55: Chapter 55 Core Formation Killing Weapon! Refining the Golden Light Sword Talisman

Spiritless Ruins, deep within the first underground floor.

Bang!

The extremely heavy refined iron door was slammed shut by Gu Shen.

To be safe, he swung his thunder pattern gold-slaying blade, directly severing the rusted mechanism behind the door, completely sealing this hidden stone chamber.

Unless someone used brute force to blast open this mysterious iron door, no Aberration could sneak in silently.

There was no light source inside the room.

Gu Shen sat cross-legged on the cold floor, strapped the black turtle shield to his left wrist, and finally let out a long breath of stale air.

In this desolate place devoid of Spiritual Qi, this secret chamber was his temporary Daoist temple.

"The Great Yu Cultivation World is undergoing a massive upheaval; Qingmu Cliff has likely been reduced to scorched earth. With my Qi Refining Level 7 cultivation, I am still walking on thin ice across the entire Cultivation World."

Gu Shen's expression was cold and stern.

He reached into his robes, feeling against the inner side of his thousand-tough black silk armor, and pulled out that tattered, yellowed Talisman.

Golden Light Sword Talisman Treasure.

This was his greatest source of confidence for daring to wade into the murky waters of Qingmu Cliff and surviving that massacre.

"A great killing weapon refined by a Core Formation expert by extracting the power of their Lifebound Treasure; its power far exceeds that of a top-grade Magical Artifact. Although it can only be used twice more, as long as it is used properly, killing a Foundation Establishment Initial Stage Cultivator instantly is not a problem!"

A flash of intense, burning light crossed Gu Shen's eyes.

He placed the Talisman Treasure flat on his lap.

The surface of the Talisman paper had no cinnabar Formation patterns, only an extremely tiny, golden, illusory sword slowly swimming within the paper, emitting a bone-chilling sharpness.

"Refine."

Gu Shen quickly formed seals with both hands, pouring out his Qi Refining Level 7 Divine Sense without reservation, like countless invisible threads slowly wrapping around the tattered Talisman Treasure.

Hum!

The moment his Divine Sense touched it, the surface of the Talisman Treasure suddenly erupted with a blinding golden light.

A vast, violent Sword Intent carrying the pressure of the Core Formation Stage surged back along his Divine Sense and crashed into Gu Shen's Sea of Consciousness!

"Ugh!"

Gu Shen let out a muffled groan, his face instantly turning pale, and his forehead was covered in bead-sized drops of sweat.

Too tyrannical!

Even if it was only one-tenth of the power of a Core Formation Old Ancestor's Magic Treasure, the pressure on a Qi Refining Stage Cultivator's Divine Sense was like Mount Tai pressing down.

If he hadn't previously consumed soul nourishing dew, making his Sea of Consciousness far tougher than other Cultivators of the same rank, this backlash alone would have been enough to turn him into an idiot.

"Suppress!"

Gu Shen gritted his teeth and frantically circulated his Longevity Art.

The cyan mana within his body poured continuously into the Talisman Treasure, attempting to forcibly imprint his Divine Sense mark inside it.

Time slipped away bit by bit in this dull and dangerous struggle.

Half an hour later.

The mana within Gu Shen's body was nearly exhausted.

In this place without Spiritual Qi, with no replenishment from the outside world, the rate of consumption for refining such a high-level treasure far exceeded his expectations.

He decisively split off a wisp of Divine Sense and took a drop of (inferior) essence white dew from his storage ring.

He swallowed it.

Pure Spiritual energy instantly exploded in his stomach, like timely rain, rapidly filling his parched Meridians.

With the backup of mana, Gu Shen's Divine Sense exerted force once more, finally firmly imprinting a wisp of his own aura onto the phantom of the tiny golden sword.

Ssh.

The golden light instantly converged.

The Talisman Treasure that had been lying flat on his lap turned into a streak of light and burrowed into Gu Shen's palm.

It left an extremely faint, pale golden tiny sword mark on the center of his right palm.

