Chapter 383: A toast to everyone
Gu Qing Shan appeared next to a bunch of rocks.
Thanks to Divine Skill, [Ground Shrink], he had made it really far in just the blink of an eye.
Behind him, in the darkness, an overwhelming invisible pressure emerged.
This was a pressure unique to Demon Lords.
Contempt towards mortals.
Slaughter for fun.
Feeling this pressure, Gu Qing Shan did not immediately run away.
His sharp claws dug deep into the rocks as he knelt down, breathing heavily.
This was the same pressure he felt during his past life.
The feeling didn’t fade away, couldn’t fade away.
The recollections of the past struck him like a storm, although Gu Qing Shan never intended to reject these memories in the first place.
A person was sobbing as they reported: “General Gu, the Vanguard met the Demon Lord, they couldn’t react in time, they were completely wiped out”
“How many people?”
“300 thousand! 300 thousand men! General Gu!”
Badum
Gu Qing Shan gasped, feeling a slight pain in his chest.
The cold air of the underground followed the gasp into his body, temporarily letting him regain his calm.
His inner sight spread out as Gu Qing Shan once again disappeared.
The second [Ground Shrink]!
In a flash, Gu Qing Shan appeared in the middle of the horde of demons.
There were still an obscene amount of demons here, all highly alert.
They formed layers upon layers of defense.
Behind them was Huang Quan, this part was already the end of the tunnel.
The demons will not allow any soul to enter Huang Quan.
Gu Qing Shan staggered.
“Die!”
Almost uncontrollably, he swung his claws.
Blood splattered everywhere.
The demons around him started howling.
Gu Qing Shan disappeared.
He reappeared again in a demon camp a few hundred miles away.
He was still hurriedly rushing through.
The demons looked up at him in surprise.
But that was all they did, none of the demons actively attacked him.
As Gu Qing Shan was sprinting, he suddenly fell down rolling on the ground.
The Demon Lord pressure was still following him from behind.
As if it were a trigger, another memory that he sealed away in his mind resurfaced.
A mountain.
One littered with dead human corpses.
A giant terrifying face appeared from one side of the mountain, staring down at the human camp.
“General Gu, flee quickly!”
“The rest of you flee, I’m a sword cultivator, I can still hold it off for a while!”
The soldiers said nothing, went up, grabbed and pulled him back.
More and more armored soldiers went in front of him, attempting to hold off the Demon Lord.
“Sir strategist cannot die, we’ll hold it off”
“At my orders! Squad 1, forward!”
“Squad 2, follow!”
“This is it men!”
“We’re risking it all!”
The giant face slowly opened its mouth.
Countless desperate screams of soldiers resounded.
…
The cold air in the tunnel once again came, shocking Gu Qing Shan awake.
He was trembling nonstop.
He suddenly yelled out.
“No!”
The demons around could only here a high-pitched howl from a Sharp-boned Demon.
Following that, the Sharp-boned Demon staggered to stand up.
While the demons were still confused, they felt a sharp, abrupt pain.
Their heads were severed, killed on the spot.
The Sharp-boned Demon disappeared in front of the demons.
A few hundred miles away, it reappeared.
The dark tunnel was now a flat open road, the cold air blowing forward could almost freeze someone to death.
The Earth sword suddenly spoke up with a hurried voice: 「 I can feel immense demonic god power erupting, quickly hide! 」
Roar!
Behind him, inside the long dark tunnel, a thunderous roar resounded.
The roar even picked up a small typhoon.
The worst result.
That minute change I caused actually woke up the Demon Lord!
Gu Qing Shan’s heart sank.
There’s no more going back.
The only chance at survival is Huang Quan.
Run!
Run with all you can!
While Gu Qing Shan’s mind was screaming, his body stood still without moving.
The Demon Lord pressure was beginning to become heavier.
The desperate feelings from his past life enveloped him, forcing his memories to the surface.
A voice came deep from those memories.
“Huh, so you managed to climb and became a commander of humanity?”
