32: Chapter 32 Corpse Infant

Within the dim storeroom, a faint layer of blood-colored light shimmered.

Gu Shen sat cross-legged with his brows furrowed, his face deathly pale. On the surface of his body, a fine layer of blood beads seeped from his pores, transforming into wisps of eerie, blood-colored mist that swirled around him.

Blood Burning Evasion.

For the past few days, he had been in this absolutely secure iron storeroom, deducing this life-saving secret technique he had seized from a demonic Cultivator.

"Use essence blood as firewood, and spiritual power as wind. The wind fuels the fire, allowing for an instantaneous crossing..."

Gu Shen silently recited the incantation from the Jade Slip in his heart, forcefully enduring the burning pain coming from his Meridians. The principle of this secret technique was extremely overbearing; it involved forcibly igniting the essence blood within a Cultivator's body to exchange for terrifying explosive power.

"Let's test it."

Gu Shen's eyes snapped open, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his gaze.

Inside his Dantian, a wisp of essence blood was instantly ignited.

Boom!

There was no loud sound, only an incredibly dazzling blood-colored afterimage.

Gu Shen's previously sitting figure vanished instantly. The next breath, he slammed heavily into the iron wall three zhang away, emitting a dull thud.

Too fast!

In this narrow storeroom, he didn't even have time to control his momentum. If he were in an open area outside, that momentary burst would have been enough to let him cross a distance of thirty zhang! Such evasion speed was something even a Qi Refining Level 8 Gloomy Demonic Cultivator could never hope to catch up with.

But the cost was equally severe.

Gu Shen leaned against the cold wall, gasping for air. Just one breath of that burst left him feeling as though his blood and Qi had been depleted by ten percent; his limbs felt weak, and stars danced before his eyes.

If he did not replenish his blood and Qi in time, such overexertion would damage his Spiritual Root Foundation.

He did not hesitate, probing his Divine Sense into his storage ring and taking out a lump of red blood essence glue.

He opened his mouth and swallowed it.

This holy medicine, originally intended for external application to stop bleeding, was consumed directly by Gu Shen. The vast and pure essence of blood and Qi dissolved in his stomach, like a sweet rain, rapidly nourishing his parched Meridians and depleted essence blood.

In just half an incense stick's time.

Color returned to Gu Shen's face, and that sense of weakness was swept away.

"With this red blood essence glue to back me up, Blood Burning Evasion is no longer a suicidal killing move, but a trump card I can use at any time."

A flash of joy crossed Gu Shen's eyes.

A strong sense of hunger came from his stomach. Although consuming the essence glue replenished his blood and Qi, the consumption of his Physical Body still required mundane food to fill.

He took out a jar of iron-sealed meat paste, pried it open with the gold-severing saber, and swallowed it in a few mouthfuls.

His physical strength recovered to its Peak.

Gu Shen stood up and straightened his tattered gray robe.

"The supplies in this storeroom have been completely looted by me, and there's nothing else of value on the first floor. It's time to go upstairs and take a look."

He had not forgotten that previously on the third floor of these ruins, he had been forced back by a group of Corpse Infant evil spirits proficient in Divine Sense attacks. Now, his Level 5 Qi Refining cultivation was stable, he had achieved Minor Achievement in the Soul-Shocking Spike, and he had the black turtle shield and the resentful bone flute by his side.

The roles of hunter and prey should be reversed.

Gu Shen pushed open the iron door of the storeroom.

Outside, gray mist filled the air, and it was deathly silent. He stepped in his shadow shoes and followed the edge of the hall until he reached the broken iron staircase.

He climbed the stairs.

The second floor was the clothing shop he had explored earliest; those fabrics had long since rotted into dust and were worthless. He did not linger and headed straight for the stairs leading to the third floor.

The higher he went, the heavier the cold, sinister Qi in the air became.

The moment he stepped onto the third floor.

Gu Shen's Divine Sense spread out like mercury pouring onto the ground, covering a radius of twenty zhang.

The terrain of the third floor was extremely complex, resembling the library or Formation hub of an Ancient Sect. Countless black, block-shaped "glazed crystal plates" were scattered on the floor, and thick iron pipes crisscrossed the ceiling.

Quiet.

There was no breath of any living thing.

Gu Shen remained unmoved. He strapped the black turtle shield to his left wrist, gripped the gold-severing saber in his right hand, and walked step by step into the depths.

When he arrived before a massive Formation control console.

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

An extremely faint scraping sound came from the iron pipes overhead.

Gu Shen's footsteps paused, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

It was coming.

Without any warning, the pipes overhead shattered with a boom.

Five small, cyan-purple shadows, like five arrows released from their strings, pounced down from the ceiling simultaneously! They were on all fours, sporting sharp claws, and their pitch-black eye sockets radiated an extremely resentful and vicious light.

Corpse Infant!

Waa—!

The five Corpse Infants opened their gaping maws in mid-air simultaneously, emitting an incredibly shrill wail.

This was not a normal sound wave, but five Divine Sense attacks converged together! The invisible sound wave was like a heavy hammer, striking straight at Gu Shen's Sea of Consciousness.

Last time on the third floor, Gu Shen had suffered a hidden loss from this Divine Sense attack and had to abandon the poison evil bead to flee for his life.

But this time.

"Stubborn and unyielding."

Gu Shen snorted coldly, flipped his left hand, and the crystal-clear resentful bone flute was already pressed to his lips.

Spiritual power surged wildly.

Woo—!

