The entire River of Time regained its glow.
Countless visions of history reappeared along the timeline.
The six Sealing Tokens remained around Gu Qing Shan to form a sphere of light around a hundred meters in radius, which isolated him from the River of Time.
The sphere of light travelled along the river as it continued to move towards a determined point in the future.
Gu Qing Shan silently sat in the sphere of light, completely silent.
A black dog manifested from black flames sat watching him.
A while later.
Gu Qing Shan said: “In the end, there were still things that I couldn’t predict or consider”
“You’ve done very well, you managed to save the entirety of history as well as everyone else” Boss’ voice came from the black dog’s mouth.
“But I didn’t account for Reneedol losing her mind and causing Scarlet to lose her life——- to save me” Gu Qing Shan shook his head.
Boss asked: “That [Key of Myriad Deities’ Consent], are you fine just giving that to Shroud?”
“That’s the key to a certain treasure chest in the Dusty World, but that chest doesn’t contain the third Divine Artifact of Fate” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Boss stayed silent from that answer, then finally sighed: “It was fake? Now I finally understand why I had travelled to the Dusty World to retrieve it for her, only for her to stab me after that”
Recalling everything that happened up to now, they didn’t say anything else.
A long while went by.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly stood up.
He moved his body, properly warming himself up.
“Hm? What are you thinking?” Boss asked.
Gu Qing Shan turned around and asked in return: “How long do we have to stay here?”
“It’ll probably take a few years to go through the long years and reach the future” Boss replied.
“Since we have some time” Gu Qing Shan moved his joints and hip, answering: “My Sacrificial Dance has reached a stage called the Offering Dance of Three Lives, so I want to see what became of Scarlet after that”
“Does she belong to the Samsara now?” Boss asked.
“She does, I changed her world system”
“And then what?” Boss asked.
“I want to find her” Gu Qing Shan appeared resolute.
Boss looked at him, then carefully said: “But Scarlet died in the Age of Immemorial, while we will be passing through the Age of Immemorial and the Age of Old to return to the moment of the Eternal Abyss and Wraith realm’s war——- with so many years would passing, Scarlet would most likely have gone through countless reincarnations, you’re probably not going to find her”
Gu Qing Shan fell silent, his gaze slowly going dim.
Boss silently shook his head, then consoled: “I heard——- that is a power in the Samsara called ‘Predestination'[1] that’s responsible for guiding living beings towards each other”
Gu Qing Shan replied: “There is, but if too many lives had gone by, even predestination would not be enough, unless…”
He didn’t continue.
——-unless Scarlet had not reincarnated at all ever since her death.
Boss thought briefly, then asked: “Did you tell her about your true identity?”
“During the very last moment, I told her” Gu Qing Shan replied.
“What if she truly hadn’t reincarnated at all and continued to wait for you?” Boss said.
Gu Qing Shan held his breath, then finally shook his head after a long while: “It would be an incredibly long wait. She would sit still by the side of the Forgetting River within a Huang Quan realm, continuing to wait through the Age of Immemorial, Age of Old, all the way until the future——- but none of that would matter at all, as she would completely forget everything that happened in the past as soon as she entered the Forgetting River”
Boss pondered a bit and said: “I heard that while the Forgetting River would separate one’s pre-reincarnation memory, certain things would still remain deeply engraved upon one’s soul”
Gu Qing Shan muses: “I also understand a bit about predestination, I suspect——- Scarlet would definitely be related to the Law of Death”
He waved his hand through the void of space.
A mass of flames appeared and manifested into a black dog.
——–this one is the real Black Hound.
“Black Hound”
“I’m here” Black Hound replied.
“I’ll give you a mission” Gu Qing Shan told him.
“Please do, my Deity” Black Hound said.
“Scarlet belongs to the Samsara, so she would definitely come into existence once again. I want you to enter the lengthy passage of history and train those who inherit the power of the Death God—— perhaps you might run into her one day, remember, make sure to protect her well” Gu Qing Shan gave his order.
Black Hound said: “If too much time had passed, I would most likely grow weaker, even my memories will gradually fade away, until one day when I have no choice but to continue waiting through lengthy a slumber…”
Gu Qing Shan stroked his head and said: “Don’t worry, you will definitely be able to wait for her”
“Very well, then sir Death God, I will be on my way” Black Hound responded.
He leapt out from the range of the sphere, then silently landed into a certain vision of history.
Gu Qing Shan silently observed for a while.