A relaxed female voice.
“Ah? You found a really strong liquor? What a dumb guy… alright, this Empress can only accept your date invitation”
The flames flew away, then came again.
The girl’s voice came from communication talisman once more.
“I’m currently at camp No.571, a bit far you where you are, but if you’re willing to, come and look for me”
“Ah, right, don’t forget the liquor you hear? We’re going to drink until we black out”
The very next scene, dirt and mud was being flung into the air.
Explosions!
Desperate cries!
Someone angrily roared: “Gu Qing Shan, you can’t go, that place was already discovered by the Demon Lord!”
He turned to leave.
Someone came out from the camp, loudly calling out to him: “General Gu, please return, that place is done for!”
He was moving with all he had.
He hadn’t rushed somewhere this hurriedly ever before in his entire life.
Faster!
Finally, he stood on top of a tree, looking down at the flames of destruction erupting from camp No.571.
The flames reflected in his eyes.
The flames died out.
Everything died out.
Intense pain.
“Wake up! Gu Qing Shan!”
The Earth sword came out from the void of space and hit him on the shoulder.
Gu Qing Shan woke up.
He never knew the Earth sword could be so hurried, so desperate.
“Flee now, Gu Qing Shan! The Demon Lord is coming here!”
The Chao Yin sword also appeared hovering next to the Earth sword.
It was also letting out worried ‘wu wu’ sounds.
Right, now I have to run.
Flee!
Gu Qing Shan gritted his teeth.
He jumped up and started to fly.
No, this won’t cut it.
He gave up on flying and activated [Ground Shrink]
Compared to [Shadow Shift], [Ground Shrink] doesn’t cost too much spirit energy to use.
Luckily, he currently has the body of a demon so he wasn’t afraid of teleporting in the middle of a group of demons.
He kept appearing, then disappearing within the large horde of demons.
Whenever he did, he moved a long distance away, making it to the next demon camp.
Gu Qing Shan felt something coming.
He ignored spirit energy expenditures and used [Ground Shrink] repeatedly to cover vast distances at a time.
After a while, Gu Qing Shan stopped.
A dark shadow appeared behind, trying to grab him.
It was a giant hand covered in black fur.
It moved quickly to catch Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan disappeared immediately.
But when he appeared again, another giant hand made from black mist was waiting for him.
The hand of black mist quickly covered the entire tunnel and crashed down on Gu Qing Shan.
「 The enemy is a demonic god, use me quickly! 」 the Earth sword hurriedly called out.
“I know!” Gu Qing Shan answered.
Gu Qing Shan grabbed the Earth sword and put his all into slashing the hand of black mist.
Secret Art, [Torrent].
This was a powerful Secret Art.
Overflowing sword phantoms flowed like a torrent, stabbing the hand of black mist, but only managed to open a gap half the size of a person.
Gu Qing Shan tilted his body to move through the gap, quickly following his sword phantoms through the hand.
Roar!
A furious voice came from far away inside the dark tunnel.
They were too far apart.
The Demon Lord couldn’t exert all of its powers.
Once Gu Qing Shan passed through he black mist, he didn’t even turn around and immediately used [Ground Shrink] again!.
Hundreds of miles in the blink of an eye.
Ahead.
A faint light could be seen in the endless darkness.
It was the exit of the tunnel, the faint light was coming from the world of Huang Quan!
Gu Qing Shan disappeared again and reappeared at the exit.
He went through without any hesitation.
The light quickly expanded.
Hoh, hoh, hoh!
Intense wind blew against him, almost knocking Gu Qing Shan away.
A vast sea of clouds appeared in front of his eyes.
Gu Qing Shan found himself in the air, quickly flying downwards.
As he looked down, a large, seemingly endless river appeared in his vision.
The river water shimmered faintly as the flow was intense.
Clouds of mist came out from the river, slowly rising up to become black clouds.
Gu Qing Shan’s body moved without stopping, he was even speeding up like a falling meteorite.
Dispelling [All Things Equal], he returned to his original form.
