Chapter 1117: Wraith

As the dignified voice resounded from above, a white lotus that gave off resounding white light descended in front of Gu Qing Shan.

A heavenly girl said: “Heavenly master, quickly take the white lotus, with it, you will be able to stay at the Cloud Sea layer”

Gu Qing Shan looked at the white lotus and trembled a bit.

Immeasurable Merit?

What now?

Another heavenly girl explained: “This lotus is the fruit of karma, used to calculate the good karma of the Heavenly masters—— of course since Heavenly master Gu’s karmic virtue is immeasurable, it will only serve to prove that you are a Heavenly master of the Cloud Sea layer”

The other heavenly girls all giggled.

But Gu Qing Shan still hadn’t reached his hand to take the white lotus.

He stood still on the big lotus head beneath his feet and said: “Then… please help me measure my bad karma”

A crimson light exuded from the Cleansing Lotus Flower of Karmic Virtue & Fire that circulated around him.

The heavenly girls appeared worried.

“Please be careful, Heavenly master, karmic fire is a very powerful thing, do not let it hurt you” a heavenly girl advised him.

Gu Qing Shan smiled and replied: “Don’t worry, I love my life a lot”

A few moments later.

A black lotus seed popped out from the lotus head and broke open with a ‘poof’.

The dignified voice from earlier resounded again:

[This person had killed billions of living beings, driving many to the point of extinction, his bad karma is immeasurable]

The heavenly girls were all shocked.

This Heavenly master is truly strange, how is it that both his good and bad karma are immeasurable?

What exactly had he done?

Gu Qing Shan, on the other hand, calmly nodded.

A few moments later.

A black lotus descended from above, hovering in front of him.

Both the black and white lotus floated in the air, remaining silently still.

The heavenly girls glanced at Gu Qing Shan and noticed his hesitation.

A heavenly girl suddenly burst into tears and knelt on the ground: “Heavenly master, you are one with unparalleled karmic virtue, please do not place yourself in danger”

Gu Qing Shan asked with an indifferent voice: “I want to know, has anyone ever gone to the Yama layer?”

The heavenly girls all shook their heads.

Only one of them replied: “Among the heavenly girls, I am the oldest, so I had once saw a person take their black lotus before making their way into the Yama layer”

“And then?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“On the very next day, pieces of his severed body were tossed down from the Yama realm, the other Heavenly masters tried to put him back together for an entire day, but still couldn’t do so completely” the heavenly girl replied.

Gu Qing Shan went silent.

The heavenly girl then walked up to Gu Qing Shan and knelt down, softly persuading him: “The Cloud Sea layer is filled with deserved enjoyment, while the Yama layer delivers only the suffering of karma, there is no need for the Heavenly master to act foolish, right?”

“All of us are rare beauties unseen in the human realm, but are willing to follow the Heavenly master’s every desires, always ready to serve and ensure that the Heavenly master will enjoy nothing but the very best”

The group of heavenly girls then knelt in front of Gu Qing Shan, cried out and pleaded to him: “Please, Heavenly master, be kind to yourself and remain in the Cloud Sea”

Gu Qing Shan looked up at the dark sky above and suddenly chuckled.

“My apologies” he looked at the girls and spoke apologetically: “Someone is waiting for my return”

The Earth sword appeared from the void of s.p.a.ce wielded by Gu Qing Shan.

He no longer cared about the two black and white lotuses nor any of the girls, and suddenly took flight, heading straight up.

Half-way there, something reacted from the dark sky above.

A resounding shout echoed from all directions:

「 To head into the Yama layer, you need the lotus of karmic fire! 」

Gu Qing Shan stopped and loudly asked: “You mean that black lotus?”

The resounding shout replied: 「 Indeed 」

“What if I forgot?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

「 Return for it! 」the resounding shout replied.

“Then, can you wait for me a bit?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

「 Hurry up and go! 」the resounding shout replied.

“After I return, I want to take a bath and eat something, can you wait that long?”

「 Go! 」

“Wouldn’t you feel impatient waiting for me like that?”

「 You can only pa.s.s after you take the black lotus! 」

“I’ll go and get it, then bring you something to eat as well, what do you want?”

「 Bring the black lotus! 」

“Alright then!”

Gu Qing Shan’s figure flashed.

He had bypa.s.sed a large distance and immediately appeared at the top of the darkness.

A blinding crescent-shaped sword phantom surged forward from the Earth sword as it was swung upward!

Sha!

He slashed the sky in half.

The darkness quickly receded.

Boundless light shone itself on Gu Qing Shan, illuminating him like a heavenly being.

“How dumb, I actually spend so much time talking to a d.a.m.n technique” Gu Qing Shan muttered to himself.

He flew straight into the sky.

Everything was gloomy around him.

The boundless cl.u.s.ters of clouds had obscured everything.

Gu Qing Shan continued flying upward until he went above the layer of clouds.

It was completely empty except for a small black dot at the end of his vision.

It was a highly ruined lonely pavilion.

A man stood inside the pavilion with his hands clasped behind his back, observing the sea of clouds below.

When Gu Qing Shan appeared, he loudly clapped and laughed: “As expected of the Huang Quan Devil King, making it here so easily.

As Gu Qing Shan scanned through the other party, his expression turned serious.

He was wearing a mask.

A yaksha mask.

