The Sacrificial Dance officially began.
From the distant void, a wondrous sensation permeated Gu Qing Shan’s thoughts.
He suddenly understood that this was a chance.
The Sacrificial Dance’s most direct, most primitive, most unhindered power helped him understand a lot of things.
The drumbeat quickened.
Gu Qing Shan reached his first enlightenment.
Deities were entities who converged and wielded Laws.
When a certain Law was converged to a strong enough degree, one would be able to control all things related to the said Law.
For example—–
The first Law within the Huang Quan Devil King’s grasp was ‘control over the dead’.
While the first Law within the Earth God’s grasp was ‘order all things hidden below the earth’.
The combination of these two Laws had formed a Divine Skill unique to Gu Qing Shan alone.
—–Sacrificial Dance – [Summon From Slumber].
At this point, the 12 Archangels of war had gathered behind him, ready for battle.
The truth of the world unveiled itself in front of Gu Qing Shan.
“Go!”
Gu Qing Shan pointed his sword forward.
The 12 Archangels rushed forward, unleashing their most powerful attacks to wrestle against the invisible curse on the floating bridge.
They were the most powerful, as their every gesture would destroy huge numbers of invisible monsters.
Gu Qing Shan glanced through and muttered while shaking his head: “Not enough”
He began to perform a sword dance.
The faint glow on Gu Qing Shan’s body extended to his swords, drawing an elegant arc of light through the air.
All the killing intent on his sword had vanished, as they now instead exuded a sense of sorrow and heaviness.
“Come, all”
He muttered.
Every angel that had ever been buried within the Holy Heaven leapt out from their graves, then took to the sky.
These skeletal angels quickly made their way through the sky and landed on the floating bridge.
They drew their weapons and clashed against the army of invisible monsters.
Rumble rumble!
The world itself couldn’t handle this degree of combat, and so it started to tremble.
A moment later.
A distant mountain began to break apart.
The ground started to sink.
The sky was falling.
The world was about to collapse.
Gu Qing Shan wielded his swords, lightly moving forward as his dancing drew numerous elegant sword phantoms.
A new enlightenment suddenly came to him.
——-for living beings, the ground was the ‘Earth’.
For a soul, the body of living beings was the ‘Earth’.
The ‘Earth’ does not simply refer to the ground, it was also the body, a place of dependence, the manifestation of all origins.
The concept of ‘Earth’ had been expanded.
Gu Qing Shan opened his eyes and glanced at the floating bridge.
12 invisible monsters were fighting against the 12 Archangels, the void of space itself was being broken apart by their battle.
The power of the curse had been exerted to its maximum, the Archangels could no longer push the monsters back, the bodies of a few of them had already started to crumble and break.
“The ‘Earth’ is the body, the body is the Law” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
His swords dance through the air, drawing arcs of light across it.
——-Sacrificial Dance – [Resurrection].
The bodies of the 12 Archangels were instantly recovered to their original states, their auras greatly erupted.
A holy radiance emanated from their skeletal bodies, as if they had returned to their peak state in the past.
The Archangels rushed forward and continued to battle against the invisible monsters.
Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes and returned to immersing himself within the Sacrificial Dance.
Boom——-
As both sides continued to fight, the Holy Heaven began to collapse.
All the living people fell together with the debris of the world into the space vortex.
Only the floating bridge and the cathedral remained intact.
An impatient and anxious voice abruptly shouted on top of the floating bridge:
「 Power of the Earth, do not dance, we can talk! 」
All the invisible monster immediately gathered and uttered a unified screech: 『 Winds of Chaotic Tribulation! 』
An intense storm appeared.
This was the wind capable of destroying all things.
The 12 Archangels tried to stop the Winds of Chaotic Tribulation, but their bodies were slowly shaved away within the wind.
Gu Qing Shan kept his eyes closed.
Everything was born from the Sacrificial Dance.
Come, let me see the truth of the Sacrificial Dance.
Tell me, to whom was this Dance offered?
And where did this Dance come from?
Gu Qing Shan abruptly let go of the Earth sword and lightly flicked the tip of the sword with his finger.
Kih!
A clear chime resounded from the sword and started to spread into the space vortex.
Sacrificial Dance – [Summon From Slumber]!
As his understanding of the Law had improved, this time, he no longer summoned only the skeletons of angels.
In a million mile radius of the space vortex, all dead bodies without a soul opened their eyes.
A monster as gigantic as a star.
An insect as small as a speck of dust.
Drifting carcasses of unknown origin.
Everything was heading towards the Holy Heaven.
They circled around in orbit, hurriedly moving about as if waiting for something.
The 12 Archangels continued to exert themselves to stop the Winds of Chaotic Tribulation.
Very gradually, they were losing.
At this time, strange and unusual entities started to show themselves from the void of space.
These entities of unknown background and origin had never once appeared in the history of the 900 million World Layers.
No one knew what they were, nor where they came from.
