1818 An offering to the flag
TN: the title refers to a practice in ancient Chinese culture, whenever an army is going out on a decisive battle, the commander would bring out a âsacrificeâ (usually an important person from the opposing force that they took prisoner during a previous battle) and execute them in front of his army, thus âofferingâ that person to the flag of their army to boost the morale of troops.
âââ
In the void.
!!
The black dragon slowly transformed and turned back into Gu Qing Shan.
âIâve not been able to contact you the entire time, so I have no idea how you currently areââ where are you right now?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
The scale gently shivered, but didnât give a reply.
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and lightly tapped the scale instead.
The scale suddenly came apart and manifested into a vision.
Huang Quan.
It was the world of Huang Quan.
A large opening had opened up in the sky, from which numerous weapons, armors, and treasures that gave off an immense presence flew into the Huang Quan realm.
All of them were heading towards the Hall of Reincarnation.
All of a sudden, a sword from among them shifted and moved, trying to escape from the crowd of numerous treasures.
It gave off a gentle but loud ring as it approached the Forgetting River.
The water of the Forgetting River suddenly flew up and gently enveloped it in an attempt to take it into the river.
Unfortunately.
Even with the Forgetting Riverâs help, this sword still couldnât escape the same invisible force that was pulling it towards the Hall of Reincarnation.
The sword gave off a wail filled with unwillingness.
At this point, another sword emerged from within the numerous treasures.
It was a sword that appeared almost like an autumn riverâs flow.
As it suddenly flew out, it struck the first sword with a considerable amount of force.
âGo!â
An aloof female voice resounded.
The first sword was immediately sent flying as it submerged within the Forgetting River surrounded by its water.
It was free!
The sword floated to the top of the river and loudly called out with an expectant tone towards the sky.
In the sky, the autumn river blue-steel sword rang out a single time.
A lonely female voice spoke from the sword: âI am a sword of the Samsara, representing a Samsara Deific Authority; I must first return to be sealed, as the Laws of the Samsara Clash for Supremacy dictatesâ
âââstay here and wait for gongzi to arriveâ
âAt that time, you will once again come into his hands, pass the numerous difficult trials, triumph against all enemies, and then⊠awaken me once againâ
âGongzi will surely comeâ
âHe will definitely come!â
After saying that, the autumn river blue-steel sword returned to the massive flow of treasures and entered the Hall of Reincarnation with them.
Only the first sword remained above the water of the Forgetting River.
After staying silent for a few moments, it suddenly gave off a resolute ring.
The waters of the Forgetting River silently moved apart.
The sword flew deeper into the river before vanishing out of sight.
And the vision ceased.
The giant corpseâs voice slowly sounded:
âThere are things that I cannot tell youâ
âBut I have hidden several secrets with your swordâ
ââŠGo, retrieve the sword from within the Forgetting River, I will buy you some time and temporarily ensure that Huang Quan wonât be disturbedâŠâ
âThis is our only chance, Gu Qing Shanâ
âIâll leave it to you!â
After these words, everything vanished without a trace, as if nothing had happened at all.
Gu Qing Shan then felt the fish hook abruptly speeding up.
At the very next instant, the scenery around him changed.
He found himself violently crashing into a cold stony surface.
Two voices cheered:
âRhode is back!â
âWe finally managed to save him, thatâs great!â
Gu Qing Shan slowly pulled himself back up and looked around.
Only to see that Xiao Lang and Liu Li had respectively put their fishing rod and glazed lamp away, both with an excited expression on their faces.
âYou guys⊠how were you able to save me?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âHuang Quan bestowed us a great deal of Merits, allowing us to promote our Deific Authorities as well as our strength, so we combined our powers to invoke a Divine Skill to retrieve youâ Xiao Lang explained.
Liu Li waved her hands dismissively: âNo need to thank us, itâs just that uncle is such a good meal ticket that we canât just lose you like thatâ
Gu Qing Shan felt a sense of warmth from the bottom of his heart and smiled: âThanks a lot, both of youâ
He began to observe his surroundings and found that this was one of the side halls of the Hall of Reincarnation; there were several Deities with various equipment and tools in their hands, seemingly trying to assess something.
