Chapter 686: Drifting sand and the sword ————————–

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: Dr.Lock

Proofreader:  Arya

Gu Qing Shan stood still silently for a few moments.

He formed a hand seal to gather the surrounding yellow sand again to cover up the Divine Power Frost Crystal.

Then he tapped his Inventory Bag to take out a formation plate.

He quickly operated it.

Various colors of light quickly emerged from the formation plate.

With the Divine Power Frost Crystal as the center, numerous large-scaled camouflage formations were stacked upon each other.

After some brief thinking, Gu Qing Shan also arranged a miniature warp formation here—– that way, he would be able to return here from any other locations within this world.

Once that was done, he placed the formation plate away.

Normally, it would be foolish to rely on any of these formations to conceal yourself for a long period of time, but if a total of 17 of them were stacked on top of each other might be able to conceal something for a long while.

The next problem would be to find a way to heal Yun Ji.

——according to Wang Cheng’s memories, this place is called Drifting Sand world, home to the 11th ranked black market in the Strife Zones.

Most of Wang Cheng’s life was spent on the ship, causing him to not know much about anything else, as well as his stingy nature that prevented him from spending much money, but he at least knew the hustle and bustle of the black market, and that various strange and unusual things were sold there.

The 200 million World Layers of the Strife Zones gave birth to countless civilizations, countless Combatants, as well as a richness of resources and unique treasures.

And black markets were places that didn’t have to pay any taxes to any country or civilization, all transactions here were under the protection of the black market’s owner.

Normally, the wise black market owner only takes a very small service fee from those who come here.

This causes the wealth-seekers of various worlds to gather and flock in droves, looking to make a fortune or a quick buck.

Most of the time, a black market would also have information brokers, the sort that may or may not be able to help Gu Qing Shan understand how to heal a Lord-class Combatant.

So for now, the best choice for him was to take a look at the black market.

Deciding that, Gu Qing Shan didn’t hesitate to put it into action.

He took out a spirit energy replenishment pill and swallowed it——–

Because of how vast this world was, even as a Tribulation realm middle stage cultivator, he still would need to travel a long time to reach the black market.

Everything was now prepared.

Gu Qing Shan leaped to the sky turning into a streak of light and flew towards the horizon.

…

Drifting Sand world

In the sky.

A sand storm was brewing.

The entire world was currently covered in fine sand picked up by the wind.

Only a few rare areas that were protected by one or more mysterious powers would be avoided by the sand storm.

After flying for one day and one night straight, Gu Qing Shan finally felt a bit fatigued.

Currently, the sun was at its highest point in the sky, the time when it was the hottest in the desert.

It was exactly noon.

Above the buffeting sand storm, seven suns were shining at once, scorching the ground in their heat.

Everything was burning.

If he didn’t use spirit energy to protect himself, Gu Qing Shan felt that he might have already been cooked alive.

——according to what Wang Cheng knew, this was a world that almost got destroyed once before.

Unfortunately, Wang Cheng was both weak and had no status, so he knew nothing about the truth of that event.

Gu Qing Shan felt a bit regretful.

I have too little information, it’ll be very disadvantageous for deciding what tactics to use later on.

He briefly checked his current rate of spirit energy consumption before glancing at the ground.

With the sand storm currently obscuring the sky and his vision, he couldn’t see anything.

Without an option, he released his inner sight to check the ground below the sand storm.

——-there was another sand storm below this sand storm.

After a long while, Gu Qing Shan finally found a place to temporarily rest.

Below the intense sand storm, within the vast and endless desert, there was still a small oasis where life was thriving.

It was a flourishing great tree full of vitality.

The tree was hidden behind a particularly tall sand dune, giving off an emerald green light that blocked out the surrounding sand storm.

Around the tree, due to this light, a small world full of life and vitality was created.

Without hesitation, Gu Qing Shan descended.

After flying for so long in a sand storm, his stamina had been expended quite a bit, so he needed to rest and eat something to regain it.

He landed in front of the tree and released his inner sight to check the surroundings.

There was nothing.

Gu Qing Shan then walked in front of the tree and solemnly bowed to it, saying: “I don’t hold any ill will, I’m just a bit tired from flying so I came here to rest”

It tapped his Inventory Bag to take out a gourd full of spirit spring water and poured it all around the branches of the tree.

——–this was Gu Qing Shan’s own self-imposed code of conduct.

This type of spring water that contained spirit energy should be quite rare in the desert.

If this tree was an actual living being or was sentient, this spring water should be enough to please it.

Gu Qing Shan had received Wang Cheng’s memories.

Wang Cheng was a garbage scavenger of the lowest level, but even he knew that there were too many strange species and unimaginable living beings in the Strife Zones to remember.

So Gu Qing Shan tried thinking along this vein of thought.

