Chapter 121 - Dereliction of Duty
"Fate?" Gu Hai narrowed his eyes in thought.
Gu Hai stared at the giant grave for a while before leaving slowly. Although there were still many things he was confused about, Gu Hai had already come to admit the mysterious nature of fate.
A grateful feeling from someone is a karmic virtue. And 129,600 karmic virtues are equivalent to a cosmic unit of fate. If I became an Emperor with millions and millions of subjects, my subjects would be grateful to me. Wouldn"t that mean that I could generate fate in a steady stream?
Grandmaster Liunian said that the fate could be used to establish a sect, found a kingdom, and lengthen one"s lifespan! If my fate not exhausted, I won"t die!
Once I go out of this place, I must get a clear sense of this matter...
Slowly, Gu Hai walked towards a nearby cave. According to Gao Xianzhi, this was the cave where Long Wanqing"s servants were imprisoned.
With a swing of his saber, Gu Hai cut open the gates of the cave and slowly made his way inside. The interior of the cave was brightly lit by luminous pearls. Soon, Gu Hai arrived at a huge area at the end of the cave.
The three servants of the Long Wanqing were chained by the array here.
"Gu...Gu Hai?" A complex look appeared on the faces of the trio.
Earlier, they had strained their ears to listen very carefully to the screams coming from outside. Even hearts as st.u.r.dy as theirs had skipped a bit upon hearing them.
Having been following Long Wanqing before all this, they naturally had a pretty good idea about Gu Hai"s abilities. They had personally watched Gu Hai breakthrough into the Xiantian Stage not too long ago. But now...?
BOOM! BOOM!
Gu Hai bombarded the arrays with the Life Severing Saber in his hand.
The Life Severing Saber was incomparably sharp. The array was broken in no time.
A clear qi emerged from the trio"s body as the energy ropes from the array abruptly collapsed with a loud sound like china shattering.
"Ah!" Immediately after, the trio fell to the ground.
"Are you alright?" asked Gu Hai.
"We are okay! We are just powerless, we have to wait!" the three servants replied with bitter smiles on their faces.
"Very well! Then, how about getting up slowly, I will look for Hall Lord!" proposed Gu Hai.
The three servants nodded in agreement.
Having said that, Gu Hai turned around and left the room. Gazing at the disappearing back of Gu Hai, a complex look appeared on the faces of the three.
Outside, as Gu Hai searched around a bit, he suddenly narrowed his eyes, gazing at the exit of the Golden Chrysalis Array.
"Hmm?" Narrowing his eye, Gu Hai gradually made his way towards that place.
At this moment, the three servants had finally recovered a bit. Slowly, they made their way out of the cave, supporting one another.
Just as the trio arrived at the entrance of the cave, their eyes went wide in shock as they drew in a breath of air.
"This...this?" one of the servants mumbled in astonishment.
What greeted their eyes were piles of bones littered on the hills everywhere around them.
Countless bones were spread over hills and dales. The scene was no different than a sea of bones in h.e.l.l. It was exceptionally daunting.
At the sight of this, the three immediately drew in cold breaths of air. For a long time, they could not recover from their shock.
Outside the Golden Chrysalis Array...
The twenty thousand mortals and the hundreds of cultivators kept on staring at the array intently. No matter how long they waited, not the slightest bit of sound came out from inside.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a deafening explosion rose from within the array.
"Explosion? Just a while ago, the peaks collapsed, blocking the entrance. And now this! What the h.e.l.l is going on inside?" Many cultivators were confused.
Everywhere in the vicinity, cras.h.i.+ng waves rose high into the air, flashes of lightning accompanied by peals of thunder glittered the dark sky covered in thick dark clouds. The flood dragon and Grandmaster Liunian still continued to fight.
"Bald donkey, you are really hard to deal with!" the flood dragon roared in anger.
Grandmaster Liunian, on the other hand, brought his palms together as he emotionlessly said, "Fu Xue, I will ask you again, where is Hall Lord? Is she inside the Song Jia Sect?"
While speaking, Grandmaster Liunian took a glance at the nearby array, for Grandmaster Liunian had spotted Gu Hai going in. However, he didn"t know what the situation inside was. Turning back, he kept his eyes on the flood dragon.
While Grandmaster Liunian and the flood dragon were locked in a stalemate, a golden streak came shooting in from the distant south. It was none other than Song Shengping and Li Qinghe, who had finally returned.
Under their feet was a golden ring. At this moment, Li Qinghe was sitting in a lotus position, regulating his breathing with his eyes closed. The snakes on his head were completely out in the open. Li Qinghe had not yet recovered from his injuries. After all, no more than a day had pa.s.sed.
The eyelids of Song Shengping, who was standing on the golden ring, suddenly started twitching.
