30: Chapter 30 Catastrophe

"Twenty Spirit Stones!"

The charred Cultivator's roar echoed through the tavern.

Silence. A deathly silence.

The dozen or so Loose Cultivators who had been holding loud conversations in the tavern stopped what they were doing in unison. Under the dim candlelight, pairs of eyes gleamed with the eerie light of hungry wolves, staring fixedly at the three of them.

Twenty Spirit Stones were enough to make this band of desperadoes at Wild Dog Ridge turn bloodthirsty. Moreover, these three were exhausted of spiritual power and on the verge of death.

Gu Shen sat in the shadows of the corner, bowing his head slightly.

He did not touch the gold-severing saber at his waist, nor did he make a sound. He merely poured the half-bowl of cloudy wine on the table onto the ground, his toes tapping the floor as his muscles quietly tensed beneath his grey robe.

These three had managed to survive the meat grinder that was the Black Wind Forest and escape to this place; how could there not be life-taking fiends chasing after them?

"This Fellow Daoist, you are quite heavily injured. I happen to have some excellent detox pills right here..."

The bearded man at the neighboring table grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. He picked up a thick-backed mountain-cleaving saber and slowly walked over.

Following his movements, four or five other Loose Cultivators in the tavern stood up, faintly forming an encirclement, blocking the three of them at the entrance.

"What do you want to do? Get lost!"

The charred Cultivator also sensed that something was wrong. A flash of despair and ruthlessness crossed his eyes as he suddenly clutched a glowing Talisman in his hand. "This is a Medium Grade Flame Explosion Talisman! Whoever dares to come up, we will all perish together!"

Once the pressure of the Medium Grade Talisman was released, the approaching Loose Cultivators paused, their faces showing wariness.

Gu Shen seized the moment when everyone's attention was diverted, stood up silently, sticking close to the wall, and moved toward the back door of the dormitory behind the tavern.

Just when he was only three steps away from the back door.

Boom!

A deafening, earth-shattering roar.

The tavern's heavy refined iron door, along with half of the stone wall, was actually blasted apart from the outside by a terrifying force!

A violent blast of air, mixed with debris and wood splinters, swept through the entire front hall. Several Loose Cultivators who were close by didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were pierced by the flying debris, and they fell to the ground in a bloody mess.

Gu Shen was quick-eyed and nimble-handed, slamming his hand against his storage ring.

Hum!

A thick, ash-grey light shield instantly erected itself before him. Debris struck the black turtle shield, making a sound like dense, heavy rain, but the light shield remained unmoved.

"Cough, cough..."

The dust settled.

On the open ground outside the door, three figures draped in blood-colored cloaks stood, though it was unclear when they had arrived.

The leader had a gloomy face and held a blood-red Formation Plate in his hand. The aura on his body was released without any restraint; the Spiritual Pressure, which felt almost tangible, pressed down on the surviving Loose Cultivators in the tavern, making it hard for them to breathe.

Qi Refining Level 8! An elite of the Blood Fiend Sect!

"Running? Once you've been hit by my Blood Soul Seal, even if you run to the ends of the earth, you will still be nothing but medicine dregs in my Cauldron."

The Gloomy Demonic Cultivator sneered, his gaze sweeping over the three ashen-faced, heavily injured Cultivators, before he violently hurled the Formation Plate in his hand into mid-air.

"Activate the Formation. Seal this place; leave no one alive!"

Hum—

A dark red curtain of light poured down from mid-air, like an inverted bowl, instantly sealing the entire Old Ghost Inn along with the tavern tightly inside.

Blood Fiend Trap Formation!

"Scum of the Blood Fiend Sect, you go too far!"

Behind the inn counter, the skin-and-bones old man who had been smoking a dry pipe (the proprietor of the Old Ghost Inn) could finally sit still no longer. He crushed his pipe, his Qi Refining Level 7 aura erupting. He formed hand seals, and a sharp earthen spike shot along the ground toward the Demonic Cultivator outside the door.

"Kill!"

The Gloomy Demonic Cultivator had no intention of making a move himself. The two Blood Fiend Sect Disciples behind him grinned viciously, drew their Magical Artifacts, and charged into the tavern like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

Both of these Disciples were at Qi Refinement Level 6, and their attacks were extremely ruthless, specifically targeting vital points.

The tavern instantly turned into a slaughterhouse. Screams, the clashing of Magical Artifacts, and the explosions of Talismans rang out in a cacophony.

Gu Shen put away the black turtle shield, his back pressed tightly against the wall, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the battlefield.

The main entrance was blocked, and the Formation was sealed.

The red light of the trap Formation was as thick as blood and could by no means be easily broken by brute force.

"I can only fight my way out."

Gu Shen's eyes instantly turned as cold as frost. He didn't look for trouble, but if pushed to a desperate situation, he was more ruthless than anyone else.

Swish!

A blood-red saber light suddenly cleaved through the hazy dust, heading straight for Gu Shen's face.

One of the Qi Refinement Level 6 Demonic Cultivators had set his sights on Gu Shen in the corner. In his eyes, this Loose Cultivator with a face full of poison spots and only Level 5 Qi Refining cultivation was just a small fry that could be harvested with a casual stroke.

"Die!" the Demonic Cultivator barked.

Gu Shen was expressionless and did not even retreat half a step.

He raised his left hand slightly, his magical power surging wildly.

