Episode 132

Everyone fell silent after hearing what Gu Suihan just said. They remained silent for some time.

“Let’s go,” said Wan Xin with a sigh. It was hard to tell what she was thinking about, but she didn’t appear to be paying close attention as she pressed her secret key into its slot on the door and gave Gu Suihan a conflicted look.

Click! The sound of a catch falling in place resounded loudly in the silence. The door made from gold, jade, and several jewels started opening.

The first thing that struck them was the stench of rot and decay.

Their footsteps were heavy and their expressions grim as they walked past the door. What they saw next made their faces pale in horror as they said in unison, “You might see gold and jade on the outside, but the insides are nothing but decay and degeneration.”

Moonstones were embedded in several parts of the large hall they were now in, so everything was illuminated clearly.

“No dust-clearing formation was used on this place,” said Wan Xin quietly as she noticed the thick layer of dust on the floor and the footprints left behind by them. She channeled qi to her feet and flew a meter above the ground, but when she tried to fly upwards some more, she realized she couldn’t at all.

“It’s qi destroying metal.”

Zou Kai glanced at the sweat forming on the tip of Wan Xin’s nose from trying so hard to fly higher and swept away part of the dust on the floor to reveal the sinister-looking shiny black metallic floor.

“Crap,” thought everyone as they exchanged glances. Not being able to fly also curtailed them in other aspects. The methods they could use to fight would decrease as a result.

“There are also warring puppets here.” Gu Suihan looked grimly at the armored figures standing silently in the middle of the hall, covered with a thick layer of dust. He slowly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“My fellow cultivator Xi, why don’t you test what these fellows are made of? You’ve got the main key, so for all you know, they might be nice and spare your life,” said Gu Suihan quietly as he glanced at Xi Ran, who still looked very relaxed.

“Oh? You’ve been taking notice of me, huh?” said Xi Ran with a faint smile as a sly look spread across his fair face. But he didn’t seem like he was going to make a move at all.

“I’ll do it myself then.” Gu Suihan wasn’t counting on successfully agitating this man into action, so he stared at the nine dust-covered warring puppets in front of him and said, “We’ll rely on ourselves.”

“Let’s do that!” Zou Kai and the rest nodded slightly. Light shone from their palm as they retrieved all sorts of spiritual weapons and talismans. They activated their qi and several surges of aggressive, warm, steady but ferocious qi started emanating from their bodies.

“Die!” shouted Wan Xin as she plucked strings of her glass zither, sending a gush of iridescent qi toward the puppets.

Woong! Sensing the movement of qi, the darkened eyes of the once still warring puppets lit up into two menacing red dots. A cruel sense of violence seeped out from those red dots, and a foreboding sense of danger seemed to radiate from them.

“Fuck! Warring spirits?!” cursed Gu Suihan. Immediately after he took the first step, he turned the other way and ran like crazy as if he had just spotted some truly terrifying animal.

Before the rest realized what was going on, Gu Suihan was on his way out of the hall like a rabbit whose tail was on fire. A frantic Zhang Yan was also running out behind Gu Suihan. He didn’t even bother to turn back and simply pasted more than ten talismans on himself. The talismans burned so brightly, he looked like a giant lightbulb on the run.

“What in the world?” The rest were stunned, but they instinctively withdrew their attacks and ran after Zhang Yan as well.

Doong! Just when Gu Suihan was about to step out of the hall, the seemingly fragile pretty jade and gold door suddenly shut itself, trapping all of them inside the hall.

“Fuck!” Gu Suihan cursed again as he screeched to a halt and glowered speechlessly at the door in front of him. The sparkling jewels on the door kept blinding him with their shine as if they were mocking him for thinking too highly of himself.

The others who had run toward the door later were still confused. They still had no idea why the previously aggressive and confident Gu Suihan would suddenly run like there was no tomorrow. They had merely followed suit since Gu Suihan seemed fairly terrified of those warring puppets.

“What’s going on?” Zou Kai frowned as he looked at the grim-faced Gu Suihan.

Gu Suihan pointed at the equally grim-faced Zhang Yan and motioned to him to explain.

Zhang Yan smiled bitterly as he looked back at the confused stares of the rest and said, “Warring puppets aren’t really very scary, since the difference mainly lies between the quality of their material. But at the end of the day, they’re merely puppets. However, once someone fills these warring puppets with a warring spirit, then it’s a completely different story. Warring spirits are the souls of ordinary soldiers who have gone through more than a hundred wars, so they are filled with nothing but murder. These harvested spirits are preserved with their murderous qi by a special technique, that’s all. But what makes them truly terrifying is the fact that warring spirits are sentient.”

