49: Chapter 49 Greenwood Cliff

The mountains were vast and boundless, and the autumn wind was as sharp as a blade.

Gu Shen stepped on a thick layer of withered yellow pine needles, making an extremely faint rustling sound.

The further north he went, the thinner the turbid air of the Mortal World became. It was replaced by a faint, almost imperceptible trace of pure Spiritual Qi that made his pores relax.

The Cultivation World had arrived.

Even though this was just the very edge of the Great Yu Cultivation World, the area with the most barren Spiritual Qi, it was still far better than Pingyang City. Gu Shen could clearly feel the sluggishness of his Longevity Art's circulation vanish, and his Level 7 Qi Refining magic power became extremely active, like a great river entering the sea.

He lowered his bamboo hat and did not relax his vigilance; instead, he extended his Divine Sense to its limit. Every movement within thirty zhang was clear to him.

This was the buffer zone where the two worlds met, and it had always been an excellent spot for murder and robbery.

Furthermore, the Blood Sacrifice Array in the White Bone Forest was about to be completed, and the Danding Sect and Blood Fiend Sect would certainly have launched a cruel purge in the rear. Those Loose Cultivators lucky enough to escape, like birds startled by a bowstring, would inevitably flee toward this peripheral area.

Desperate lands and defeated soldiers. It was the easiest environment for malice to arise.

And sure enough.

As he crossed a low mountain covered in thorns, Gu Shen stopped in his tracks.

On the narrow mountain path ahead, three corpses lay scattered about. The blood had not yet coagulated, flowing along the mountain rocks into the soil. Judging by their clothing, they were all low-level Loose Cultivators, and their Storage Pouches had already been stripped clean.

Gu Shen's gaze shifted, landing behind a massive blue stone on the left.

"Get out."

There was a dead silence behind the blue stone. A moment later, two Loose Cultivators, covered in blood and dressed in rags, slowly walked out. One was at Qi Refinement Level 6, and the other was at Level 5 Qi Refining. They held blood-stained Magical Artifacts in their hands, and their eyes held a beast-like madness and despair.

"Tough target, it's a Late-Stage Qi Refining expert!" the Level 6 Cultivator said in a hoarse voice, carrying a hint of fear.

"What are you afraid of! This yellow-faced man is alone; he must have escaped from the White Bone Forest too, and he might even be carrying injuries! If we brothers don't rob him, what will we use to buy healing medicine at Qingmu Cliff? Without medicine, we'll be worn down by the Blood Fiend Sect pursuers sooner or later!"

The other man's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like a madman.

Clearly, the massacre at the White Bone Forest had completely destroyed the sanity of these low-level Loose Cultivators, turning them into mad dogs that only knew how to bite.

"Kill!"

The two let out a shrill roar and pounced toward Gu Shen from the left and right, like two hungry wolves.

The one on the left sacrificed a Low Grade Flying Sword, stabbing directly at his face; the one on the right formed hand seals, spitting out a blast of foul-smelling poisonous fire.

Gu Shen stood his ground, not retreating.

His Qi Refining Level 7 cultivation gave him absolute confidence.

"Condense."

Inside his Dantian, thick green magic power erupted violently.

Buzz!

A layer of Wood Armor Technique, twice as thick as before, instantly formed on his body. It was no longer a phantom glow but had condensed into substantial ancient tree vines, even faintly emitting an indestructible wood-attribute Protective Aura.

Bang!

The Low Grade Flying Sword struck the wood armor, letting out an extremely ear-piercing sound of clashing metal. The tip of the sword bent sharply, failing to penetrate even half an inch.

The foul poisonous fire surged forward but was kept out by the green Qi flowing on the surface of the wood armor, unable to harm Gu Shen in the slightest. He didn't even need to use the thousand-tough black silk armor or the black turtle shield he wore underneath.

"How can it be this hard!"

The two Loose Cultivators' eyes nearly split from shock as an extremely intense sense of life-and-death crisis rose in their hearts.

But Gu Shen did not give them a chance to escape.

His right hand gripped the hilt of his saber.

Zheng!

The thunder pattern gold-slaying blade unsheathed violently. Without any reservation, he poured his Qi Refining Level 7 magic power into it frantically.

