Chapter 600: Guarding

Translated by: La0o9

Edited by: Dr.Lock

Proofreader: Arya

Without any background banter or time for the demonized army to prepare, the battle immediately became a desperate struggle for life.

Struggling for their lives, facing the strange and paranormal means of attacks by the fiends and devils caused the demonized to not know what to do.

To be able to join an army of a Fiend King or Devil King, whose purpose was to invade other worlds, the troops were naturally veterans in war who had been baptized by blood and fire.

On the other hand, their enemies were youths under 30 years old who surrendered themselves to the [Demon King Order] as a shortcut to gain power by choice.

—–and at this time, the [Demon King Order] was currently dormant in evolution, unable to provide these demonized any help at all.

The scales soon tilted.

The evil creatures of the 7 worlds quickly gained the upper hand.

They got more and more proficient in killing the demonized.

Some of the smarter demonized noticed how bad the situation was and began to use their life-saving artifacts while hiding behind others.

Soon enough, the first deserter appeared.

He unwinded a scroll that enveloped him in shining magical runes.

With a flash, he disappeared.

Gu Qing Shan had already noticed this.

“Naïve” he shook his head.

A few seconds later.

The deserter’s dead body fell from the sky.

The faint figure of a beautiful woman gradually rose from his body.

『 Naïve little one, once you enter the range of the Tribulation, the Laws of heaven and earth wouldn’t allow you to escape 』

As the Tianma said so, she glanced around her.

A few moments later, her eyes lit up.

Not too far away from her, another fearful demonized had taken out a tool used for running away.

The Tianma licked her lips as her figure leapt and disappeared into the void of space.

…

All things must come to an end.

And the battle quickly reached its conclusion.

The rain of fire above was fading away.

The Flame-eater Fiend King brought its subordinate back, laughing as it walked up to Gu Qing Shan.

『 Thanks for the hospitality, I don’t have much to give in return, so I’ll let you have this 』the Flame-eater Fiend King spoke.

It gave a medallion that depicted a burning bright flame to Gu Qing Shan.

『 Crush that medallion and you’ll be immediately transported to my world, you’re welcome to be my guest at any time 』the Flame-eater Fiend King explained.

This wasn’t a token used for communication, but rather a type of treasure.

“Ah, thank you” Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist and replied.

The Flame-eater Fiend King nodded and quickly walked into the void of space, leaving this world.

On another side of the battlefield.

At some unknown point in time, all the corpses here were gone without a trace.

The chaotic swirling shadow below the layer of ice had already disappeared, leaving just a layer of frozen blood.

The Shadow Fiend King stood here silently thinking for a while before it returned to the camp.

It appeared from the ground to face Gu Qing Shan.

『 Peace indeed does make wealth. Although I’m still mad because you destroyed one of my body, but a generous business partner as yourself deserves appropriate treatment 』

The Shadow Fiend King walked up to Gu Qing Shan and began to chant something at his arm.

A black flame came off Gu Qing Shan’s arm and flew up.

This was the legendary curse that the Ruler of Purgatory had left on Gu Qing Shan when they met in the world below.

At Gu Qing Shan’s death, the Ruler of Purgatory would have followed this curse to find Gu Qing Shan to take away his soul.

The Shadow Fiend King grabbed the black flame with its hand.

『 If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking this as payment for helping you dispel that curse 』

It pointed at the flame and said.

“Not at all, feel free to take it” Gu Qing Shan smiled and answered.

Earlier, he had tried many different methods but still couldn’t get rid of that curse.

Now that the Shadow Fiend King had a way to remove it, of course Gu Qing Shan wouldn’t stop it.

Now that the curse was gone, the Ruler of Purgatory wouldn’t be able to mess with Gu Qing Shan anymore.

The Shadow Fiend King clenched the black flame in hand and nodded.

『 Farewell 』

“Farewell”

The Shadow Fiend King went back into the ice without a sound and disappeared.

From another side, the Asura King rode his white elephant away as he bid Gu Qing Shan goodbye.

「 I’m in a hurry! We’ll talk more next time! 」

He loudly declared.

Saying so, the Asura King led his army back into the various cracks in space they had made.

——they still have another war to fight, so they’re going to prepare and rush over right away.

The other three Devil Kings’ harvests were also quite considerable, so after they said goodbye to Gu Qing Shan, they used the Law of Tribulation to return to their respective realms.

The Progenitor Fiendess smiled as she descended from above.

『 What a lavish feast that was, you had arranged everything so well from the start to the end without leaving any openings 』

Her tone suddenly changed a bit as she whispered: 『 How’s this, I will allow you and my daughter Li Yang to continue your close business relationship 』

She put heavy emphasis on the word ‘close’.

After that, the Progenitor Fiendess also went into the void and space and silently left.

The Tianma quickly followed.

Fiends and Devils, all left the world.

After a while.

The wind stopped blowing.

The world returned to silence.

Only the snow continued to fall.

Gu Qing Shan stood in the middle of the devastated ghost army’s camp, glancing around.

The Tribulation clouds faded.

There wasn’t any other single living being under the sky.

The 2 million demonized people’s bodies and souls were thoroughly collected between the fiends and devils without leaving anything behind.

The only thing left uncleaned was the icy ocean water, which was now dyed red in blood.

Gu Qing Shan was suddenly surprised.

A line of glowing words appeared on the War God UI.

[Projection realm Tribulation, completed]

He seemed to have broken through some sort of door, or to be precise, recognized by the Laws of heaven and earth, as Gu Qing Shan’s internal spirit energy began to increase.

