Episode 180

“Make a wild guess…” Gu Suihan had a frosty smile on his face.

“It’s too bad. I’m a cultivator at Nascent Change. You have no idea how great the difference between us is.”

The old man spoke in a relaxed manner, but his attack was anything but. His little sword buzzed quietly as if it would shake the skies. The dao lines in the air glowed frostily as the extremely sharp blade instantly cut through the force trapping him and continued toward Gu Suihan.

“A sword-controlling technique?” Gu Suihan snorted as his spiritual sense suddenly exploded from inside him. It swept across the entire area in front of him, moved swiftly toward the little sword, and became gentle and warm.

The wisps of his spiritual sense weaved itself into a net around the little sword and sliced through the brand on the sword as the old man watched on in shock.

“Spiritual sense?” The old man stared at Gu Suihan in horror and quickly executed several hand seals to summon the little sword back.

He had been too careless. He never expected this junior, supposedly only at Origin Core, to actually be a crocodile lurking in the waters, waiting for a victim to come along.

He had initially hoped to be able to kill Gu Suihan since there was such a big difference in their level of cultivation. But he had nearly done himself in instead and also almost lost the spiritual sword that he had refined to become one with himself.

“One with Murderous Yin Spike!”

The laws of nature turned into spots of dao runes. Gu Suihan gathered his spiritual sense and made it rotate so that it looked like a venomous dragon churning the seas and flying into the sky. As the little sword retreated in a hurry, the dragon flew around it and rammed into the brand again.

“Cover the Seas and Fill the Sky Seal!”

The old man became anxious when he saw what Gu Suihan had done. A light flickered in his hand as he flung a seal that had a green and blue ferocious beast carved on it.

The seal grew bigger as it flew and crashed down in no time. Blue waves rose up and a ferocious dragon roared fiercely. The smell of the sea hit Gu Suihan’s nostrils.

“Are you an idiot?” said Gu Suihan mockingly. He raised his arm and called out, “Sea of Blood! No Limits!”

The sea…was also water.

Gigantic waves immediately appeared. Water dragons and other such creatures appeared as well, including mountains and rocks, crashing down with unstoppable momentum. Those 300-meter-high bloody waves gave off a strong stench of blood and were going to swallow that seal whole.

“Break the five elements down! Arm for battle!” The old man’s expression shifted slightly. There was a determined glint in his eyes as he slammed a palm against his chest. Runes swirled and gave off a golden glow as the seal was broken. An imposing aura unique to a powerful Nascent Change cultivator was instantly unleashed.

Everything froze in that moment, and time in the vicinity went by more slowly. Now that the sea of blood’s movement was delayed, he flicked his fingers and summoned his little sword and seal back immediately. He waved his arm and created a mighty wind that whooshed out at lightning speed. He also took this chance to make a ghost flag appear. As he waved it, the sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling filled the air, frightening countless corpses awake.

The sounds of battle and metal hitting metal could also be heard. Thousands of ghostly soldiers from hell suddenly appeared. Yin qi wafted through the air and their ghostly howls shook the skies as they glared straight at Gu Suihan.

“Controlling the laws of nature? You’re not good enough,” muttered Gu Suihan quietly. His expression slowly grew solemn. He sat cross-legged in the air and used all his strength to activate the little internal energy left inside his body. He summoned the five elements from around him and called out to the laws of the way.

In that instant, all the grass and trees turned into soldiers. The sand and rocks rolled to become ferocious beasts that raised their heads and roared into the sky. The dark clouds gathered to become frightening looking flags.

The flags were raised, the war drums were struck. Heaven and earth began to shake.

The soldiers formed neat rows and got into formation. Their battle cry filled the skies.

In the blink of an eye, innumerable roaring soldiers with heavy armor, spears and torches in their hands appeared from nowhere.

They ran without making any noise as they silently went into formation to fight their enemy. It looked like a lot was happening in the sky, but oddly enough, they didn’t make any noise.

“Battle formation – Howling Dragon Coiling Snake!”

Gu Suihan held his saber up as though he were a general who always successfully slayed his enemies, ready for battle in the desert. He yelled loudly and his voice echoed resolutely.

In that instant, the battle formation changed. A rolling sound shook the earth and shouts resonated.

“That’s nothing!” The old man was furious. He looked at the formation before him that wouldn’t be able to hold up against even one attack. The thought of having a competition hit him, so he waved his arm and a chess board appeared from nowhere.

There were black and white pieces on the chess board. He made a hand seal, which made it shake and expand in mid-air. It covered both of them, and also made those countless soldiers waiting to fight disappear.

“Pawns, fall into place! Listen to my command!”

The two of them sat across from one another with the chess board between them. Black and white pawns appeared accordingly. Gu Suihan chuckled and raised his hand. One point of his finger made the laws around it so frightened, they fell apart.

“The states arise and set fire to the barren lands!”

The old man did not back down. He stroked his beard and gently tapped the board with a bent finger, which instantly dissipated the momentum that Gu Suihan had built up.

The chess board seemed to represent the rest of the world. In that instant, the previously peaceful world was covered in flames and soldiers went to battle from all directions.

“This command applies to all! Those who disobey…shall die!!!”

