to do this, but since it had gotten to this point, Iâââ
...
ââthese were the words of the World Valleyâs Grand Elder.
Such a character would have been already standing at the peak of this world, capable of obtaining whatever he wanted.
Would he have tried to capture a young girl for something as obscured as âfeelingsâ?
The Grand Elder...
And then.
When I first arrived, Reneedol had allegedly been captured by bandits.
Later on, it was also her who led the enemies away.
The invisible army earlier as well, they originally had other goals, but one of them suddenly noticed Reneedol and caused the conflict.
And then, there was Atley.
A simple young man like him who would even prepare Shroudâs beddings on his own accord also volunteered to take Reneedol away.
Gu Qing Shan abruptly stopped pacing.
How could there be so many coincidences in this world?
Atley was a young man who wore his heart on his sleeves, up to now, he had displayed only the will to grow stronger and not a single bit of affection for Reneedol.
And yet, he changed immediately after he formed a covenant with the Law of Wind.
It wasnât his fault.
It was Reneedol...
Reneedol must have some sort of hidden ability specifically for the sake of charming males.
From what Iâve seen so far, this ability is most likely infallible.
Fortunately, sheâs still a bit wary of the Law of Death, otherwise, I might have been a target as well.
As he thought of this, Gu Qing Shan immediately said in his mind: âShannu, if you notice me falling in love with Reneedol and trying to court her, I want you to stab me and use [Law Breaker] without hesitationâ
Shannu coldly said: âGongzi, I canât stop you from loving whoever you like, but if you want me to stab you, I will definitely not hold backâ
Gu Qing Shan felt like something was a bit amiss, so he explained: âShannu, you might be misunderstanding something, thereâs a possibility that Reneedol might have a charm-type Fate abilityâ
âHuh? What do you mean?â Shannu asked.
Gu Qing Shan analyzed the entire matter again.
âThatâs true, it seems she really does have that abilityâ Luo Bing Li chimed in.
ă Indeed, I also feel like Gu Qing Shanâs analysis was correct ăthe Earth sword added.
Chao Yin also vibrates loudly, seemingly agreeing with them.
Shannu paused slightly.
âSo that was the situation, and here I thought gongzi had fallen in love with herâ
Shannuâs voice was now a bit warmer: âDonât worry gongzi, I will definitely not let that seductress tempt you or harm you in any wayâ
âGood, then Iâll leave that to youâ
Gu Qing Shan said.
After that, he rethought through everything that had been occurring lately once again.
ââwhen the Laws lost their effects, Reneedol abandoned Shroud without hesitation and even sent people to kill him.
ââjust now, when the Overlord of Radiance fell, Reneedol abandoned Shroud once again, taking Atley with her.
This woman had also stolen Little Duskâs powers, and if I hadnât been there, Little Dusk would have already lost her life.
Gu Qing Shanâs gaze was now filled with killing intent.
Grand Empress of the Pantheon... originally, Iâve refrained from using any assassination techniques out of respect towards a powerful Combatant...
But if youâre someone like this...
While Gu Qing Shan was silently pondering this, Epta abruptly called out: âRhode, Shroud is going to die!â