Gu Qing Shan didn’t answer him and only crouched down, lightly touching the other party’s chest.
He made a strange expression.
——-quite a bit of blood had been spilled, but the dagger didn’t puncture too deeply.
Such a wound is very easy for cultivators to heal, in certain intense combat, this level of injury could be considered a scratch.
Then why did his soul already leave his body?
Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes in thought, then recalled the numerous Cultivation-type healing techniques that the worlds of the past had bestowed him, among them was an exceptional one.
This technique can easily heal his wounds if he uses it.
Gu Qing Shan formed a hand seal in both hands.
“You… are clearly still alive, so why did your soul already escape your body?” Gu Qing Shan focused his spirit energy without actually using it and asked.
The man’s soul hovered in mid-air, now recognizing Gu Qing Shan as a cultivator and clasped his fist: “Greetings, fellow Dao seeker, this is a unique technique of my own creation, capable of allowing the soul to leave the body before death——– I’m not actually a dead soul, but a normal soul that can talk with living people”
Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but ask: “To allow the soul to leave the body before death? What is this technique good for?”
“It can allow someone to die earlier” the man triumphantly boasted.
Gu Qing Shan: “…”
Why are you acting boastful about being able to die earlier?
Wait a minute!
Gu Qing Shan suddenly realized.
If I want my soul to leave my body, I have to use the combination of two Secret Art, [Sealed Body Yin Shift] and [Soul Come Soul Goes] in order to enter a fake state of death and head into Huang Quan.
The fact that this person was able to create something of similar nature, albeit still far from reaching the same level, means that he could easily be considered a genius.
Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist: “So you’ve created a technique to allow an earlier death, fellow Dao seeker. What extraordinary thinking and wonderful execution, this humble one is truly impressed”
Seeing him say that, the man was delighted: “Good! Good! I’ve finally met someone who understands my work, unlike those old cows, so damn conservative, every last one of them”
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit, then smiled and asked: “Fellow Dao seeker, you’re highly talented and a splendid individual, you should have a very bright future ahead, so why did you suddenly die here?”
The man angrily replied: “My natural talents are both varied and well-developed, my looks and talents are both top-level, my knowledge unrivalled, a pillar that could hold up heaven——”
Gu Qing Shan cut him off: “Fellow Dao seeker, ‘a pillar that could hold up heaven’ isn’t a way to describe talents”
The man froze, then pondered for a bit: “‘He who ties the universe together, a pillar that holds the heaven at the Southern Plain’—– this poem was originally used to describe a person who holds great responsibility, such people could only be those with great talents and ability”
Gu Qing Shan also pondered: “If you put it that way… that certainly is the case, please continue”
The man casually continued: “A pillar that could hold up heaven——”
“Fellow Dao seeker, please get to the point”
“Ah, right. I’m a man with great capabilities, but due to me being too excellent, my greatness cannot be understood by others, and I became the target of others’ envy. The trees want to remain still, but the storm refuses to relent; I happened to anger some people who schemed and plotted to stain my name. They succeeded in the end, so my reputation at the academy is now completely gone and resulted in my expulsion. What else do I have to live for? Might as well die early, reincarnate, then swiftly begin anew” the man sighed.
Gu Qing Shan asked; “May I ask how those snakes ruined your reputation?”
As soon as this was mentioned, the man was so furious that he began trembling and shouted: “They claim that I long for the flowers on the streets, immersing myself in lust and debauchery, no longer seeking Dao!”
“But you actually didn’t go to such places?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“I did” the man replied.
Gu Qing Shan: “…”
If not for the Fate threads connecting him and this man, he would have already turned around and left right away.
Seeing his expression, the man also guessed his thoughts and hurriedly said: “Fellow Dao seeker, you’ve missed the key point in all this”
“What was the key point?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“The key point was that they claimed that I’m no longer seeker Dao, but that’s blatant falsehood only seeking to ruin my reputation——- everyone knows that ever since this Su Qing entered the academy, I’ve never once been lazy with cultivation, creating numerous techniques and growing increasingly stronger. I am the most competent competitor for the Seven Institutes’ Dao debate” the man explained.
Gu Qing Shan took a deep breath, asking: “So you’re seeking death because someone has tried to frame you?”
“They’ve already convinced the Disciplinary Elder, who will host an academy-wide gathering, openly berating me in front of everyone before expelling me from the academy”
Su Qing resolutely said: “But they don’t know that I’d rather seek death than to accept such humiliation”
Gu Qing Shan tried asking: “If a talented disciple like yourself were to die, wouldn’t that be the academy’s loss?”
Su Qing replied: “Hmph, now that the Seven Institutes’ Dao debate is approaching, if a pillar that holds the heaven like myself suddenly fell, our Kunlun Mountain Academy would definitely lose a valuable asset—— that will ensure that the Disciplinary Elder hit his own foot with a rock, announcing to the entire academy how they forced me to my death!”
Gu Qing Shan face-palmed for a long while speechlessly.
He suddenly lowered his voice and said: “Fellow Dao seeker Su, if you want to die, I won’t stop you, but you might have something that I want, can you open your Inventory Bag for me to check?”
“Something?” Su Qing doubtfully asked.
“That’s right, I’m looking for a certain item that’s related to me, can you——- resurrect and help me take a look?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
——–he glanced at the black thread on his left hand.
Only to see the thread had extended and coiled exactly around the Inventory Bag on Su Qing’s body.
“You want me to temporarily resurrect?” hearing him, Su Qing looked at Gu Qing Shan with a weird expression.
“That’s right, fellow Dao seeker Su, I’m indeed looking for something” Gu Qing Shan explained.
