The monster had completely blocked their path.
It raised its weapon, but due to being affected by the Dragon Hex, it was too slow and was unable to catch Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan continuously circled around and attacked the monster.
His sword had reached the limit of speed.
Sometimes, a âriiiipâ sound would be heard around the monsterâs body, almost like the sound of heavy fabric being ripped away.
But the monster remained standing.
ă What insignificant power, do you really intend to fight against me with such little power? ăthe monster mocked.
Gu Qing Shan didnât answer it and instead sped up the swing of his sword further.
While continuing to receive his strikes, the monster stepped forward and angrily roared: ă The eulogy is complete, your time of death has arrived! ă
Countless hallucinations instantly filled the entire world.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the corpses all around him to see that they had formed a gigantic formation, loudly reciting a eulogy in unison.
ââ-it was as if they had already begun their recital from the very first moment of battle, but since they were in a different world, Gu Qing Shan couldnât notice them at all.
It turns out the monster had also been stalling for time!
Gu Qing Shanâs pupils abruptly became dilated as he felt his body slowly losing control.
A transparent figure emerged from inside his body.
â-what?
They can force my soul out of my body?
At that moment between life and death, Gu Qing Shan abruptly turned to the monster.
Only to see that the monster was being protected by numerous layers of corpses and grandly made its declaration: ă My judgement isââă
âGO!â Gu Qing Shan screamed out loud.
In an instant, three figures emerged from behind him.
ââthe three skeletons flew into the air through all the corpses, then rapidly struck the monsterâs body with their swords.
ââ1200 strikes in a single moment!
An enormous sword phantom emerged from the void of space and directly pierced through the monsterâs body.
Bygone Era Swordsmanship, [Causeless]!
The monsterâs eulogy was interrupted.
It stood completely still, its body trembling slightly.
In an instant, all the hallucinations disappeared into smoke.
The corpses continued to eye Gu Qing Shan with a hateful gaze full of the unwillingness to accept.
Gu Qing Shan retrieved the skeletons, took a few steps backwards, then turned to the void of space again.
Lines of glowing text appear one by one:
[Your Causeless Sword had struck the other party]
[Due to the vast difference in power between the two sides, Causeless Sword could not kill the other party]
[This strike had drained all of your power to cause your enemy to fall into a short period of paralysis]
[Your Soul Points had reached 0]
[Your power and Huang Quan Original power had reached 0]
Gu Qing Shan used one sword to prop himself up while wiping the sweat from his forehead with the other hand, sighing deeply.
â-this dead-end again.
Just why was this the case?
Why canât I kill the other party, but they can easily trap me to death at any moment?
âLaura, weâre goingâ he calmly said.
âGot itâ Laura replied.
At the very next moment, Gu Qing Shanâs figure vanished without a trace.
The monster gradually regained its freedom.
It uttered a terrible howl, rapidly moving back and forth on the road.
But Gu Qing Shan didnât appear again.
The monster couldnât do anything except roar: ă No, youâre not going to escape. The entire monastery had already known of a living personâs arrival, no matter where you go, the only thing waiting for you would be death! ă
A few dozen meters behind it, Gu Qing Shan was drinking a bottle of elixir.
Laura sat on his shoulder, one hand holding up her umbrella while fanning him with her other hand.
âYouâre done well. Your battle earlier was very well-fought, but that monster was just too powerfulâ
After finishing the elixir, Gu Qing Shan regained his spirit somewhat and said: âNow Iâm even more curious about their powersâ
âThen, where are we going next?â Laura asked.
âDidnât the knight earlier already tell us? There is only one place in the monastery where we would be provided free food and drinks, this statement must have implied something, so weâre going to look for itâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
â...Alrightâ
The two of them proceeded to ignore the monsterâs roars and followed the road towards the inner parts of the monastery.
At the end of the road, it split off into smaller paths that headed towards several different structures.
The closest building complex to the main path was so high that its peaks went through the clouds. It appeared a bit like a cathedral, but its two wooden gates were tightly closed, obscuring everything inside.
Gu Qing Shan and Laura circled around the cathedral, a bit surprised to find that there werenât any other entrances.
âHow about we break that door down and go in to take a look?â Laura suggested.
âNo, did you already forget about the old man? [Infinite Worlds Shelter] might be able to obscure their senses, but weâd still be in a lot of danger if we were to walk into an established trapâ Gu Qing Shan cautiously told her.
The sky continued to remain dark.
Within the profound darkness of the night, inside a nearby smaller structure, some flickering flames could be seen from the distance, as well as a constant sound of metallic striking.
Gu Qing Shan and Laura continued to head forward, quickly reaching the smaller structure.
The door of this structure was also tightly closed, but some light could be seen reflected through the windows.
Faintly, they could see a large figure who was continuously striking something like a blacksmith.
Numerous desperate screams could be heard resounding up and down following the striking.
