22: Chapter 22 Hibernation

Thump... Thump...

Heavy footsteps echoed in the great hall; each time it landed, it was accompanied by a teeth-gritting sound of metal dragging.

Gu Shen curled up behind a rusty iron rack, suppressing his breathing to the extreme, his Longevity Art Spiritual Qi stagnant in his body like a pool of dead water.

The shadow shoes on his feet emitted an imperceptible black light, completely masking his faint trace of living aura.

Through the gaps in the iron rack, he saw the full appearance of that monster.

It was a Curse Corpse nearly a zhang tall.

The grayish-white tumors on its body seemed like a layer of natural stone armor, and it dragged a rusty iron axe the size of a water vat in its hand.

What was heart-palpitating was that its single scarlet eye actually revealed a trace of turbid, ferocious light, rather than the pure dead silence of low-level Curse Corpses.

"It has actually given birth to a trace of intelligence."

Gu Shen felt a chill in his heart.

In the Great Yu Cultivation World, within the path of corpse refining, once a corpse puppet gives birth to intelligence, it means it has crossed the threshold of the third rank, and its Physical Body can even withstand a full-strength strike from a Low Grade Magical Artifact.

Such a vicious creature was definitely not something he, a Qi Refining Stage 4 Cultivator, could confront head-on.

The Curse Corpse stopped in front of the mechanical iron box that Gu Shen had cut open.

It twitched its remaining half-nose, seemingly having smelled the faint trace of a living person remaining in the air.

Roar!

The monster suddenly let out a low roar, its thick arm swung the rusty giant axe, and it slashed down without any fancy tricks.

Boom!

A loud noise.

That incredibly hard mechanical shell, forged from hundred-refined iron, was slashed into two halves like paper under this axe!

The remaining glass bottles inside shattered all over the floor, and brown liquid splashed everywhere.

Iron filings hit the iron rack where Gu Shen was hiding, making a pitter-patter sound.

Gu Shen's pupils shrank slightly, and cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

If he had been greedy and taken one more bottle just now, and had been half a breath slower, it would have been him who was slashed in two right now.

"Cannot be fought head-on; retreat."

Taking advantage of the gap while the Curse Corpse was venting on that pile of scrap iron, Gu Shen crouched down, like a ghost gliding close to the ground, and retreated little by little into the depths of the mall along the shadows at the edge of the great hall.

He dared not move fast, fearing that the airflow he stirred up would alert that big guy.

It took a full joss stick's worth of time before he exited the great hall and turned into a dark, dim corridor.

On both sides of the corridor were rows of tightly closed, heavy iron doors, seemingly storehouses where this Ancient Sect kept important supplies.

Gu Shen stopped in front of a half-ajar iron door.

The door hinges were severely rusted, and it was pitch black inside, without a trace of light.

He probed slightly with his Divine Sense, and after confirming that there were no evil spirits lurking inside, he turned sideways and slipped in.

Turning around, he pressed his hands against the iron door and used all his strength to close the door little by little.

To avoid making a friction sound, he even used Spiritual Qi to support the door hinges.

Click.

The iron door closed tightly.

Gu Shen was still not at ease; he summoned the black turtle shield from his storage ring and jammed it tightly between the door crack and the floor, making it a sturdy doorstop.

Only until this moment did he lean his back against the cold iron door and slide down to the floor along the door panel.

This storage room was not large, and the surrounding walls were all cast from refined iron, with excellent sound insulation.

The movement outside was completely cut off, and it was so deathly silent that he could hear his own heartbeat.

"Safe now."

Gu Shen did not immediately relax his vigilance, but instead sat quietly in the darkness for a full hour.

Outside, it was unknown if the slaughter in the Black Wind Forest had ended.

If those few demonic Cultivators from the Blood Fiend Sect could not find his tracks, they would definitely set up an inescapable net near the giant banyan tree.

If he went back now, it would be no different from throwing himself into a net.

"At least I must lie low in this ruin for a few days until the heat dies down."

Since he had come, he would make the best of it.

Gu Shen was also a decisive person.

He sat cross-legged and probed his Divine Sense into his storage ring.

That mass of essence white dew (Middle Stage) refined from the corpse of the Qi Refining Stage 4 demonic Cultivator was quietly floating in the corner of the space.

"This place has no Spiritual Qi interference; it is indeed a good place for seclusion."

Gu Shen opened his mouth and inhaled.

That milky white ball of light instantly submerged into his abdomen.

