Chapter 534: Quest: Birds in the sky

Translated by: La0o9

Proofreader: Arya

Through the monocular, Gu Qing Shan saw the situation on the other side of the door.

Snakes.

A den of snakes.

In Gu Qing Shan’s sight, there were nothing but densely entangled snakes.

The room full of snakes was enough to cause anyone to feel numb looking at it.

Even stranger, these snakes seemed almost sentient.

Coiled together, the snakes raised their long necks and bodies with cold eyes staring at the door.

As if they were waiting to pounce at what or whoever was brave enough to intrude.

These snakes also had a peculiar characteristic.

They all carried Elemental powers.

Ice, Fire, Lightning, Wind, Dark, Poison.

Various Elements weaved together, forming a chaotic power vortex.

As soon as the door was opened, the intruder would be sucked towards the vortex.

If the intruder was weak or had no special skills, the only end for them was to be eaten alive by the snakes.

This is going to be a troublesome battle.

Gu Qing Shan extended the monocular a bit further.

The room on the floor was shown in the monocular.

A bunch of imps were clattering over a corpse without any intentions of backing down.

The corpse was already half-eaten, clearly this was a young participant during this time’s call of the Bramble Birds.

Through this room, Gu Qing Shan then saw a room full of flaming bulls running around.

Using the monocular, he managed to see all the way to the 550th floor while on the 600th floor.

There were a few real demons chasing a pair of male and female.

While in pursuit, they were also toying with them.

The difference in power between the two sides was simply too great.

If they didn’t have a silver cross shining with holy light, they would’ve already been killed by the demons.

But at this rate, the power in that cross would soon be depleted.

At that point, not only will they be killed by the demons, [Kindling] will also obtain a bit more Soul Points.

“This isn’t a few issues for Triste at all, more like for me”

Gu Qing Shan muttered.

Thinking about the System’s [War God Quest], Gu Qing Shan controlled the focus of the monocular to look through several hundred floors until he reached the 239th floor.

——there was supposed to be a demonized person here.

A desert with flowing sand, almost like waves of the ocean, filled the entire room.

The sand was glowing red, as if it was extremely hot, making the air itself distort from the heat.

Besides that, there was nothing else here.

However, thanks to the monocular, Gu Qing Shan saw a person hiding at the very bottom of the sand with a shining white sword in hand.

Coincidentally, a door opened on the desert above right at this time.

A young man with a saber stepped out from the door.

“Ahaha, finally, the next floor!”

He loudly laughed and declared.

Silently, without a sound, a streak of light even thinner than a string slashed through his body.

The young man froze.

This head fell towards the desert, his body was cut in half.

Pfew!

A flying sword flew back into the desert and back into the hiding man’s hand.

He quickly caught his sword, closed his eyes and concealed his presence again.

It was now that Gu Qing Shan noticed that there was a wooden door beneath this sword cultivator’s feet.

Apparently, he was silently waiting right there to prevent anyone passing through.

An excellent assassin, Gu Qing Shan silently judged.

“System, the demonized man, does he carry [Kindling] as well?” he asked.

The War God System replied: [Those who are too average are only seen as food by Kindling]

“I see”

True.

If you haven’t gotten past this round of tests at this point in time, you really could be considered a bit weak.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t bother to look at him for too long.

Using the monocular, he glanced through all 600 floors, room by room.

Deadly mud swamps, mysterious forest mazes, molten lava pools, demonic towns… various scenes were shown clearly by the monocular.

Gu Qing Shan saw through them all.

There were a few floors where Gu Qing Shan managed to see a few people still struggling for their lives.

After all, the call of the Bramble Birds was made to the entire 900 million World Layers, so there were quite a few people who came to answer it.

Gu Qing Shan saw with his own eyes how a person was eaten alive by a monster.

Unfortunately, they were on the 97th floor, too far away from Gu Qing Shan so he didn’t even have time to think of a way to save them.

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but ask: “The people who die in this skyscraper, will all their Soul Points be absorbed by [Kindling]?”

[Correct, Kindling will absorb the Soul Points of every person who died in this world] the War God UI answered him.

“I’m in a bit of a hurry, can I just not save them?”

[You can choose not to save these people, but once Kindling absorbs the Soul Points of every person in the 600-floor skyscraper, its chances of evolving to Origin will greatly increase]

Gu Qing Shan said nothing else.

He adjusted the monocular again, returning to the 550th floor after looking through all 600 floors.

The male and female who were running for their lives were in a lot of danger.

The demons managed to break through the silver cross’ protective barrier.

Gu Qing Shan put the monocular down and silently sighed.

From the looks of it, he’ll have to save each and every person—— but he doesn’t have that much time.

“Why do you look so disappointed? Is my item not useful?” Laura asked.

Gu Qing Shan shook his head and returned the monocular to Laura.

“I just couldn’t find my girlfriend inside”

“That is indeed bad news” Laura agreed with him.

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought briefly.

If I save everybody who’s currently trapped in the building, I’ll be stuck here for a really long time.

But I can’t just ignore them either.

If [Kindling] manages to absorb their Soul Points, its chances to evolve will greatly increase.

While hesitating, Gu Qing Shan’s gaze subconsciously drifted to the text on the War God UI.

The Quest was still showing there.

[First Quest: Birds in the sky, has been issued]

Gu Qing Shan froze for a short moment.

He just had an idea.

Originally, I just thought that climbing 600 floors must be really complicated, only a flying bird would be able to ignore all of this and fly freely, so I gave it this arbitrary name.

But now, I’ll have to thank this name for the idea.

He drew the Six Paths Great Mountain sword and tried to carve out a square hold on the ground.