Their gazes were filled with caution.
One of the Deities stood ahead of them all, seemingly the one in charge of this matter.
Noticing Gu Qing Shanâs gaze, Xiao Lang explained: âItâs ok, theyâre just worried that we might have carelessly summoned the enemy here as wellâ
âThey might ask you a few questions, just answer honestlyâ Liu Li added.
As soon as they said that, the leader Deity approached.
ă Rhode, there is a worry of an unknown monster attaching itself to you and trying to sneak into this realm; furthermore, we also want to collect data about your battle, so I will be asking you a few questions ă
The Deity began to operate a jade tray in his hand while solemnly explaining to him.
âGot itâ Gu Qing Shan said.
ă Your task ă
âA suicide missionâ
ă Please explain in detail your combat situation ă
Gu Qing Shan then explained everything from beginning to end.
The Deity nodded continuously, then finally sighed: ă Part of the reason why you were able to survive was that the monster underestimated you, only leaving its subordinates to kill you; the other part was that your improvisation abilities were impressive, and finally that the two Deities here saved you ă
âDoes that count as deserting?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
ă If it did, you would have been dead as soon as you returnedââ no one can deceive the Laws of Huang Quan ăthe Deity replied.
He then curiously asked: ă How come when that monster chanted the same incantation, it was still restrained and was unable to escape like you did? ă
âAh, about that. Actually, that incantation requires a corresponding catalyst in order to invoke; since that monster only chanted the incantation, it naturally couldnât escapeâ Gu Qing Shan explained.
He casually showed him a Card.
The Card depicted a group of impoverished people whose entire bodies were clad in tattered clothes while being surrounded by fog, all of which were kneeling while praying devoutly to the sky; in the air above, a man with wings of light was looking down pitiably on them while radiating brilliant white light.
Indeed, this was a Card from the Condemnation Codex, the evolved form of [Divine Word â Cleanse].
When he first saw the starlight enemies, when the Book of the Sea said that he still owed â3000 years of debtâ, it automatically flipped open to display this Card to him.
Being the shrewd person that he was, Gu Qing Shan naturally understood what it wanted to say.
Since the Saint Pillar book didnât explain anything, it was obviously something that couldnât be revealed.
But even though it didnât say anything, it handed him this Card, which shows that it still wanted to help Gu Qing Shan.
After all, with it previously being the Condemnation Codex, it had accompanied him for a very long time.
â-it wasnât until Gu Qing Shan found both of the Death God Pendants that it was awoken.
The Deity nodded and looked down at his jade tray.
The tray was completely empty, as pristine as new.
The Deity declared: ă Very well, there are no issues, you can leave now ă
He stowed the jade tray away and whispered: ă You may leaveââ by the way, there might be some minor trouble when you leave the Hall of Reincarnation, if you canât deal with it yourself, simply call out and our people will appear ă
Gu Qing Shan felt surprised, but nodded: âThank you very muchâ
The Deities all retreated.
Only the three members of the Hells Department remained in the side hall.
Xiao Lang held up her fishing rod and muttered anxiously: âWhat kind of trouble is it exactly?â
Gu Qing Shan whispered under his breath: âSince the people of the Hall of Reincarnation didnât say anything clearly, they probably want to see whether or not we can resolve it ourselves as well as display our mettle as their cooperatorsââ I believe it wonât be anything especially bigâ
The three of them left the side hall and entered the main hall.
There were still as many people here as it has ever been, lively and crowded.
All of a sudden, somebody called out: ă The people of the Hells Department are here! ă
Over ten people swiftly gathered and surrounded the three of them.
âWhatâs the matter?â Gu Qing Shan calmly asked.
A burly man with a ferocious face stood out and grunted: ă You bunch in Hell are sure good at your jobs, you took our Merits, but two of my subordinates didnât return after going out for their tasks! ă
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and just chuckled: âThere are specific machines responsible for matters like these, you should go and ask them if you have any questionsâ
The burly man angrily shouted: ă Youâre still laughing? This is two lives weâre talking about! If you canât give us a clear explanation, donât even think about leaving! ă
ă Thatâs right, donât think thatâs the end! ă
âYou people must have done something wrong that Hell didnât rescue our peopleâ
ă Donât let them run! ă
Everyone called out with dissatisfaction one after another.