Within the Laws of heaven and earth, every time a cultivator breaks through a realm, their life essence will take a leap forward.

——-the most obvious show of this wasn’t just the fact that they became stronger, but also their lifespan greatly increased.

Naturally, other Professions also have ways to increase their practitioner’s life span, but that’s simply an increase in lifespan.

While a cultivator’s existence itself undergoes evolution in every aspect.

This was a great increase that bypassed the limit of natural Laws.

Which was why the worlds test cultivators by forcing them through a Tribulation.

Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes and silently felt the changes inside his body.

His maximum Soul Point limit was increased to 600.

His total spirit energy reserve was doubled.

His lifespan was now 2000 years.

His inner sight was now much stronger, doubling the area it could cover while at the same time allowing him to monitor even tiny changes like the process of how a snowflake was formed.

“Projection realm…”

Gu Qing Shan sighed satisfyingly.

Finally, I’ve caught up to Shifu’s steps, and I’ve reached the heights where she stands.

I am now a Projection realm cultivator.

Out of nowhere, an intense pulling force acted on him.

Gu Qing Shan’s expression changed.

Then he realized something.

“Chao Yin sword, you’re responsible for guarding me, if anything unexpected happens, freely use my Soul Points to protect me and escape” he quickly said.

The Chao Yin sword appeared from the void of space, giving an affirmative ‘wu wu’ sound.

With the short time he had, Gu Qing Shan tapped his Inventory Bag and took out a few single-use defensive formations.

Lights of various colors erupted.

In just the blink of an eye, the formation plates were all activated!

Gu Qing Shan took out a cushion and sat down.

“Earth sword, Shannu, come with my soul form!”

「 Sure 」the Earth sword replied.

“Yes, gongzi” Shannu replied.

Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes.

Immediately, the intense pulling force could be felt clearly from the void of space.

His soul vessel left his body, flew to the air and directly entered the space vortex.

His two swords flew close to his soul vessel as they travelled.

The ice layer once again returned to silence.

Gu Qing Shan sat still on the cushion with both eyes closed, unmoving.

The Chao Yin sword hovered by his side, silently protecting him.

Time slowly passed.

At some point, a glorious light appeared from a ripple in the void of space.

A clear chiming female voice came, singing faintly:

『 Jiǎojiǎo bái jū, zài bǐ kōnggǔ. Shēng chú yī shù, qí rén rú yù. 』(TN: The same poem from ch282)

The singing voice slowly faded before it couldn’t be heard anymore.

A beautiful black-clothed girl came out from the void of space.

She lightly floated down to the ghost army’s camp.

『 Ara? A formation? 』

The black-clothed girl reached out her hand in surprise, trying to touch something in the air.

A seven-colored light immediately came out.

『 Perhaps it would be useful for others, but for us Tianma… 』

The black-clothed girl smiled lightly as her body flashed.

She appeared inside the camp.

She slowly walked closer to Gu Qing Shan as she observed him, then asked: 『 You’ve just finished breaking through, so you’re now solidifying your realm? 』

Gu Qing Shan didn’t reply.

“Ooongg—-!!”

The Chao Yin sword suddenly let out a threatening noise.

It came forward to defend Gu Qing Shan.

It was now that the black-clothed girl noticed it was there.

『 You should have already met me, I’m Li Yang 』the black-clothed girl said.

After thinking briefly, she added: 『 Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to him 』

“Oong…”

The Chao Yin sword let out a hesitant ‘wu wu’ noise but still didn’t move away.

Empress Li Yang finally noticed something wasn’t right.

She looked at Gu Qing Shan and carefully sensed him.

『 Ah? His soul isn’t here——- to leave his body at such an unsafe location, was he in a hurry to do something? 』Empress Li Yang asked in shock.

“Oong!”

The Chao Yin sword nodded with its hilt.

Empress Li Yang understood.

Something really must’ve happened.

She asked the Chao Yin sword: 『 I understand, his body is currently at its weakest moment, so you’re protecting him? 』

The Chao Yin sword nodded with its hilt again.

Empress Li Yang said: 『 Don’t worry, I won’t get any closer 』

She waved her hand to take out a bamboo chair, sitting down on the spot.

“Oong?” the Chao Yin sword asked.

『 It’s nothing, I’m afraid that you might not be able to protect him well enough on your own, so I’ll stay here to guard him as well 』Li Yang explained.

The Chao Yin sword returned to silence, no longer letting out any sounds.

It recognized her goodwill.

But it didn’t leave the area around Gu Qing Shan either.

Li Yang sat across from Gu Qing Shan, silently watching him.

She was paying close attention in all directions, just in case something might happen.

A few moments later.

There truly weren’t any other living beings in the area.

Li Yang slowly calmed down.

She giggled deprecatingly and muttered: 『 A Tianma is guarding a human against harm, even if I say it no one’s going to believe it 』

Very naturally she looked at Gu Qing Shan.

After a few moments, her eyes became gentle.

Then she quickly turned away awkwardly.

The Chao Yin sword noticed everything.

It suddenly remembered a certain sword and what it was taught.

After that, the Chao Yin sword lightly swung its hilt and made a decision.

——it maintained an alert state, but silently hid into the void of space, no longer visible at a glance.

Time kept passing.

The snowflakes fluttered as they fell from above.

The blood-red ocean water was quickly covered up bit by bit by the pure white snow.

Everything had ended on this vast frozen wasteland.

The world maintained its silence.

Only a single black-clothed girl was seriously staying on alert for anything that might happen around a devastated military camp.

At certain points in time, she quickly stole some glances at the man sitting across from her.

She remained here.

She was guarding him.