19: Chapter 19: The Divine

The blood had been washed away, but the stench of blood in the air of Baicao Pavilion refused to dissipate.

Day had just broken.

The temperature inside the Earth Fire Room remained scorching.

Gu Shen gripped the medicine pestle, mechanically repeating the rising and falling motions.

He tightly suppressed his aura to the level of Qi Refining Level 3 Early Stage, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, face pale, looking like he was completely exhausted.

Last night's chaos had subsided; the fate of the heavily injured Cultivator was unknown, but the patrols of the Blood-Clad Guards were even more frequent than in the previous days.

Gu Shen had not used the Great Furnace once today.

Not only because the Blood-Clad Guards were watching closely, but also because he keenly sensed that Alchemist Chen's gaze toward this batch of raw liquid was becoming increasingly gloomy.

With the shortage of Spiritual Plants and the declining quality, any minor movement could invite a fatal disaster.

The core of the Dao of Survival lies in knowing when to advance and when to retreat.

His current net worth was enough to support his efforts to Cultivate for a while, so there was no need to be greedy for those petty gains while walking on the edge of a knife.

Until nightfall, when the dull tolling of a bell rang out.

"Stop the furnaces! Rest in place for three hours!"

Following a cold shout from the Blood-Clad Guards commander, dozens of apprentices felt as if they had been granted amnesty and collapsed to the ground one after another.

Gu Shen also found a corner and sat down against the wall.

He closed his eyes, his breathing gradually becoming long and steady; he appeared to be fast asleep, but in reality, a wisp of his consciousness had already sunk into the dark brass ring on his finger.

Inside the storage ring.

The Jade Slip recording the "Soul-Shocking Spike" lay quietly in the corner.

Gu Shen did not take it out, but instead directly enveloped it with his Divine Sense to read the Cultivation Technique within.

"Spirit as the blade, intent as the bone. Extract the silk and peel the cocoon, condense the void into reality..."

The Cultivation Technique did not have many words, but each word was perilous.

The first step to Cultivate the "Soul-Shocking Spike" was to forcibly tear off a wisp of one's own Divine Sense, repeatedly hammer and compress it through secret techniques, and finally condense it into an invisible "spike" within the Sea of Consciousness.

This process was no different from a Mortal pulling out their own fingernails and crushing them without anesthesia.

Gu Shen took a deep breath and silently recited the Cultivation Technique in his heart.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, his vast Divine Sense began to churn.

"Separate!"

He gritted his teeth fiercely and forcibly stripped away a wisp of Divine Sense.

Hum—!

A piercing, bone-deep pain instantly exploded from the depths of his mind. Gu Shen's body shuddered violently in reality; beneath his closed eyelids, his eyeballs rolled frantically, and cold sweat instantly soaked the clothes on his back.

It was too painful!

The pain of the Soul being torn apart far exceeded any physical torture.

If not for his firm will, he would likely have screamed out loud by now.

"Stabilize!"

Just as Gu Shen felt his consciousness about to fall into chaos, he fiercely activated the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] floating in the center of his Sea of Consciousness.

The ancient Great Furnace trembled slightly, casting a layer of faint gray light, like a sea-stabilizing needle, instantly suppressing the violently churning Sea of Consciousness.

The tearing sensation that seemed to drive one mad was largely isolated by the aura of the Great Furnace.

"That was close."

Gu Shen felt a secret shiver in his heart.

No wonder they said this Cultivation Technique easily makes one an idiot; without the Great Furnace to protect the mind, an ordinary Loose Cultivator could not survive the first hurdle at all.

With the Great Furnace suppressing it, Gu Shen endured the lingering pain and began to hammer the wisp of Divine Sense that had been stripped away, following the Cultivation Technique.

The Divine Sense was constantly compressed, elongated, and rotated within the Sea of Consciousness.

One hour.

Two hours.

When the Blood-Clad Guards in the distance began to move and change shifts, a sharp spike, only the size of an awn of wheat and nearly transparent, finally appeared in the depths of Gu Shen's Sea of Consciousness.

Soul-Shocking Spike (Entry Level).

Gu Shen slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath of foul air.

Although his head still throbbed with lingering pain, feeling that spike lurking in his Sea of Consciousness gave him a powerful sense of confidence.

This thing did not need Qi to activate, and it was instantaneous and invisible.

If used in coordination with the Golden Light Finger, one bright and one dark, within the same rank, as long as the opponent did not have a specialized Divine Sense defensive Magical Artifact, he could completely achieve a one-hit kill!

