The night air grew increasingly thicker and heavier, leaving nothing but blurry cold light illuminating the alleyway.
The corpses exuded some black puffs of smoke that were about to dissipate when they were restrained in place by a scepter that radiated a bright red glow.
Human faces began to appear within the black puffs of smoke, madly screaming without making a sound.
Laura was shocked and couldnât help but ask: âWhat exactly were they?â
Gu Qing Shan casually replied: âThey were humansâââ I can clearly sense that they were humans, but theyâve already signed some sort of wicked covenant that would bring their souls towards a certain location after their deathsâ
âHow do you know it so well?â Laura asked.
Gu Qing Shan placed his hand on the Devil King Warden Rod and focused his mind.
A brief series of desperate screams resounded from the alleyway before everything returned to silence.
âIâve done some shallow research into this matter, so when I see something similar, I can recognize it right awayâ Gu Qing Shanâs expression was a bit solemn.
ââ-after death, all lives would usually gather towards the same place.
This was the jurisdiction of the Death God, as well as the Devil Kingâs, so Gu Qing Shan easily recognized some clues of this, although the exact situation was still unclear...
Laura was still excited from their previous encounter, so she said: âLetâs take a stroll on the main street and see if we can find some cluesâ
âLetâs goâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The two of them emerged from the alleyway and walked along the empty main street.
Under the dark shroud of night, the surroundings were draped in silence.
There wasnât a single person on the entire street, only the pitter patter of the icy rain could be heard.
âWe arrived at the wrong time, it seems like we need to wait until sunrise in order to obtain a bit of informationâ Laura yawned.
âListenâ Gu Qing Shan suddenly said.
Ba-sha! Ba-sha!
The sound of metal grating the ground could be heard from the end of the crossroad.
A few moments later.
A group of armored knights appeared in front of them.
They seemed to be the night patrolling forces of this city.
The knights quickly noticed the two of them and approached.
âYouâre still outside despite it being so late, tell me the truth, are you a Fallen!?â a knight shouted at him in question.
âNo, Iâm not a Fallen, Iâm just lostâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Another knight declared: âNo need to waste your saliva, just arrest him!â
The other knights swiftly surrounded the two of them.
ââ-it seems the one who said this was the leader of these knights.
He might even be a knight captain.
While thinking this, Gu Qing Shan explained: âIt might be a bit dangerous to wander around at night, but you canât just arrest people without any reason like thisâ
âWhy not? Weâre loyal servants of the Lord who protect this cityâ the knight captain coldly replied.
He waved his hand, sending two knights forward each with a pair of handcuffs ready.
Suddenly, the two knights collapsed on the ground while the handcuffs fell in front of Gu Qing Shanâs feet.
âWicked Fallen!â the knight captain shouted.
One of the knights immediately pointed their sword towards the handcuffs on the ground and recited an incantation.
All the knights drew their swords as their bodies began to radiate a ferocious glow, clearly ready to fight.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and also prepared himself for battle.
But a second later, all the knights remained still.
They were staring at the handcuffs on the groundââ
Only to see that the handcuffs were giving off a bright holy light.
Very quickly, it flew up by itself and lightly landed in Gu Qing Shanâs hand.
While Gu Qing Shan was silently surprised, lines of glowing text had appeared on the War God UI:
[You are a Pure Man]
[The Saintly Hallâs shackles refuse to bind you and are standing witness to your identity]
Gu Qing Shan was surprised.
âââso it can work like this as well?
He looked at the other party.
All the knights were staring at him with strange eyes.
An unusual atmosphere began to surround them.
âMy lord, that is so rareâ
âA pure individualâ
âAccording to legends, only a true Saint Apostle would...â
âShh, donât say anything elseâ
The knights were loudly whispering among themselves.
The knight captain remained speechless for a few moments and sheathed his sword, explaining: âThe night isnât safe, extremely so. We all must be ready to face evil at any moment, so I hope that sir can forgive our recklessnessâ
âItâs ok, I understand your circumstancesâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The knight captain slightly bowed, then he asked: âSir, do you need us to provide you a place to rest?â
Gu Qing Shan and Laura exchanged glances.
This way, wouldnât we form some relations with them?
