From a distance, one could see the black clouds far upstream of the river.
The closer he got to the Jungle of Elves and Giants, the colder and more frigid became the river water. This coldness completely ignored Gu Qing Shan’s passive protection and was directly affecting his body and soul.
——what a miraculous river this was.
Bolts of lightning were streaking across the sky.
Heavy rain and storms descended on the ground.
The sky was dark.
Standing in the middle of the river, Gu Qing Shan felt doubtful.
——it feels like something has occurred in this forest.
He became cautious, slowed down, then slowly flew towards the riverbank.
Finally, his feet landed on top of solid rock.
His surroundings instantly went dark.
Two lines of glowing text quickly appeared:
[You’ve left the Gear Fort domain]
[You’ve entered the Jungle of Elves and Giants domain]
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly, then began flying backwards.
He went away from the Jungle of Elves and Giants, returning to the river.
The sky eased up.
The world lit up again.
Although it was still a bit gloomy, it wasn’t quite the complete darkness that he saw in the forest.
“How strange, it seems as if this darkness belongs to the jungle itself”
Gu Qing Shan pondered, then once again returned to the rock on the riverbank.
The world went dark once again.
Gu Qing Shan formed a Presence Concealment hand seal, then attempted to release his inner sight.
In the void of space, various jumbled-up forces were clashing against one another in complete chaos.
Gu Qing Shan’s inner sight was limited within a radius of several dozen meters around himself, unable to extend any further.
——something has definitely happened here.
Having determined this, Gu Qing Shan swiftly became cautious.
Wielding the Earth sword in his hand, Gu Qing Shan entered the jungle step by step.
It was even darker inside the jungle, making it impossible to see anything with the naked eye.
Occasionally, a flash of lightning would light up the surroundings, but only for an instant.
Gu Qing Shan slowly moved forward through the intense rain.
After walking for a while, he suddenly stopped.
Not too far away from where he was, a thin and feeble man had fallen with a pool of blood under him but was still moaning in pain.
He wore tattered clothing made out of wood bark, both his arms and feet were bound by shackles, his expression was weak and drained.
Most importantly, there was a brand on his arm.
—-the brand of a slave.
The exact same one as the brand on Reneedol’s arm!
The large beads of rainwater were mercilessly striking his body, thoroughly soaking him.
Gu Qing Shan walked forward as he let go of the Earth sword, then lifted his clothes to examine his wounds.
Noticing someone approaching, the man mustered his strength to look up and beg: “Save… save me…”
Gu Qing Shan formed a healing hand seal, lightly pressed his hand on the other party’s wounds and asked: “Who are you? Why are you here?”
He was looking at the set of shackles.
The shackles were clearly engraved with a set of intricate runes that gave off the fluctuation of the restraining power of Law.
———after he was able to communicate with the Laws of Reality, he had gained the benefit of being able to sense the general usage of any artifacts imbued by the power of Law.
All of this man’s powers were being sealed away.
How strange, if Reneedol was also a slave, why did she not have any restraints when she was discovered?
“Ahhh…” the man moaned, slowly regaining his spirits.
Lifeforce was flowing throughout his body to heal his wounds.
It was only now that the man had gathered enough strength to answer Gu Qing Shan:
“I’m a slave caught by the Jungle Elves. A war had recently broken out between the elves and giants, so slaves like us had taken advantage of the chaos to flee”
“How did you become a slave for the elves?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“I came from upstream of the River of Fate, a mercenary from the Silver Kingdom——‘
While Gu Qing Shan was listening, he heard an abrupt thunder crack in the sky.
Without hesitation, Gu Qing Shan swung his sword towards the sky.
Clang!
An arrow was sent flying.
Gu Qing Shan stood up and shielded the man from any other dangers.
“Who is it that won’t even ignore a man that is already on the brink of death?” he coldly asked
Two figures appeared from between the trees.
One man, one woman.
Their bodies were firmer yet still appeared more delicate compared to humans, their hair was respectively blond and black, both of them wielding a longbow in their hands.
They were Jungle Elves.
They were a species that belonged to a highly-developed civilization and were frequently being graced by unconditional gifts from the various Laws of Reality, which made them both powerful and wealthy.
“You’re decently strong, no wonder you have the courage to save a fugitive” the male elf observed Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan shrugged and explained: “I have no intention of fighting you, but this man is heavily injured, so I simply wanted to save him”
This elf should be quite skillful with assassination techniques.
