Translator: La0o9
A bolt of lightning streaked across the ground, rapidly flying into the distance.
After a certain point.
The lightning dispersed to reveal Gu Qing Shan.
He took advantage of the inertia in order to run for a bit longer before stopping in front of a tall cliff, looking forward.
“Truly a barren place…”
The world was desolate.
Snowflakes slowly drifted along with the wind.
Below the cliff, there was a vast icy river that stretched all the way towards the faraway snow peaks.
Gu Qing Shan carefully observed the surroundings as his expression gradually became solemn.
The banks of the icy river weren’t empty but instead it was littered with a number of ruined palaces.
Despite being tattered and covered in snow, these palaces still exuded an indescribable violent presence.
——what exactly is the Elements War?
Gu Qing Shan continued to think about this as he tightly grasped his bag, secured his bow and blade on his body, then gradually climbed down the side of the cliff.
Despite losing all of his powers, he still had the physique acquired from regularly practicing the martial scripture that Lin had taught him, so it wasn’t an issue for him to climb a cliff.
Not too long later, he was now standing on top of the snowy ground.
The snowfall had gotten even more severe.
Gu Qing Shan looked forward with narrowed eyes, noticing that the snowy weather had obscured everything that was more than 10 meters away, making it impossible for him to see anything with his naked eye.
Various strange cries and howls could be heard coming from the distant palace array.
Gu Qing Shan had never heard anything quite like that before.
——they sounded like they originated from some sort of mysterious being.
Suddenly, he noticed something and abruptly turned around.
“Ah…”
Other than this indescribable sigh, Gu Qing Shan couldn’t utter anything else.
He was stunned by the realization——
It turned out that the cliff wasn’t actually a cliff, but instead a gigantic statue.
Due to his proximity to the statue, Gu Qing Shan couldn’t observe exactly what the statue depicted.
He retreated away from the statue as far as possible until he witnessed the statue in all of its glory.
—–so it was actually a stone giant with its eyes closed.
The giant seemed to be completely motionless, almost like it was already dead.
Gu Qing Shan silently examined it for a few moments.
That’s right, almost as if it was already dead.
—-no wonder I couldn’t sense anything wrong before noticing it earlier.
He looked at the giant and tried calling out to it.
The stone giant didn’t respond.
Gu Qing Shan drew his blade and swung with some strength towards the stone giant’s feet.
The giant remained motionless.
Gu Qing Shan tried swinging with more power.
Sparks flew from the impact, accompanied by a chiming striking noise.
——still no reaction.
Is it sleeping so deeply that it can’t wake up?
Or is this guy actually just dead?
He put his blade away and tried placing a hand on the stone giant without any good reason to do so.
He felt an indiscernible sense of familiarity.
—–as if this giant somehow had a close relation with him.
Standing in the snowy wind, Gu Qing Shan silently examined the stone giant.
A large portion of the stone giant’s body was being obscured by snow, only a general silhouette could be discerned, but its entire body was still hidden.
All of a sudden, Gu Qing Shan turned his gaze towards a certain point.
The part where he had struck the stone giant with his blade.
A tiny crack had broken off from the outer stone shell, revealing a metallic sheen.
Could it be…
Gu Qing Shan crouched down and began to rub his blade against the stone like a file.
More metal was being exposed to him.
——this wasn’t a stone giant, but a wrought iron giant!
Gu Qing Shan felt shocked and couldn’t help but mutter:
“Who exactly are you?”
Only the sound of howling wind and snow could be heard between heaven and earth.
If this was any other point in the past, Gu Qing Shan would have been able to blow the snow away with a hand seal.
This way, he would have been able to carefully study the giant and find clues before he proceeded with anything else.
But now with his powers sealed, he could only look up at the stone giant, unable to remove even the outer layer of snow from the giant.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and thought back to how the five-headed monster had referred to this place.
—–it said this place was a prison.
Then what was the prison holding captive?
How are the giant and the prison related?
There’s too little information, and I can’t afford to make random guesses.
Gu Qing Shan turned his gaze back to the snowy wind.
On top of the cliff earlier, I saw a tattered palace array right ahead of this location.
Perhaps I should take a look at it first.
Not too long later.
Another large silhouette could be seen ahead of him.
—–another stone giant.
Although a large portion of it was still being obscured by snow, its identity could be discerned by the portion that was exposed.
Gu Qing Shan was quite a bit surprised.
This stone giant seemed to have gone through quite some intense battle, as it had now been greatly damaged.
It laid silently on the ground, completely motionless.
“Huh? Is that—–”
Gu Qing Shan noticed something and hurriedly ran forward, rubbing the snow away.
Some text written in common human language were engraved on the outside of the giant’s outer shell.
[A creation of the Human realm]
A creation!
