33: Chapter 33 Thunder Pattern

Inside the vast and vital secret area on the third floor, the sound of clashing metal echoed incessantly.

Like a tireless blacksmith, Gu Shen brandished his gold-severing saber, frantically hacking and prying at rows of tall, black mechanical cabinets.

He skillfully gouged out the gray-black crystals embedded in the center of the silver metal plates one by one, tossing them into the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] within his Sea of Consciousness.

It was an extremely tedious and physically exhausting process.

For three full days, Gu Shen dismantled dozens of rows of mechanical cabinets in this area into a pile of scrap metal. During this time, to maintain the high-intensity labor, he consumed two jars of iron-sealed meat paste to barely suppress his body's hunger.

“Phew...”

Gu Shen tossed aside a cracked metal plate, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and leaned against an iron pillar, gasping for breath.

Though utterly exhausted, a fervent light flickered in his sunken eyes.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the ashes at the bottom of the Great Furnace had been completely cleared. In their place was a clump of sand about the size of a peanut, with faint blue electric arcs constantly jumping within it.

Thousands of gray-black crystals had ultimately only yielded this small amount of thunder magnetic fine sand.

“Concentrated essence is the best.”

With a thought from Gu Shen, the clump of thunder magnetic fine sand manifested in his palm. Just holding it, he could feel a chilling aura that made his skin tingle. Thunder, the pivot of heaven and earth, naturally suppressed all evil and Yin Qi.

“It’s time to give this saber an upgrade.”

Gu Shen laid the gold-severing saber horizontally across his knees.

This saber had been infused with geng metal sand and was matchlessly sharp, but when facing incorporeal remnant souls or demonic Cultivators with extremely heavy Yin Qi, pure physical cutting was far less effective. If it could be imbued with thunder techniques, it would become a true killing weapon.

“Smelt!”

The phantom of the Great Furnace descended once more, swallowing both the gold-severing saber and the thunder magnetic fine sand.

The white flames of natural order burned fiercely.

Since the gold-severing saber itself had been forged by Gu Shen using the Great Furnace, they shared the same origin, making this smelting process far less difficult than the Fusion with the black turtle shield.

Half an hour later.

The thunder magnetic fine sand transformed into threads of faint blue liquid lightning, seeping into the grain of the blade and perfectly intertwining with the Geng Metal Qi.

Buzz—!

The long saber emitted a crisp, vibrating hum and leaped out from the Great Furnace.

Gu Shen grabbed it in one swift motion.

The originally dull gray blade was now covered in web-like, faint blue natural Thunder Markings. The edge remained a matte color, but with just a hint of infused mana, fine blue electric arcs would explode along the blade's edge.

Gu Shen casually swung at a nearby broken iron pillar.

Sizzle!

There was no resistance. The iron pillar was sliced in two, the cut charred black, and the residual lightning power even melted the surrounding iron filings into liquid iron.

“What domineering thunder magnetic power! Not only does it have a numbing effect, but it can also burn away evil spirits.”

Gu Shen admired the brand-new gold-severing saber before sheathing it, unable to put it down.

The saber was finished. Next was repairing his Divine Sense.

Three consecutive days of dismantling and smelting had left Gu Shen's Divine Sense extremely fatigued, causing a faint throbbing pain in his head.

He took a small porcelain bottle from his storage ring and poured out a single drop of soul nourishing dew that emitted a faint blue glow.

He opened his mouth and swallowed it.

It was icy cold as it went down his throat. Unlike the violent rush of Spiritual Qi through the Meridians, this soul nourishing dew turned into an incredibly cool current that rushed straight to his head, instantly seeping into his Sea of Consciousness.

Comfortable.

The feeling was like parched land finally receiving sweet dew. The stinging pain Gu Shen felt from overusing his Divine Sense was instantly soothed. Under the nourishment of the cool current, the boundaries of his Sea of Consciousness actually expanded outward by half a zhang without a sound.

More importantly, the Soul-Shocking Spike dormant in the center of his Sea of Consciousness gained a layer of lustrous sheen, like a sword that had been consecrated; its sharpness was restrained yet even more lethal.

“This kind of top-grade item for nourishing the Divine Soul would be enough to make Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators fight to the death for it in the outside world.”

Gu Shen carefully put away the remaining four drops of soul nourishing dew.

He stood up and glanced at the messy third-floor hall. The value of this third floor of the ruins had been squeezed dry by him; as for the passage to the fourth floor, it was sealed tight by an incredibly heavy Dragon-Severing Stone, which he had no way of breaking with his current means.

“It’s time to go back.”

Calculating the time, several days had passed in the outside world. The search by that Gloomy Demonic Cultivator should have reached some kind of conclusion by now.

With a thought, gray mist swirled up.

...

Wild Dog Ridge, the abandoned shack area on the edge of the cliff.

An extremely faint ripple in space appeared, and Gu Shen’s figure quietly emerged in a dark dead-end alley.

This was exactly the anchor point where he had cut his losses to survive a few days ago, breaking the demonic Cultivator's Divine Sense lock.

As soon as he landed, Gu Shen acted like a dormant gecko, his back pressed tight against the cold stone wall, the shadow shoes on his feet glowing with a dark light as he completely held his breath.

His Divine Sense spread outward with extreme caution.

The surroundings were deathly silent.

By the dim light of night, Gu Shen saw that outside the alley where he was hiding, the originally cluttered shacks had been blasted into powder by some violent Spell. The charred deep pits and broken wood told the story of the Qi Refining Level 8 demonic Cultivator's rage when he couldn't find his target.