“What do you want to find?” Su Qing asked.
“I need to first see what you have before I know what I’m looking for” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Su Qing’s expression once again displayed a profound sense of understanding.
“What’s the matter?” Gu Qing Shan was a bit confused.
Su Qing clasped his fist: “I won’t lie to you, fellow Dao Seeker, ever since I began my cultivation path, I’ve met thieves and burglars, robbers who take things from people on the streets, and even bandits willing to kill to rob people—— but I’ve never seen someone who would even steal from a soul, this level of creativity is truly innovative, this humble one is impressed”
Gu Qing Shan’s fingers twitched, almost triggering his sword seal.
He took a deep breath and suppress his voice: “Fellow Dao seeker Su, I’m not stealing—–”
Su Qing signaled for him to not continue.
“It is fine, you and I are not acquaintances, we merely happened to meet and had a great conversation, it’s like we’ve known one another for a long time, so I will help you” Su Qing told him.
His soul formed a hand seal in mid-air and slowly went back into his body.
Seeing that, Gu Qing Shan triggered the healing technique he had prepared and helped close the other party’s wound.
Su Qing slowly opened his eyes, sat up from the ground, then tapped his Inventory Bag to take things out from it.
“Did you want spirit stones?” Su Qing held a handful of spirit stones and asked.
“No” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Su Qing was surprised, muttering to himself: “You don’t want spirit stones, perhaps…”
He took out several artbooks that depicted beautiful women, then said with unwillingness to part: “I collected these for over three years, but I can give it to you as well”
Gu Qing Shan replied: “I don’t need them”
Su Qing looked at him strangely and asked: “These are the most precious things I have, what else exactly did you want?”
“I don’t know either, please continue taking things out, I need to see them one by one” Gu Qing Shan answered him
Su Qing turned his Inventory Bag upside-down and shook it.
Clank clank!
A large number of random objects fell out.
The thread on Gu Qing Shan’s left hand coiled around one of them.
—–it was a fragment about the size of half a finger, made out of some unknown material that was glittering as it shined, very eye-catching.
Gu Qing Shan waved his hand, pulling the fragment into his hand.
Lines of glowing text immediately appeared on the War God UI:
[Discovered a fragment of the Samsara Delimitation Divine Sword]
[Attention, you will need to collect every fragment for a possibility of reforging this Divine Sword]
Gu Qing Shan finally understood.
Indeed, this was what it was.
I travelled from the Tomb of Myriad Beasts to this place and finally found the very first fragment of the Samsara Delimitation Divine Sword.
Only a fully-reforged Divine Sword would be able to once again suppress the great tomb, saving the Tomb of Myriad Beasts from the threat of the Apocalypses.
“Fellow Dao seeker Su, where did you find this?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“This thing? I picked it up from a nearby river a few days ago. At the time, I thought it was some sort of ore, so I wanted to examine some forging books to see what kind of thing it was, but due to being framed for the last few days, I haven’t had the chance to”
Gu Qing Shan said: “Fellow Dao seeker Su, this is exactly what I was looking for?”
“Then take it, I’m about to die anyways, it’s useless even if I keep it” Su Qing agreed right away.
“Thank you”
Gu Qing Shan put the Divine Sword fragment away.
The black thread on his left hand faded away like mist, then once again reformed into a thread.
This time, the thread pointed towards the huge city from before.
——–then, the next fragment should be inside the city.
Gu Qing Shan looked at Su Qing a bit, then clasped his fist: “Then… fellow Dao seeker Su, I bid you farewell”
“Hm, go ahead and return to your business, I’m going to die now” Su Qing replied.
Gu Qing Shan nodded and turned to leave.
Behind him, Su Qing once again raised his dagger and thrust it into his chest.
Gu Qing Shan only took a few steps before he blinked and suddenly said:
“Stop him”
——K-L-A-N-G!
A loud metallic sound.
An autumn water-like blue steel sword had caught the dagger.
Su Qing asked in surprise: “Fellow Dao seeker, what are you doing?”
Gu Qing Shan stood still, then sighed after a long while.
He returned and looked at Su Qing.
“Fellow Dao seeker Su, in truth, you won’t be able to take your revenge on those people like this”
“But why?” Su Qing asked.
“Because they originally hoped to remove you, didn’t they?” Gu Qing Shan asked in return.
“But my death would be a great loss to the academy” Su Qing insisted.
Gu Qing Shan continued: “But a dead person cannot create any value——- once you die, you will have lost your value, and no one would make a big deal out of anything for a dead person, aside from your family members”
“I… no longer have any family members. Everyone from my father’s generation lost their lives during the previous wraith operation” Su Qing said.
Gu Qing Shan silently sighed, then concluded: “If that is the case, your death would be nothing but a useless death”
Su Qing appeared lost.
Gu Qing Shan then suggested: “Since you gave me a treasure, I will help you once to repay the favor, what do you think?”
Su Qing shook his head: “Their forces are considerable, some of them were even young masters who came down from heaven, so I couldn’t do anything against them”
Gu Qing Shan smiled.
He patted Su Qing’s shoulder and said: “Against hurtful words and actions from others, some people will become broken, forever living in the pain of their past memories. But others will use this pain, endure this humiliation, then finally become a strong person who can decide their own fates”
Su Qing looked at him in surprise: “So you were someone who’s used to enduring humiliation?”
Gu Qing Shan felt a bit embarrassed and pondered before replying:
“Well, that’s just the dogma that’s taught. Don’t judge me from how I look ——I’m actually quite a violent person, not someone easy to pick on. I’ve not once held back when killing people”
