Chapter 1609 - Conjecture

The Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse.

——did this Apocalypse find Shifu somehow?

Gu Qing Shan silently kept note of this in his mind while maintaining a smiling expression: “Xiu Xiu, I think you should keep these two gems for yourself. Senior brother has a lot of treasures already, so there’s no need for me to take Shifu’s gift for you”

He placed the two gems back into Xiu Xiu’s hands.

“Alright, Third Brother, can you turn back into a cat for me?” Xiu Xiu asked.

Gu Qing Shan shivered a bit.

To be honest, when my tail was grabbed earlier, it was...

Not very comfortable.

Gu Qing Shan wasn’t sure what other cats thought about this, but he obviously didn’t like it.

So he simply smiled: “Xiu Xiu, among the plants I gave you earlier, there were two that would bloom at night, how about you plant them now before dinner is ready?”

“Un! Then I’ll do it now!”

Xiu Xiu responded and quickly ran towards the garden.

Gu Qing Shan regained his composure and stood still to continue pondering.

—–if it was truly the Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse, how did it find Shifu in the first place?

Firstly, it was an Apocalypse from outside the Reality Gate.

Secondly, it only descended after Reneedol summoned it.

Reneedol...

At that time, she had to face my Fate while I became a fruit in the Age of Immemorial.

I have no idea what Reneedol did at all.

Ah.

That’s going to be troublesome.

Gu Qing Shan paced back and forth in place before suddenly recalling something.

My Fate...

That’s right, if Reneedol had chosen to enter the point in my Fate where I searched for the Heaven sword, then she must have seen that——

When Xie Gu Hong entrusted his daughter.

Perhaps it was at that time that the Apocalypse hiding in Reneedol’s body discovered traces of Shifu.

Indeed, Reneedol didn’t manage to make it very far during the Age of Old, she hadn’t arrived at the final moment or reached Xie Dao Ling’s dream.

Then the only chance she had, to come into contact with Xie Dao Ling was when Xie Gu Hong entrusted her to Shen Yang.

That’s exactly it!

Gu Qing Shan remained lost in thought for a few moments longer before he started making his way towards Bai Hua hall.

Halfway there, he noticed a girl standing next to the stone stairs.

Qing Rou.

“Are you waiting for me?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Qing Rou nodded and said: “I told Wan Er to clean up the Bai Hua hall while I went to fetch some spirit spring water, then I waited here for you”

“What’s the matter, junior sister?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Qing Rou replied: “Before Shifu left, she had said a few seemingly casual things, but when I thought about it more closely, I think that there was a deeper meaning in her words, coupled with the fact that you have suddenly returned, I think that I should tell you about it”

Gu Qing Shan sighed: “None of the others had noticed it, but you did”

Qing Rou replied: “I’ve been through hardship and lived with my heart being constantly tense like a bird on a shaky branch, so I’m a lot more sensitive compared to others, and also more pessimistic”

“What about Wan Er?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“She is different from me” Qing Rou replied.

Gu Qing Shan nodded,

Since these two girls had different personalities, even though they had been through the same experience, what they took out of it was completely different.

Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist: “Junior sister, aside from me, your cultivation is the highest among the disciples of the sect, your mind is also the sharpest, and your interpersonal skills are also first-rate. Once I’m gone, I’ll have to rely on you to take care of everyone else”

Qing Rou stepped aside and refused his formality, shaking her head: “If you hadn’t saved me in the past, I would have already been caught by Qi Yan; and if this is for the sake of the sect, I would not hold anything back”

Gu Qing Shan smiled and slightly nodded.

“Very well, senior brother, let us go back to the main topic”

“Hm”

“Right before Shifu left, she summoned us and gave each of us a present, only Xiu Xiu received two instead”

“I’ve seen Xiu Xiu’s presents” Gu Qing Shan told her.

Qing Rou continued: “The presents that Wan Er and I received were these, I’m temporarily keeping them both”

She took out two masks.

“Yaksha masks?” Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked.

“Yes, these two masks seemed to be a rare paired mask, they’re called Trap of Shadow Puppet” Qing Rou replied.

“What can they do?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“In battle, whenever Wan Er or I hit an enemy, the other would be able to take advantage of that to deal damage to them at the same time”

“—–For example, if I hit the enemy’s arm and Wan Er immediately unleashes another spell, that spell would also hit that enemy’s arm”

Gu Qing Shan asked: “Did Shifu say anything else?”

Qing Rou replied: “The exact words that Shifu told me was: You and Wan Er’s relationship is like that of sisters, regardless of where you go, you would always travel together and even cultivate together. It just happens that this pair of masks are suitable for two people to fight alongside one another, it can be very difficult to defend against”

Gu Qing Shan fell silent.

A pair.

Two... together...

What caliber of a person is Shifu?

She once carried the entire Samsara through the Reality Gate, so how would she be afraid of a single Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse?

If it had been as always, if the Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse did come after Shifu, there was a very high possibility of Shifu facing off against it instead of escaping in a hurry.

Then...

Two Apocalypses?

Other than the Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse, there was another powerful Apocalypse pursuing her?

Gu Qing Shan sighed and clasped his fist towards Qing Rou: “Junior sister, thank you for telling me about this”

Qing Rou sternly replied: “My cultivation is too low, I could only take a general look at it, so the rest will have to depend on senior brother”

Gu Qing Shan nodded and replied: “I will head behind the mountain to see Xiao Lou now”

“Hm, see you later, senior brother” Qing Rou said.

