The Varied Aspects of Life

There was no fluctuation of spiritual energy whatsoever.

Even the frantic sounds of sword-like winds howling around them were not disturbed in the slightest.

Fourth layer Dao Platform, Nether Shadow Evasion.

Gu Yang's deep, cold black eyes slowly opened less than a foot away from the hook-nosed cultivator.

The hook-nosed cultivator's pupils shrank abruptly, the hairs on his body standing on end. His early Foundation Establishment spiritual energy instinctively tried to prop up a protective Qi barrier.

Too slow.

Gu Yang's right hand, covered with rough, thin calluses, struck like a venomous snake darting its tongue, gripping his throat with extreme precision.

At his fingertips, a wisp of dark golden flame blossomed silently.

"Ugh—!"

The hook-nosed cultivator's eyes bulged violently, the whites of his eyes instantly covered in bloodshot lines of extreme terror.

Great Sun True Fire.

Even if it was only a single trace, that domineering, world-incinerating extreme heat burned straight through his windpipe the moment it touched his flesh, surging down his throat and into his internal organs.

He couldn't even let out a single scream. The spiritual energy in his body acted like oil poured on dry firewood, instead becoming the most delicious nourishment for the True Fire.

Half a breath.

In merely half a breath's time.

The hook-nosed cultivator's vibrant, living body rapidly withered and carbonized, like dead wood drained of all its moisture.

Even his terrified, struggling soul within his Sea of Consciousness was burned to absolute nothingness.

Gu Yang released his grip.

Clatter.

A complete black humanoid skeleton scattered onto the ground, shattering into a pile of black ash. As the wind blew, nothing was left behind, save for a dusty gray storage bag that had been deliberately spared from the True Fire, dropping into the dead leaves.

Gu Yang bent down, skillfully picking up the storage bag, wiping away the residual Divine Sense on it, and tucking it into his robes.

He did not look at the puddle of black ash on the ground.

In this massive meat grinder of the cultivation world, the dead were the most worthless scenery.

Patting away a few specks of ash from his hemp garments, Gu Yang slowly stood up straight.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, that cold, mechanical notification tone finally arrived as expected.

Ding! Detected that the host has entered the special area Shattered Star Sword Domain.

Due to the interference of ancient broken laws, the daily intelligence system's refresh range is restricted, and some future deductions will be shielded.

The cold mechanical voice echoed deep within his Sea of Consciousness.

Gu Yang stood quietly in place, not a single ripple appearing in his deep black eyes.

It was to be expected.

If this shattered void, capable of making even Nascent Soul old monsters perish, didn't have even a sliver of residual laws to obscure heavenly secrets, that would be a joke.

Without an omniscient intelligence system as a safety net, this game of chess had only truly begun.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the grayish-white withered bones littering the ground.

Ahead lay an endless primordial forest. Grayish-brown tree trunks, hundreds of feet tall, pierced straight into the firmament. They had no leaves and no branches, resembling a hundred thousand giant rusted iron swords firmly nailed into the dark brown permafrost.

A fierce wind swept past.

There was no rustling of leaves by his ears, only the teeth-aching, sharp clashing of metal.

The Savage Sword-Wood Forest.

And deep within the forest, a great river that spanned heaven and earth roared and surged.

The river water displayed an extremely eerie deep blue, like a flowing, breathtakingly beautiful sapphire. Amidst the swirling mist, a pungent smell of rust and blood faintly seeped through.

A dead leaf, severed by the fierce wind, drifted down. The moment it touched that beautiful deep blue water surface...

Pfft—

There was no splash. In an instant, the dead leaf was sliced into microscopic powder by the minuscule Gengjin Sword Qi hidden within the river water.

Beneath this breathtaking immortal scenery was a quagmire of flesh and blood capable of chewing a person to pieces.

Gu Yang withdrew his gaze.

The Great Sun Heaven-Burning Sutra quietly circulated within his body.

His tall, upright body swayed slightly in the wind, instantly transforming into a translucent phantom devoid of any life fluctuation, blending incredibly smoothly into the long, narrow shadow of a sword-wood tree.

Thousand Illusions Concealment.

...

Following the trajectory of the hidden currents of the Blade-Washing River, Gu Yang shuttled silently through the tree shadows.

In a gloomy forest clearing, a warm corpse lay in the mud.

"Junior Brother, the sword array ahead has been broken. The spirit grass is safe."

The Senior Brother wearing a cyan Daoist robe had a gentle, jade-like smile on his lips.

He stepped over the corpse on the ground, which had been cleaved in half by the residual underground sword Qi, with extreme elegance. His boots stepped on the steaming intestines as he tucked the spirit grass, stained with brain matter, into his sleeve.

He didn't even spare a glance at his Junior Brother, who had died with his eyes wide open.

Gu Yang's phantom paused briefly on a tree trunk ten steps away, then swept past like light smoke.

Further ahead.

Through the thick fog drifted a trace of an extremely sweet, blood-pumping fragrance.

Gu Yang slowed his steps, hiding behind a massive sword-wood tree.

Ahead was a low-lying depression sealed off by a concealment array.

A handsome male cultivator, wearing the signature white robes of an orthodox sect, stood looking down from above.

On the ground sat a female cultivator with an incredibly graceful figure.

Her water-blue Dharma robe had been mostly slashed open by some sharp weapon, revealing large swaths of breathtakingly pale skin. Cold sweat slid down the tip of her nose, dropping onto her knuckles that were gripping the dirt tightly.

"You... you beast in human clothing!"

The female cultivator panted rapidly, each rise and fall of her chest bringing a faint rustle of fabric. The reddened corners of her eyes glared fiercely at the white-robed male cultivator before her, the fragile lines of her neck taut to the extreme due to sheer terror.

Her proud cultivation was rendered completely useless under that sweet, intoxicating incense; she couldn't summon even a sliver of spiritual energy.

The smile on the white-robed male cultivator's lips grew increasingly compassionate.

He slowly squatted down. His fingertips, bearing thin calluses, roughly traced across the female cultivator's delicate collarbone, causing her entire body to shudder violently.

"Junior Sister's top-tier Water Spirit Physique... if we were on the outside, your Senior Brother truly wouldn't dare to touch it."

With his other hand, he extremely slowly drew a black beast-taming bag from his sleeve, which emanated a thick stench of blood and dark, freezing fluctuations.

"The nights in this secret realm are long. Junior Sister, just bear with it and be a quiet plaything. Once Senior Brother has harvested enough from you, I will certainly give you a dignified death."

Extreme shame and despair caused a suppressed whimper to escape the female cultivator's throat.

In the shadows.

Gu Yang's deep black eyes held not a single ripple, as if he were looking at two cold stones.

Grievances without profit didn't even give him a reason to draw his sword.

The gray afterimage melted into the darkness once more, silently moving away from the depression that was about to turn into a living hell.

...

Deeper into the hinterlands of the sword-wood forest, the astral winds filled with the clashing of metal grew even more violent.

The pungent stench of blood almost masked the rotting smell of the soil.

Gu Yang's footsteps stopped at the edge of a massive, abandoned pit.

Down in the pit, a demonic disciple wearing the dark red robes of the Blood River Sect was holding up a righteous path female cultivator, who had been tortured to the brink of death, with a single hand.

A hair-raising fanaticism hung on the demonic cultivator's hostility-filled face.

Slash!

A dark red bone dagger casually sliced across the female cultivator's wrists and ankles.

The scalp-numbing sound of tearing flesh and bone rang out.

"Ah——!!!"