He summoned the black turtle shield again.

The black turtle shield, which had been fused with the essence of a Tier 3 Stone Armor, suddenly expanded in mid-air, transforming into a turtle shell stone wall that looked solid.

Clang—!!!

A deafening sound of metal clashing rang through the hall.

The Demonic Cultivator's supposedly sure-fire blood-red saber strike hit the stone wall, but it couldn't even leave a white mark. Instead, he was shaken by an extremely powerful rebounding force, causing the webbing between his thumb and index finger to split, and the saber in his hand almost flew out of his grip.

"What?!" The Demonic Cultivator's pupils shrank violently, his face full of horror.

How could a Level 5 Qi Refining Loose Cultivator possess a defensive Magical Artifact of such a grade?!

At the very moment he was stunned.

From behind the stone shield, a frightening gleam suddenly erupted in Gu Shen's eyes.

Soul-Shocking Spike!

Without the slightest warning, a transparent Divine Sense spike, condensed to Minor Achievement, instantly crossed a distance of two zhang like a viper flicking its tongue, stabbing viciously into the Demonic Cultivator's Sea of Consciousness.

"Ah!"

The Demonic Cultivator felt as if his brain had been struck by a ten-thousand-jin heavy hammer. A monstrous wave surged within his Sea of Consciousness, his vision went black instantly, and the magical power within his body directly dissipated under this extreme pain.

Even though he was at Qi Refinement Level 6, he had no power to resist such an indefensible Divine Sense killing move.

Strike while the iron is hot!

Gu Shen pressed his right hand to his waist and drew his saber.

The gold-severing saber turned into a dark grey ribbon, tracing a perfect half-moon in the air. Geng Metal Qi flickered, its edge unrivaled.

Shhh.

A faint sound of flesh separating rang out.

A head flew into the sky, and blood from the severed neck sprayed like a fountain onto the shattered wine bowls scattered everywhere.

Instant kill!

A cross-rank kill!

Gu Shen grabbed the falling head and took the opportunity to snatch the Storage Pouch from the headless corpse's waist. The entire movement was fluid and smooth, as if practiced thousands of times.

"Third Brother!"

Outside the door, the Gloomy Demonic Cultivator who had not yet made a move witnessed this scene with his own eyes. His face instantly turned livid, and monstrous killing intent erupted in his eyes.

He never imagined that a seemingly unremarkable poison Cultivator could counter-kill his elite subordinate within a single breath!

"You are courting death!"

The Gloomy Demonic Cultivator roared, raised his hand, and summoned a spinning blood-red small seal. The seal grew as it met the wind, becoming the size of a millstone, carrying suffocating Spiritual Pressure as it smashed toward Gu Shen like Mount Tai pressing down on top of him.

This was a hate-filled strike from a Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator. If it landed squarely, let alone the black turtle shield, Gu Shen himself would be turned into a puddle of mush!

Alarm bells rang in Gu Shen's heart, and the hair on his body stood on end.

He would absolutely not take this strike head-on.

Just as the blood seal was falling, the shadow shoes on his feet flashed with black light. Instead of retreating, he Advanced, like a phantom flying close to the ground, sliding out along the edge of the blood seal.

Boom!

The blood seal smashed into the spot where Gu Shen had originally been standing, creating a deep pit in the tavern floor, with spiderweb-like cracks spreading out.

Borrowing the thrust of the shockwave, Gu Shen twisted his body in mid-air and headed straight for the stone wall at the back of the tavern, which was shrouded by the red light of the Formation.

He only had one chance to break the Formation.

"Break!"

Gu Shen crazily injected the remaining forty percent of his magical power into his right index finger.

Golden Light Finger!

A dazzling, brilliant golden light condensed to the limit at his fingertip, transforming into a Geng Metal Sword Qi that was as thin as a thread but indestructible, stabbing viciously into the dark red light curtain of the trap Formation.

At the same time, the innkeeper, Old Ghost, also risked his life, summoning an earth-yellow giant hammer and smashing it against the other side of the light curtain.

Crack—

The trap Formation was not laid by any Advanced Formation Plate to begin with, and under the internal and external pincer attack of the two forces, it finally cracked open a gap half a foot wide.

Gu Shen's eyes hardened. Ignoring the cutting force of the Formation's backlash at the edge of the gap, he forcibly squeezed his body through.

Rip.

His grey robe was torn, and his back was slashed by the residual energy of the Formation, leaving a bloody wound deep enough to see the bone.

Gu Shen let out a muffled groan, forcing himself to swallow the blood rising in his throat. He dared not stop for a second. The moment his feet touched the ground, he immediately turned and dove into the intricate, dark alleys of Wild Dog Ridge.

"Want to run? Chase him! Skin him alive!"

Behind him, the Gloomy Demonic Cultivator's exasperated roar shattered the night sky.

Gu Shen covered his bleeding back, sprinting through the narrow alleyway.

His eyes were cold to the extreme. His Divine Sense probed into his storage ring, took out a lump of red blood essence glue, and pressed it onto the wound on his back without hesitation.

The pure medicinal power melted instantly, stopping the bleeding.

"Qi Refining Level 8..."

Gu Shen felt the Divine Sense lock biting tightly onto him from behind like a maggot on a rotting bone, and a cold arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

Keep chasing.

As long as he was out of everyone's sight.

He could disappear from this world at any time.