183: Chapter 183 After the Boundary Marker

As he stepped over the bluestone boundary marker half-buried in the silt, the atmospheric conditions in the surroundings changed abruptly.

The thick, ink-like, damp, and cold miasma of the Yunmeng Great Swamp gradually faded away, and the terrain ahead began to rise and fall violently.

Endless gray-black mountain ranges, like dormant prehistoric giant beasts, stretched across the vast land.

He had arrived at the Ten Thousand Mang Mountains.

The Five Elements Spiritual Qi in this place was violent and chaotic, like a pot of boiling water, crashing wantonly through the Void Realm.

For an ordinary Cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage just stepping into this place, even a simple breath would cause their Meridians to sting as if pricked by needles.

Gu Shen, dressed in a gray robe, walked with a steady gait along the steep mountain path covered in withered yellow pine needles.

The moment the manic and impure Spiritual Qi touched his skin, it was forcibly dragged into his body by a deep, dark gravitational pull.

In his Dantian Qi Sea, the [Nirvana Star Core] rotated slowly.

This Dao Foundation, forged from the Origin power of two realms, was like a bottomless black hole, instantly shredding and assimilating those chaotic Spiritual Qi, feeding back strands of pure, deep cyan True Essence.

In this dangerous land that made people turn pale at the mere mention of its name, Gu Shen instead felt a sense of comfort, like a fish in water.

The mountain wind howled, passing through the dead trees and emitting shrill screams like ghosts crying.

Gu Shen appeared to be strolling casually, but the AI Crystal deep within his brow was operating at high speed.

Three faint heat source signals had already been incorporated into his perception as early as an incense stick's time ago.

Ahead was a dangerous canyon, a narrow pass.

The cliff walls on both sides were steep with jagged rocks, making it an excellent spot for killing people and seizing goods.

Gu Shen walked to the center of the canyon and stopped.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over a few twisted dead trees, and spoke indifferently: "You have followed me for ten miles. Three of you, this welcoming path of the Mang Mountain should have come to an end, shouldn't it?"

The sound of wind echoed in the valley, and for a long time, there was no answer.

Gu Shen's expression remained unchanged as he lightly stomped his right foot forward.

An invisible, heavy pulse transmitted boomingly along the rock layer beneath his feet.

"Bang!"

Behind a giant rock ten zhang away on the left, the soil exploded.

Three figures cloaked in earth-yellow concealment cloaks were forced to rush out from the shadows of the rocks.

All three were old-school Loose Cultivators with withered appearances and weather-beaten faces.

The one in the center had the highest cultivation, having reached the Peak of Qi Refining Level 8, while the other two were also skilled hands at Qi Refining Level 7.

Each of them held a Magical Artifact glowing with toxic luster, forming a pincer Formation that tightly sealed off Gu Shen's retreat.

"What sharp perception. Fellow Daoist, this skill of yours in listening to the wind and identifying positions is quite solid."

The thin, tall old man in the center sneered.

His turbid eyes scanned Gu Shen up and down, attempting to see through the reality beneath that half-covering bronze mask.

The old man calculated inwardly.

The three brothers had been mingling on the edge of the Mang Mountain for decades, and countless Cultivators had died under their combined attack Formation.

The aura of this gray-robed person in front of him was restrained to the extreme, and his specific cultivation could not be detected, but to dare to enter the Mang Mountain alone, he must be carrying quite a few good things.

"Big Brother, why waste words with him? Slaughter the fat sheep, take the Spirit Stone, and we can go exchange for a barrier-breaking pill!" The short, fat Loose Cultivator on the left licked his dry, cracked lips, his eyes full of greed.

Gu Shen stood with his hands behind his back, not even touching the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade at his waist.

"I have just entered the Mang Mountain and happen to lack a few guides to ask the way." Gu Shen's voice was hoarse and low, "Answer a few of my questions, and I will spare your lives."

"Arrogant!"

The thin, tall old man was furious.

On the edge of this Mang Mountain, it was always their turn to exploit others; when was it ever an outsider's turn to spout nonsense?

"Do it!"

Accompanied by a sharp shout, the three of them surged forward simultaneously.

The short, fat Loose Cultivator pinched a seal with both hands and opened his mouth to spray a foul-smelling black venomous sand; the Cultivator on the right sacrificed a Medium Grade Magical Artifact Flying Sword, which turned into a shrill, cold light aiming straight for Gu Shen's throat; the thin, tall old man threw out a large net Magical Artifact, covering him from above.

The combined attack technique was skilled and vicious, sealing off the upper, middle, and lower paths.

Gu Shen stood in place, his figure not moving a fraction.

Inside the Dantian Qi Sea, that gray and deep [Nirvana Star Core] emitted an imperceptible hum.

The speed of its rotation suddenly increased by a fraction.

"Collapse."