He hung his head for a bit and suddenly breathed out something.
“Hm? What did you say?” Boss asked.
“——-the reason Black Hound was able to head into history was that it was originally a part of history that I temporarily took with me” Gu Qing Shan commented.
“Indeed” Boss replied.
“Then what about us? The reason we left was to ensure that history would continue through its determined path. What would happen now if we jumped down from here and entered history?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“I will replace Shroud once again” Boss answered.
Gu Qing Shan hesitantly: “Then—–”
“No need, there are things that one doesn’t need to experience more than once” Boss calmly said.
Gu Qing Shan silently nodded.
After a while of staying still, he suddenly stood up and began to dance.
The sound of music resounded.
The faint sound of music profoundly rang out along the River of Time.
The black dog looked at him, hesitated for a bit, then joined the Dance as well.
One man and one dog persistently danced.
A few moments later.
A line of glowing text suddenly appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan:
[You’ve begun to practice the Offering Dance of Three Lives]
Gu Qing Shan asked right away: “How should I examine the three lives of a certain dance partner?”
Another line of text appeared on the War God UI: [Your Dance is still very immaturely, unable to exert its fullest power]
[Attention: This is already a Sacrificial Dance of medium difficulty, you must go through a long period of training, perhaps requiring both talent and luck in order to fully grasp this Dance]
[Once you’ve fully grasped the Sacrificial Dance of Three Lives, you will also need a great number of Prayers in other to trigger the true power of the Sacrificial Dance]
“How many Prayers do I need?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
[About 3 million]
“How many Prayers do I have?”
[Zero]
“How do I increase my Prayers?”
[You will accumulate one Prayer every time you finish a Dance]
Gu Qing Shan returned to silence.
But he immediately counted the beat and began to dance, performing the various dance steps continuously to the best of his ability.
The black dog didn’t stop at all, continuing to accompany him through his dance. When they were tired they’d rest, then begin dancing again as soon as they regained their stamina.
They continued to dance on and on as if preparing to dance until the end of time.
Half a year later.
The sphere of light peacefully drifted above the River of Time.
Suddenly, lines of glowing text appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan’s vision:
[You’ve fully grasped the Offering Dance of Three Lives]
As if Gu Qing Shan didn’t see that, he continued to dance.
He danced on and on.
Another year went by.
On a certain day.
Different lines of glowing text finally appeared on the War God UI:
[You’ve accumulated 3 million Prayers]
[Your Prayers are now enough to perform the Offering of Three Lives]
[The unique power of the Offering Dance of Three Lives has been activated!]
[From this moment, you may examine the three lives of your dance partners]
Gu Qing Shan’s still eyes finally moved.
A second later——-
The River of Time, the sealed sphere of light, the countless visions of history all disappeared.
Gu Qing Shan found himself standing on top of a barren mountaintop.
“Where is this place?”
The black dog——– or rather, Boss asked.
Gu Qing Shan looked around with a still gaze.
Suddenly, he blinked a few times.
This place—-
Seems familiar.
I had already been here in my past life.
What did I come here for?
Ah.
I think it was to ask someone about the method to mix a certain kind of cocktail.
Gu Qing Shan’s careless thoughts suddenly exploded in his mind.
He trembled slightly as he formed a hand seal.
Numerous rocks gathered towards him, forming into numerous bricks and gradually made a simple house.
Gu Qing Shan stood in the house, put the Silent Dusk Cloak over himself, then pulled his hood over as well to obscure this face.
“Hide” he told Boss.
Boss immediately hid into the void of space and cautiously asked: “What’s the situation?”
Gu Qing Shan shook his head, waved his hand to make a table, then silently waited.
A few moments later.
A familiar female voice resounded:
“Huh? Why is there a house here?”
The door was pushed open.
A head of bright crimson hair, a pair of pure clear eyes, and an innocent expression.
She had arrived.
Anna.
Gu Qing Shan brushed his cheeks with his finger.
It turns out, she had truly been waiting since the Age of Immemorial, waiting until the recent future before she reincarnated.
It turns out you were her all along.
“Hey, do you have something to drink here? I’m a bit thirsty from a long journey” Anna said.
She also took out a few spirit stones and put them on the table as she said that.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t say anything and just silently looked at her.
…
“Give me another shot, Rhode, I beg you, give me your best drink, my Star Force technique is only this final step away!”
“Alright, you don’t have to beg me like that, let me think about what other kinds of alcohol there are”
…
At that instant, he recalled her past, clearly seeing everything in front of his eyes.