More and more people were gathering around, giving Gu Qing Shan displeased looks as they understood what happened.
Gu Qing Shan chuckled again and replied: âThe only condition I set for not rescuing someone was if there was an issue with their credibility, everyone elseââ- even if they only had a single point of Merit, would still be rescuedâ
âYou probably still donât get it, this is Huang Quanâ
ă So what if this is Huang Quan?â ăthe burly sternly scoffed.
âThatâs right, no matter what world it is, justice still existsâ
ă Frauds arenât welcome anywhere! ă
Everyone else called out one after another.
Gu Qing Shan looked around, then slowly said: âAll living beings must return to Huang Quan to be judged after death. Did you really think that transferring your Merits ahead of time, or any other tricks you came up with could actually escape Huang Quanâs eyes? Know that everything is within the calculations of the Huang Quan machines, as they are the manifestation of Huang Quanâs will itselfâ
âYou reap what you sow, donât come crying to meâ
After saying that, Gu Qing Shan began to leave with the two girls.
The only thing he wanted to do was head out in search of Chao Yin, not to mention the Primal Chaosâ feedback that he hadnât checked, so he really didnât have time to waste here with these people.
But those people still surrounded them without moving out of the way.
ă I donât believe you, you canât leave ăthe burly man said.
âWhy is that?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
ă Those people died under your care, if you canât give a satisfactory explanation, donât even think about leaving the Hall of Reincarnation today! ăthe burly man grunted.
âAnd what explanation do you want?â Gu Qing Shan asked again.
ă Merits. Reimburse our Merits ăthe burly man said.
Gu Qing Shan silently laughed.
âYou bunch⊠actually came up with the idea of asking Hell for reimbursement⊠Very well, today Iâll make an offering to the flag of Hell, just to make sure people know that after I came, Hell is no longer the same Hell of the pastâ
With the giant corpseâs words as assurance, he took out the Delimitation Divine Sword without worry.
ă So you want to fight? ăthe burly man seemed excited.
Gu Qing Shan didnât even bother to look at him before stowing his sword away and openly left with the two girls.
The burly man didnât try to give chase.
He and the subordinates around them stood completely still without moving.
Beads of cold sweat as big as peanuts suddenly appeared on his face.
ă Quickly, someone give me medical treatment! Iâll pay with Merits! ă
He loudly shouted.
Everyone took a closer look at him.
Only to see that there were subtle lines of blood at the connecting joints between his extremities and his torso.
It turned out that during his last question, all of his extremities had already been cut off.
ââ-because of how fast the sword strikes were, they were still temporarily âconnectedâ to his body without falling off.
And it was the same with the rest of his subordinates.
All the surrounding Combatants burst out in laughter.
Not only did they fail to throw a tantrum for compensation, they were even taught a lesson, so it was certainly something worth laughing at.
Very quickly.
Some Combatants who were good at healing took Merits as payment and patched them back together.
âââThat Rhode fellow is quite the swordsman, donât try to mess with him againâ a Combatant tried to give them some friendly advice.
ă Tch, I was only trying to discuss business with him, so I didnât expect him to act so ferociously. Iâll make him pay for this ăthe burly man declared, clearly irritated.
âThatâs right!â
ă Weâll follow you, boss ă
ă We have to get justice on our side! ă
His subordinates swiftly followed up.
All of a sudden, several illusory swords manifested out of nowhere.
Before anyone could react, these illusory swords had already pierced through their heads.
Their complaints instantly ceased.
All of them were dead on the spot.
ââwithout being able to defend against it at all.
The entire rowdy hall gradually fell silent.
Seeing how they died, as well as how the illusory swords faded away, none of them could say anything.
âThey already left and another strike still cameâ
Somebody muttered to themselves.
The top Combatants who were there all had solemn expressions on their faces.
With their experienced eyes, they were naturally able to see how impressive that final strike was.
Ordinary people could only pray that they werenât on the receiving end of this strike, otherwise, the only possible outcome was a one-way trip to reincarnation.
ââthis was an infallible Causality sword technique.
The sword technique from the Bygone Era.
[Causeless].