The secret passage.
All the robed men were facing Gu Qing Shan with strange expressions on their faces.
「 You are saying that you wish to make a transaction with us? 」
The white-robed old man questioned.
“Very correct, I sincerely need this soul, and you can name your price”
Gu Qing Shan happily replied.
The white-robed old man’s grim expression receded, replaced by contemplation.
Gu Qing Shan simply looked at him without saying anything.
A moment of silence.
But this silence was extremely fragile, the kind that could be broken at any moment.
Water God had sealed off the palace trying to search for them and would soon discover this place without a doubt.
The group behind the white-robed old man was clearly restless, as if they were ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
Gu Qing Shan could even sense the solid, unhidden malice drifting from the white-robed old man’s body.
That was because he didn’t make any effort to hide it at all.
Does he not know how to hide it?
Or he doesn’t care to?
Gu Qing Shan’s thoughts were moving quickly.
Ye Fei Li silently sent his voice through inner sight: “There’s a huge movement of souls underneath the ground, I can hear the pained moaning of billions of souls”
Without changing his expression, Gu Qing Shan slightly nodded to express his understanding.
——-what a strange entity, having such an advanced level of control over souls.
What exactly does its existence signify within Calming Soul Country?
Gu Qing Shan randomly picked up a round disk inscribed full of tiny letters and showed it to him:
“Just look, all of these treasures have various wondrous uses, as long as you agree to, they will be yours”
He tapped the disk with his hand and added:
“If you don’t like these things, I have other treasures as well. All you need to do is nod”
The white-robed old man suddenly said: 「 Your goal, is it only to talk for a bit longer with this soul? 」
Gu Qing Shan answered right away: “Of course. But you’re willing to give me this soul permanently, I can pay an even higher price”
The white-robed old man glanced at the hill of coins, then at all the treasures on the ground, and abruptly asked: 「 You, do you have the treasures on the level of Soul Artifacts? 」
Gu Qing Shan clapped his hands and grinned: “Soul Artifacts might be quite precious, but I also have quite a few of them”
「 I don’t believe you 」the white-robed old man said.
Soul Artifacts were the most precious items in existence, all of which held endless power.
The twin swords Heaven and Earth in his hands were in fact peerless Soul Artifacts of the Eternal Abyss.
Even within the vast 900 million World Layers, the most valuable treasures were Soul Artifacts without a doubt.
The mere appearance of any Soul Artifact was enough to spark a bloody struggle of war between billions of worlds.
“I’ll make you believe me” Gu Qing Shan replied.
He casually swiped the air, caught a Soul Artifact that Laura handed him, and tossed it over to the white-robed old man.
The white-robed old man received it, held it in his hand, and squeezed it tightly.
An infinitely thin strand of green string appeared within the void of space and swiftly left deep lash marks on the walls of the secret passage.
This was a Wind-Elemental Soul Artifact with a double cutting edge.
The white-robed old man’s eyebrows loosened.
「 It truly is a Soul Artifact 」
Saying so, he immediately put the Soul Artifact in his mouth and swallowed.
Gu Qing Shan noticed that the old man’s neck swiftly inflated, then quickly returned to normal.
“How is it? Do we have a deal?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The old man looked cautiously at him then spat out the words: “We do”
Boom!!!
A huge explosion suddenly rang out from the end of the secret passage.
It was in the direction that Gu Qing Shan and the rest had arrived from.
Within the unsettled dust, a figure appeared where Gu Qing Shan and the rest came from, flashed a few times, and arrived in front of them.
Water God.
She glanced at Gu Qing Shan, then at the white-robed old man and declared: 「 I want this person dead 」
The white-robed old man looked at Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan said right away: “Only I can take out my treasured Soul Artifacts, I’m sure you also know this kind of storage technique, only the owner of the space is able to open it”
The white-robed old man thought for a brief moment and told Water God: 「 I am currently conducting a transaction with him, leave his matter for later 」
Water God replied: 「 No, this person must die, we’ve decided on his fate 」
「 I am conducting a transaction with him, the Great One needs his items 」the white-robed old man replied.
Water God’s expression changed a bit, but coldly chuckled: 「 The Great One? Since when did you dare to borrow her name to violate the will of us four? 」
Overwhelming divinity emanated from her body.
Unlike the fake aura of the Divinities, this was a surge of power created through pure Soul Points!
This power was capable of destroying anything and everything!
But the white-robed old man did not budge a single bit and scowled: 『 Back down 』
Although it was only a curt and short statement, his voice had turned female.
——-this voice was faint, unclear, as if it didn’t usually talk, or wasn’t used to the language of humans.
Hearing this, Water God was shocked.
She then quickly regained her senses.
Water God’s aura fully receded into her body, she then bowed down with her head touching the ground and spoke respectfully: 「 Understood, Godmother 」
Glancing deeply at Gu Qing Shan one last time, Water God quickly retreated from the secret passage.
“Ah, thank you very much. I really must say, your subordinates are quite dutiful, insisting on killing me like that” Gu Qing Shan commented.
The white-robed old man watched him closely: 「 I want Soul Artifacts 」
Gu Qing Shan asked: “Then this woman’s soul shall be mine—— how many Soul Artifacts do you want me to exchange for her soul with?”