“In other words, once those warring spirits have a body they can use, they turn into killing machines. And they’re killing machines that are sentient and know how to fight and kill others,” added Gu Suihan with a nasty look on his face as he pointed at the nine warring puppets in the middle of the hall that had shaken off the dust on their bodies and were slowly getting into formation.

“How scheming,” spat Wan Xin angrily. This was the fiercest language she knew how to use since she was brought up to behave like a demure young lady in a very strict environment.

“So, my fellow cultivator Xi. Now that things have come to this, are you still going to hide what you’re truly capable of?” Gu Suihan snorted as he glanced at the clearly unbothered Xi Ran.

“I am merely a wandering cultivator, so there isn’t any more I am capable of,” said Xi Ran as he rubbed his nose awkwardly and averted his gaze.

“Damn you!” Zou Kai couldn’t stand it anymore and yelled so loudly, his saliva nearly spraying all over Xi Ran’s face.

“Stop hiding and fight! Or we’re all going to die!”

Gu Suihan gripped the hilt of his sword and stared straight at the warring puppets that were approaching them slowly as they emanated a murderous air.

“Nine Swords for World Destruction - Reverse Flow of the Milky Way!” Gu Suihan drew his sword and a bloody murderous qi instantly filled the hall as though a terrible war had just occurred, making the place feel like it was covered in a thick layer of broken limbs, chunks of flesh, splatters of blood, and mud drenched in blood. Stars seemed to twinkle in the space above them and nine of them shifted to fall onto Earth.

A silvery flash of light appeared and the whole world seemed to turn upside down as the stars landed on Questioning Heaven, their brilliant sparkle gleaming brighter than anything anyone had ever seen. The Milky Way was flowing in the opposite direction and overflowing with qi. The blade started to turn a purplish black as the weight of the murderous qi covered it. Gu Suihan swung his sword toward the front most warring puppet, slicing through the Milky Way and bringing it down like it could annihilate anything in its way.

The warring puppet let out a roar that did not sound like something a human was capable of making. Its footsteps were heavy as it got into position and raised its weapon. As the other warring puppets fell into place, bloody lines appeared beneath their feet to form a gigantic and complex formation diagram. The sound of vengeful spirits roared and the warring spirits growled as the murderous qi in each one of them was absorbed by the warring puppet right in front, forming a barrier of light that could hold up the sky.

Bam! The two objects collided, reverberating violently and causing the thick layer of dust on the floor to fly as though it were a sandstorm. Everything went dark suddenly.

Crack! There was a crisp sound as tiny crack lines gradually appeared on the light barrier after that gloriously bright sword qi from the stars had crashed into it like it weighed a ton. The impact made the warring puppet in the front sink a good three feet into the floor.

“Now!” Zhang Yan yelled loudly and swung his right arm. He held a giant metal pen in his hand like the sort a magistrate had, and thrust the bright red tip of the pen toward the warring puppets.

“Kill them all!” Zou Kai roared angrily and the green veins bulging on the back of his clenched fists looked like dragons hiding beneath his skin as he walked forwards like a giant roc. Each punch he made created a giant wave of qi and he sent it toward the light barrier that looked like it was about to shatter.

There was a resolute glint in Wan Xin’s pretty eyes as she bit her tongue to spray some blood on her seven-string glass zither. In that instant, the sound of a phoenix filled the air as the illusionary form of one flew out from the zither. It flew toward the light barrier like it was ready to die a death in glory, its zeal threatening to set everything around it on fire.

Li Xiaoyao made sure that Shuang’er remained behind him as his meter-long blade instantly gave off a sword will that could slice through the skies. His entire person seemed to become one giant sword. The long river of sword qi cut through everything and surged forth.

In that instant, everyone put aside all their former biases and feuds to work together.

This was everything they had. If the light barrier shattered, then they stood a chance of fighting these warring puppets. If they couldn’t even get through this, then it was better for them to just give up and kill themselves right now.

Xi Ran let out a long and depressing sigh. He suddenly thrust his fair palm with long fingers out, and his palm was like a black hole that had the power to change the laws of nature.

“FUUCKK!” Gu Suihan stared at that vacuum in Xi Ran’s palm and cursed furiously without realizing how loud he was, “What the fuck? You’re at Origin Core?”

Gu Suihan’s voice rose almost an octave higher as he stared in shock at Xi Ran. He moved backward and squirreled all the way to the side of the hall in a matter of seconds.