Deep blue thunder patterns crackled across the blade like a spiderweb, and the blinding electric light turned the dark mountain path deathly white.

Chila!

A half-moon-shaped thunderous blade light over a zhang long, carrying the ultimate sharpness of Geng Metal Qi, swept out.

The speed was too fast, and the power was too fierce.

The Level 5 Qi Refining Loose Cultivator didn't even have time to scream before being cut in half by the blade light. The overbearing Thunder-Magnetic Force instantly charred his internal organs.

The Level 6 Qi Refining Loose Cultivator desperately sacrificed a bone shield, but under the violent slash of the thunderous blade light, the bone shield shattered like paper.

Puchi!

A fine head soared into the sky. No blood even sprayed from the severed neck before it was sealed shut by the electricity.

One strike. Two people dead.

Gu Shen sheathed his long saber and walked expressionlessly to the two corpses.

This was his first battle after returning to the Great Yu Cultivation World; the clean and efficient crushing victory gave him an extremely precise positioning of his own strength.

He pressed his hand down.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the phantom fire of the Heaven and Earth Furnace swept out.

Gu Shen collected two drops of White Dew into his Storage Ring and then ripped off the shriveled Storage Pouches from the two men's waists.

He forcibly erased the imprints with his Divine Sense.

Inside were only a pitiful few Low-Grade Spirit Stones, a few bottles of low-quality Qi-recovery Pills, and a blood-stained Jade Slip.

Gu Shen crushed the bottles of low-quality pills and probed the blood-stained Jade Slip with his Divine Sense.

Inside was not a Cultivation Technique, but a rough map and a recorded message.

"...The White Bone Forest mutation occurred, and the Danding Sect Law Enforcement Hall has sealed the mountain. Many fellow Cultivators have been killed or wounded. Flee quickly to Qingmu Cliff! There is a refuge market established by a Foundation Establishment Senior there. A large number of fleeing Cultivators are pouring in, and the black market supplies are extremely abundant. Neither the Sects nor the demonic Cultivators dare to act wildly there for the time being..."

The tone of the message was extremely panicked.

Gu Shen crushed the Jade Slip, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

"Led by a Foundation Establishment master? A refuge market?"

This was exactly the information he wanted most.

The direct consequence of the White Bone Forest array closing was the exile of a large number of Loose Cultivators. These Cultivators might not have high cultivation levels, but the miscellaneous resources they desperately brought out were definitely not few. Now that they were all gathering at Qingmu Cliff, a super black market that was extremely prosperous in the short term, but also extremely chaotic, would inevitably form there.

This gave him an excellent opportunity to fish in troubled waters and use the resources in his hands to exchange for Late Stage Cultivation Techniques and Advanced trump cards.

"Great treasures emerge in troubled times. This Qingmu Cliff is the right place to go at the right time."

Gu Shen no longer paid attention to the corpses on the ground, the black light flowing on his shadow shoes.

His figure turned into a gray shadow, following the direction guided by the Jade Slip map, speeding toward that steep cliff at the edge of the Great Yu Cultivation World.

...

Half a day later.

Night fell.

Gu Shen stood on the edge of a towering cliff, the strong wind making his clothes flutter loudly.

Ahead was a massive, bottomless rift valley. On the cliff face opposite the valley, countless Immortal Caves were carved out like a honeycomb. Hundreds and thousands of night-luminescent pearls and fluorites emitted a faint glow, dotting that cliff face like a myriad of stars.

An extremely thick iron chain bridge, made of a blend of third-rank Yao Beast tendons and black iron, spanned the rift valley, connecting the two banks.

This was the last fortress of the peripheral Loose Cultivators—Qingmu Cliff.

Standing at the bridgehead, Gu Shen could clearly feel countless extremely obscure yet extremely irritable auras lurking in those densely packed Immortal Caves on the opposite side.

Those were Loose Cultivators who had been pushed to a dead end by the great Sects.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Shen lowered the veil on his bamboo hat, ensuring that the disguise of Thousand Faces was flawless.

Then, he stepped steadily onto the iron chain bridge.

The way of the 'Gou' was not simply hiding. When one held enough bargaining chips and strength, placing bets precisely on the edge of the storm was the long-term plan.

He was determined to wade into the murky waters of Qingmu Cliff.