Gu Qing Shan quickly left the room.
A voice was sent telepathically into his mind:
『 Xie Qi Ruler, I noticed something isn’t right in the waters surrounding us 』
This was from the Silent Ruler.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t stop and replied: “Can you revoke your covenant with the Lord of Total Distortion?”
『 I can, but I will have to pay a very heavy price 』
“Any price will be worth it, the Lord of Total Distortion has made a deal with the 100-million-year-old ancient sea creatures and sold all of us out, if you can run away, do it now”
『 WHAT!? 』the Silent Ruler screamed in surprise.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t say anything else.
As he was about to leave, he stopped.
Because at this crucial moment, lines of blood-red text appeared on the [Kindling] UI:
[Kindling has changed to evolution mode]
[Attention please. The Kindling evolution Quest has officially been issued]
[Quest description: Ancient demonic sea creatures are currently collecting the Mysteries of all evil creatures’ birth to study how to thoroughly counter these life forms, and they are already close to succeeding]
[Quest objective: All evil creatures on this ship will be killed and turned into experimental specimens. Please do not leave and remain hidden in the vicinity during the entire specimen creation process. Survive during this period so that Kindling can absorb the knowledge of the Mysteries of the evil creatures’ birth and Soul Points to complete this time’s evolution]
[Quest reward: Your Excellency will be reinforced with Worlds Apocalypse Online: Origin]
Gu Qing Shan read through everything.
At the same time, the ocean around them was being filled with fog and mist.
The cold mist quickly spread and engulfed the entire giant ship inside.
The mist was stagnant and thick, even if some evil creatures tried controlling the wind to blow it away, it would quickly gather again and become even thicker.
The evil creatures’ range of visibility became worse and worse until they couldn’t see anything outside of the ship anymore.
Abruptly, a desperate scream could be heard from the mist outside.
That was only the beginning as more scattered screams and cries rang out all over the ocean around the giant ship.
There were still quite a few evil creatures who were out to hunt for seafood and patrol in the ocean.
The sound of battle slowly resounded.
But they didn’t last for long, as everything went back to silence quite quickly.
The mist was getting thicker and thicker.
A loud ‘bang’ came from inside the giant ship that was more like a city on water.
Followed by screams, shouts, echoes of battle, of things banging against one another, overall, a huge commotion.
Apparently realizing something, Gu Qing Shan used [Ground Shrink] and disappeared on the spot.
Where he stood before, a fleshy tentacle broke through the floor and began to spread all around.
Gu Qing Shan reappeared somewhere else on the ship, hovering in mid-air as he used his inner sight to sense what was unfolding right now.
Countless black fleshy tentacles were slowly taking over this ship.
The tentacles moved about wildly, snatching and coiling around the bodies of any evil creature they caught, making them unable to break free.
The evil creatures tried to retaliate with everything they had, but it was all useless against the fleshy tentacles.
Very quickly, the evil creatures that were caught screamed in horror as their bodies slowly dried up.
While keeping them alive, all the flesh and bones inside their bodies were sucked away by the fleshy tentacles, leaving nothing but a bag of skin.
The intense pain that came from this was enough to cause even the hardiest evil creature to lose their composure and scream.
Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but scowl.
He has seen a lot of cruel punishments in the past, but this scene unfolding in front of him could no longer be thought of as a ‘punishment’.
All of a sudden, he saw an evil creature desperately running away while swinging his chef’s knife.
“Tch…”
Gu Qing Shan squinted his eyes.
This was one of the chefs on this ship that he got acquainted with, the two of them exchanged a lot of their achievements in the art of cooking.
Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and sent out about a dozen flying swords to save that chef.
But with the quantity of fleshy tentacles on the ship, at this rate, Gu Qing Shan wouldn’t be able to protect him too long.
“[Kindling], will all the evil creatures on this ship die?” he asked.
[Kindling] replied: [Yes. The demonic sea creatures only need a specimen of the evil creatures to begin their study, during their process of creating specimens, Kindling will automatically begin Soul Points collection, so you don’t have to worry about Soul Points. Your Excellency can focus on surviving]
After answering him, [Kindling] fell silent.
It seemed to be hurriedly doing something.
On the [Kindling] UI, his Soul Points value was gradually increasing, at the same time, another notification popped up:
[Collecting and analyzing Life Origin Mysteries]
Gu Qing Shan looked around.
More and more evil creatures were being caught by the fleshy tentacles.
There were several million evil creatures currently riding on this giant ship, and huge numbers of them were quickly being captured and killed by the fleshy tentacles every second.
Meanwhile, the Soul Points value displayed on the [Kindling] had reached an all-time high of 900,000 and was still gradually climbing to the 1-million mark.