All the entities gathered in the void, silently watching Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan continued to keep his eyes closed.
——until the very last moment.
He opened his eyes and formed a strange hand seal.
The 12 Archangels no longer tried to stop the Winds of Chaotic Tribulation and instead returned behind him.
Gu Qing Shan whispered: “Sacrifice”
The 12 Archangels shouted in unison: 「 Sacrifice! 」
The countless entities within the space vortex loudly declared at once: 『 Sacrifice! 』
The shouts resonated like notes of a song that fluctuated, forming a rhythm by itself that seemed to be filled with nothing but sorrow.
At this point, the curse on top of the floating bridge appeared to be quite an eyesore.
All the entities in the void of space turned their gazes towards the floating bridge.
The invisible curse uttered an ear-piercing screech.
『 A Sacrifice of the World… detestable…』
『 Run…』
The storm winds picked up.
Fwoo——
A huge, invisible something had fled from the floating bridge.
It left the world of Holy Heaven, disappearing somewhere unknown.
Gu Qing Shan narrowed his eyes, a bit regretful.
He took a step back and put strength into his step.
This was the void, but he had clearly stepped on top of solid ground.
——-the entire world of Holy Heaven had returned to normal.
All of its structures, mountains, and rivers had regrown, the earth softly lifted Gu Qing Shan’s feet.
Where the Earth God stands, there would be ‘Earth’.
“I’ve finally understood”
Gu Qing Shan uttered a soft sigh and whispered: “The Dance of the Earth God will create worlds from nothing, but it is an offering to the spirits of all the worlds ever destroyed by the Apocalypse”
He looked up at the countless strange and unusual entities in the void.
Their bodies were gigantic, their appearance similar to humans, their limbs were like claws and had no facial features.
But they were all staring closely at Gu Qing Shan, seemingly waiting for something.
———these are all destroyed worlds, the remnant souls of entire worlds.
Indeed, the remnant will of the world inside my eye is also moaning.
With a complicated look in his eyes, Gu Qing Shan lightly took a step forward.
This time.
I am still too weak, unable to complete this dance of offering[1].
I don’t even know what would occur if the Offering Dance is successfully completed.
——but I want them to understand a certain thing.
There exists such a person in this Reality, there exists such a hope, that he would one day finish his offering and console them.
Yes, surely one day, I will be able to do it.
Gu Qing Shan uttered a long hum and danced with his sword.
His movements were extremely slow, which emphasized just how heavy each step was.
Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!
The sorrowful drumming was deafening, but unexpectedly roused a sense of relief within the hearts of people.
Gu Qing Shan now wielded both swords as he slowly continued dancing.
Faint clusters of light continuously manifested around him, like stars that drifted and flickered with his every step.
From slow to fast, his body seemed like a vortex of light that gradually became deeper as he danced.
All of a sudden, he declared: “The destroyed worlds of the past!”
The 12 Archangels shouted with him: 「 Destroyed worlds! 」
Countless entities in the space vortex uttered a single sorrowful declaration: 『 Destroyed! 』
Gu Qing Shan gritted his teeth, leapt to the air then shouted again: “The Apocalypse is coming again, will you fight, or will you not!”
The void of space went silent for a brief moment.
Almost as if their collective repressed emotions had erupted all at once, the remaining spirits of the world shouted in unison: 『 Fight! 』
Gu Qing Shan stood in the void, breathing heavily.
He had completely drained all of his powers in order to reach this point of the dance.
He was now completely exhausted, not even half a bit of spirit energy left to maintain his flight, unable to help himself descending from above.
——–this was a Dance meant as an offering to all destroyed worlds of the past, but he was merely a Paragon realm cultivator, so he didn’t have the strength to continue dancing.
A dry, hoarse female voice suddenly resounded through the void: 「 The Earth God will guard this offering. When the Dance is complete, he shall offer it to you again! 」
The drumming stopped.
The void, the world, all living beings, all things, everything returned to normal.
With the declaration of that female voice, the entities in the void reluctantly lingered a bit but eventually scattered away.
They soon vanished without a trace, no one saw where they came from nor where they went.
A few moments later.
All supernatural phenomena returned to normal.
Gu Qing Shan dejectedly sat there, clearly unwilling to accept this result.
Although he had chased that curse away, he was feeling more and more unwilling to put this down.
Damn it, why can’t I even comfort them?
He raised his hands.
Both his hands were trembling, now helpless to even hold his swords.
From the very beginning of the Dance, all of his powers had been siphoned and spent. At this moment, he could barely sit up.
The dry, hoarse female voice resounded:
「 You are the final inheritor of the Sacrificial Dance, I ask you, do you want to finish this Offering Dance? 」
Gu Qing Shan bit down on his teeth: “Yes!”
「 Immature God, you are still too weak, quickly become stronger 」
The female voice slowly faded and eventually disappeared without a trace.
[1] The word for “Offering” and “Sacrifice” are the same in Chinese