"Gu Shen! Get up!"

A cold voice suddenly exploded in his ear.

Gu Shen's heart skipped a beat; he quickly reined in his focus, opened his sleepy eyes, and pretended to be panicked as if just woken up.

Standing in front of him was that Blood-Clad Guards commander, with a pale-faced Manager Wang Tong following beside him.

"Commander..."

Gu Shen hurriedly stood up, hunching his back.

The Blood-Clad Guards commander coldly glanced at him, his gaze lingering for a moment on his arms, which appeared thick from years of medicine pounding, and then pointed at him: "Count you in. Come out and stand in line."

Gu Shen was stunned, but he dared not ask more, and walked to the side with his head lowered.

At this time, more than a dozen apprentices had already been pointed out in the open space.

They were all the ones who worked the hardest and were the strongest physically on a daily basis.

"Commander, these are all skilled apprentices; if they are all taken away, today's medicinal liquid..."

Alchemist Chen walked out from the inner hall, frowning, his tone carrying a trace of dissatisfaction.

"Alchemist Chen, this is the decree of the Sect."

The Blood-Clad Guards commander interrupted him expressionlessly, "The front line was defeated, and the flying ship transporting Spiritual Plants was hijacked by demonic Cultivators. The red blood vine and Qi Gathering grass in the warehouse are bottoming out."

"The Law Enforcement Hall orders that, effective immediately, Loose Cultivators from the Outer City and the sturdy miscellaneous servants of each hall will be conscripted to form a medicine-gathering team, escorted by my Blood-Clad Guards, to go outside the Formation barrier to the Black Wind Forest in the west to rush-harvest wild Spiritual Plants."

Black Wind Forest!

As soon as these words were spoken, the dozen or so apprentices in the open space immediately turned pale, and a few even had their legs go weak, collapsing directly to the ground.

Gu Shen's pupils also constricted slightly, and his hands clenched tightly into fists.

The Black Wind Forest was located thirty miles outside the Formation of Qingyun Market.

Poisonous miasma filled that place, and Yao Beast ran rampant; usually, only the most desperate bandit Cultivators and experienced old hunters dared to wander on the periphery.

Now, not only did the Danding Sect want them to go, but it was also at a critical moment when demonic Cultivators might appear at any time!

This was not medicine gathering; this was clearly going to serve as cannon fodder to scout the path!

"Commander, spare my life! This humble one's cultivation level is low; going there means certain death!"

An apprentice threw himself forward, crying bitterly, and hugged the Blood-Clad Guards commander's leg.

Bang!

The Blood-Clad Guards commander didn't even look and kicked his leg up.

The apprentice flew several feet away like a rag, hit the Pill Furnace, spat out blood violently, his sternum shattered, and it was clear he would not survive.

The whole scene was deathly silent.

"The Sect has raised you for so long, and now it is time for you to contribute. Anyone who dares to be afraid of battle and not advance, this is the outcome."

The Blood-Clad Guards commander scanned the circle with cold eyes, "Now, go to the courtyard to collect the medicine-gathering baskets. Half an hour later, gather at the west gate of the market."

No one dared to beg for mercy again.

Gu Shen lowered his head, walked silently into the courtyard, took a bamboo basket that smelled of mold, and carried it on his back.

He did not look at Manager Wang Tong, nor did he look at Alchemist Chen.

In this cold Cultivation World, low-level Cultivators are nothing but grass.

The Sect needed flesh and blood to fill the deficit, and no one could escape.

Walking out of the gate of Baicao Pavilion.

The sky was bright, but thick clouds covered it, and cold wind mixed with icy rain slapped against his face.

Gu Shen touched the storage ring on his hand.

Inside were twenty-five and a half Spirit Stones, thirteen clumps of red blood essence glue, the gold-severing saber, the black turtle shield, the shadow shoes, and the newly refined refined iron ingots.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the Soul-Shocking Spike was drawn but not released, and the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] floated quietly.

"Black Wind Forest..."

Gu Shen looked up at the gray sky in the west, and his originally hunched back slowly straightened in the corner of the alley, out of everyone's sight.

Since the great ship of the Sect had already begun to leak everywhere, and even a rat like him hiding at the bottom of the hull was being grabbed to fill the sea.

Then he did not intend to come back.

This so-called "certain-death mission" was a death warrant to others.

But to him, a cheater who possessed an ancient ruin as a retreat and hidden trump cards, perhaps, it was exactly the heaven-sent opportunity to escape.