But Gu Qing Shan wasn’t at all pleased to see this.
All of this Soul Points were going to be used for [Kindling]’s evolution, and this stealing method of Soul Points collection made him feel quite irritated.
The fleshy tentacles were absorbing the evil creatures’ flesh and blood, while the [Demon King Order] was absorbing the power of their souls.
“I only need to stand here without doing anything…” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
As desperation and death spread all over, the ship had become essentially hell on the ocean.
But while Gu Qing Shan was standing still, his armor gave off a layer of black smog that completely engulfed him.
Soon enough, the black smog and Gu Qing Shan both vanished from the air.
[Black Smog Boots: When you stand absolutely still, the black smog will conceal you, only enemies 3 realms higher will be able to perceive you]
As Gu Qing Shan was now a Void Wanderer realm cultivator, only enemies at the Paragon realm or above could perceive him.
With that assumption, the master of these fleshy tentacles was at most Three Thousand Worlds realm.
It might be quite close to Paragon realm, but haven’t quite reached the final step.
Within the confines of the Primordial Heaven Realm and Primordial Wraith Realm, it should already be among the strongest.
Gu Qing Shan silently mused.
At some point, he suddenly shivered briefly.
The black smog faded.
Gu Qing Shan could be seen again.
Noticing this, [Kindling] quickly alarmed him:
[Your Excellency, please continue to conceal yourself to avoid dying here]
Gu Qing Shan shook his head: “It’s ok”
A few fleshy tentacles already noticed Gu Qing Shan.
They came out of the deck and reached towards him.
With a single thought, Gu Qing Shan summoned countless flying swords from the void of space that gave off icy cold sword qi.
Like a swarm of locusts, the flying swords surrounded the fleshy tentacles.
All of them were slashed into tiny pieces.
“For my current self, these things aren’t quite as powerful as they seem” Gu Qing Shan muttered.
Sword cultivators were originally an extremely offense-specialized Profession, and he had now reached Void Wanderer realm.
With the immense spirit energy reservoir of the Void Wanderer realm, any sword technique he performed carried unimaginable power.
Human or evil creature, Gu Qing Shan could now be considered among the strongest individuals in both worlds.
Even in the future—— his present era, he could already be considered a Lord-class Combatant.
In the air, as soon as the fleshy tentacles were slashed to pieces, the other flesh tentacles immediately realized.
The countless fleshy tentacles madly rained down attacks on Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan simply stood still.
As the fleshy tentacles were about to coil around him, he suddenly vanished.
A wooden table appeared where he previously stood in the air.
With a light touch of the fleshy tentacles, the table was smashed to tiny bits.
The fleshy tentacles instantly realized something was amiss and began to madly search the air.
But no matter how they tried, they couldn’t find the powerful fellow just now.
Gu Qing Shan had already moved towards another corner of the ship and hid in a secluded spot.
Black smog once again emerged from his armor and faded away together with him.
[Kindling]’s voice suddenly resounded:
[What are you doing, Your Excellency? It is very dangerous right now, if you were caught by those flesh tentacles, I would not be able to save you, Your Excellency. Please be more careful and not mess around with your own life]
Gu Qing Shan just chuckled and spoke: “Two people on the chef team have already died. These guys’ cooking were very well-honed, the seafood they cooked had their own charms”
[Kindling] spoke again: [Please be patient, a total of 2 million Soul Points is necessary for the Order to evolve. It will be done in about one minute]
“So all I have to do is stand still?”
[Indeed]
Boom!
A loud explosion came from mid-air.
Gu Qing Shan looked up.
The Silent Ruler was leading a few of the strongest evil creatures of the ship to fight against the innumerable fleshy tentacles.
But the Silent Ruler’s strength wasn’t even a match for Gu Qing Shan before he broke through, so she obviously couldn’t hold up against the countless tentacles here.
Gu Qing Shan silently looked at the struggling evil creatures in the sky.
“[Kindling], I have a suggestion”
He finally said.
[You want to save these evil creatures?] [Kindling] sharply asked.
“No, the Lord of Total Distortion treated me as some sort of canned goods to be sold away to the demonic sea creatures, so I’m a bit irritated with that”
Gu Qing Shan continued: “As for saving these evil creatures, I’ve just been acquainted with these guys recently, so I’m annoyed that I have to watch people I know die in front of me”
[Kindling] spoke seriously: [Your Excellency, please do not attempt meaningless endeavours, that would not only cause Your Excellency to lose your life but also cause the Order to be heavily wounded]
“That’s not it at all” Gu Qing Shan slowly spoke, “I mean, are you really satisfied with just 2 million Soul Points? If I can get even more Soul Points, are you going to say no?”