"Done."

Gu Shen opened his eyes, panting heavily, but his eyes were filled with excitement.

He could clearly feel that as long as he moved his mind and poured in mana, this mark on his palm could instantly transform into that indestructible Magic Treasure Flying Sword, slaying enemies from a hundred feet away!

With this trump card, he finally had the capital to gain a foothold in this chaotic Cultivation World.

"Refining complete; time to see if there are any other spoils in this room."

Gu Shen stood up and stretched his sore muscles and bones.

This room was in an extremely hidden location; it was clearly not the residence of an ordinary low-level Disciple.

He carried his gold-severing saber and searched the room carefully.

Besides an iron bed, there was an extremely heavy refined iron cabinet standing in the corner of the room.

Gu Shen walked to the cabinet, and his blade flashed.

Clang!

Sparks flew everywhere.

The lock was unexpectedly extremely hard; even his top-grade fierce metal blade, without the thunder activated, couldn't sever it in one strike.

"Interesting."

Gu Shen exhaled mana, and the dark blue thunder patterns on the blade instantly lit up.

Ssh-la!

Thunderlight, accompanied by Geng Metal Qi, cut through the lock and the cabinet door like it was cutting tofu.

There was no iron-sealed meat paste or purified water in the cabinet, nor were there any weapons.

Inside were only a few sets of blue Dharma robes that had decayed into dust, and a secret compartment fixed inside the cabinet.

Gu Shen pried open the secret compartment with the tip of his blade.

Inside lay a scroll made of neither silk nor hemp, crafted from an unknown beast skin (waterproof synthetic paper).

The diagram had not decayed and was preserved in excellent condition.

Gu Shen unfolded it and examined it carefully with his faint night vision ability.

This was not the general architectural map found on the second floor that indicated the purpose of each level, but an extremely complex Formation vein diagram.

On the diagram were countless crisscrossing fine lines, like human blood vessels, interwoven between the Thirteenth Floor of this underground palace.

At the intersection of every line were marked strange terms like air vents, poison filtration valves, etc.

"This is... the Qi vein channels (ventilation ducts) of this refuge underground palace?"

Gu Shen immediately realized.

This thirteen-level underground palace was buried deep underground; back then, it accommodated thousands of Disciples, so it naturally required an extremely vast Formation to maintain air circulation and filter out toxic miasma.

These Qi vein channels were a secret network built to transport life force!

Gu Shen's finger slid down along a main thoroughfare on the diagram.

He was pleasantly surprised to discover that although these Qi vein channels were extremely narrow and tortuous, they perfectly bypassed the heavy explosion-proof isolation doors between each level!

Gu Shen's breathing suddenly quickened.

He had originally been worried that the entrance from the first floor of the underground palace to the second floor was locked by that extremely heavy mysterious iron door; if he forcibly broke it open, he would definitely alert the unknown Aberration monsters on the second floor.

But now, with this Qi vein diagram, he could completely sneak into any level of the underground palace silently by following these accessible channels!

More importantly.

These intricate channels were simply the perfect natural cover and maze when facing those massive Aberrations!

If he couldn't beat them, he could just dive into the Qi vein channels, and the opponent could only stare helplessly.

"The value of this diagram is in no way inferior to a top-grade defensive Magical Artifact!"

Gu Shen solemnly folded it up and put it into his storage ring.

Now, he had his trump card in hand and his escape route clear.

He walked to a corner of the secret chamber and looked up at the square opening in the ceiling that was sealed by a rusted iron grate.

That was exactly one of the Qi vein entrances marked on the diagram.

"There are no more spoils on the first floor of the underground palace. Next, I'll go to the second floor and take a look."

Gu Shen exerted force with his feet and leaped into the air.

The cold light of the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade in his hand flashed, and the rusted iron grate broke silently.

Gu Shen gripped the edge with both hands, tucked his body in, and instantly burrowed into that pitch-black, deep underground Qi vein.