A shrill, demonic sound suddenly exploded. This Magical Artifact, refined from the Origin of the Blood Fiend Sect's bone banner, emitted a demonic sound that naturally carried the evil power to disrupt minds and defile the Divine Soul.

Two invisible sound waves collided fiercely in mid-air.

The air seemed to ripple with transparent waves.

The Corpse Infants' Divine Sense attacks were forcibly interrupted by the demonic sound; their bodies stiffened abruptly in mid-air, and a flash of pain and confusion crossed their pitch-black eye sockets.

In this split second of stagnation.

Gu Shen moved.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the Great Furnace vibrated.

Soul-Shocking Spike!

A transparent spike instantly crossed the Void Realm and stabbed fiercely into the glabella of the Corpse Infant rushing at the very front.

Plop!

That Corpse Infant didn't even emit a scream; its Soul fire was extinguished instantly, and it fell like a rag.

At the same time, Gu Shen's right hand swung the gold-severing saber violently.

The blade light was like a ribbon, the Geng Metal Qi tearing through the air and tracing a perfect fan shape in mid-air.

Chi, chi, chi!

The three Corpse Infants trapped in confusion were cut in half at the waist by the gold-severing saber, and foul-smelling black blood exploded in mid-air.

The last Corpse Infant saw this and let out a terrified shriek, actually forcibly twisting its waist in mid-air, extending its sharp claws, and slashing fiercely toward Gu Shen's face in an attempt to put up a desperate fight.

Gu Shen remained expressionless and flicked his left wrist.

Hum!

The grayish-blue black turtle shield opened instantly. The light shield, infused with the essence of stone armor, was as heavy as a mountain.

Clang!

The Corpse Infant's sharp claws raked against the light shield, emitting a harsh sound of metal scraping against metal. The claws snapped off at the base, and the immense rebound force sent it flying backward.

Gu Shen raised his right hand, and a flash of golden light appeared on his index finger.

Chi.

A Major Achievement Golden Light Finger precisely pierced the throat of the last Corpse Infant.

The entire battle process was smooth and fluid, taking no more than three breaths.

Five gregarious evil spirits that would strike fear into the hearts of ordinary Middle Stage Qi Refining Cultivators were all slain.

"Now that my Divine Sense defense and attack methods are complete, these evil spirits that only know superficial mental attacks are no longer anything to fear."

Gu Shen put away the resentful bone flute and the shield, and stepped forward with his saber.

He squatted down and pressed his palm onto the remains of the five Corpse Infants in turn.

"Refine."

Gray light swept over them.

The five Corpse Infants quickly shriveled and turned into fly ash. Because the physical bodies of such monsters were weak and relied entirely on resentment and residual Souls to wreak havoc, what the Great Furnace refined was not the white dew that replenished spiritual power.

A moment later, five crystal-clear, deep blue glowing droplets remained at the bottom of the furnace.

[Obtained: soul nourishing dew (inferior) x5 drops.] [Condensation of evil spirit residual Souls. Consuming can nourish Divine Sense and repair hidden injuries in the Sea of Consciousness.]

"Good stuff!"

Gu Shen was overjoyed. Spirit Medicines that could nourish Divine Sense were a hundred times rarer in the Great Yu Cultivation World than Medicinal Pills that increased cultivation. With these five drops of soul nourishing dew, his Foundation for unleashing the Soul-Shocking Spike in the future would be greatly increased.

He carefully took out an empty porcelain bottle, packed them away, and stored them in his storage ring.

After counting the spoils of war, Gu Shen's gaze fell on the area where the group of Corpse Infants had previously been entrenched.

These were several rows of extremely tall "glazed crystal plate control consoles".

Gu Shen walked up and tapped those black blocks with the hilt of his saber.

There was no fluctuation of spiritual power.

He swung the gold-severing saber and split them open.

Inside, there were no golden Formation patterns or red copper wires as he had imagined, but rather slabs of extremely hard silver metal that emitted a faint cold light. And in the center of these metal slabs were embedded gray-black crystals the size of a fingernail.

Gu Shen reached out and pried off a crystal.

It felt very light in his hand, but its texture was several times harder than ordinary iron, and it contained a trace of extremely weak lightning Qi.

[Detected discarded mechanism core.] [Can be refined.]

"This Ancient Sect actually knew how to Seal lightning Qi within crystals to drive mechanisms?"

Gu Shen's thoughts stirred, and he tossed the crystal into the Great Furnace.

"Refine."

The ashes dispersed, leaving behind a particle the size of a grain of sand, flickering with blue electric light at the bottom of the furnace.

[Obtained: thunder magnetic fine sand.] [Top-grade lightning-type Spirit Material. Can be used to refine lightning-attribute Magical Artifacts or set up lightning Formations.]

Gu Shen gasped.

Lightning-type Spirit Material!

This was the attribute with the strongest lethality in the Cultivation World and the one that most suppressed evil spirits and demonic Cultivators. Even if it was only the size of a grain of sand, its value was definitely not inferior to geng metal sand.

And in these dozens of rows of control consoles before him, the gray-black crystals embedded within numbered at least hundreds or thousands!

"This is a thunder magnetic vein!"

Gu Shen's breathing became slightly rapid.

He did not hesitate in the slightest, immediately lifting the gold-severing saber and turning into a ruthless dismantler.

In this deathly silent third floor of the Spiritless Ruins, a frenzied looting spree officially began. The tension and fear outside had nothing to do with him. He only knew that the day he fully digested these resources would be the day he truly established a firm foothold in this chaotic world.