The sun brightly shone from above.
The land was dry.
A single altar stood in the middle of a desolate land.
Numerous people stood around the altar, dancing and singing.
They seemed to be people from the primitive era as they were using leaves and animal hide to cover their bodies.
A lot of their skin was exposed, drawn full of strange and primitive black patterns; as they danced, these black patterns also moved with their bodies to create an indescribable sense of eeriness.
At this point, these people had already forgotten themselves in their dance.
『 They’re dancing, what should we do now, do we join them or not? 』Sha Qiang asked.
Everyone had already entered the painting in order to temporarily seek refuge.
Hazeden looked at Guyan and asked: “People from Magic-type worlds like yours should have a very deep understanding of painted worlds like this, what do you think we should do now?”
“I know a bit about them”
Guyan nodded: “In a painted world, one must make sure to fit in with their environment and not to make inappropriate actions”
“—–For example, if a painting depicted a gladiator fight in a colosseum, you need either act as a cheering spectator or a gladiator in the ring fighting; if you were to stay in a corner of the stand and sleep, you’ll soon be kicked out from the world”
Gu Qing Shan asked: “Which means, we will have to dance in this painting?”
“Indeed, as long as the majority of us are dancing and singing, no one would be kicked out!” Guyan confirmed it.
Silence.
Everyone stared at Gu Qing Shan.
Hazeden, Guyan, and Su Xue Er spoke up all at once: “””You don’t need to dance!”””
“Alright, I’ll just run around in a circle while singing” Gu Qing Shan compromised.
Everyone sighed in relief.
Under Hazeden, Guyan, and Sha Qiang’s lead, the group started dancing around the altar together with the strange crowd.
Su Xue Er stuck close to Gu Qing Shan, ‘watching’ him and made sure that he wouldn’t dance.
“Are you also afraid of me dancing?” Gu Qing Shan whispered.
Su Xue Er followed the movements of the primitive people and replied to him in a whisper: “I’m not. Performing that dance let me sweat a lot, not only did it feel comfortable, my movements seemed to have become a lot swiffer”
Gu Qing Shan silently commented: “When you danced, your facial expression was very well coordinated with your movements, every step you took was stable and especially skillful”
“You mean… my dancing was beautiful?”
“Hm”
“Then why didn’t you just say that it was beautiful?”
“Because your movements were very well done and gave off a natural sense of coordination. Believe me, when it comes to dancing, my current self can be considered a professional, so I could tell” Gu Qing Shan thought for a long while before answering.
Su Xue Er just gave him a sidelong glance.
This guy has gone way past the point of being a regular wooden blockhead, his head is practically steel alloy made into a block before being painted to look like wood.
However, Su Xue Er still lifted her chin up in triumph.
—–after all, a compliment was a compliment.
She lowered her voice: “Qing Shan…”
“Hm?”
While Su Xue Er was about to talk about a certain important topic, someone poked Gu Qing Shan from the side.
It was Sha Qiang.
This Archfiend seemed to be very anxious and signaled for Gu Qing Shan to look where he was pointing.
——very interestingly, while they were dancing inside the painting, they were perfectly capable of observing the situation outside.
Various faint glowing lights appeared within the Cave of Bones, illuminating the seemingly endless sea of bones.
A carapace monster who emanated a faint glowing flame silently flew into the cave from the outside.
Both of its hands had seven razor-sharp spikes that curved towards its back in a droplet shape, it had a skull for a head with a pair of vertical irises.
Together with this monster were two monsters clad in black flames whose mouths were full of terrifying jagged teeth.
Black Flame Venerable!
Everyone in the painting went stiff, but quickly resumed their dancing.
Don’t be ridiculous, one Black Flame Venerable was able to perfectly match blows against the Mech armor of the Starlight Empire, and even gained the upper hand, yet there were two Black Flame Venerables here!
However, the creature that caused them to truly stiffen was the carapace monster that emanated a faint glowing flame.
Because both Black Flame Venerables were waiting beside it with their utmost respect.
The three large monsters hovered motionlessly above the dusty ruins.
They seem to be observing something.
「 Sir, this time the pixie seemed to have ran away even faster than they ever did in the past 」
As it said so, one of the Black Flame Venerables flicked its hand and unleashed countless sparks of black flames to plunge this area into a sea of fire.
Gu Qing Shan’s group went pale.
Their painting was inside the sea of the fire.
If the painting was destroyed, the painted world would also collapse, which means that they would either die together with the world or get ejected from it.
——-being ejected also meant death.
With their current mortal bodies, they were essentially helpless to fight against these terrifying fellows.