It was forged from wrought iron!
A certain thought flashed through Gu Qing Shan’s mind.
Could it be…
He suddenly felt invigorated.
“So such things used to exist within the Samsara?”
Gu Qing Shan muttered and circled around the giant until he found a certain destroyed region.
A large hole had been broken into the giant’s body from this region, but the snow had hidden what was inside.
Gu Qing Shan hurriedly ran towards it and dusted the snow away.
Red cable wiring!
Looking at the cable wiring, Gu Qing Shan’s eyes practically lit up.
As expected!
This is most likely——–
Suddenly, hysterical laughter was suddenly heard in the wind:
「 Bahahaha, someone actually came here. It’s like you went straight to hell despite the gates of heaven being right next to you! 」
Gu Qing Shan didn’t even pause to think about who it was and immediately answered: “That’s right, I came here, what does your grace have to tell me?”
Red Dragon Origin Hex – Twist, activated!
After answering, Gu Qing Shan turned around towards the snowy wind.
The ground shook intensely as a snake-headed humanoid monster emerged from the ground, its body being restrained by several lengths of black chains.
The humanoid snake didn’t bother to chat and immediately drew a sharp dagger.
Raising the dagger, it grinned: 「 Although I’ve been imprisoned for quite a while, I can still attack without issues— go! 」
The dagger audibly ripped through the air.
And then it ripped back.
The humanoid snake was surprised and slowly looked down.
The dagger was now stabbed in its chest.
Very deeply.
Blood flowed down in a visible stream.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and silently muttered: “You’re bleeding, hurry and wipe it”
「 You bastard—– 」the humanoid snake furiously roared.
Boom!!!
It exuded immense killing intent and gritted its teeth: 「 I’m going to kill—— 」
Before it finished its words, Gu Qing Shan had already used the Wraith realm Divine Skill, [Lightning Wraith]!
His entire body turned into a bolt of lightning that rapidly moved backwards through the snow, traversing across the snowy ground and moving up the cliff before vanishing without a trace.
The humanoid snake was only halfway through its threat, having concentrated all of its spirits, but its target had already vanished before it could unleash the attack.
It blankly stood in the snowy wind and slowly retracted its fighting spirit, muttering blankly: 「 Did he… just… run? 」
Again, before it finished its words.
With a flash of light, Gu Qing Shan reappeared in front of it.
He raised his blade—–
Sha!
His blade slashed across the monster’s neck.
A bloody mark appeared.
The monster roared: 「 You have a death w—–」
Gu Qing Shan had already activated [Lightning Wraith] again as soon as he swung his blade.
Once again, he turned into a bolt of lightning and rapidly moved backwards through the snow, traversing across the snowy ground and moving up the cliff before vanishing without a trace.
The monster’s fighting spirit was once again stifled, leading to it being stunned.
At another location.
A bolt of lightning traveled rapidly across the barren wasteland and ran up the fortress wall, stopping as he reached the top.
Gu Qing Shan reappeared.
“Hoh—- that attack just now was dangerous, I sensed the danger of death from that. Good thing I ran quickly”
He spoke to himself and knocked a brick off the fortress wall using his blade.
He first cut the brick thinly, then carved out two eyes, a nose, and a mouth from it.
A simple mask was made.
From the sky, a resounding voice echoed:
「 What are you doing? 」
The five-headed monster appeared and curiously asked.
Gu Qing Shan had already noticed it peeking at him from above the clouds as soon as he returned.
Unfortunately, whenever it exposed even the littlest bit of killing intent, an arc of lightning would appear around Gu Qing Shan’s body like he was prepared to run.
This made it so that the five-headed monster could only give up on that idea.
——this brat is too sharp, I wouldn’t be able to do anything before he runs away, and I can’t catch up.
—-but what is he doing?
Gu Qing Shan took out a string and tied it on the mask, securing it on his face.
“How does it look?” he asked the five-headed monster.
「 …Terrible 」the five-headed monster had no idea how to respond, so it coldly replied.
“You don’t get it, this is my mech helmet visor from the past, it’s styled to be slightly Gothic. Even though I don’t use mechs anymore, I can still remember it clearly, just look at how cool these curves are” Gu Qing Shan explained.
The five-headed monsters stared straight at him.
Who cares about your curves, I’m trying to look for an opening, bastard!
「 What are you afraid of that you’re wearing a mask? 」the five-headed monster asked.
“That’s right, I’m about to do something a bit humiliating, but I don’t want anyone to know that it’s me——”
「 So you’re wearing a mask just because of that? 」the five-headed monster asked, seemingly interested.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and helplessly said: “I don’t have any powers right now, so certain things are difficult to achieve. I have no choice but to ignore my dignity and reputation to finish them first”
“That’s why I’m wearing this mask to hide who I am”