Since there aren’t any demons around here, there’s no need to disguise himself as one anymore.
If he’s discovered by the forces of Huang Quan, they might attack him by mistake instead.
His flying speed suddenly shot up.
There was a Demon Lord chasing after him, there was not even a single second to waste.
The Chao Yin sword flew out, ‘wu wu’-ing nonstop to Gu Qing Shan.
It was explaining something.
“I know, that’s the Forgetting River of legends, I definitely can’t touch it!” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The Forgetting River in legends was a place where no creatures can enter.
Asides from the dead people of Huang Quan, if any other creatures enter the Forgetting River, they will instantly forget everything that has happened in their lives and be sent to reincarnation.
This was the literal river of the dead.
The strongest Law of Huang Quan.
The Chao Yin sword ‘wu wu’ again.
A drop of water that let out a faint pressure hovered from the blade of the sword.
Forgetting River water.
A single drop of Forgetting River water that took the black cloaked skeleton 1000 years to slowly accumulate.
A line of glowing text hurriedly scrolled past the War God UI.
[The Chao Yin sword is requesting you to allow it to refine this drop of precious Forgetting River water, gaining the recognition of the Forgetting River]
[The Chao Yin sword is requesting you to spend 1000 Soul Points to help it refine the Forgetting River water]
Gu Qing Shan didn’t even hesitate: “I’ll allow it!”
One short moment, the faint drop of water scattered and turned into mist that hovered the Chao Yin sword’s body.
[Ting]!
[Refinement complete, the Chao Yin sword can now use ‘Even a sea of suffering will pass’ on the Forgetting River]
Perfectly timed!
Even a Demon Lord wouldn’t dare go into the Forgetting River.
All I need to do is hide into the river and I’ll be safe.
Together with his swords, Gu Qing Shan jetted through the layers of clouds, heading towards the grand Forgetting River.
The very next moment, the Demon Lord pressure appeared behind him.
Overwhelming killing intent bent in destroying everything.
At that moment, a thought couldn’t help but surface Gu Qing Shan’s heart.
Hide?
I’m running to hide?
Gu Qing Shan glanced around.
The air.
His sword.
A great river.
Intense wind.
This was such a familiar scene.
The deepest memory resurfaced.
A military camp.
The sound of metal armor touching the ground resounded one after another.
Tens of thousands of soldiers were kneeling together.
“Strategist Gu, I’m willing to Tong Gui”
“Tong Gui”
“With this blood of mine, I’m willing to sacrifice myself”
Voices one after another, echoing as it became a wave.
Countless voices turned into lights as they joined together in the sword formation.
He flew up as he caught the wind.
After that…
Oong!
The Chao Yin sword was ringing intensely.
Gu Qing Shan regained his senses.
He looked up.
7-8 gigantic arms appeared out of nowhere in the sky.
Some of these arms were long, others short, a few let out a looming chill, or a frightening green poison mist.
They were all reaching for Gu Qing Shan.
“Chao Yin!” Gu Qing Shan shouted.
He flashed and passed through a great distance all at once.
When he reappeared, Gu Qing Shan was only a few hundred meters off the surface of the water.
The Chao Yin sword shook.
A faint light, almost like a burning flame appeared from the blade of the sword.
Holding the Chao Yin sword in hand, Gu Qing Shan pointed it at the vast river below.
The Forgetting River split apart by itself, giving him passage to the bottom of the river.
The Forgetting River has recognized him.
Following this, Gu Qing Shan only needs to go into the water to be safe.
Without a pause, Gu Qing Shan headed straight into the Forgetting River at great speed.
500 meters.
200 meters.
30 meters.
I’m here!
When Gu Qing Shan reached the surface of the water, he stopped.
“What is it? Quickly go in” the Earth sword rang as it spoke.
Gu Qing Shan silently stood straight.
The wind was blowing through his hair, wind strong enough to make his sleeves flutter chaotically.
But he stood still without moving.
One of the Demon God’s arms quickly arrived.
