Liu Ming was a mundane steward.
Affected by the power of Azure Dragon Origin Hex – Binding, once he replied to Gu Qing Shan’s call, he would be bound in place, unable to move a single step.
But right at this moment, he was heading straight towards Gu Qing Shan and Zhao Qiong.
—–which means he wasn’t Steward Liu.
And that white mist was also full of issues.
There was endless fog within the River of Time.
The Era of [Chaos] also used grey fog to manifest its power.
——when a kind of power becomes too advanced, it would surpass the limit of dimensions, which lies beyond the observation and comprehension of normal people, manifesting itself in the form of fog in the eyes of laymen.
Coupled with the fact that the one who opened the door wasn’t the Patriarch or an elder, the situation was highly extraordinary.
Anyone single one of these issues was already more than enough for Gu Qing Shan to feel cautious.
Under everyone’s scrutinizing gazes, Steward Liu walked in front of Gu Qing Shan and offered his hand.
“Here” Steward Liu smiled.
At the split second that his back sprouted sharp claws filled with reversed spikes—–
Zhao Qiong took out a red piece of bone and uttered a resounding order: “Great Corpse of Blood, kill him!”
A bloody figure filled with an air of vicissitudes manifested from that piece of bone, swiftly forming the shape of a skeleton and struck Steward Liu’s body.
——Bam!
Steward Liu was sent flying by this attack, crashing through the ceiling of the secret room in its flight.
Zhao Qiong told Gu Qing Shan: “Stay right here and don’t move”
Saying so, she grabbed the piece of red bone and leapt upward, leaving through the broken hold in the ceiling.
“Why did they suddenly fight, where’s my father? Why isn’t he here to keep this in order?” young master Zhang shouted.
He slammed open the door and rushed outside.
The other young men and women loudly displayed their dismay as they rushed outside as well, wanting to see what had occurred.
—–after all, all of their family members were outside.
Only Gu Qing Shan remained in the secret room.
He didn’t try to act like he had a stomachache any longer. He simply stood up and randomly found a place to sit.
Since that attack earlier had broken through a hole in the roof, Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight through that hole to observe the outside situation.
The air outside was filled with fog, so if one tried to observe anything through their eyes, they wouldn’t be able to see any further than 10 steps ahead.
Fortunately, Gu Qing Shan’s inner sight was able to pierce through this fog, witnessing the piece of bone in Zhao Qiong’s hand connecting with an entity in the void, manifesting a pair of bloody skeletal claws several meters in height, clashing intensely against the insect.
Watching for a few seconds, Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but shake his head.
That pair of bloody skeletal claws might be powerful, but the eight-legged human-faced insect was essentially unkillable that way. Although it loudly shrieked whenever it was attacked, it was also growing increasingly more brutal, both the speed of its attack and movements were becoming faster as time went by.
——-Gu Qing Shan had already experienced this incredible speed while he formed the spirit link.
Gu Qing Shan temporarily ignored their fight and searched the city with his inner sight.
At the very next moment, his hairs all stood on their ends.
The entire city had been leveled.
At the center of the city, a large tower built from severed limbs, blood, innards, and bones stood tall, constantly emanating the fog.
The black skeleton had used the remains of every person in the city to create a hundred-meter-tall Tower of Corpses!
The blood seeped deeply underground, drawing a twisted, eerie shape of an insect.
This hellish scene would cause any normal person to fall completely insane.
Gu Qing Shan’s inner sight scanned again.
In many of the manors throughout the city, their safety secret rooms had already been broken through, leaving nothing but the blood splattered on their walls.
But there were also several intact secret rooms, most likely the people inside had managed to notice the façade quick enough to teleport away.
The entire city was plunged into silence, filled with the fog.
Gu Qing Shan sighed emotionally.
By turning into Steward Liu, the insect was able to perfectly replicate his memories and personality, even responding appropriately to his words.
This alone would be more than enough to fool the majority of people.
Gu Qing Shan’s inner sight moved again, focusing on the Tower of Corpses.
The closer one got to the tower, the thicker the fog became, almost like it had grown solid and turned everything into darkness—-
No.
It wasn’t simply darkness. If one were to observe it closely, they would find that this darkness appeared almost like the tides, constantly surging up and down.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly recalled the scene he witnessed during the spirit linking.
At that unknown location, a large skeleton was being surrounded by endless darkness.
That darkness was a sea of innumerable black eight-legged human-faced insects.
Could it be——
All of those insects are trying to come over?
Gu Qing Shan’s heart started racing.
Don’t be ridiculous, a single insect is able to massacre an entire city to this degree, not only have I never seen such a thing, but someone who came from a large organization like Zhao Qiong had also never witnessed it either.