[With your current strength, that is impossible] [Kindling] answered him.
Gu Qing Shan followed up his words: “And also, you said you’re collecting the Life Mysteries of the evil creatures, but what about the demonic sea creatures? They are monsters that can naturally live over a hundred million years, the Mysteries they carry should be worth collection a lot more”
[That is indeed true, but we have no way to win against the demonic sea creatures, thus unable to collect their Mysteries] [Kindling] replied.
“You’re wrong”
[I am wrong?]
Gu Qing Shan commented: “Yeah, as the [Demon King Order], the steps you take are too small and too cautious”
[Kindling] didn’t say anything in return.
After so many years, this was the first time someone had criticized it this way.
It began to seriously gather the corresponding information.
Gu Qing Shan’s tone became gentle again as he kept speaking: “Trust me, just leave everything from this point onwards to me. I guarantee we will get a big harvest while also resolving my grudge”
[What will we obtain?]
“Soul Points, and the Mysteries of life regarding the demonic sea creatures above 100 million years old”
[Are you sure you can achieve that?] [Kindling] asked him again.
“Of course, I’m the man who’s going to become the Demon King of Order, if I can’t even do that much, I’d be better off dying right now”
Gu Qing Shan directly declared so.
[Kindling] went silent again, seemingly considering its choices.
What Gu Qing Shan said was truly quite tempting.
[Very well] [Kindling] answered him, [I shall support your choice to the best of my capabilities. I hope you will be able to bring me an ample amount of Soul Points as well as the Life Mysteries demonic sea creatures]
…
In the sky.
The struggling evil creatures were all cheering in joy.
The Xie Qi Ruler had finally joined the fray!
This was a powerful evil Ruler with immense fighting strength.
Sure enough, as soon as he entered the battle, countless flying swords appeared and sliced off a large number of flesh tentacles.
All the evil creatures who were still alive on the ship quickly gathered towards the Xie Qi Ruler.
The Silent Ruler flew over and told Gu Qing Shan: 『 This entire space has been sealed off, we have no way to leave the area within a radius of 30 miles from the ship 』
She then sent telepathy to Gu Qing Shan alone:
『 I’ve searched the ocean water below all around us, all of them are demonic sea creatures 100 million years old and above 』
Gu Qing Shan quickly asked: “Can we defeat demonic sea creatures that are 100 million years old?”
The Silent Ruler told him: 『 You must be joking. After a demonic sea creature lives for over 100 million years old, their power would at least rival that of an evil Ruler, but the majority of them are as least as powerful as the Lord of Total Distortion, some even stronger! 』
Gu Qing Shan nodded and said nothing.
After traveling with the Lord of Total Distortion for the last few days, he already had a general grasp of his strength.
The Lord of Total Distortion’s power alone was equivalent to Three Thousand Worlds realm peak stage cultivators. Together with his Mystic-type abilities, he could probably gamble and win against some Paragon realm early stage enemies.
The Silent Ruler spoke full of despair: 『 It seems we won’t be able to escape. We’re going to die here 』
Gu Qing Shan nodded and coldly told her: “That’s right, so I need your help”
『 My help? 』
While manipulating his flying swords, Gu Qing Shan loudly shouted: “Yes, bring out all the covenants you have and make all the evil creatures currently around us sign a guarantee that they won’t take advantage of the situation to attack me”
The Silent Ruler was stunned briefly.
She then quickly understood.
It seems the Xie Qi Ruler has an extremely powerful ability that he can unleash that could completely change the current situation.
But as common sense dictates, any ability that unleashes a power that far surpasses an evil creature’s own strength would surely come with similarly severe side effects.
At that time, the Xie Qi Ruler will temporarily fall into a weakened state.
So the Xie Qi Ruler is wary that someone would ambush him!
After all, this was all too common for evil creatures.
After the Xie Qi Ruler shouted his demand, the other evil creatures also quickly understood.
They hurriedly signed the covenant without hesitation.
If he really had an ability that could save their lives, they wished for nothing but the Xie Qi Ruler to unleash it right away.
『 It’s done, all those still alive have signed. No one will be able to attack you, so please unleash your ability now 』
The Silent Ruler gave a scroll to Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan took a glance at it and put the scroll away.
“I don’t have any devastating ability that I can unleash, but since today I’ve felt suppressed for so long, I’ve decided to fight to my heart’s content”
His answer was easily heard by all the remaining evil creatures.
The Silent Ruler froze as he stared at Gu Qing Shan.
Only to see a drop of blood that gave off an immense frigid aura silently hovering on top of Gu Qing Shan’s hand.
Gu Qing Shan grabbed the drop of blood tightly.
And a blue burning flame suddenly manifested in between his eyebrows.