"Song Jia Sect has met with a calamity!?" Song Shengping"s face twisted at once.
Hearing this, Li Qinghe opened his eyes without delay.
"Ke ke ke!" Li Qinghe burst into a fit of coughs as he gazed into the distance. "Grandmaster Liunian? So fast! How is he faster than us?"
"Flying s.h.i.+p, Grandmaster Liunian has a flying s.h.i.+p! That"s why he arrived faster than we did!" Song Shengping speculated in a heavy voice.
"Grandmaster Liunian and Fu Xue?" mumbled Li Qinghe as furrows creased his brow.
"Gu Hai doesn"t seem to have come! Anyway, it wouldn"t have mattered, he has already lost his three thousand men and has no spirit stones to arrange the 28x28 Heaven and Earth Grand Array! Without them, he is nothing more than a Xiantian cultivator, that"s all!" Song Shengping said coldly.
"It"s only Grandmaster Liunian and Fu Xue?" Li Qinghe"s eyes immediately lit up.
"We need to keep Grandmaster Linian here. Since Fu Xue can force him into a stalemate, if we also take part, then...!" A ruthless gleam flashed past Song Shengping"s eyes.
"Where are the others? Where are your Song Jia Sect disciples?" asked Li Qinghe doubtfully.
They peered intently, but simply couldn"t find any sign of Song Jia Sect disciples. Where are they?
The twenty thousand mortals kept on staring at the entrance of the Golden Chrysalis Array. However, the entrance was blocked. Everything was completely calm and quiet inside.
"So many mortals?" Li Qinghe wondered.
Song Shengping flew them forwards at the breakneck speed, arriving above the entrance in the blink of an eye.
A strong gust of wind suddenly sent the crowd of twenty thousand men into pandemonium as they staggered to the ground.
"Song Shengping! The Song Jia Sect Chief!" Someone immediately recognized Song Shengping.
"Li Qinghe! He has also turned into a snake fiend! Ah!" the crowd of cultivators suddenly screamed out in shock.
We can"t even deal with ordinary Xiantian Stage and Golden Core Stage snake devils, much less a Nascent Soul Stage Li Qinghe!
Splas.h.!.+
Many of cultivators jumped into the water in panic, wanting to escape.
Song Shengping, however, had an anxious look on his face at this moment. He simply didn"t care about the fleeing cultivators, for the situation inside the Golden Chrysalis Array seemed extremely strange.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, are they freaking dead?" Song Shengping cursed aloud.
Just as he shouted, he fiercely waved his hand, creating an enormous suction force directly aimed at the entrance of the array.
Under this suction force, pieces of rocks immediately rolled out of the way of the entrance with ceaseless rumbles and clouds of dust.
In the distance, Grandmaster Liunian and the flood dragon also spotted this event happening.
"Hahaha, Bald Donkey Liunian, Song Shengping has returned, Li Qinghe is also here, can you still subdue us?" the flood dragon burst into a roar of laughter.
Hearing this, Grandmaster Liunian"s eyes flickered with a cold gleam. Pressing the prayer beads on his wrist, he immediately raised his hand, pointing at the sky. Suddenly, a prayer bead flew out from the stringed prayer beads, rising into the sky and transforming into an enormous prayer bead, which grew bigger and bigger as it charged towards the thick stormclouds above.
BOOM!
The prayer bead smashed into the dark clouds with a deafening thunderclap in no time. The entire sky was filled with branching bolts of lightning before the thick dark clouds scattered with another deafening peal of thunder.
"Huh?" The flood dragon"s countenance changed for the worse immediately. "You weren"t giving it your all before?"
A sliver of a sneer appeared on Grandmaster Liunian"s lips as he said, "Fu Xue, I am giving you one last opportunity, tell me, where is the Hall Lord?"
Back at the sect, countless pieces of rocks were drawn out of the entrance to the Sect as billowing clouds of dust and smoke spread in all direction. After a short while, the entrance was completely cleared away.
"Where are they? Are they f**king dead?" Song Shengping cursed aloud, his eyes wide and staring.
Suddenly, a series of footsteps rang amid the clouds of dust. It was none other than Gu Hai, who was coming out.
Just as Gu Hai came out, everyone"s gazes were fixed on him. Even Grandmaster Liunian, who was fighting in the distance, was staring at him curiously.
However, what entered their sight was a Gu Hai whose clothes were in tatters, bearing hundreds of new scars. He looked rather hideous. With a long and slender bone saber in hand, he was staring at the sky, with a cold look in his eyes.
"Gu Hai?" Li Qinghe"s countenance turned unsightly at once.
"What about my Song Jia Sect disciples?" Song Shengping demanded, staring at Gu Hai madly.
How can it be Gu Hai? Why is he coming out?
