Chapter 399: Through the wild

Gu Qing Shan looked up the long stairway.

The top of the stairs.

A mystical black veil dotted with s.h.i.+ning stars covered the entire platform like a set of curtains.

When Gu Qing Shan tried to use his inner sight to look through the veil, it bounced right off.

Seems like there’s no way for him to look inside from the outside.

“Acting all mysterious”

Gu Qing Shan muttered.

Holding the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, he made his way up the flight of stairs.

1800 steps were easily pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye.

Gu Qing Shan went straight through the black veil.

Heaven and earth s.h.i.+fted.

He then landed in an empty field.

A sheet of snow blanketed the ground.

A cold breeze blew through the air.

The vast wild surrounded him.

It was nighttime.

Gu Qing Shan crouched down to pick up a handful of snow.

Skin-piercing cold.

The feeling was so real that it surprised Gu Qing Shan.

“This was all created by the Devil King Warden Rod?” he asked.

“That is correct, its powers are enough that even without any spirit thaumaturgies, the rod itself hosts a vast array of powers, truly unimaginable” Shannu explained.

“It’s that powerful even without a spirit, no wonder it was able to stand up against Divinities of the realms” Gu Qing Shan sighed.

A faint sound of music could be heard in the wind.

Gu Qing Shan followed the music and extends his gaze far.

At the border of the wild was the vast open sea.

A giant freight s.h.i.+p was anch.o.r.ed by the beach sh.o.r.e.

In the dark of night, the s.h.i.+p’s bright lights illuminated the area.

From nowhere, a notice entered Gu Qing Shan’s mind.

It was the Devil King Warden Rod’s urging him from places unknown.

“Board the s.h.i.+p…” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

He suddenly thrust his sword at the empty air.

A lion abruptly jumped out from the darkness, opening its mouth wide as if to attack him.

Originally, it did wanted to sneak an attack on Gu Qing Shan, but he had instead attacked first.

This attack was completely without any foretelling signs so the lion couldn’t even dodge.

Am I the one that got sneak attacked? The lion had such a strange thought.

The sword tip directly stabbed into the lion’s open mouth and went deep into its body.

It was almost like the lion had purposefully jumped and skewered itself on the sword.

“Reowwwww!”

The lion’s paws flapped about in the air, screaming.

“Animal ——ah no, this Beast King realm fellow, you wanted to greet me?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The lion hurriedly nodded.

s.h.i.+ll!

Gu Qing Shan pulled the sword back.

The lion got free.

It then roared furiously!

“Roar! d.a.m.n human, I ——-”

s.h.i.+ll!

The sword once again stabbed into the lion’s body through its mouth.

The Six Paths Great Mountain sword was originally longer than normal longswords, so it had no problem piercing through the lion’s entire body from the mouth.

Gu Qing Shan lifted the sword up.

Being skewered on the sword again, the lion’s paws struggled, but to no avail.

“Fella, I’m new here, your att.i.tude is going to scare me” Gu Qing Shan spoke very sincerely.

“Reow! Reow reow reow!”

The lion roared begging for forgiveness.

This time it was very sincere.

It couldn’t get away from his sword at all.

Obviously, that means its opponent was exceedingly stronger than it, enough to take away its life at any moment.

“We can talk instead, how about that?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The lion nodded over and over, expressing agreement.

The sword was then pulled out.

“So, my friend from the Beast King realm, why are you hanging around here instead of trying to get onto the s.h.i.+p?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The lion sat down and answered dejectedly: “Everything has already been decided, what use is there trying”

“That can’t be right, from what I know, the Blood River h.e.l.l should still be in the middle of the selection” Gu Qing Shan questioned.

The lion answered: “He’s already been selected. It’s because of his whim that he isn’t willing to board the s.h.i.+p yet”

“Not willing to board the s.h.i.+p?” Gu Qing Shan frowned.

“That’s right, he hasn’t eaten enough”

The lion trembled like it had recalled something.

“Eat?”

“You’ll understand when you see him” the lion slowly answered, seemingly fis.h.i.+ng out Gu Qing Shan’s strength.

While the man talked with the lion, more dead silently surrounded them.

Giants, Fiendkind, beasts, chaotic creatures, Asura, varied and numerous.

“An unfamiliar face” someone commented.“Not part of our h.e.l.l”“Does someone know him?”

Gu Qing Shan looked over the group of dead and rubbed the lion’s head: “I’m his friend, I heard that he wanted to become the Devil King so I came to watch him fight”

The group of dead stopped.