âOf course, if you can provide such convenience, both my sister and I would be more than grateful to acceptâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The knight captain took off the badge in front of his chest plate and handed it to Gu Qing Shan.
The badge was gloomy, but as soon as it touched Gu Qing Shanâs hand, it immediately began to give off a holy glow.
The darkness around them was being repelled.
Their front that was facing Gu Qing Shan was fully illuminated, while their backs were still plunged in darkness.
The knight captain blankly stared at the holy glow for a while before finally speaking: âHead towards the monastery at the North of the city. With my badge, youâd be provided free food and drinks thereâ
âYes, thank youâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âWe still need to continue our patrol so we wonât remain here for long. Keep this in mind, do not venture outside during the night; evil has already permeated through every last corner of this cityâ the knight captain emphasized this fact.
Gu Qing Shan and Laura both nodded.
The knights greeted them before they hurriedly left.
Gu Qing Shan turned his hand and put the knightâs badge into his Inventory Bag.
âAre we going to head towards the Monastery now?â Laura asked.
âLetâs slowly make our way thereâââ since they said that the night was occupied by evil, it would be suitable for us to continue checking the situationâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The two of them began walking in the opposite direction of the patrol group and continued heading forward.
Suddenly, a faint sobbing could be heard coming from a bridge ahead of them.
âItâs coming from the bridgeâ Laura commented.
âHmâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The two of them turned to the bridge.
Only to see a dark figure standing on the bridge while looking down towards the streaming water below.
Gu Qing Shan brought Laura onto the bridge with him as they approached the dark figure.
As they came closer, the dark figure slowly became clearer and showed itself.
It was a silver-haired old man wearing a black tuxedo with a cane in his hand. He was smoking from a pipe while lightly tapping the railing of the bridge with his cane.
Whenever he hit the railing, the entire bridge gave off a discontinuous sobbing.
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and asked: âHello, can I ask you the directions for the Monastery?â
The silver-haired old man waved his cane and pointed to the other side of the bridge.
âGo across the bridge and go straight for another 500 metersâ he said.
âThank youâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
Without paying any further attention to the old man, he brought Laura and continued moving forward.
After walking for a little bit, the old manâs voice suddenly sounded behind him:
âIâve seen countless individuals from all cuts of life throughout my entire life, but Iâve never witnessed a real [Pure Man]ââ- I want to ask you, how does it feel to be a Pure person?â
Gu Qing Shan stopped.
âIâm not actually that pure I think, after all, Iâve already killed countless peopleâ he gently said while slowly approaching the old man, standing firmly within the range of a sword strike.
They were both gazing towards the surging river below.
âOh?â the old man smiled briefly and asked: âHow many people did you kill?â
âToo many to countâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The old man commented: âThen you would definitely enjoy this soundâââ
He lightly tapped the railing of the bridge with his cane again.
Numerous sobbing noises could be heard from the entire bridge again.
âWhen this bridge was built, I forged the souls of 6000 knights from the Saintly Hall into it in order to create this wailing bridgeâ the old man boastfully said.
Laura shrank a little behind Gu Qing Shanâs back.
Gu Qing Shan just laughed and replied: â6000 people? How are you so confident in bringing up only so many?â
âAnd what did you do?â the old man asked.
âThere were a few souls who didnât want to obey meââ- most likely significantly more souls than there are people youâve seen in this city, I sent them all into retirementâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The old man carefully listened to him, then shook his head: âYou arenât lying... but that is even strangerâ
âHow is that strange?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âIf thatâs the case, you should be someone on our side, how did you get a Title like âPureâ?â the old man seemed puzzled.
âKilling people was originally a pure act after allâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The old man said: âBut you are the only [Pure Man]â
Gu Qing Shan agreed: âAnd I amâ
Before he finished his words, a cold flash flickered as brightly as a star in the sky illuminating both the night sky and the river.
Fwoom!
The entire bridge was reduced to dust, while the old manâs body was sliced hundreds of times by his sword phantoms and fell into the river, unable to float back up even after a while.
Gu Qing Shan stood in the air while wielding his sword, casually explaining: âI love killing things like you, so the world recognizes my purityâ
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