The arrow shot by taking advantage of the thunder crack was quite powerful.
The female elf stared closely at Gu Qing Shan and questioned: “Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“I’m from the World Valley” Gu Qing Shan replied.
“Ah? Then… please prove your identity” the male elf said in surprise.
With a slight wave of Gu Qing Shan’s sword, invisible power could be felt descending and drifting around the sword.
At this very moment, the two elves fell into a hallucination that this boy in front of them was the avatar of the Jungle itself.
“Capable of communicating with the world to obtain the power and protection of the Law Behemoth, as expected of someone from the World Valley”
After saying so, the two elves put their longbows away and bowed respectfully towards Gu Qing Shan.
Their attitudes had gotten a lot better.
“Please wait a moment, we need to report this to the Capital” the female elf said.
She produced a canary, then quickly spoke to it.
The canary took flight and swiftly disappeared without a trace.
Gu Qing Shan asked: “Why did you want to kill this person earlier?”
“Your excellency, this is our slave, so it is our privilege to treat him as we wanted” the female elf explained.
Gu Qing Shan crouched down again, using a healing technique to heal the man’s body and muttered: “I’ve always thought that the elven civilization was an advanced one, not one that still condones slavery”
The man on the ground coughed loudly, propping himself with both hands, attempting to stand up.
Despite trying many times, he still couldn’t succeed and instead left several claw marks on the ground.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the claw marks.
The chaotic marks formed two words: [Hurry run]
Gu Qing Shan stood still without changing his expression.
After thinking briefly, he took out the Six Paths Great Mountain sword and cut open the man’s shackles.
The man’s eyes opened wide, his entire body started erupting with an unnamed presence.
“You were actually able to destroy their restraints—— let’s run!” he shouted.
“Wait a moment, we won’t be able to leave just yet” Gu Qing Shan leisurely said.
The man was surprised, then his expression changed.
Boom!!!
A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating their surroundings.
On the surrounding grass fields, on top of the uneven jungle terrain, on top of the tree branches, there were elves all around them.
They had been surrounded.
Gu Qing Shan looked to the other side and saw that the look of respect on the original two elves’ expressions was no longer there.
“Ahahaha, a slave from the World Valley would definitely be able to do a lot” the male elf laughed.
Gu Qing Shan doubtfully asked: “So it’s your habit to randomly grab people you see?”
“Only curs can serve the noble—— go!” the female elf ordered.
Gu Qing Shan sighed.
At some unknown point, the sword he was wielding had already disappeared.
The rain had stopped.
Darkness even more profound compared to the night sky shot up from the ground of the forest, ripping apart everything around Gu Qing Shan and the man.
Chao Yin sword, [Drawn Shadow].
Heaven sword, [Drawn Shadow].
Earth sword, [Drawn Shadow].
Six Paths Great Mountain sword, [Drawn Shadow].
All four of his swords had turned into images, unleashed the Secret Art and bloomed all the way to the sky!
Oooooo———
The sharp noise of the swords rang out and faded into the distant sky.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
Splish splash.
Rain began to fall once again.
And with it, came a shower of blood.
Standing in the middle of the rain, Gu Qing Shan flourished his sword.
“A noble had never needed anyone to serve them, only disgusting people do”
He casually commented.
The man next to him was completely shocked.
“Are… the people from the World Valley all as strong as you are?” he couldn’t help but ask.
Gu Qing Shan shrugged and replied: “I’ve only just joined them today, I’m a new student”
“Then, why did you come here?” the man asked.
Gu Qing Shan replied: “Ah, something happened on our side, since I’m a newcomer, I was sent to seek out family members and such——– do you know a slave called ‘Reneedol’?”
“Slave!? You’re joking. The elves would definitely not grant this name to any slaves!” the man shouted out loud.
Gu Qing Shan was also unsure, so he asked: “Why is that?”
The man explained: “This is the best word within the language of the elves and giants. I’ve only just understood the implications behind this word after staying in the elven country for the past few years”
Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised.
If that was the case, then Reneedol wasn’t actually a slave at all?
But she was clearly wearing slave garments and had a slave brand on her arm.
“I’ve also studied Elvish, but I still don’t know what the word ‘Reneedol’ represents in their language” Gu Qing Shan said.
The man lowered his voice before he translated its meaning: “A beautiful flower fluttering in the dawn wind”