The man took out a small table, two cus.h.i.+ons, and a tea set.

He sat down first and skillfully brewed some tea.

“I had thought that the Cloud Sea layer would be able to trap the Devil King, so I was a bit cold with my reception, how shameful. Please wait a moment while I brew some tea for the Devil King, since we don’t have any liquor here”

Gu Qing Shan slowly flew over and landed in the pavilion.

He sat down on the other cus.h.i.+on and clasped his fist in greeting: “Thank you for the reception, might I ask why you’re waiting for me here?”

The other person continued to brew tea while casually replying: “My master ordered me to come here”

“Your master?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“Hm, the Huang Quan realm fragment had always been used as a place to imprison villainous characters without any issues for a long while, but then the Devil King broke h.e.l.l and released the countless prisoners inside. This wasn’t a big issue, but the responsibility still fell to my master, so he lost a bit of face”

Gu Qing Shan sighed: “I didn’t really want to enter the Huang Quan world at all, but someone insisted on transporting me over there. For the sake of my life, I had no choice but to find a few helpers, hope you can forgive that much”

The other person went silent briefly before smiling: “I’m quite curious, how did the Devil King notice that the Sea Cloud layer was an illusion?”

He pushed a cup of tea in front of Gu Qing Shan and said: “Please teach me, as it would be beneficial for our improvement”

“May I ask, this Cloud Sea illusion—–” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The man nodded: “It’s my master’s private farm, a small bit of pa.s.sive income”

Gu Qing Shan sincerely replied: “I did not notice that it was an illusion, I simply wanted to return”

The man asked: “Because someone is waiting for you?”

“Indeed” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The man questioned further: “To return, you would even ignore such wondrous sights?”

“You call it wondrous sights, but it’s more like shackles”

“Why?”

“Cultivation is the process of improving oneself, always moving against the flow, searching for the truth of the world, creating one’s own destiny with one’s will; it is definitely not the act of falling into pleasure and remaining stagnant”

Gu Qing Shan emphasized: “When a cultivator decides to stagnant themselves in the Cloud Sea layer, they will have failed themselves as a cultivator”

The masked man paused for a long while before waving his hand.

The clouds outside the pavilion scattered.

Countless cultivators were hovering in the sky, their bodies full of spikes and vines.

s.h.i.+ s.h.i.+—- plish——

The sound of dripping blood was tiny and soft, but when the sound of so much blood dripping overlapped, it made for a terrifying noise.

Eerily, the cultivators here had more or less an expression of enjoyment on their faces, as if they were immersed in some wonderful dream.

The masked man then explained: “The Yama Heavenly realm had been in tatters for a very long time, the only thing that remained of it is the pavilion where you and I are sitting”

“My master used a few methods to modify this place, giving the cultivators who arrive here to face their Tribulation a sensation of home”

“Naturally, by staying here, they would need to use their flesh, blood, spirit energy, and soul to pay for rent”

“With these vines, this payment will become a long process where everything they pay will be utilized to its limits”

Gu Qing Shan’s eyes flickered and asked: “The white lotus? The fruit of karma?”

“The Devil King is correct. The so-called fruit of karma was indeed the illusory form of these Wraith Spider Vine Seeds” the man praised him.

While they talked, one of the cultivators was thoroughly drained into a dried-up husk.

The vines then let go of him, allowing this corpse to fall from the layer of clouds.

Gu Qing Shan used the Devil King Warden Rod from inside his Thought Sea to examine the dried-up husk.

——-there was nothing.

Even his soul had been drained.

“Take a look, this venerable Heavenly master had enjoyed the last of his karmic virtue and returned to his world”

The masked man sighed and continued:

“The other Heavenly masters who are of his same mind had even hosted a 3-day banquet to send him off”

“What a perfect life he led, one could even say that it was something he was graced with due to his karmic virtues”

He waved his hand.

The sea of clouds quickly closed back up.

“Devil King, now let us get to business” the man’s tone became stern.

“Please go ahead” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The man spoke: “Your abilities are quite unique; you are able to govern the entirety of h.e.l.l by yourself. which would save us a lot of manpower”

A mask appeared on the table.

This mask was etched fully with carvings of complicated runes and gave off powerful fluctuations, unlike the yaksha masks that Gu Qing Shan had seen.

“My master had said that if you are able to pa.s.s the Cloud Sea layer, you can be considered to have some ability and can be used”

The man continued: “Wear this mask, become a servant of my master, and the matter of Huang Quan’s chaos can be glossed over”

Gu Qing Shan looked at the mask and doubtfully asked: “Why is this mask drawn with runes and not a yaksha face?”

The man smiled: “A servant would naturally be restrained, how could they be treated the same as their master——- look, I know that you’re a smart person, don’t pa.s.s on this chance for survival”

The man pushed the mask towards Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan seemed to reach for the mask but suddenly stopped.

He pulled his hand back, evaluated the other person a bit, then asked: “You said that you were the servant of your master?”

The man nodded: “Indeed”

Gu Qing Shan clasped his fists and sincerely said: “There is one thing that I have never done before, and I doubt that I will ever do, so I don’t really know the specifics of it. I’ve really been wondering about this for a while, so I would be very grateful if you would teach me”

The man was startled and asked: “What is it?”

Gu Qing Shan continued: “This humble one would like to ask; how does it feel to be a dog?”