Then, what exactly was that human-headed snake-bodied entity manifested from the Divine Skill [Ethereal Mountain Break]?
Why did it have to face such a terrifying Apocalypse?
Gu Qing Shan didn’t have time to ponder any further.
He had to focus on the situation at hand right now.
If those innumerable insects were to pour in, the entire Tomb of Myriad Beasts would probably fall to this Apocalypse.
“Shannu” Gu Qing Shan called out.
An autumn water-clear blue steel sword manifested from behind his back and turned into an aloof palace maid.
“Gongzi, are we going to fight?” the palace maid asked.
“Turn into Li San and remain here, I’ll go take a look” Gu Qing Shan replied.
“Understood. Take care of yourself, gongzi”
Saying so, she twirled her body and turned into Li San, then sat down on the chair.
Gu Qing Shan transformed back into his real appearance and was about to leave.
As he took the first step, he suddenly paused.
“What’s the matter, gongzi?” Shannu asked.
“That insect just now was too clever, from the very start, it had been stalling for time, most likely for that Tower of Corpses to finish some sort of ritual” Gu Qing Shan mused.
He looked up at the hole in the ceiling.
Night has fallen.
It was midnight.
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit and made his decision.
His body shifted a bit, then landed on the ground as a big tabby cat.
Sumeru Thaumaturgy——- [Orange Sovereign Transformation].
“Meow!”
The orange cat then started running outside like a shadowy figure on all fours, vanishing on his way.
[Ghostly Shadow of Night]!
[At nighttime, you can borrow the power of supernatural items, once per night]
Gu Qing Shan immediately borrowed the jade gourd pendant Adorable’s Thaumaturgy [Spotless Jade] to ensure that no entity could discover him.
The fog filled the silent ruined city.
A single cat silently and invisibly traversed the city under the cover of the night, quickly leaping onto a high wall.
Sitting on top of the wall, he observed the scene below not too far away.
On that side, Zhao Qiong was engaging in combat with the black insect, neither side able to do anything to the other.
The orange cat turned his head towards the other direction.
The hundred-meter-tall Tower of Corpses continued to release black fog to form a deep cluster of darkness.
——that darkness appeared to be incredibly distant, yet so close that one could reach out to touch it at the same time.
It was becoming close and closer.
I need to seize the time!
The orange cat swung his tail extremely slowly but quickly made his decision.
He once again faded into the shadow and flew towards where Zhao Qiong and the black insect were engaged in combat.
He approached both parties and silently waited for a suitable chance.
——this location was just outside of their range, but close enough for him to join the battle at any moment.
Both Zhao Qiong and the black insect didn’t notice him.
“Damn it, how could it be…”
Watching the Tower of Corpses in the city, Zhao Qiong felt her heart growing cold.
The important part was actually this tower!
As experienced with the Apocalypse as she was, she finally understood.
An apocalyptic monster would never do anything meaningless!
This tower is most likely going to summon something, either this black insect’s compatriots or perhaps an entity at a greater level than it was.
The Eastern Desolate Grotto, as its name suggests, is a desolate and barren land, there are no actual experts here.
Even if I want to ask for help, it’ll take some time to reach the other Grottos.
But this black insect is extremely sly, it has proven capable of clearly observing the meaning of my every action so far.
It would not give me a chance to use a technique to call for reinforcement!
Then the only choice is…
Zhao Qiong gritted her teeth, fully mobilized the bloody skeletal claws, and recklessly attacked several times to push the black insect back.
Taking this chance, she turned around to rush towards the Tower of Corpses.
Crouching on the side, the orange cat suddenly opened his eyes wide right at this moment.
Naïve!
That’s too naïve, this would surely alert the insect!
The orange cat immediately used [Ground Shrink] to vanish from where he stood, reappearing just a bit in front of Zhao Qiong.
—–he intended to wait right here.
On the other hand, while the black insect was forced back, it immediately uttered a shrill shriek right as it noticed Zhao Qiong was trying to attack the tower.
It understood that the girl had noticed that it was only stalling for time.
Then I won’t give her the chance!
After the numerous exchanges so far, I’ve confirmed that I can kill her by using all my strength, although the price would be to become heavily injured.
A black glow emanated from the insect’s body as it moved forward, instantly blocking Zhao Qiong’s way.
The black glow suddenly erupted into flames.
The insect had decided to deal the killing blow!
——but it didn’t realize that an orange cat was hiding behind it in the shadow.
In a split second, a sword phantom surged forward like a flash tidal wave!
The sword pierced through the black insect’s body and chopped it in half, as soon as its body was bisected, both halves turned into fine dust, no longer existing.
Gu Qing Shan wielded the Earth sword and stood where the insect originally was.
He waited right here.
And delivered a single strike.
With the Earth sword.
And [Earth’s Choice]
