Within the tomb river.
A strange monster was bobbing up and down as it flowed down the river.
The skull with the elongated cheeks.
It was constantly exuding a violent aura as it solemnly moved along the tomb river.
If anything appeared, it would immediately notice.
——it only got struck by the brick the previous time because it had let its guard down.
But the situation seems to be a bit different now.
As soon as it appeared, everything fell to absolute silence.
The other monsters who were hiding in the shadows had already fled, scared that they might be targeted by this Apocalyptic monster.
——Gu Qing Shan also didn’t want to anger it.
He was hiding behind a large rock near the banks of the tomb river while concealing his presence, silently waiting for the elongated skull to leave this area before he kept moving.
After moving continuously for over 10 hours, this location could be said to be relatively safe, so he was taking a short rest.
If he kept heading a few hundred more miles in this direction, he’d reach the depths of the tomb river.
There would be a lot more monsters there, with danger at every corner.
Gu Qing Shan originally intended to recuperate his strength here.
But he didn’t expect to run into the elongated skull monster.
“Why hasn’t it left?”
Gu Qing Shan silently thought.
The elongated skull seemed to be drifting around this area, refusing to leave because it had sensed something.
Not only did it refuse to leave, but it was also blocking Gu Qing Shan’s way forward.
It was causing a considerable delay.
Gu Qing Shan waited for a while longer, then couldn’t help but ask the Delimitation Divine Sword:
“How far away are we?”
「 With your speed, there’s only around half a day’s journey left 」the Delimitation Divine Sword answered.
“In other words, we’re very close” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
「 But the situation would only become increasingly more complicated and dangerous as we progress, you should prepare yourself well 」the Delimitation Divine Sword replied.
Gu Qing Shan nodded without replying.
The Delimitation Divine Sword continued: 「 In this situation, I can actually provide you with more support—— as soon as you hear me explain my Thaumaturgies, you’d be recognized as my wielder 」
Gu Qing Shan said: “If I did that, I’d gain the Deific Authority that corresponds to you and would no longer be able to obtain the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, right?”
「 That’s right, we represent different Samsara Deific Authorities, so you will have to choose between me and the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, it’s impossible to obtain both 」the Delimitation Divine Sword affirmed.
Gu Qing Shan smiled wryly and sent his voice: “Then there’s nothing I can do, I want to find my original sword”
「 Suit yourself, but you won’t be able to use any of my powers, and the road up ahead will become even more dangerous 」the Delimitation Divine Sword said.
“It’s fine” Gu Qing Shan replied.
He decided to just sit down behind the rock, closed his eyes, and got comfortable.
Time slowly passed by.
Above the tomb river, the elongated skull continued to circle around for a while, having found nothing, it finally decided to give up and started floating downstream the tomb river.
——this place was finally quiet again.
Gu Qing Shan silently felt glad and prepared to resume his journey without taking any more breaks.
But after the first few steps, he had to stop.
In front of him.
A figure slowly appeared from inside the river.
It was a feminine figure with a mask on her face and a full set of armor.
Her arms were crossed behind her back, her steps were firm and steady, slowly making her way in front of Gu Qing Shan from within the river.
—–it turns out that a living person had been hiding inside the river this whole time.
No wonder the elongated skull refused to leave.
But the fact that this female wasn’t discovered by the elongated skull until it gave up and left suggested that she had some skills.
“I don’t think we’ve met?” Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist and greeted her.
He carefully thought back and confirmed that this masked female wasn’t among the Sequence Envoys who came out to pressure him earlier.
If she was there, he would definitely not forget.
“You have a choice to make, Gu Qing Shan”
The girl spoke with a grim tone.
“What choice?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“To either kill me, or be killed by me” the girl declared.
Gu Qing Shan took a close look at her and took a few steps back.
After waiting for a few breaths’ worth of time, she asked: “Why aren’t you attacking?”
“There’s no grudge from the past, and no animosity recently, I can’t kill such a person” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The girl muttered: “Really now… you’ve always been like that…”
Gu Qing Shan frowned.
That girl is wearing a mask so I can’t see her face, but not only did she manage to avoid the elongated skull’s search, but she even knows about my habits.
That’s a bit strange.
Gu Qing Shan asked: “Do you have some business with me?”
The girl didn’t answer.
Her figure became blurred and vanished from where she was standing.
In that instant, Gu Qing Shan drew the Delimitation Divine Sword from the void of space——-
And slashed the air!
Clang——
His sword had received a strike from a blade, which caused an intense shockwave to blow in every direction.
The trees and bushes around them couldn’t endure the will behind the sword and blade, so they were swiftly reduced to dust in the wind.
Both of them took a step back.
Gu Qing Shan held up his sword as defense.
“If you won’t kill me, then die!”
The girl stepped forward again, brandishing her blade into tens of thousands of blade images that ferociously struck towards Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan raised his sword into a middle stance and thrust it forward, producing tens of thousands of black sword images that bloomed like a lotus to receive the barrage of blades.
Secret Art, [Drawn Shadow]!
Within the torrent of clashing metal noises, the girl suddenly heaved a loud cry as her figure moved through the maze of strikes.
“DIE!”
Both of her hands were grasping the blade tightly, forgoing any sort of technique as she charged straight at Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan’s eyes grew cold.
What a ferocious woman, deciding to move through the blade images with her bare body while ignoring the injuries she sustained.
She’s willingly taking injuries in exchange for the initiative.
——-the initiative to kill the enemy!
The blade was raised.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t attempt to defend either and thrust his sword straight towards the girl’s heart.
[Swallow’s Return]!
Seemingly unfazed, the girl exerted her full strength into her blade to rip through the void of space while aiming at the top of Gu Qing Shan’s head!