Gu Shen's lips parted slightly.

A spine-chilling gravitational field, with Gu Shen as the center, instantly descended upon this small area!

This was not a bombardment of Spells, but a gravitational collapse in the purely physical sense!

Hum—!

The large net Magical Artifact that was covering him from above seemed to be tightly grabbed by an invisible giant hand in mid-air, instantly losing all spiritual nature and crashing heavily to the ground.

The incoming Medium Grade Flying Sword, the moment it approached within one zhang of Gu Shen, emitted a piercing, mournful sound from its blade.

Under the pressure of the extremely distorted gravity, the hard sword body bent inch by inch, finally shattering into a pile of scrap metal and debris.

As for the sky-filling black venomous sand, before it could even get close, it was pulled by this massive gravitational force and fell into the soil, smashing out tiny, dense pits.

"What?!"

The thin, tall old man's forward-rushing steps came to an abrupt halt, his eyes wide open, his face full of horror as if he had seen a ghost.

Before they could make their next reaction, that invisible, terrifying heavy pressure had already spread to the tops of the three men's heads.

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

The three old-school Loose Cultivators who had been licking blood off the blade for years felt as if a ten-thousand-jun iron mountain had instantly pressed down on their shoulders.

Their leg bones emitted unbearable cracking sounds, and their knees simultaneously smashed into the hard rocky ground, smashing the rock into spiderweb-like cracks.

The immense pressure forced them to lie flat on the ground, unable to even perform the simple action of lifting their heads.

"Ah!!!"

The short, fat Loose Cultivator tried to prop up his body with his hands, but his radius and ulna bones instantly snapped under the crushing of the gravitational field, and the stark white bone fragments pierced through his flesh.

The screams echoed in the canyon.

Gu Shen walked slowly to the front of the thin, tall old man.

At this moment, the old man's features were distorted by extreme pain and fear.

He finally understood that the gray-robed person in front of him was not some fat sheep fresh out of the nest, but an unfathomable great Cultivator!

And the Divine Ability he Cultivated was strange and overbearing to the extreme!

"Senior, spare my life... Senior, spare my life! This lowly one had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai and offended your noble presence..." The old man coughed up a mouthful of blood, begging desperately for mercy.

Gu Shen looked down at him from above.

"I ask, you answer."

Gu Shen retracted one fraction of the Star Core's gravity, ensuring the old man could speak, "Has there been any change in the periphery of this Mang Mountain recently?"

The old man felt as if he had been granted an amnesty, gasping breathlessly, and replied: "Answering Senior... in the last half month, the periphery of the Mang Mountain has been extremely abnormal. Those second-tier Yao Beasts that were originally entrenched here, for some reason, all went mad and migrated into the depths of the mountain. The periphery has almost become an empty zone."

Yao Beasts retreating into the depths?

Gu Shen's gaze narrowed slightly.

Yao Beasts have extremely strong territorial awareness; large-scale unusual movements must be caused by external forces forcibly driving them.

"Besides the unusual movements of the Yao Beasts, have any large groups of Human Race Cultivators entered?" Gu Shen continued to ask.

"Yes! Yes!" The old man nodded repeatedly, "Seven days ago, this lowly one caught a glimpse from afar of several Spirit Boats covering the sky and sun flying in from the east, heading directly into the hinterland of the Mang Mountain. Looking at the flag totem on those Spirit Boats, it seems to be... big shots from the Beast Taming Sect!"

A look of realization flashed in the depths of Gu Shen's eyes.

What The Green Lotus said at the bottom of the Yunmeng Great Swamp was true.

The Human Race Sects had indeed broken the rules of the boundary marker and sent troops deep into these Ten Thousand Mang Mountains on a large scale.

To make a behemoth like the Beast Taming Sect willing to break the rules and mobilize such forces, there must be some extremely rare treasure hidden in the depths of this Mang Mountain.

Gu Shen obtained the information he wanted, and with a thought, he moved.

The terrifying gravity that had been shrouding the three people instantly dissipated.

The three Loose Cultivators collapsed on the ground like mud, gasping for air, their bodies already soaked with cold sweat and blood.

Gu Shen flicked his large sleeve, and his True Essence turned into an invisible hand, tearing off all the Storage Pouches from the three men's waists.

He used his Divine Sense to brutally sweep away the remaining imprints on them, transferring all the Spirit Stones inside into his own Storage Ring.

As for those Medicinal Pills and Magical Artifacts that were like scrap metal, he didn't even glance at them.

"Get lost."

Gu Shen left behind this one word and turned to walk away.

The three Loose Cultivators felt as if they had been granted an amnesty, supporting each other, scrambling and crawling as they fled toward the outside of the canyon, fearing that this great Cultivator with the eccentric temper might change his mind.

Gu Shen's figure was soon hidden in the dense black pine forest.