“I’ve never seen him before, everyone, come and kill this hatchling!” the lion roared.

All the dead jumped in.

“What hurtful words” Gu Qing Shan commented.

In the darkness, a blinding crescent manifested out of nowhere.

One slash, blood and flesh were scattered.

Before the rain of blood could touch the ground, it was already blown away by the fierce wind.

The crescent slowly disappeared.

As Gu Qing Shan reappeared, his expression became grim.

At the moment that the crescent lit up the area, he saw countless dead surrounding this place.

All the strongest of the Blood River h.e.l.l had gathered in the wild.

There wasn’t even enough s.p.a.ce to stand around.

They were commencing a most basic and brutal form of battle: wrestling, seeking to find the pleasures they once had.

But no matter how brutal their fighting got, none of them dared got closer to the s.h.i.+p.

From the looks of it, one particularly powerful dead have already came near the s.h.i.+p.

But this dead had other thoughts, which is why he didn’t board the s.h.i.+p yet after all this time.

“Seems like I don’t have much time”

Gu Qing Shan muttered.

While saying that, he only held the Six Paths Great Mountain sword tighter without moving.

“Aren’t you going to compete for the t.i.tle of Devil King?” Shannu couldn’t help but ask him.

“I am, but there are so many dead from here to there, how long would I have to fight for?” Gu Qing Shan frowned as he answered.

“So you plan to just stand there?” Shannu asked.

While they were talking, a great mammoth charged at him.

It wanted to crush Gu Qing Shan.

“Tiny human, die! Turn into mince meat!”

The great mammoth roared in a frenzy.

A blinding sword slash flashed through the air.

The mammoth became still.

Gu Qing Shan had used [Stiffness] to turn it into a temporary living target.

Two seconds later, the 7 sword strikes have finished.

Flickering lights appeared on the longsword.

They were flas.h.i.+ng as if to summon something.

With his full power, Gu Qing Shan held the sword with both hands and slashed forward as hard as he could.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

A lightning glow increasingly became brighter on the sword.

The blinding lightning illuminated the entire world in darkness.

[Seven Swords Flowing Dragon]!

A giant dragon head made of lightning escaped from the sword, biting on the mammoth.

In mere seconds, the mammoth was thoroughly dead.

Immediately after, the rest of the dragon flowed out from the sword, swirling like a snake.

“Wait for me” Gu Qing Shan called out.

As if sentient, the lightning dragon coiled in midair.

Gu Qing Shan jumped up to the dragon’s head.

Roar!!

With a thunderous roar, the dragon ascended into the air.

Gu Qing Shan pointed the tip of his sword forward.

The dragon turned into an explosive lightning strike, zipping through the wild area.

Intense wind blew past his ears.

The scenery around also quickly zipped past.

The dead that filled the wild were powerless against the force of lightning.

In mere seconds, he’s already made it to the s.h.i.+p.

Gu Qing Shan could even see the situation on the s.h.i.+p.

17 dead stood on the deck, forming their own circles.

Gu Qing Shan also noticed the 7 leaders of h.e.l.l from before.

With how blinding the dragon was, the 7 leaders naturally also noticed Gu Qing Shan standing on top of it.

The expressions on the 7 leaders’ faces were exceptionally hard to describe.

Temporarily ignoring them, Gu Qing Shan looked at the area next to the s.h.i.+p.

A masculine giant the size of a small mountain sat in front of the s.h.i.+p.

He had made a campfire, occasionally throwing some crippled dead into the fire to grill.

When the dead are grilled to near-death, the giant then throw them into its mouth.

Ignoring the screams and cries coming from his mouth, the giant chewed.

——–seems like he’s the one that the lion was talking about.

The giant also noticed the lightning dragon.

He became cautious and took up his battle axe.

“Grilling and eating people alive? Your retribution has come”

Gu Qing Shan muttered.

It pointed his sword straight.

The giant lightning dragon started to descend.

The dragon opened its large mouth and chomped on the giant.

When the giant tried to swing his axe, the axe directly pa.s.sed through the s.h.i.+ning dragon scales and missed.

The dragon bite the giant.

“Aaaaa!”

The giant squealed.

The full power of [Seven Stars Flowing Dragon] used by an Ascended realm late stage cultivator isn’t just for show.

Soon enough, the giant was charred black, smoking from being burnt.

He fell down and extinguished the campfire.

It was now that Gu Qing Shan landed.

He then received an invisible message.

[Strongest of the Blood River h.e.l.l, please board the s.h.i.+p]