Gu Qing Shan’s figure flashed and vanished.

Qing Rou stood still for a bit longer and looked at her surroundings with a longing gaze.

“Bai Hua sect... such a wonderful place, and such wonderful brothers and sisters... I hope that everything will be alright”

She whispered to herself.

...

On the other side.

Gu Qing Shan had arrived behind the mountain.

Only to see that Qin Xiao Lou had prepared various cooking utensils, busily scrambling around without a care.

“Junior brother, I’ve prepared everything already. Today, us brothers are going to freely exert our skills”

Qin Xiao Lou called out.

“Alright, that’s exactly what I wanted”

Gu Qing Shan rolled up his sleeves, carefully examined all the cooking ingredients, then picked out a few of them and began to prepare them.

The two of them got busy and made a large full-course meal before they stopped a bit to rest.

“That’s right, I heard that before Shifu left, she gave everyone a present, what did you get?” Gu Qing Shan absentmindedly asked.

“Ah, it was this”

Qin Xiao Lou took out a jade tag without much care and replied: “This is called the Cultivation Hearsay Records, a large newspaper published by the joint effort of various large Cultivation-type worlds. It would periodically renew itself and record everything of significance that happened around the Space Vortex, thus informing everyone of the latest news from distant worlds”

“Then it seems like Shifu had hoped that you would better understand everything that goes on outside” Gu Qing Shan commented.

“There’s really nothing of significance in the outside world though, just a few minor events here and there——- although there was something quite interesting that happened in the last few days”

“What’s that?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Wait a moment, my final dish is about to be done—–” Qin Xiao Lou handed the jade tag to Gu Qing Shan and quickly said: “Take a look at it yourself, then we’ll talk about it”

He turned around to open the braising pot and retrieved the dish from inside.

Gu Qing Shan received the jade tag and scanned it with his inner sight, then instantly changed his expression.

Even as experienced as he was, he couldn’t help but hold his breath out of shock when seeing this.

He silently stood there like a wooden statue, completely motionless.

After plating up the food, Qin Xiao Lou asked him without turning around:

“What do you think? Interesting, right?”

“Very interesting” Gu Qing Shan parroted his words.

Qin Xiao Lou then turned around and excitedly waved his hands: “Tsk tsk tsk, I really couldn’t imagine that there would be such a huge eye in this Reality, it’s already about to destroy that place called the Pantheon ruins, even approaching the territory of the legendary Samsara Wraith realm”

“And also, I heard about a group of especially powerful entities—– all of them were in slumber, but the Era of [Chaos] that they created had allied themselves with the Wraith realm!”

“These were respectively the events of yesterday and today, junior brother, don’t you think it’s so fun?”

Gu Qing Shan squeezed out a smile: “That truly is fun”

He touched his forehead to find that he was sweating bullets.

—–the Era of [Chaos] and the Wraith realm becoming allies.

—–the frozen corpse’s eyeball is about to destroy the Wraith realm.

These two events originally occurred a long period of time from one another.

The alliance should have happened first, followed by the Eternal Abyss losing the war and the giant eyeball being released into Reality, then it began heading towards the Wraith realm.

This was the normal course of events.

But now, the giant eyeball approaching the Wraith realm was yesterday’s news.

While the decisive battle between [Order] and [Chaos] was today’s news.

The order had been messed up.

Furthermore, neither of these events should have happened at this point in the timeline relative to where I am...

Unless the entire information network of all Cultivation-type worlds have gone awry, then there is only one answer.

—Time.

There was something wrong with time itself.

But what kind of entity would be able to manipulate time?

Gu Qing Shan was full of doubts, so he hung his head trying to think.

From Xiu Xiu, I saw the dark purple light, which represented the Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse.

Qing Rou and Wan Er received a pair of masks, which Shifu had emphasized as ‘two’, so let’s assume that there were actually two Apocalypses pursuing her for now.

Qin Xiao Lou was given a Cultivation Hearsay Records, which recorded the course of events in the outside world, proving that the timeline had been messed up.

Then...

Aside from the Spirit Snatcher Apocalypse, the second Apocalypse was related to time?

If that was the case, that would be terrible.

Because no one would be able to fight against time.

An Apocalypse related to time would definitely not be inferior to the True Apocalypse that the glowing cloaked skeleton belonged to.

But this Apocalypse wasn’t in a hurry to destroy Reality, instead, it was after Shifu’s life!

Gu Qing Shan felt his throat tensing up.

He suddenly remembered something else.

In the future——-

In the future where I came from, the Samsara Clash for Supremacy hadn’t begun yet.

And it was Shifu who brought the Samsara into the Reality Gate.

...Could Shifu have lost her life?

Gu Qing Shan’s mind went completely berserk, unable to restrain his presence.

Fwoom!

A huge burst of wind erupted from his body.

“Junior brother, what’s the matter?” Qin Xiao Lou was surprised.

Gu Qing Shan replied: “I’m sorry, senior brother. I have something extremely urgent that I must do right now, please help me explain to everyone”

“The next time I return, I’ll make sure to make it up to them”

Immediately after saying that, he vanished without a trace.