As if she was aiming for mutually assured destruction!
What a ferocious blade style!
Gu Qing Shan’s heart jumped, but didn’t have the time to use any other techniques, so he could only tilt the point of his sword slightly——
Secret Art, [Despairing Rise]!
Clang——–
The sound of clashing metal rang across heaven and earth.
Sword qi and blade qi were scattered everywhere, an opening was ripped into the sky itself, causing all the plants and debris around them to be erased.
The girl completely canceled out the force of the strike by tilting her body slightly, then turned her blade and attempted another slash.
Capable of reacting to a Secret Art so flexibly, and even attempting a counterattack.
Gu Qing Shan’s pupils become dilated, his attitude becoming even more serious.
—–this is a battle-experienced opponent!
Wielding his sword with both hands, he thrust forward.
[River Traversing Iron Sword]!
A gigantic sword phantom emerged from the sword to receive the frigid blade slash.
At almost the exact same time——
Gu Qing Shan had already leapt into the air to receive the girl’s downward slash.
Heaven and earth were messed up.
Like a lightning storm, the sword and blade boomed repeatedly as they clashed, so loud that they drowned out everything else in their surroundings.
After a few seconds, two streaks of light could be seen pursuing one another, crossing repeatedly before they descended on the ground at the same time.
The earth cracked and spread from the shockwaves that radiated from their landing positions.
In the crater.
The blade was propped across Gu Qing Shan’s neck.
While the sword had already struck the girl’s mask.
The girl didn’t move.
Gu Qing Shan gently lifted his sword and moved the mask away from the girl’s face.
A beautiful but familiar face appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan’s vision.
Ning Yue Chan.
“You knew it was me?” she asked.
“After the first few strikes, I started to realize that it might be you” Gu Qing Shan replied.
That answer seemed to satisfy Ning Yue Chan.
“Why are you here? I thought that you were also reinforced with an [Order]” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“I gave it up” Ning Yue Chan replied.
“But why?” Gu Qing Shan wondered.
“I prefer pure combat” Ning Yue Chan answered.
“Are you a Chosen Saint?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.
“It’s a long story” Ning Yue Chan said.
Gu Qing Shan went silent.
Their battle just now must have caught the attention of others.
Very soon, people would arrive to examine the situation.
It might have attracted some Apocalyptic monsters out to hunt as well.
There’s too much to talk about.
It seems there won’t be an opportunity to have a nice and long chat.
Ning Yue Chan glared at him briefly and muttered: “I originally shouldn’t have shown myself, but I felt a bit worried so I waited for you here”
“Worried about what?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
Suddenly, some tiny commotions could be heard from outside.
Ning Yue Chan’s expression twitched a little bit before she placed her hand on Gu Qing Shan’s chest.
Her voice slowly became gentle:
“Regarding swordsmanship, you’ve definitely improved a lot; but from the shadows, whenever I watch you being so busy with scheming and planning for everything, I was worried that——”
“To save everything, you’re gradually letting yourself be consumed by countless schemes, slowly forgetting what you truly have to do”
Gu Qing Shan appeared shocked and parroted her words: “What I truly have to do…”
“You should understand what I mean” Ning Yue Chan sternly asked: “As cultivators, what is our foundation and basis?”
She stared straight at Gu Qing Shan for a while.
Behind her, the scene of an intense war slowly unraveled itself.
Within that world, there was nothing except battles where one exerted everything one possessed, every single individual was constantly cheering for battle, howling and roaring for killing.
“Gu Qing Shan, as brilliant as you are, you can defeat countless enemies with nothing but wits, so you surely have a way to resolve your issues from their roots”
After saying that, Ning Yue Chan took a step back to enter the world of war.
At the very last moment, she seemed to have recalled something and smiled.
“Once this is all over, I will be coming for your love”
In an instant, the entire scenery vanished.
She had left.
Gu Qing Shan stood still, falling into deep thought.
At this time, a monster with a humanoid face and eight sharp claws appeared above the crater to look down.
「 A living person, hek hek hek… 」
A blurred shadow flew up and split the monster’s head in half.
The blurred shadow swiftly returned and hovered next to Gu Qing Shan.
The Delimitation Divine Sword.
「 More people will be coming to examine the situation soon, aren’t you going to leave? 」it reminded him.
Gu Qing Shan nodded absentmindedly, but didn’t move an inch.
A few moments later.
He suddenly called out in his mind: “Sequence”
[I’m here] the Supreme Sequence answered.
Gu Qing Shan said: “Up until now… I’ve always been forced to move forward… unable to do anything but use everything at my disposal to compete…”
[What are you trying to say?] the Sequence asked.
Gu Qing Shan considered his words: “I’m just thinking, now that you’ve become the Supreme Sequence, can I still issue a War God Quest?”
[Naturally yes] the Sequence answered.
Gu Qing Shan said: “Then I want to issue a Quest right now”
[What is the objective for this Quest?] the Supreme Sequence asked.
“—–To become the strongest”
Gu Qing Shan calmly answered.
The Supreme Sequence fell silent.
Without a sound, lines of bloody red text began to pop up in the void of space one after another:
[You’ve found the correct goal]
[The Quest to awaken all Sequence members have been temporarily aborted]
[New Quest accepted: The Strongest!]
[The Sequence will begin to absorb all hidden power to convert into the highest possible Sequence at this point in time]
[The list of powers, sorted by time obtained is as follow:]
[No.1: The Eternal Mind Seizer’s seed of power]
[No.2: The Lord of Annihilation’s power]
[No.3: The Silent Light Apocalypse’s power]
[…]
