Episode 143

Questioning Heaven suddenly stiffened up and stayed that way as if it had died. The sentience it once displayed had been erased.

“After getting to Origin Core, I need to gather a domain again or reform my spiritual world. How troublesome,” murmured Gu Suihan after he casually returned Questioning Heaven to its sheath and fell into deep thought when he looked at the completely still black snake sculpture around the hilt of the sword.

The former was way too troublesome. More importantly, this recreation of his body happened earlier than he had planned, so Gu Suihan could abandon his ideas of becoming a sword cultivator and he didn’t need to form a domain by being obsessed with massacres. Compared to that, he had a better option.

“A spiritual world!” Gu Suihan pursed his lips together and they curled into a strange little smile.

The biggest difference between a domain and a spiritual world was what happened after one understood the laws of nature.

The former was to combine one’s heart, actions, and techniques to become more obsessive, become one with the laws of nature, then rise above them.

The latter was to turn the laws of nature into something physical and make it your own practice ground where everything went according to your heart. You could make mountains collapse and the earth split with one thought. You could burn up everything inside with the wave of an arm.

That was pretty much what the sword or fist will in those novels from the mundane world were referring to. Of course, these descriptions were only similar. The real imagery of the spiritual world had nothing to do with being one with your sword or shit like that. It was to use all your strength in exchange for benefits. Domains were the same, except that the path was different.

“You want to go down the path of the spiritual world?” After the Huangquan Evil Ghost was done massacring all the residents of the city, it noticed a difference in Gu Suihan’s aura and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, confused.

“That’s right.”

“Then you should know the biggest difference between a spiritual world and a domain. To put it plainly, the former is basically a road leading to death. The latter is more in line with the will of heaven and aligns your body with your heart for the Way. You’d be able to go much longer down the way with the latter.”

“I’ve already decided. The Way I have chosen is a difficult one in the first place. Throwing a bit more difficulty in along the way isn’t going to make a difference.” Gu Suihan’s eyes were as cold as ice. His impossibly beautiful features gave off the message that he was to be the ruler of the universe.

“Anyone in my way shall be killed.”

“What…what a domineering personality.” The Huangquan Evil Ghost had a different glimmer in its beady eyes and a grim look on its face when it looked at the tall and slim man in front of it.

It knew very well that if it couldn’t be friends with such a person, it must never become enemies with him. Otherwise, there would be more trouble than just a few unnecessary deaths.

“Next place!” Gu Suihan nodded slightly when he saw that the Huangquan Evil Ghost had grown in stature again. He picked up Shuang’er and flew onward.

His next target was the capital of Qingguo itself.

“This is truly a man with no heart.” The Huangquan Evil Ghost looked down at the destruction below and couldn’t help but make a face when he remembered that indifferent look in Gu Suihan’s eyes, as though all those human lives had been nothing more than ants. It kept its wariness of Gu Suihan deep inside its heart.

A man with no heart. Those words had appeared in Disciplinarian Zhang’s analysis of Gu Suihan and Mo Yuluo had remembered that very well. And now, yet another person had noticed it.

Someone who never worried about the consequence; didn’t care about what was considered right or wrong, and didn’t classify their own actions as good or evil. One who was never tied down by love, unmoved by benefit, was as cold as ice, and utterly ruthless was a person whom a cultivator described as one with no heart.

“This place…is no simple place at all,” said the Huangquan Evil Ghost to Gu Suihan via telepathy as it stood outside the gates of the city and crouched on the ground with a grim look on its face.

“It truly isn’t simple, so we need to make some plans.” Gu Suihan looked up at the fairly familiar gates and nodded slightly. He said quietly, “We need to take only what’s worth taking. Our target this time isn’t these lowly commoners but the martial artists of the royal family. Their souls aren’t as powerful as a cultivator’s would be, but it’s filled with the will formed from the Way of Martial Arts and their own energy, qi, and spirit. I think there’s some benefit in taking that.”