This formed an opening——- an opening to go into the 600th floor.

“We have a door right here, what are you doing?”

Laura asked.

“A small experiment” Gu Qing Shan stared at the hole he just made and answered.

“Your sword is quite impressive, cold weapons that are able to break through world barriers like that are very rare” Laura commented with interest.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t answer her and only silently sighed.

If it was the same kind of barrier like Lord Bloodcloak’s that locks onto the soul, it would’ve been much harder.

At the time, Gu Qing Shan was pretending to sleep without putting up his guard at all, that was why he was perfectly trapped in it.

It was very hard to escape once you were trapped.

Lucky for him, this time the Six Paths Great Mountain sword’s anti-Law characteristic worked and managed to carve out a hole in the world barrier.

Which means, the idea Gu Qing Shan had could now be implemented.

Hisssssss~

A confused and chaotic hissing sound came from the hole Gu Qing Shan carved out.

The elemental snakes inside the snake den were becoming wary.

“What kind of sound is that? What is inside?” Laura tried asking.

She was feeling a bit uneasy.

“Not suitable for children” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Really!?”

Laura excitedly put the monocular to her eye, wanting to see it.

Gu Qing Shan held the monocular down.

“Don’t look”

“Why not?”

“It’s actually a bunch of cute little ones”

Saying so, Gu Qing Shan changed his equipped [War God Title] to [Ace Assassin].

[Ace Assassin]

[Equipping this title grants you the title Skill: Harvest]

[Harvest: Whenever you instantly kill an enemy in one hit, the spirit energy used for that hit will be refunded]

——–this will ensure I’ll have enough spirit energy to spend.

Gu Qing Shan tapped his Inventory Bag.

An armor riddled in cracks and scratches flew out.

The full You Ji General armor set.

A lot of people once questioned something.

——–why did an armor set of generals have to be so flashy and eye-catching? it would cause safety concerns for the generals while marching on the battlefield.

To this, Bai Hua Fairy Xie Dao Ling only gave a single answer to stop everyone’s questions.

“We are cultivators, only someone willing and capable of putting themselves in front of other cultivators are qualified to wear the mantle of a general”

The armor scattered by itself, swimming like sentient fishes around Gu Qing Shan.

This You Ji General armor included a mask, breastplate, shoulder pads, wrist guards, gauntlets, belt, knee pads, marching shoes, made to look extremely simple without any excess decorations, only carved with intricate runes all over.

Although the armor itself was golden, when Gu Qing Shan wore it, it didn’t look at all flashy, instead it appeared a bit solemn and sorrowful instead.

Laura evaluated his armor a bit before muttering: “What a beautiful set of toys”

“Toys?”

“Indeed, this set of armor is too bad, even worse when compared to your sword” Laura judged it harshly.

“It suits me”

Saying so, Gu Qing Shan carried Laura down from his shoulder and placed her in front of his chest.

He then took out a long rope and used it to tie Laura to himself.

“What are you doing?” Laura was cautious.

“This is to keep you in place, making sure that you and I won’t separate in a harsh battle—– don’t worry, I’ve already made a vow to definitely bring you out of here” Gu Qing Shan told her.

His movements were swift and skillful, quickly binding the two of them tight.

Gu Qing Shan then made another 2 or 3 knots, tried bobbing up and down, pacing back and forth to check the stability of the rope.

It was tight.

——this is good enough for Laura to not fall.

He nodded satisfyingly.

“I keep feeling like you are keeping something from me” Laura was suspicious.

“What would I hide from you?”

Gu Qing Shan laughed merrily before quickly walking to the edge of the 600-floor skyscraper.

“We’re just going to fly like birds in the sky”

He put the silver mask on and completed the final preparations.

Laura slowly realized something as she spoke in an increasingly scared voice: “Wait a minute! You know I am afraid of height, how about we—— aaaaaa! Gu Qing Shan, I hate you!!”

Ignoring Laura’s desperate scream, Gu Qing Shan suddenly jumped off the building.

They went through the clouds, following the snow storm below to descend.

In the blink of an eye, Gu Qing Shan has already passed through several dozen floors.

——-this way, he won’t need to go down floor by floor, saving a lot of time.

Almost immediately, lines of text showed up on the [Kindling] UI.

Then the lines of text turned into a voice.

[Please return to the roof immediately!]

[Please return to the roof immediately!]

[You cannot jump down from the outside of the building, you will not receive any rewards from Triste this way]

“Rewards? I don’t need any rewards” Gu Qing Shan replied.

[But jumping down like this, you won’t be able to gain any Soul Points]

[Kindling] continued: [Please think about this seriously, without Soul Points, you will not be able to gain anything from this!]

No Soul Points…

Gu Qing Shan didn’t answer.

A sword suddenly appeared in his hand.

The Six Paths Great Mountain sword.

“550th floor… right here!” Gu Qing Shan grunted.

The sword moved.

——Secret Art, [Water Severance]!

An overwhelming flow of sword qi rushed towards the building from the outside.

Dong dong dong dong dong!

With the constant sounds of explosions, the outside wall of the 550th floor was broken.

The snowy wind howled as it poured inside.

Gu Qing Shan let go of the Six Paths Great Mountain sword and drew the heavy Earth sword.

In a flash, he disappeared.

Almost at the very same time, various fierce howls came out from the building.

Right after that came a ‘thud’, then the cheering cries of relief.

After just a single breath, Gu Qing Shan appeared outside the building again.

He continued flying downwards.

The blood on his sword quickly scattered in the howling wind.

Gu Qing Shan held a sword in one hand as he consoled the trembling Laura with the other.

He then replied to [Kindling]: “There, I just got Soul Points”