Gu Yang knocked the three iron corpses back with a few punches and led them toward the deeper parts of the forbidden ground's outer ring.
...
In the dark and deep corridor, only the heavy "thud, thud, thud" of footsteps echoed, like a death-knell drumbeat.
Gu Yang moved like lightning, darting through the intricate walls of bone.
He didn't use his full strength to shake off the three peak Rank Two iron corpses behind him; instead, he maintained a teasing distance.
It was as if he were walking dogs.
"Roar—!"
The iron corpses behind him let out furious roars, their massive horse-chopping sabers scraping against the narrow corridor walls, sending out a dazzling trail of sparks.
They had no intelligence, only the most primal craving for the flesh and blood of the living.
This slippery human was right in front of their mouths, yet they couldn't bite him. This instinctive frustration made their already scarlet eye sockets look as if they were about to drip blood.
Gu Yang glanced back.
"Keep up."
...
At a branch hall node in the outer ring.
A massive space with a circular dome.
Eight bronze pillars, each thick enough to require three people to embrace, stood around the perimeter. The pillars were carved with ferocious ghost faces, and the mouths of the ghost faces held ever-burning lamps.
At this moment, this branch hall was not deserted.
More than a dozen cultivators in various attires were gathered in the center. They looked like a temporary alliance of rogue cultivators, but their positioning was actually extremely deliberate.
Surrounded in the middle was an old Daoist with a withered face and deeply sunken eye sockets.
He held a dark red compass in his hand and was muttering words.
Beside him stood a young man wearing a black cloak.
Although the cloak covered most of his face, with that incredibly gloomy aura, who else could it be but Mo Bufan?
"How much longer?"
Mo Bufan kept his voice very low, carrying a trace of impatience.
"Young Master, please be patient."
The old Daoist known as Daoist Xueku did not look up. His voice was as hoarse as two bones rubbing against each other. "The array patterns in this place are a bit strange. They seem to have been distorted by shifts in the earth's veins. The gate of life has become the gate of death, and the gate of death has become the gate of life... This old Daoist needs a little time to deduce it."
"Deduce?"
Mo Bufan sneered, his fingers lightly stroking the newly grown demonic arm hidden in his sleeve. "The monsters in the outer ring have been mostly cleared out. If those hypocrites from the Righteous Path Alliance get ahead of us and ruin the Demon Venerable's grand plan..."
He suddenly looked up, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes. "You should know the consequences."
Daoist Xueku's withered hand trembled slightly, and he quickly offered an apologetic smile. "Rest assured, Young Master. Only we know the direction to enter the inner hall of the forbidden ground. Those fools will only be blinded by the treasure lights in the outer ring and will never find the real entrance."
As they were speaking.
"Squeltch."
A "rogue cultivator" responsible for keeping watch suddenly swung his blade, chopping a carrion rat that darted out from the dark into two halves.
Black blood splattered.
The cultivator flicked the blood off his blade in disgust. "Such bad luck, it's all just unrated filthy things."
"Be careful."
Someone next to him warned, "This place is very wicked."
This group of people were precisely the elite disciples planted by the Blood River Sect.
Although they disguised themselves as rogue cultivators, the murderous aura of their tacit cooperation could not be concealed at all.
Gu Yang was hiding in a shaded corner a hundred meters away. He circulated his breath-concealing technique to the extreme, making his whole person seem to turn into a patch of moss on the wall.
His gaze swept over the group.
Three at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, eight at the middle stage.
And an unfathomable early-stage Golden Core "Daoist Xueku".
...
Gu Yang's line of sight shifted and landed on the passage entrance on the other side of the branch hall.
There, two figures were also preparing to leave quietly.
A man and a woman.
The man had a pale face and was nervously biting his nails.
The woman had a voluptuous figure, her silver ornaments clinking.
It was Li Qingzhe and the controlled Lan Caidie.
At this moment, Lan Caidie's condition was even more bizarre than when she was outside.
Her originally soul-snatching fox eyes had completely lost their focus, her pupils dilated, making her look like an exquisite but hollow doll.
At the joints of her limbs, a few extremely thin translucent threads could be vaguely seen, connecting to Li Qingzhe's fingers.
Every time Li Qingzhe moved his fingers, Lan Caidie's body would follow with stiff yet precise movements.
"Hehe... good baby."
As Li Qingzhe walked, he reached out and viciously pinched Lan Caidie's exposed waist. His nails dug into her soft flesh, leaving a dark purple bruise.
Lan Caidie had no reaction, not even a frown. She continued to follow him numbly.
"Once I get the Concentric Gu... I'll completely refine you into my natal Gu."
"By then, we'll truly 'merge into one'... hehehe..."
Li Qingzhe's laughter was low and twisted, sounding exceptionally grating in this eerie environment.
The two of them walked very quickly, seemingly also avoiding the Blood River Sect group. They were creeping along the shaded area at the edge of the branch hall toward a secluded corridor in the southeast direction.
Gu Yang's brain worked rapidly.
"I'll come collect your 20 Destiny Points later."
Gu Yang shifted his gaze back to the interior of the side hall.
He glanced at the Blood River Sect group standing in the center of the main hall.
Right above them was an activatable mechanism, the "Gui Water Yin Thunder Array".
He then looked at the bronze pillar closest to him.
The ghost face lamp on that pillar was one of the trigger points for the mechanism.
"Thud, thud, thud."
The footsteps behind him were getting closer.
The three iron corpses had caught up, and the pungent stench of rotting corpses blew in with the wind.
Finish it within three breaths.
Gu Yang took a deep breath.
First breath.
A cluster of ghostly blue "Nine Nether Soul-Locking Flame" ignited on his fingertips once again.
Second breath.
He darted out like a phantom, but he didn't charge toward the center of the hall. Instead, he slid close to the wall toward the area near that bronze pillar.
The Blood River Sect disciples on watch instantly noticed.
"Who's there?!"
"We have a rat!"
Several streams of divine sense instantly swept over.
Mo Bufan whipped his head around, his gaze as sharp as a falcon.
However, it was too late.
Third breath.
Gu Yang raised his hand and waved, shooting a streak of blue firelight at the extinguished wick of the ghost face lamp.
The ghostly blue flame was instantly injected.
"Click."
A crisp sound of gears engaging seemed exceptionally abrupt in this silent hall.
Immediately after.
The ghost face on the bronze pillar seemed to come alive.
Its bronze-cast eyeballs abruptly rolled around, and then it bizarrely curled the corners of its mouth, revealing a mocking smile.
"Hum—"
On the ground, the patterns on the bluestone floor tiles, which had originally been worn down by time to the point of being nearly invisible, suddenly lit up.
It was not a bright spiritual light.
Instead, a layer of thick, impenetrable black water seeped out from the cracks in the floor tiles.
A hair-raising aura of chilling destruction instantly enveloped the entire center of the hall.
Daoist Xueku's expression changed drastically, and the compass in his hand shattered with a crack.
"Not good! It's the Gui Water Yin Thunder! Retreat immediately!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