「 Your Soul Artifact, I want them all 」the white-robed old man replied.
“How are we going to conduct the trade?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
「 By a covenant, her soul shall be yours, all of your Soul Artifacts shall be mine 」the white-robed old man replied.
He took out a parchment scroll and tossed it to Gu Qing Shan.
The parchment scroll hung itself in the air and unrolled in front of Gu Qing Shan.
A covenant was written on it using Divine Script.
This was a very old type of writing, as described by the book he received from the Spire Association, it was left behind by an ancient civilization and had gone out of use within the 900 million World Layers.
Gu Qing Shan seriously looked through it once.
From a mere transaction perspective, this covenant was very fair.
However, it mentioned nothing about his safety.
「 You, sign the covenant 」
The white-robed old man said with an emotionless tone of voice.
Gu Qing Shan shook his head: “The content of the covenant is fine, but the amount on the transaction is too little”
The white-robed old man replied: 「 I only need your Soul Artifact 」
Gu Qing Shan questioned: “Then what about more souls?”
The white-robed old man observed him, then mocked: 「 You only have one soul 」
Gu Qing Shan tried probing: “But I know how to head into other sealed locations, like the bottom of the Abyss, the Starlight Empire, the Isle of Ceremonial Void”
「 Ridiculous, all those places have a prerequisite of entry. With your pathetically meager strength, you can’t even enter them 」
The white-robed old man casually replied.
The robed men behind him slowly turned blurry.
They wiggled a bit where they stood before sinking into the ground.
Immediately after that, before Gu Qing Shan managed to react, several long black tentacles appeared from the ground next to him.
These tentacles wrapped around Gu Qing Shan and restrained him in place.
「 Sign the transaction covenant, or die 」
The white-robed old man declared from afar.
As if he didn’t hear that, Gu Qing Shan simply watched the tentacles around him in surprise.
He could faintly see the figures and visage of those people from before from the tentacles restraining him.
However, even that was becoming faint.
As Gu Qing Shan took a step forward, he was restrained by the black tentacles and gradually pulled back.
He muttered: “So your souls were actually attached to the body of the monster, how unexpected…”
He couldn’t drag this out any longer.
Forced to sign the covenant,
Give them the Soul Artifact as written,
Be killed,
And get his soul stolen away.
This entire course of events could easily be foreseen.
Gu Qing Shan’s eyes became sharp.
His inner sight wrapped around the old man and immediately activated [Shadow Shift]!
A split second later, Gu Qing Shan’s complexion changed.
[Shadow Shift] had no effect!
That can’t be right, [Shadow Shift] would not be affected by any restraining techniques, unless—
These tentacles actually belong to the same body as the old man.
They were all parts of a gigantic monster’s body!
[Shadow Shift] would naturally be unable to change places with only the body parts of another entity, and this would be the only plausible explanation.
Gu Qing Shan’s mind quickly moved and thought things through in the blink of an eye.
He changed his tactics.
A bright flash of blue and white lightning bloomed within the black tentacles.
Lightning Thaumaturgy: [Dreamjolt]!
Every black tentacle froze on the spot.
Gu Qing Shan drew the Earth sword and slashed.
[Earth’s Choice]!
The tentacles were mercilessly cut by the faint blue sword phantom.
The War God UI displayed that he lost over 700,000 Soul Points at once!
Gu Qing Shan didn’t care to feel bad about losing Soul Points.
At a point like this, his life was most important.
Releasing his inner sight to observe, he saw that the white-robed old man was also shivering in place, unable to move.
Yup, the white-robed old man and the tentacles are a single entity!
Gu Qing Shan leapt out from within the broken tentacles.
At the same time, the transparent khopesh had brought the woman’s soul towards a void empty spot.
“Gu Qing Shan, hurry!”
Laura’s worried voice resounded from that void.
Gu Qing Shan reached one hand towards the empty void, while his other hand put the round disk in front of himself and swiftly operated it.
Almost immediately, a bright glow started to emit from the round disk.
The small-scale warp formation was activated!
The round formation enveloped that void empty space and glowed abruptly bright before vanishing.
A second later.
The empty void was still empty, but the entities hidden within it had already been warped away.
The white-robed old man didn’t know what just happened at all.
He only saw Gu Qing Shan activating a round disk before vanishing without a trace.
…
At another location.
The room where Gu Qing Shan and the rest stayed in before.
This place had already been ruined by the previous attack.
Two of the ‘Pillar Gods’ had already thoroughly checked this area before leaving.
Everything was normal.
Perhaps sensing that there was no danger, Boss’ voice abruptly came out:
“Now what—–”
“Shhh—-”
This was Gu Qing Shan’s voice.
The void returned to silence.
They were now using telepathy to communicate.
“Now what do we do?”
“Let’s hurry up and leave”
“Why in such a hurry? Didn’t we manage to escape?”
“It’s clearly been enraged, let us find a safe place to observe what it exactly is”
They returned to silence.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
The entire palace structure trembled and shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
Several thousand gigantic black tentacles broke through the palace walls and shot straight to the sky.
The tentacles continued to rampage all over the palace, leveling it in the mere blink of an eye.
A grim and furious roar emerged from deep beneath the ground:
「 YOU—— SHALL—— DIEEEE——」