The giant hand was about to grab Gu Qing Shan.
He disappeared and reappeared on top of the hand, swinging the Earth sword down at it.
“AAAAAAAAA!”
He angrily roared as he struck the Demon Lord arm straight into the Forgetting River.
It strike wasn’t able to even leave a scratch.
But when the hand touched the Forgetting River, it started to squirm in fear.
Useless.
This was the Forgetting River.
This was where the Laws of Huang Quan are the thickest.
The arm only managed to squirm twice before losing all life force.
It slowly sank down into the Forgetting River.
Gu Qing Shan lightly nodded as he watched this.
You cannot touch Forgetting River, otherwise even a Demon Lord wouldn’t get off easy.
Seemingly noticing this, all the Demon Lord arms in the sky disappeared.
Far in the sky above.
A giant face appeared from the tunnel, furiously looking around.
It looked at the faint Forgetting River below.
The Forgetting River is always flowing intensely, like an arrow that had been fired, like a horse without a rein, never stopping.
That ant of a human was standing on the Forgetting River without a hint of fear in its eyes.
The giant roared with anger.
I actually let such a puny soul pass through the dark tunnel.
I wouldn’t make such a mistake even in my sleep.
That puny human even managed to destroy one of my arms.
“How did such an insignificant soul manage to pass through me?”
The giant couldn’t understand.
But it decided that there was no need to.
Afterall, as long as it catches the soul, it’ll obtain all the memories of the soul by carefully devouring it bit by bit.
As long as it gets the memories, it’ll know what it wants.
Thinking that, the giant braved the wind and descended.
Dozens of arms with different abilities detached from its body, flying around the giant.
The giant’s speed wasn’t slower than Gu Qing Shan using [Ground Shrink].
It was moving as fast as possible towards the human.
Gu Qing Shan looked up at the Demon Lord.
He stayed still.
It wasn’t until the Demon Lord entered the range of his inner sight did he swung the Chao Yin sword.
The river started to split apart.
Gu Qing Shan slowly went down.
The water moved around, ensuring that not a drop of water touched him.
“No! Insignificant human soul! I want your memories!”
The giant roared.
Gu Qing Shan kept sinking.
Until he wasn’t seen anymore.
After a few moments.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly appeared in the air.
While the giant together with all its arms appeared in a strange space.
There wasn’t a drop of water in this space.
All the Forgetting River water was actively avoiding this place.
The faint flowing water reflected dancing lights on the giant’s body.
But this only lasted for the blink of an eye.
Even a sea of suffering will pass, does not include Demon Lords (1)
The Forgetting River closed up.
Above the intense flowing river stream, a whirlpool was suddenly formed.
The Demon Lord was struggling to escape.
But to no avail.
This was the strongest Law of Huang Quan.
This water doesn’t only make you forget everything, it’s the line that separates the reincarnation of life and death itself.
In a mere 2 breaths, the Demon Lord stopped struggling.
Gu Qing Shan hovered above the water, silently watching this.
A few moments later.
The Demon Lord’s body floated up.
Gu Qing Shan stared at the Demon Lord’s body and stayed silent.
After a short moment, he muttered: “My memories are my most precious belonging, you can’t have it”
He then took out a bottle of liquor brewed long ago from his Inventory Bag.
As he popped the cork open, the aroma filled the area.
Then he let it go.
A bottle of precious liquor brewed for so many years dropped into the Forgetting River, silently bobbing up and down by the Demon Lord’s body.
“A toast to all of you”
Gu Qing Shan looked up and stayed that way for a while as the cold wind blew the wetness off the corners of his eyes.
“Please be assured, I will protect you this time around”
“I swear”
Note:
(1) Even a sea of suffering will pass, does not include Demon Lords: The word that I translate as “pass” actually have another meaning in Chinese, which roughly means “to give salvation” or “to free”, thus the idiom “Even a sea of suffering will pass” can also mean “Even if I have to pass a sea of suffering I will, to give salvation”