But now, that suffocating Blood Fiend Spiritual Pressure had completely vanished.

“Is he gone?”

Gu Shen felt greatly relieved, but he still didn't lower his guard.

He pulled up the hood of his gray robe and moved along the shadows at the edge of the cliff, specifically choosing blind spots where no lights shone. After making several large detours and confirming there were no tails behind him, he quietly crept back to A-17 Stone Cave at the Old Ghost Inn via the cliffside plank path.

He used his jade token to deactivate the blue light Restriction.

Gu Shen pushed the door open and immediately checked the crushed stones behind the door.

They were untouched.

Completely safe. Gu Shen let out a long breath, walked to the water vat in the corner, washed the layer of dark purple poison spots used for disguise off his face, and changed into the most inconspicuous black Loose Cultivator attire.

“The identity of this poison Cultivator has already been exposed to those Blood Fiend Sect Disciples, and I've provoked an enemy at the Late-Stage Qi Refining; I definitely can't use it anymore.”

He pushed open the stone door, and the night wind, mixed with the scent of blood, blew against his face.

The black market of Wild Dog Ridge was still bustling, as if that night's bloody massacre had never happened. Cultivators swarmed like worker ants between the various stalls, with shouts of selling and haggling rising and falling.

Gu Shen lowered his bamboo hat and quietly blended into the crowd.

He only needed to pause briefly in front of a few wine shops and tea stalls, and with his powerful Level 5 Qi Refining hearing, he quickly grasped the changes in the situation over the past few days.

“A Foundation Establishment Elder from the Danding Sect took action! I heard he clashed once with a Protector from the Blood Fiend Sect deep in the Black Wind Forest, and the impact was earth-shattering!”

“No wonder those Blood Fiend Sect pups who were blockading Wild Dog Ridge suddenly withdrew two days ago. It turns out their backyard was on fire, and they had to rush back to help.”

“Heh, now that the demonic Cultivators are gone, Wild Dog Ridge is back to being the domain of us Loose Cultivators. But that bounty is still there—one demonic Cultivator head for five Spirit Stones. Quite a few ruthless guys have teamed up to enter the forest recently...”

Gu Shen listened impassively.

The Blood Fiend Sect had withdrawn; this was good news. It meant he was temporarily out of the desperate situation of being hunted across the world by a Late-Stage Qi Refining expert.

He didn't join the excitement of hunting demonic Cultivators but instead walked straight through most of the black market, stopping in front of a remote shop called 'Ghost Face Pavilion.'

This shop had a very small storefront and didn't even have an attendant to welcome guests, exuding a gloomy aura. Gu Shen lifted the black door curtain and walked in.

The room was unlit, with only a few night-luminescent pearls emitting a faint green light.

Behind the counter sat an old woman wearing a half-face bronze mask.

“Buying a mask, or buying skin?” The old woman's voice was as grating as a night owl's.

“Buying skin,” Gu Shen said flatly, without the slightest ripple in his voice.

He knew the background of this Ghost Face Pavilion. It was a shady shop in Wild Dog Ridge that specialized in disguise Magical Artifacts. It was said that the 'skins' here were peeled off the faces of dead people and then refined with array markings. Though cruel, the effect was excellent.

“Thousand Faces for the Qi Refining Stage, a Low Grade Magical Artifact. Once worn, it can not only change your appearance and bone structure but also block the Divine Sense probes of Cultivators of the same rank. Unless a Foundation Establishment grand Cultivator is right in front of you, it’s extremely hard to see through.”

The old woman fished out a human skin mask from under the counter that was as thin as a cicada's wing and emitted a faint bloody scent, tossing it onto the table. “Fixed price, twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.”

Truly a rip-off.

A Low Grade auxiliary Magical Artifact with no defensive or offensive capabilities was actually being sold for twenty Spirit Stones, more expensive than his black turtle shield.

But Gu Shen didn't haggle. In these chaotic times, something that could save his life and hide his identity was worth any price.

He reached his Divine Sense into his storage ring, counted out twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and lined them up on the counter.

A flash of surprise crossed the old woman's cloudy single eye. In Wild Dog Ridge, a Middle Stage Qi Refining Loose Cultivator who could shell out twenty Spirit Stones without even haggling was not common.

“Deal concluded.” The old woman swept up the Spirit Stones.

Gu Shen grabbed the human skin mask and turned to leave without any hesitation.

Back at the stone cave.

Gu Shen activated the Restriction and pressed the Thousand Faces onto his face.

A trace of cool mana seeped into his skin through the mask. With a thought from Gu Shen, a very faint 'crackling' sound came from his facial bones.

A moment later, he walked to the water vat.

In the reflection, the originally thin and slightly sickly-looking Gu Shen was gone. In his place was a sallow-faced middle-aged man with a faint scar on his left cheek. Not only had his appearance changed drastically, but even his aura was suppressed by the mask's built-in breath-concealing array markings, making him look like a destitute Loose Cultivator lingering at the bottom of society.

“These twenty Spirit Stones were well spent.”

Gu Shen touched the mask that perfectly adhered to his skin, a satisfied cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

With this layer of disguise, he could finally let loose and handle the hot-potato goods in his storage ring.

His nine clumps of red blood essence glue, as well as the blood-patterned iron snatched from the demonic Cultivator, should be exchanged for the Medicinal Pills and Talismans needed to Breakthrough to Qi Refinement Level 6.

The night passed in silence.

The next morning, a sallow-faced man with a scar on his face pushed open the door of A-17 Stone Cave and blended into the turbid flow of people in Wild Dog Ridge without any sense of discord.