"They are all dead!" A cold smile crept up on Gu Hai"s lips.
"What?" Song Shengping"s eyes nearly popped out of his skull upon hearing this.
Turning his head, Gu Hai looked in Grandmaster Liunian"s direction and shouted in a stern voice, "Grandmaster Liunian, are you still judging me? Are you still thinking about what to do? We still don"t know whether Hall Lord is alive or dead. And you, you didn"t even bother to search for her. Instead, you left it to me, who had just entered the Ascendant Hall. What are you thinking? Before Hall Lord"s mother died, she asked you to protect Hall Lord, and this is the way you protect her? Hall Lord is in distress all because you have neglected your duties! And you still have the time to play with this flood dragon?"
"Huh?" Almost everyone"s countenances changed upon hearing this rude remark.
Gu Hai and Grandmaster Liunian are having a disagreement!?
Song Shengping and Li Qinghe looked at Gu Hai in confusion.
The flood dragon"s face immediately fell.
Grandmaster Liunian"s eyebrows also started to twitch.
Looking at Grandmaster Liunian with a cold gaze, Gu Hai continued, "Grandmaster Liunian, there is no need to look at me like this. Aren"t I right? Didn"t you neglect your duty? You kept on mentioning Hall Lord"s grandfather all the while. I don"t know who the Hall Lord"s grandfather is. However, I believe that he only let Hall Lord come here because you were at Hall Lord"s side. But you thought that they would not target Hall Lord. If something happened to the Hall Lord, how are you going to explain it to Hall Lord"s grandfather?"
An apprehensive look showed up on Grandmaster Liunian"s face upon hearing this.
"There is no need to check. All the disciples, over five thousand demonized men, have been killed by me. Now, it"s up to you!" Gu Hai finished in a cold voice.
"What?" Li Qinghe blurted out in surprise.
"Impossible!" Song Shengping cried out in shock. How can a lone Gu Hai kill everyone? He doesn"t even have his three thousand men!...
"With every pa.s.sing hour, the danger to Hall Lord increases. With every pa.s.sing breath, Hall Lord is a bit closer to her death!" Gu Hai stated grimly.
A horrid look immediately showed up on Grandmaster Liunian"s face.
SWIs.h.!.+
The remaining seventeen prayer beads on his wrist flew out at once.
In the blink of an eye, the seventeen prayer beads separated and flew towards the flood dragon, Song Shengping, and Li Qinghe.
"Not good!"
Song Shengping"s face distorted, because ten prayer beads came shooting at him!
Those shooting prayer beads suddenly grew much larger, looking like ten incoming meteors!
"Suppressing Dragon!" With a wave of Song Shengping"s arm, the golden ring under his feet bloomed with a dazzling golden brilliance and shot out to crash into the oncoming prayer beads.
As the golden ring and the prayer beads crashed into each other with a deafening crash, a powerful shockwave swept away all the water in the vicinity, giving rise to a monstrous tsunami.
Puff!
Song Shengping spewed a mouthful of blood as he retreated a bit. The golden ring was also pushed back in the blink of an eye.
Li Qinghe also stepped forward to greet a prayer bead that came shooting at them.
"Break!" Li Qinghe smacked his palm at the prayer bead.
BOOM!
Li Qinghe"s arms exploded with a loud bang as the prayer bead, with unabated momentum, continued to crash into him.
"No!" Li Qinghe cried out in shock and horror. His entire body immediately exploded with a loud bang.
At the sight of this, Gu Hai"s facial muscles started twitching. Although he had long guessed that Grandmaster Liunian"s prayer beads were terrifying, he didn"t expect them to be horrifying to this degree.
Even if Li Qinghe is seriously injured, he is still a Nascent Soul cultivator! This strike of the prayer beads is actually on par with the Fang Tian Hua halberd of my array!
A prayer bead for a Nascent Soul cultivator?
Is Li Qinghe dead?
No! Gu Hai spotted a golden beam of light escaping from the place where Li Qinghe"s body had exploded. It was a rather intact head.
His body had exploded, but his head was still fine. There was a horrified look stamped on Li Qinghe"s face.The head dove to the ground, keeping close to the surface as it quickly escaped.
Playing dead? He wants to escape!
All the prayer beads surged once more towards Song Shengping and the flood dragon. They didn"t seem to have discovered the fleeing Li Qinghe"s head.
"Where are you going?" Gu Hai"s eyes flickered with a cold gleam as he chased the head quickly.
Li Qinghe"s head didn"t dare to fly high in the sky, worried that he would be discovered by Grandmaster Liunian. It stuck close to the ground.
Splas.h.!.+
The head dove into the water.
Splas.h.!.+
Gu Hai also jumped into the water, chasing after it.
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