Gu Qing Shan’s expression didn’t change at all, he simply touched his Inventory Bag and took out 7-8 different bottles of liquor.
He was skillful and swift, mixing that glass of cocktail without much trouble.
——that cocktail that he could make with his eyes closed.
A few moments later.
It was done.
“Drink” he spoke with a hoarse voice.
Anna picked up the glass, sniffed it, then drank it all at once.
She sat there blankly as if her soul had flown away somewhere unknown.
“What is… this drink called?” she asked.
“Scorpio” Gu Qing Shan replied.
She put the glass down, unable to help herself touching her face and muttering: “What’s wrong with me today, how strange”
Gu Qing Shan was silent.
His figure flashed and suddenly disappeared without a trace.
He hid in the sky, silently observing the girl who didn’t know what to do below.
Even after she had searched for a while and was unable to find anything, he continued to remain without moving.
Twilight.
Night.
One full day had passed.
Then another day.
A young man arrived from afar.
A line of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Attention, once you meet yourself, Prayers will be expended in an especially rapid manner. You will very quickly be unable to remain in this life of hers any longer]
Gu Qing Shan descended and returned to the house.
The young man pushed the door open, then hesitantly looked at him and clasped his fist: “This humble one is Gu Qing Shan, might your grace be the one who made ‘Scorpio’?”
Gu Qing Shan’s lips twitched a bit before answering with a hoarse voice: “It was me”
The young man bowed again, then hesitantly said: “I want to ask you——-”
“Listen, I don’t have time to waste with you, so I’m only going to teach you once” Gu Qing Shan cut the young man’s words off.
He quickly took out 7-8 different bottles of liquor again, quickly mixing the drink in front of him.
A few moments later.
The drink was done.
A line of glowing text appeared on the War God UI: [You must leave now!]
Gu Qing Shan took the final seconds he had to quickly said:
“Remember, this drink is called the Scorpio, representing the lonely star in the sky”
“Only the one you want to protect may have this drink”
“It is imperfect, it needs you——-”
Instantly, Gu Qing Shan was violently pushed out from this world.
He floated in the boundless darkness, about to finish his words.
But once he noticed where he was, he went silent.
Lines of glowing text flickered in front of his eyes:
[Offering Dance of Three Lives, the Final Offering]
[You will see yourself once again, to protect you, the duration of this Final Offering will be reduced again]
Hoh——-
Darkness rapidly receded away from him.
Gu Qing Shan noticed that he was inside a bar.
The bar was already closed, but several people were still here talking.
Gu Qing Shan shivered shortly before using a presence concealment hand seal and entered the bar.
——with his current Star River Saint realm cultivation, the people in the modern world wouldn’t be able to detect him at all.
As soon as he entered, the situation at the time appeared clearly to them.
The young man from earlier had gone behind the counter to check the liquor on the shelf.
Feng Huo De looked a bit at the young man and whispered: “This is going a bit off-script, do we follow the plan and persuade him, or just kidnap him?”
Gu Qing Shan and Boss both held their breaths, silently observing this.
Anna stared at the young man before her, then again at the liquor bottles, silently answered, “Let’s wait for a bit, see what he wants to do”
The young man had already picked out quite a few bottles, placing 6-7 of them on the counter.
“Not yet, not enough”
He mumbled, then walked back and forth to pick out a few more bottles, then finally stopped.
“Good brother, what exactly are you doing?” Feng Huo De couldn’t help but ask.
The young man looked at him for a bit, then took out three glasses from under the bar and answered: “This is this life’s first meeting, we have to have a toast to celebrate”
“Not a bad idea” Anna was interested.
A few moments later.
A blood color cocktail was placed in front of Anna.
The cocktail swirled like a burning flame, but as you looked carefully into the core of the flame, all you could see was the darkness of the abyss.
Anna looked down at the cocktail, then up at the young man.
“Drink” the corner of the young man’s mouth lifted, trying to show his best smile.
“What is this one called?” Anna picked up the glass
“The Scorpio Palace”
“Why is it called that?”
“The Scorpio has a palace, around it the stars converge as guards, an undying star in the sky”
“What a… dumb explanation”
Lifting the glass, she drank it all in one gulp.
[1] this is the same word as ‘Karma’ in chapter 1414, but ‘predestination’ is a closer term to it, I only used the term ‘Karma’ in ch1414 in order to simplify an already difficult concept