Gu Suihan placed one piece on the board. The sounds of roaring filled the air again. Battle fires spread rapidly in the direction of the fighting. The various states threw away their armor as they retreated in defeat.

“Any major powers in the world will eventually have to go separate ways after staying together for too long!” The old man picked up one piece and put it down. Even more soldiers went on a massacre.

Gu Suihan looked at the smug smile on the old man’s face and slowly raised his hand. He swept all the pawns off the board and said calmly, “Who cares if they stay together or go their separate ways? Just destroy them all!”

“Why, you!” The old man flew into a rage before his face suddenly paled. He spewed a mouthful of blood and stared at Gu Suihan in shock.

“Tell me…don’t you think I’m right to say that?”

The scene changed again. The whole place turned to nothingness and the pawns turned into grass and trees.

The two of them had returned to reality. The difference was that Gu Suihan was bleeding from several places and sat in the pavilion weakly, while the old man was silent as he held onto his chessboard.

Crack! The chessboard crumbled in an instant. The pawns were like the stars as they twinkled and disappeared.

“Great Elder…”

Everyone from the various sects had arrived. Their expressions were conflicted as they surrounded the pavilion. They looked at the pale old man, then looked at Gu Suihan, who looked like he couldn’t hold up anymore, yet never seemed to run out of trump cards. They couldn’t help but exchange glances.

“Junior Brother Gu, why do you go to this extent?” asked Jingjing quietly as she took a step forward. She pursed her lips and looked at the familiar face in front of her.

“Why?” Gu Suihan swallowed several pills and smiled faintly. “For the sake of finding the Way!”

“You’re searching for the Way?” The old man looked like he had woken up with a start. He flung aside the broken pieces on his body and said in a deep voice, “What Way are you looking for?”

Gu Suihan casually stabbed his saber into the ground, disregarding the thick layer of dust on it. He replied flatly, “The Great Way. Do you know anything about it?”

“The Great Way?” The old man chewed on these words that sounded like Gu Suihan had randomly come up with on the spot and shook his head with a confused look.

Gu Suihan looked at the confused expressions on their faces and laughed. A smile appeared on his fair face. It was so gentle and sweet, it made everyone’s hearts tremble.

His smile slowly faded as he said, “I don’t know either. That’s why I’m seeking it out.”

“What has it got to do with the Devil Abyss?” asked the old man.

Gu Suihan shifted his body slightly and swallowed several more pills as he did his best to recuperate. “You Hantian has something I need.”

“And so?”

“But I don’t have anything that can serve as bargaining chips.”

“And so?”

“And so, I had to do this,” said Gu Suihan with a chuckle as he slowly got to his feet. He looked into the distance as though he had spotted something.

The first “and so” was asked by the old man.

The second one was You Hantian’s voice.

It didn’t take long for You Hantian and the rest to fly over. They landed across from Gu Suihan and was only a hundred meters away from the pavilion or so.

“You are actually…” Zhou Lingfeng looked at Gu Suihan, who looked as indifferent as a deity that existed way above mortals. His heart trembled for some reason, and he hesitated as he tried to ask the younger man a question.

But before he could finish speaking, Gu Suihan smiled faintly and said, “That’s right. I am Gu Suihan, who was once considered a disciple of the Seven Kill Sect. Both Gu Suihans are the same person.”

“Excellent. Simply excellent!” You Hantian laughed loudly as he flung the Huangquan Evil Ghost onto the ground. He snorted and said, “If my guess is right, your original plan was to pretend to be Qingming and do all these things, right?”

“It’s too bad you found out.” Gu Suihan shrugged and didn’t seem affected in any way.

Back when he had sensed the movement of the heavens and earth as an external force tried to investigate what happened to Qingming, he understood that it was impossible to hide the fact that Qingming was already dead. Since that was the case, he had to change his original plan.

“It seems like you’re not just a wandering cultivator at Origin Core. You’re at least at Nascent Change, or even…Divine Soul!” You Hantian was expressionless as he kept his eye on Gu Suihan.

“All of this is meaningless.” Gu Suihan waved his hand to interrupt You Hantian. He looked at the rest with You Hantian and said, “Tell them to get lost.”

“Why, you!”

“How dare you speak like this!”

“Kill him!”

You Hantian immediately frowned when he heard the reactions from the people next to him. He looked at Gu Suihan and said, “You’re already surrounded and it will be too difficult for you to escape. Great Elder Lu didn’t unleash his full potential on you just now because he was afraid it would destroy the seal over the Devil Abyss at the same time. If not for that, he would have killed you with one palm by now.”

“Just like you said, all of you have to watch out for the seal over the Devil Abyss.” Gu Suihan snorted as he straightened up, pulled his saber out of the ground, and drew a few lines in the air above the well. “So, you don’t have a choice.”

“Otherwise…” Gu Suihan’s gaze suddenly became as unfeeling as an abyss. Fiendish qi shot into the air， which caused the weather to change dramatically. He ignored their pale and shaken faces as he went on in a frosty voice, “We’ll all die together. You won’t be able to escape either.”

After he said that, he slowly looked up into the sky and looked at the slowly changing clouds above.

The will of this world was hiding up there…