âGu Qing Shan, should we save those people?â Laura nervously asked
âNo, those desperate screams arenât the screams of living peopleâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âHow do you know?â
âTrust me, I knowâ
The two of them went past this building and continued forward.
They reached a slightly short tower with a pointy peak.
Sha sha shaââ-
The sound of dirt and sand being dug up could be heard from below the tower.
Gu Qing Shan silently approached to take a look while bringing Laura with him.
Several two-horned monsters were digging up graves.
They tossed each of the corpses they dug up onto a rickety old wooden cart. Whenever the cart was full, they would be wheeled towards the structure that gave off flickering flames from before.
Sometimes, whenever these monsters dug up a relatively intact corpse, they would examine it closely, take a few bites out of it, then throw them onto the cart.
ââ-without a doubt, this was the monasteryâs cemetery.
Gu Qing Shan only observed it for a bit before silently retreating.
The two of them followed another forked path and reached a relatively open main square.
This place was completely silent, but there were numerous monsters and people standing here.
They were all standing around the center of the main square reciting something under their breaths, if one took a closer listen, they would find that it was some sort of incantation.
Gu Qing Shan focused his attention again to see that the open main square was actually empty without anything but a blob of blood in the middle.
The blood was still continuously moving as if it was alive.
This scene was so indescribably eerie that Gu Qing Shan and Laura couldnât help but want to observe it a bit longer.
As their reciting voices became increasingly louder, Gu Qing Shan realized that something was occurring.
ââmy body seems to be losing control again.
Not good.
I canât continue to remain here!
Gu Qing Shan silently retreated and left the main square.
After returning to the main road, he stood still and observed the layout of the surrounding buildings a bit, then began to head in another direction towards a relatively secluded region of the monastery on a small unpaved road.
âWhy are we going off the path?â Laura nervously asked.
âI feel like the location that the knight mentioned couldnât have been one of those structures that were close to one anotherâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âBut there were so many other paths, so why did you head down this unpaved road?â Laura asked again.
âBecause all the other paths were paved with stone slabs, presenting an orderly state or action, while the road weâre currently taking seemed to have been naturally made through walkingââ since it was so different, there must be a reasonâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
âYou mean, the provided free food and drinks?â Laura said.
âPerhapsâ Gu Qing Shan confirmed.
As the two of them followed the small road, a mass of fog slowly appeared in front of them.
Laura took out a bazooka and wore it diagonally on her back.
Gu Qing Shan glanced at her.
âThis is the reinforced version of Brother Cannon, it can destroy several worlds in a rowâ
âThat wonât be of any use, the power those monsters carried was very strangeââ eerie and inexplicable, I think Technological weapons wouldnât be any goodâ Gu Qing Shan told her.
Laura replied: âIâm not greedy, itâll be good enough if it can cause a bit of chaosâ
She then sighed: âNow I finally know just exactly how terrifying Occultism is. Regretfully, there are simply too few Occultism artifacts within our 900 million World Layersâ
âYou should be feeling glad instead of regretful because of thatâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
The two of them entered the fog.
After moving through, the scenery in front of them suddenly became clear.
This place was simply a corner of the monastery, other than a few withered trees, there wasnât anything else here.
âSeems like weâll need to head back againâ Laura commented.
Gu Qing Shan scanned through this area with his inner sight and confirmed that there wasnât anything.
After staying silent for a while, he approached and stopped in front of a tree.
âWhatâs the matter?â Laura asked.
Gu Qing Shan pointed at one of the trees and gestured for Laura to look.
While holding onto her flower umbrella with one hand, Laura propped herself up by putting her hand on Gu Qing Shanâs head and got closer to the tree.
A small, green sprout was growing from the tree.
ââeven though the sprout was only the size of a fingernail, it was still the only source of life within the entire monastery.
The two of them exchanged glances, then began to circle around the other withered trees.
Laura tried taking out various investigative artifactsââ Cards, analysis devices, magic staves, gem glasses, treasure-seeking dolls, etc.... but still couldnât find anything out of the ordinary.
âThereâs nothingâ Laura regretfully said.
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and told her: âTry putting your flower umbrella awayâ
âOh? Ok!â Laura was surprised but still followed his instructions.
As soon as she closed her flower umbrella, the effects of [Infinite Worlds Shelter] disappeared.
Their figures could now be seen under the tree.
They simply stood still without doing anything for a while.
ââstill nothing happened.
âWhat now?â Laura asked.
âIâm feeling a bit hungry, how about we eat something first?â Gu Qing Shan suggested.
Laura opened her eyes wide and stared closely at him.
Youâre really extraordinary, Gu Qing Shan, you know that?
How can you actually feel like eating in a terrifying place like this?
But speaking of which, Iâm feeling a bit hungry as well.
âAlright, then letâs eatâ Laura agreed.
Suddenlyââ
A timid voice emerged from the tree:
ă I have some free food and drinks here, would you like some? ă
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