I still have a long way to go within the Strife Zones.

If I ever arrive at an unfamiliar place, it would naturally cause the attention of any species that live there.

Under such circumstances, the best conduct would be to show my attitude and goodwill from the very start.

——-even in such a barbaric environment, the show of goodwill and avoidance are always the first most basic form of survival.

The second most basic, but more intense form of survival is to compete and fight.

But after experiencing the matter with the figure of light, Gu Qing Shan felt that it was important to not look down on any sentient beings.

Because when the figure of light showed itself to every living being in the Strife Zones, even void monsters were included.

This proves one thing.

The seven Gods believe that all living beings in the Strife Zones are sentient and that they can walk the path to Godhood.

This also implied that all living beings are equal.

This means, when considering the implication that all living beings are equally sentient, it is crucial to show an amiable attitude.

No one will happily welcome an unknown stranger into their home.

But if the stranger shows goodwill, the results might differ.

Perhaps, under such circumstances, as long as the other party isn’t a particularly cruel or violent individual, they will most likely not attack right away.

This was Gu Qing Shan’s first viewpoint on the Strife Zones.

And so, as soon as he arrived, Gu Qing Shan expressed his friendly attitude and gifted some spring water to the tree.

Sure enough, the spring water that he sprinkled all over the tree was quickly absorbed.

All of a sudden, a heavy, low voice came from inside the tree.

「 Such refreshing spring water, it has really been a long time since I drank such a thing, if at all possible, please give me some more, thank you  」

Gu Qing Shan looked at the tree in surprise.

But he took out another gourd of spirit spring water and poured it on the tree again.

Immediately, all the water was fully absorbed.

「 Ahh…  」

A pleased sigh came from the tree.

It continued: 「 Traveler from a faraway place, your spring water have refreshed me greatly, you are welcome to rest yourself here  」

——what it meant by that was clear, he wasn’t actually welcomed to rest himself here before this.

Gu Qing Shan understood right away.

It seems like I did the right thing.

He clasped his fist and spoke: “Thank you”

「You are welcome, if possible, please give me another gourd」 after saying that, the tree seemed to felt a bit embarrassed by its request: 「Because my child will soon return, I had forgotten to leave some water for him——- he will probably enjoy this spring water very much」

Gu Qing Shan smiled.

This was a world of sand, and after flying for so long, I haven’t seen a single source of water.

Not to mention this world was apparently almost destroyed once.

It was no wonder that spring water would be well-received.

—–and it was just spring water, I still have a lot.

Gu Qing Shan took out another gourd of water and placed it down on the ground next to the tree.

“For you” he said.

A deep hole opened up on the sand, sucking the gourd inside.

「 Ah, thank you very much  」the tree joyfully spoke.

“You are welcome since I’m borrowing your wonderful place to rest, it’s only good manners to provide a few small gifts in return” Gu Qing Shan replied.

The tree answered: 「 I am not like those man-shaped thieves and robbers who doesn’t know any manners, so I also have a small gift for you in return—– it’s nothing much, but I hope you won’t refuse」

One of the tree’s branches then broke off by itself and fell next to Gu Qing Shan.

「 Please take it, it’s a token of my appreciation  」the three said.

Gu Qing Shan looked at the branch.

What can something like that… actually do?

But he couldn’t not accept it either since that would be turning down goodwill.

“Thank you very much” he said.

「 Hm  」the tree replied.

Nothing more needed to be said here.

Gu Qing Shan casually used a manipulation hand seal to pick up the branch from afar and put it into his Inventory Bag.

He then took out a cushion, sat down and began to rest.

Time quickly passed.

Two hours later.

Gu Qing Shan opened his eyes, fully rested once more.

Only to see that there was a small black scorpion about the size of a palm in front of him.

This black scorpion seemed to be watching him curiously.

When Gu Qing Shan suddenly opened his eyes, he startled the scorpion.

It quickly buried itself into the sand and disappeared.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t mind it too much, simply smiled and stood up to leave.

“Farewell, and thank you” he told the tree.

「 Where are you going?  」 the tree curiously asked.

“To the black market, since I haven’t been there before, I wanted to take a look” Gu Qing Shan replied.

「 Ah——- why are you going there?  」the tree continued to ask.

“I want to learn a few things about healing, since a friend of mine is quite heavily wounded but I don’t know what to do” Gu Qing Shan casually answered.

「 Healing, huh  」the tree sighed, 「 Unfortunately, I’m not well-versed in a thing such as healing either. You are a very well-mannered young man, you may go  」

“Hm, farewell” Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist again.

「 See you again  」the tree said.

Gu Qing Shan leapt to the sky, flying towards the horizon.

He just left the area where sand storms couldn’t reach thanks to the tree.

And so the sand storm quickly buffeted him again.

A few moments later, he discovered that there were several dozen people near him.

