52: Chapter 52 A Narrow Escape

Stone Chamber No. 97, Ding.

Gu Shen hid the incomplete Talisman Treasure sealed with a small golden sword inside his thousand-tough black silk armor.

This trump card, containing a single strike from a Core Formation Cultivator's Magic Treasure, did not require much Qi to activate, but the toll it took on one's Divine Sense was terrifying.

If one's Divine Sense was not strong enough, forcing its activation could lead to a backlash, turning the user into an idiot.

"Although I am now at Qi Refining Level 7, to ensure nothing goes wrong, my Divine Sense must be pushed to its Peak."

Gu Shen did not hesitate. He took a small porcelain bottle from his storage ring and poured out a drop of soul nourishing dew that emitted a faint blue light.

He swallowed it. An extremely cooling current rushed straight to his brain.

The transparent Soul-Shocking Spike at the center of his Sea of Consciousness felt like a blade that had been re-tempered, its surface shimmering with a chilling cold light.

The boundaries of his Sea of Consciousness expanded outward once more, and his five senses became terrifyingly sharp.

Just as he adjusted his state to the Peak.

Boom—!!!

A heaven-shaking explosion that seemed to split the entire Qingmu Cliff in two erupted above the cliff top.

The entire Immortal Cave shook violently, and the water droplets on the walls were shattered into mist.

"What is going on?!"

Gu Shen opened his eyes abruptly, his Divine Sense probing out of the stone door like tentacles.

In the night sky, the originally dim Qingmu Cliff was now completely enveloped by two extremely glaring lights.

One half was the righteous and fierce crimson Li Fire of the Danding Sect, while the other half was the extremely sinister dark red Blood Fiend Qi of the Blood Fiend Sect.

These two vastly different powers were perfectly intertwined, forming a massive Blood Sacrifice Array that tightly locked the sky and earth within a ten-mile radius!

"Master of Qingmu Cliff! Hand over that remnant of the Blood Lotus you stole last night, and we will leave you a whole corpse! Otherwise, tonight, no one on Qingmu Cliff will be spared!"

A voice like rolling thunder, mixed with the terrifying Spiritual Pressure of a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Cultivator, descended from the high sky, causing the eardrums of countless low-level Loose Cultivators to shatter and bleed.

Gu Shen's face changed drastically.

There was no three-day countdown!

The black-robed man who sold the Talisman Treasure had miscalculated.

To cover up the secret of the Blood Sacrifice Array, the two Sects were moving faster and more ruthlessly than anyone had imagined!

"Kill! Leave no one alive!"

High in the sky, hundreds of Inner Sect Disciples from the two Sects, stepping on flying Magical Artifacts, swarmed toward the densely packed Immortal Caves on the cliff wall like bloodthirsty locusts.

Screams, the sounds of self-destructing Magical Artifacts, and pleas for mercy instantly turned this Shelter into a living hell.

"The upper levels are completely sealed off. Rushing up there is just becoming a live target for the Foundation Establishment old monsters."

Gu Shen was extremely calm, without the slightest panic.

He pushed open the stone door, but instead of running upwards, he did not hesitate to head straight down the steepest stone steps along the edge of the cliff towards the bottomless abyss!

Below the abyss, poisonous miasma lingered year-round.

Ordinary Cultivators would lose their spiritual power and their flesh would rot after inhaling a single breath, so Sect Disciples rarely set up ambushes from below.

But in Gu Shen's eyes, this was the only path to survival.

The further down he went, the more distant the screams became, but the nauseating abyss miasma grew thicker.

The pale green mist was like a physical substance, beginning to crazily erode the protective spiritual light on Gu Shen's body.

"Relying solely on the Longevity Art's Qi will not be enough to resist this level of poison."

While running wildly, Gu Shen pulled a roll of white silk bandages from his storage ring and took out a bottle of strong purified water.

He brutally poured the entire bottle of strong purified water onto the bandages and then wrapped them tightly around his mouth and nose.

This mundane strong alcohol produced in the Spiritless Ruins had no Spiritual Qi, but it had a tyrannical physical effect in removing rotting flesh and external evils, and cleansing poisonous gas.

Before the miasma could be inhaled into his nasal cavity, it was forcibly filtered and neutralized by the pungent smell of this strong alcohol.

Although it made Gu Shen's eyes water, it preserved the purity of the Qi in his Meridians.

"Almost at the bottom. I can hear an underground river."

Gu Shen's ears twitched slightly.

Just as he was less than thirty zhang from the bottom of the cliff.

Two faint red lights from a Formation suddenly lit up in the miasma ahead.

"Senior Brother, the miasma is so thick, there isn't even a ghost around. The Elder insisting we come down here to guard this underground river exit is really bad luck."

A complaining voice came from the red light.

"Shut up! The secret of the White Bone Forest concerns the Sect's century-long plan.

Those Loose Cultivators are all rats in the gutter; who knows if any of them are desperate enough to drill into the miasma?

Set the Formation Flags well. If you find any survivors, search their souls and kill them!" another cold voice reprimanded.

Gu Shen's footsteps stopped abruptly.

Inner Sect Disciples of the Blood Fiend Sect! And both were at Qi Refining Level 8!

The foundation of a large Sect was truly terrifying; even in such a desperate place, they had sent Late Stage experts to guard it.

Gu Shen had no room to retreat.