Also at Qi Refining Stage 4, the essence white dew condensed from this demonic Cultivator's entire essence blood and cultivation base contained an astonishing amount of Spiritual Qi, far beyond what that previous Rank 2 Shadow Cat could compare to.

Boom!

The pure Spiritual Qi was like a wild horse that had broken its reins, galloping and roaring in Gu Shen's wide Meridians.

With the experience from the previous time, Gu Shen handled it much more calmly this time.

He operated the Longevity Art, like an experienced boatman, guiding this torrent, washing his Meridians again and again, and finally, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, it poured into his Dantian.

His original Qi Refining Stage 4 Early Stage cultivation base, under the push of this massive Spiritual Qi, began to climb steadily.

Stage 4 Middle Stage... Stage 4 Late Stage...

Until Stage 4 Perfection!

When the last trace of the essence white dew medicinal power was refined, the Qi vortex in Gu Shen's Dantian had become incredibly viscous, faintly emitting a lustrous green light.

It was only a thin layer of window paper away from Level 5 Qi Refining.

"As expected of the entire Foundation of a Cultivator of the same rank."

Gu Shen opened his eyes, and it seemed as if lightning flashed in the darkness.

He did not rush to break through to Level 5 Qi Refining.

The Dao of cultivation requires both tension and relaxation.

If cultivation base skyrockets in a short time without consolidation, it is easy for the Foundation to become unstable.

After consolidating his Realm for a while, Gu Shen felt a bout of dry mouth and tongue.

He thought of the glass bottle he had fished out from the mechanical iron box earlier.

With a thought, the bottle appeared in his hand.

This bottle had a peculiar shape, and the bottle mouth was sealed with some kind of soft iron.

The dark brown liquid inside was swaying slightly.

"This Ancient Sect, even ordinary drinking water has to be sealed with glass and refined iron?"

Gu Shen, upholding his consistent caution, did not drink it directly, but instead brought it close to his brow.

[Heaven and Earth Furnace] vibrated slightly.

[Found Mortal beverage.] [Ingredients: Mortal medicinal root juice, large amount of sugar, Earth Vein cold Qi (bubbles).] [Non-toxic, cannot be refined.]

"Mortal item?"

Gu Shen was somewhat surprised.

This mechanical Dao Sect actually specialized in refining sugar water for Mortals to drink?

However, since the Great Furnace judged it non-toxic, he no longer had any misgivings.

Lying low in a place without Spiritual Qi, replenishing Mortal moisture and physical strength was equally important.

He pinched the soft iron bottle cap with two fingers and applied a little force.

"Hiss—"

A strong stream of air, accompanied by fine bubbles, suddenly gushed out from the bottle mouth.

Gu Shen was startled, thinking it was some kind of hidden weapon, and almost threw the bottle away.

Looking closely, he realized it was the "Earth Vein cold Qi" contained in the brown liquid overflowing.

He tentatively took a small sip.

It was icy cold going down his throat, followed by an extremely rich sweetness, as well as a weak but direct-to-the-brain stimulating sensation.

"Hiccup."

Gu Shen could not hold it back and let out a loud burp, exhaling a remaining breath of cold Qi.

"What a strange medicinal liquid. Although there is no Spiritual Qi, this stimulating strength does have a bit of a refreshing effect."

Gu Shen clicked his tongue in wonder, drank two more sips, then resealed the remaining half bottle and put it into his storage ring.

In this absolute dead zone, water resources were extremely precious and must not be wasted.

After finishing all this.

Gu Shen calmed his mind and probed a wisp of Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness.

His cultivation base was consolidated; next, he had to focus most of his energy on that newly acquired Cultivation Technique.

Soul-Shocking Spike.

The hasty strike in the Black Wind Forest earlier, although it instantly killed the demonic Cultivator, also caused his Divine Sense to be greatly exhausted, almost making him dizzy.

This showed that his control over this technique was still extremely rough.

If he could practice it to Minor Achievement, achieve free control, and even fire two spikes in a row, then he would have one more trump card to save his life when facing those high-level Curse Corpses in this ruin.

Gu Shen closed his eyes, and the Great Furnace hung high in his Sea of Consciousness.

The invisible spike of Divine Sense began to condense, dissipate, and condense again and again in the darkness.

Outside the door was the crisis-ridden, deathly silent ruin; inside the door was the calm-as-water secluded cultivation.

Time slowly passed in this iron room.