As soon as Gu Qing Shan noticed them, they also noticed him.

Both sides were flying in the same direction.

——apparently both making their way to the black market.

After some brief thought, Gu Qing Shan silently slowed down to let them pass ahead.

Firstly, there were many of them, secondly, he didn’t want to get involved with them and cause any trouble, thirdly, Yun Ji was currently heavily wounded, so the thing he wanted to focus on was saving her before anything else.

Seeing him act like that, the other group appeared pleased.

They exchanged glances.

One of them raised his hand towards Gu Qing Shan.

He was wearing some sort of watch-like device on his wrist.

After taking a long look at the ‘watch’,  the man told his buddies something.

As soon as they heard that, their expressions all became dim.

The one flying in the lead signaled to the rest of them after some thought.

——-at the same time, Gu Qing Shan felt a sense of danger.

He immediately realized.

An adversity!

Damn it, the second karmic adversity is already here!

It has been lying in wait all this time for a chance to erupt, and I unknowingly gave it that chance!

Without time to prepare——-

Gu Qing Shan managed to dodge almost ten attacks, but got hit by the last one and was sent flying backward.

Drawing an arc in the sky, Gu Qing Shan fell straight back in front of the tree.

As he crashed into the ground, the intense force kicked up a huge amount of sand, deep enough to almost show the black layer of rocks below the sand below his feet.

Gu Qing Shan shook his head and flew up again.

This was a simple coincidental meeting and impulsive killing intent on their side.

Fortunately, thanks to the Shen Wei General armor, I’m not hurt.

However, tiny cracks had already appeared on the armor.

Gu Qing Shan leapt up high and took out the Night Rain in the blink of an eye.

The group had already approached him again.

They were hovering in the sky, sarcastically smirking at Gu Qing Shan.

“Brother Zhi, this guy is an archer, his ability scores are so low, he’s probably not going to be worth much” someone laughed.

“A mosquito’s meat is still meat, we’ll take what we can get”

The man they called brother Zhi casually spoke.

A muscular man spoke: “Just an archer, I can kill this type of weakling in my sleep”

Gu Qing Shan can already tell their intentions.

If it’s killing——

A dwarf among them pulled out his dagger and spoke: “Whoever kills him gets to search him fi—-”

Without being able to finish his sentence, an arrow had already pierced his head.

Blood flew everywhere.

Their expressions all changed.

“Bastard, he actually knows how to use a bow, everybody at once!” brother Zhi shouted.

The remaining dozen of them all drew their weapons and charged at Gu Qing Shan.

While retreating, Gu Qing Shan fired shot after shot.

Shifting Flurry!

Five arrows turned into blurred shadows, drawing unpredictable trajectories in the sky before killing another two of them!

Brother Zhi was extremely displeased!

I trusted the machine values too much and we lost some men for it.

“Damn it! His archery techniques are a lot better than the machine suggested, we have to get closer!”

Unfortunately——–

The principle was there, but Gu Qing Shan’s [Ground Shrink] was too fast, they couldn’t catch up at all.

Another breath’s worth of time later.

Another person got shot by Gu Qing Shan in the arm.

It was the muscular man from before.

He angrily pulled the arrow out of his arm and shouted: “Gather!”

Hearing his shout, everyone quickly gathered where he was.

The muscular man grinded his teeth as he glared at Gu Qing Shan and told everyone: “Both his life and his belongings are mine!”

“Got it!” they all agreed.

The man rubbed a ring on his finger and activated the spell on it: “[Chaotic Shift]!”

[Chaotic Shift], a Spatial Divine Skill, allowing the user and every ally within ten meters of them to bypass the restraint of space and appeared directly next to an enemy within the range of 1000 meters, instantly creating an encirclement.

In a split second, intense white light that rose to the sky appeared from the ring.

Everyone disappeared.

They reappeared around Gu Qing Shan, completely surrounding him.

Against an archer, their encirclement was just enough.

No ranged Profession could possibly escape from being surrounded like this.

“Brat” the muscular man grinned, “archery is a sissy’s petty tricks, you have nowhere to run now”

Gu Qing Shan’s expression turned a bit weird.

He didn’t say anything.

Both his bow and arrows suddenly disappeared without a trace.

A cold gleam cut across the sky, quickly expanding into a full moon dance of swords.

Secret Art, [Life Seeker]!

Thaumaturgy, [Severance]!

Secret Art, [Crescent Slash] —– Full Moon!

Everyone was stunned in place, unable to move as the sword phantom sliced them to pieces, then completely decimated sword-infused wind without leaving a trace behind.

Gu Qing Shan slowly withdrew this sword.

Looking at the scattered red blood on the yellow sand, he shook his head and sighed.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but archery was only used as a warm up, when I really kill people I usually use the sword”

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