The underground river was right behind them; taking a step back was waiting for death.

He pressed his back tightly against the cold cliff wall, using Thousand Faces to compress his vitality to the limit.

His shadow shoes slid silently, inching closer to the two.

Ten zhang. Five zhang. Three zhang.

"What is that smell? Such a heavy scent of alcohol..."

The cold Blood Fiend Sect Senior Brother's nose twitched, sensing something was wrong, and he turned his head abruptly.

Now!

"Die!"

Gu Shen let out a sharp shout in his heart.

His Qi Refining Level 7 Divine Sense, just nourished by the soul nourishing dew, turned into a nearly tangible transparent spike without reservation, instantly crossing the distance of three zhang and stabbing fiercely into the Senior Brother's glabella!

Soul-Shocking Spike!

"Ah—!"

The Qi Refining Level 8 Senior Brother let out a shrill scream, the Formation Flag in his hand fell instantly, he clutched his head with both hands, black blood sprayed from his seven orifices, and he fell into a momentary blankness of Divine Sense.

At the same time.

Gu Shen sprang out of the miasma like a cheetah.

Clang!

The thunder pattern gold-slaying blade was unsheathed.

His thick Qi Refining Level 7 energy pushed the power of this top-tier Magical Artifact to the limit.

The dark blue thunder blade light was like lightning tearing through the night sky, blooming violently in this extremely narrow cliff bottom!

Slash!

Beheaded with one strike.

The Qi Refining Level 8 Senior Brother, who was dazed by the Divine Sense attack, did not even have time to activate the top-tier Magical Artifact at his waist before his head was cut off by the thunder blade light, the severed area charred black.

"Senior Brother?!"

The remaining Junior Brother was wide-eyed with fury.

He reacted extremely quickly.

Seeing his Senior Brother killed instantly, he did not choose to attack but instead slapped his Storage Pouch and brought out a defensive shield engraved with blood-colored skulls.

At the same time, his left hand crushed a blood-red jade talisman.

Whoosh!

An extremely glaring blood-colored beam of light pierced through the heavy miasma and shot straight to the top of Qingmu Cliff!

"Enemy attack signal!"

Gu Shen's pupils shrank.

Once the signal was out, the Foundation Establishment old monsters or the Qi Refining 9th Layer commanders on the cliff top could reach this cliff bottom in just ten breaths!

"Must kill him instantly!"

Gu Shen did not give the opponent a chance to breathe.

The green light on his body surged, and his Wood Armor Technique was fully activated.

He took the mouthful of filthy blood fire sprayed by the opponent head-on without dodging, gripped the gold-severing saber tightly with both hands, and launched a storm of attacks against the blood shield like a madman.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With every strike, the tyrannical thunder power attached to the top-tier thunder magnetic fine sand seeped into the blood shield a little more.

The Blood Fiend Sect Disciple was forced back repeatedly by the terrifying force, vomiting blood, his eyes filled with horror.

This yellow-faced man was clearly only at Qi Refining Level 7; why was his Qi so vigorous and his Magical Artifact so tyrannical?!

"Break for me!"

Gu Shen let out a beast-like roar, pouring all the remaining Qi in his Dantian into the blade.

Boom!

The defensive Magical Artifact blood shield, after enduring dozens of heavy thunder strikes, finally let out a wail, its surface blood light completely shattered by the thunder, turning into a pile of scrap metal.

The blade's momentum did not stop, cutting the Disciple and his terrified expression in half with one strike!

Three breaths!

Gu Shen panted heavily, his chest heaving violently.

Killing two Inner Sect Disciples of a large Sect who were one minor Realm higher than him had almost drained his Qi.

He did not touch the corpses or the Storage Pouches on the ground.

The Storage Pouches of Sect Disciples surely had Divine Sense imprints; taking them now would be signing his own death warrant.

"Go!"

Gu Shen did not even look at the bloodstains on the ground, turned around, and plunged into the turbulent underground river.

Just as his feet submerged into the cold river water.

Boom!

A Divine Sense as heavy as a mountain, filled with rage and endless killing intent, descended into the miasma at the bottom of the cliff along the signal beam just now.

"How bold! Daring to kill my Blood Fiend Sect Disciple!"

Before the person arrived, a blood-colored flying fork exuding terrifying pressure had turned into a stream of light, tearing through the miasma, heading straight for Gu Shen's back.

Qi Refining 9th Layer Perfection! Half-step Foundation Establishment!

The hair on Gu Shen's back stood on end.

With an attack like this, even if he used his Wood Armor Technique combined with the thousand-tough black silk armor to resist, he would not be killed instantly, but his internal organs would be shattered!

But there was no despair in his eyes, only endless coldness.

In mid-air as he jumped into the underground river, Gu Shen calmly formed a hand Seal with one hand.

Not for defense, nor for counterattack.

But to communicate with the bronze ancient cauldron deep in his Sea of Consciousness.

[Heaven and Earth Furnace], open.

Gray mist rolled.

Just one-thousandth of a breath before the blood-colored flying fork pierced his heart, Gu Shen's figure, along with a trace of extremely faint spatial ripples, completely disappeared into the cold underground river.

Leaving only the Qi Refining 9th Layer Blood Fiend Sect commander, who arrived shortly after, to let out an extremely furious roar at the empty cliff bottom and the rushing underground river.