“The Way of Martial Arts?” The Huangquan Evil Ghost looked confused. It had lived for many years but it had never heard of this term before. Its eyes suddenly flew open and it stared in horror at Gu Suihan. “Do you mean…”

Gu Suihan’s expression turned solemn as he nodded. “I have the same guess as you. But by the time all of this reached this world, half of it was lost, so it isn’t as formidable as you imagine it to be.”

“I see.” The ghost relaxed a little and it looked relieved. Even the passing glimmer of fear in its eyes had faded significantly.

That race from ancient times had been way too terrifying. If they hadn’t slowly disappeared from the world, the world wouldn’t now be filled with thousands of different races fighting each other.

Even so, any legacy left behind by them could still strike terror in one’s heart.

That was etched into the histories of countless races, including a deep humiliation and blood and tears that could not be described in words.

“That old fellow should know what the Upper World is like. After being around him, I suppose he must have revealed a number of things. Do you know anything?” Gu Suihan suddenly remembered Qingming, the old fellow whose soul had been swallowed by Gu Suihan, and turned to look at the ghost.

“The Upper World?” The ghost’s face suddenly turned nasty. Its eyes were bloodshot and it gnashed its teeth as it spat these words out.

“That’s…that’s a kingdom that’s similar to the ones among ordinary humans. That tyrant rules over the entire kingdom,” said the ghost as it slowly chose its words carefully, its gaze seeping with a deep hatred. “They…they even control the waters of the Huangquan River. I…I was forcibly made by them.”

“Made?” Gu Suihan’s face paled. This was something that not even immortals were capable of doing.

“I was not created from scratch.” The ghost shook its head when it saw Gu Suihan’s horrified expression. It continued in a deep voice, “I was modified from what I used to be. I used to be a wandering cultivator. I was captured, then my hun and po were pulled out of my body and forcibly combined with that of a Huangquan Evil Ghost. That’s how I’ve become this thing that neither looks like a human nor a ghost.”

“That’s actually possible?” Gu Suihan was still shocked. Of course, he wasn’t feeling angry for the ghost, since plenty of people died all the time, and modifying something that already existed was something that those people on Earth did on a daily basis for scientific research, except that Earth only worked with ordinary people as their subjects.

What shocked him was the fact that this kingdom of the Upper World was actually capable of such a thing. That made it way more powerful than a cultivator.

When he first saw this ghost, he thought that it was merely a mutant. In other words, the techniques that the other party had were rather mature. You could even say that the other party had a complete understanding of how this was done.

“What’s that kingdom called?” asked Gu Suihan quietly as a horrifying thought suddenly crossed his mind.

“The kingdom is named…Qin!”

“Qin!!” Gu Suihan’s face turned ashen and he couldn’t hide the shock in his eyes. His head was filled with the word “Qin” and it kept shaking.

“That tyrant…is his name…is his name Ying Zheng?” asked Gu Suihan in a trembling voice. He gripped his sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white and his veins bulged.

“Yes,” said the ghost in a bitter voice, its claws subconsciously drawing line after line in the ground.

That one-word answer from the ghost was like a bolt out of the blue that struck Gu Suihan’s mind, making him shudder. He nearly collapsed to the ground.

The words “Qin”, “tyrant” and “Ying Zheng” kept flashing inside his mind, making his head spin and hurt terribly.

He gently massaged the area between his brows and tried to relieve the pain caused by the information within these few words. He started murmuring to himself, “It’s real…those images…they’re actually real. He’s escaped, including the entire kingdom!”

“What images? Who’s escaped?” The ghost listened to Gu Suihan mumble incoherently and couldn’t help but think about what Gu Suihan was saying.

“Let’s go.” After a long time, Gu Suihan finally calmed back down again. But his face remained just as pale.

“Since our target are those martial artists, then you can use these commoners to draw the attention of our targets,” said Gu Suihan in a slightly hoarse voice.

The ghost put aside the messy thoughts running through its head earlier and looked at the busy streets that were teeming with ordinary people. Its lips curled into a sinister and murderous smile.