The black flames continued to spread in every direction, but after burning for just a short while, they went out.
「 It’s useless. We were too late this time around; you won’t be able to burn these things or chase the pixies out from within them 」
The glowing flame monster spoke up.
Its body was low and full of power, almost like it was a Deity that could converse with the entire world at once.
Hearing that, the Black Flame Venerable quickly put its black flames away.
——-and just as it said, nothing in this ruined world was destroyed by the flame at all.
「 These pixie insects are very easy to kill off, but they’re so hard to find 」the Black Flame Venerable begrudgingly said.
The other monster replied: 「 This is a part of their survival ability, as long as they wish to hide, no living being can ever discover them 」
The two Black Flame Venerables went silent.
The monster’s tone shifted and continued: 「 Do not worry, after several ten thousand years, the fight between the pixie and ourselves will soon come to an end 」
「 Sir, you mean…」
「 Our guests 」the monster slowly replied: 「 They come from a real fragment of the Huang Quan realm; it is their specialty to deal with souls 」
「 And the pixies are nothing but souls at the moment, no matter how well they can conceal themselves, they would still be helpless to stop themselves from falling to the power of Huang Quan 」
The monster abruptly laughed in a cruel tone of voice: 「 With our Wraith realm’s unrivalled strength and the Huang Quan realm’s control over souls and the dead, once we join forces, no one in this world would be able to stop us any longer! 」
「 Do not be in a rush, the Apocalypse of these pixies is coming 」
The monster turned around and headed out from the cave.
The two Black Flame Venerables followed suit.
In just a few moments, they left.
The world of bones was once again filled by darkness and silence.
The people within the painting had remained wary of the situation outside and only sighed in relief as the monsters left.
Hazeden pondered: “Are the Wraith realm and Huang Quan realm really that impressive? I recall hearing of a Samsara within the Mystic Zones, but never have I heard of such terrifying monsters existing within it”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit before answering: “The Samsara within the Mystic Zones is most likely an imitation. I think those monster just now were the true inhabitants of the Samsara”
“There’s an imitation Samsara and a real one?” Hazeden was surprised.
“Indeed” Gu Qing Shan replied.
He then told everyone about the matter regarding the Divine race creating the 900 million World Layers.
Everyone was shocked.
“What do we do now?” Guyan asked.
“Let’s get out of here first, there must surely be a reason why the pixies led me here, we need to understand the situation first before anything else” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Everyone nodded.
“It’s now safe outside, as long as we stop dancing and singing, we will be able to leave” Guyan told them.
And so, the group stepped out away from the primitive dance.
A few moments later, everyone was kicked out from the painted world.
As soon as they left, the strange dancing people stopped.
One of them muttered in a low voice: “Was it the Sacrificial Dance?”
Another person replied: “That’s right”
Another person affirmed: “I also felt it”
A fourth person asked: “What now?”
A fifth person replied: “I’ll go make a report, you keep an eye on him”
“Yes!”
The fifth person quickly ran towards the border of the painting, jumped up and vanished without a trace.
The others jointly formed a strange hand seal.
The painting silently rolled itself up, vanished into the void of space and remained invisible as it went through Gu Qing Shan’s cloth, then attached to Gu Qing Shan’s arm to form a tattoo.
None of the people outside the painting noticed at all.
Gu Qing Shan also didn’t notice.
His attention was placed on the Omni Stone.
It had already been one hour.
The ability of the Omni Stone will reset soon.
If I can’t turn into a cat, I wouldn’t be able to see the pixies, what now?
All of a sudden, lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Time is up, the Omni Stone has reset]
[You’ve obtained a new ability from the Void: Demon Cat Transformation]
[Demon Cat Transformation: You will transform into a real demon cat]
[Trigger incantation: I am a cat]
It’s the same ability!
Gu Qing Shan understood right away.
This was definitely the pixie’s work.
Gu Qing Shan assumed that the pixies had returned and chanted the incantation:
“I am a cat”
As soon as he finished, he turned into a jet-black cat.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the color of his fur in confusion.
“Whoa, a black cat!” Su Xue Er happily exclaimed.
Her voice carried a clear sense of enthusiasm.
Gu Qing Shan raised his black cat paw in front of himself and doubtfully muttered: “Meow, meow meow?”
“Hahaha, this is because you are becoming increasingly anxious; having prepared yourself for combat as well as any other situation that may arise, which caused your Quipcraft to change accordingly—— this is a part of Quipcraft’s mysticism”
The long-bearded old man appeared in front of the black cat and replied with a smile.
