Chapter 1247: The dead do not lie

Hah… hah… hah…

Gu Qing Shan sat up straight on the collapsed metal floor, breathing heavily.

That long-cheeked skull made of water vapor gave him an unprecedented sense of pressure.

If one was gazed at by that long-cheeked skull, the only outcome would be death.

Living beings cannot possibly resist such an Apocalypse.

I wonder…

How many more of such Apocalypses are there?

Are there even more terrifying Apocalypses than that one in the great tomb?

The Lord of the Space-Time Mystery Nest only managed to escape with one-third of his single strand of hair.

The Void Gloom Matriarch only has a single finger remaining but is still floating about inside that river without a chance to escape.

And the Void Gloom Matriarch managed to place a sure-death curse on me despite retaining only one finger.

The entity that granted me his inheritance as well, powerful to an unimaginable degree.

But he was still being trapped inside the tomb.

Gu Qing Shan sighed heavily, feeling that despite how vast the infinite worlds were, he could not find a single ray of light to pierce through the Apocalypse.

In the darkness, he sat there, pondering everything he had seen inside.

He fell into deep thought.

Lines of glowing text quickly appeared in front of his eyes:

[Through continuous practice, you’ve fully grasped the cloning technique: ‘Night Cruiser’]

[You can now practice the new cloning technique: ‘Day Cruiser’]

[Day Cruiser: Using the Night Cruiser cloning technique as the base, you will also be able to perform this cloning technique during daytime]

Gu Qing Shan read this line of glowing text and pondered for a long while.

“War God UI, I have a question” Gu Qing Shan said.

[The current situation isn’t one under the system’s control, thus the system had kept up a state of high alert. Taking the time to answer your questions will require 1000 Soul Points, please place your questions carefully] the War God UI replied.

Gu Qing Shan didn’t care about the Soul Points and simply asked: “Listen, when I manifest [Night Cruiser], everything on my person would be carried over to my clone. I want to ask; did you also follow my clone to the other location?”

[I did] the War God UI replied.

1000 Soul Points was deducted.

“In other words, you also have no idea what state my body is currently in during the process?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

[Indeed] the War God UI replied.

“Are you sure? Please ensure the accuracy of your answer; I don’t want inaccurate information to affect my final deductions” Gu Qing Shan asked further, disregarding the Soul Points cost.

The War God UI replied: [I am absolutely sure. After your soul vessel left your body and before your clone is manifested, up until the very last moment that I can observe, your body was still in a state of slumber]

Gu Qing Shan nodded.

This cloning technique truly was incredible.

While he was thinking, the sound of knocking emerged from the void.

The void opened to reveal a door, where the practical combat class teacher stood looking at him.

“Li Qiu Shan, class is over”

“Ah, yes, thank you teacher”

Gu Qing Shan stood up, packed up his things into his bracelet, then left through the door.

“How is your practice today?” the practical combat class teacher asked as they walked.

“It’s going well, everything is moving along quite quickly, but when I try to sleep, I keep feeling like it takes too long to enter a dream” Gu Qing Shan appeared troubled.

The practical combat class teacher pondered, then told him: “I don’t know for sure what kind of inheritance you’re trying to form a spirit link to, but I have my own views on dreams”

Gu Qing Shan’s eyes lit up and quickly asked: “Really? Teacher, please teach me”

The practical combat class teacher answered: “People say that you ponder in the day and dream at night. I suggest that you plant a suggestion for yourself before going to sleep, telling yourself what kind of thing you’d like to dream about”

“Hm, that makes sense, I need to think about it a bit more” Gu Qing Shan praised, then looked at the practical combat class teacher with a look of admiration.

The practical combat class teacher patted his shoulder then smiled: “Hm, do your best. You are those two’s younger brother; you will surely become this year’s strongest disciple”

“Thank you, teacher, for your encouragement” Gu Qing Shan expressed his gratitude.

“Alright, enough talk for today, you should return to make dinner”

At an intersection, the practical combat class teacher nodded to Gu Qing Shan, then headed in a different direction.

Gu Qing Shan watched his back, his lips twitched a bit before shouting out loud: “See you later, teacher”

The practical combat class teacher simply waved his hand without turning around.

Gu Qing Shan stood still at the intersection for a bit, then suddenly started humming a short tune.

“Practicing inheritance~ Become stronger~ Everyday maturing and growing…”

This was the Study Lodge’s anthem, one that every student knew.

With an expression of leisure, Gu Qing Shan made his way home, humming the anthem as he slowly walked.

He organized everything he needed to do in his head, then suddenly sent his voice:

“Shannu, Earth sword, Chao Yin sword, no need to show yourselves, just listen to me”

“Gongzi?” Shannu’s voice resounded.

「 What’s the matter? 」 Earth sword asked.

Oong?

The Chao Yin sword also questioned.

At this point, Gu Qing Shan ran into a fellow student and waved to the other party.

While talking to that student, he continued sending his voice:

“Since Luo Bing Li and the Heaven sword are still asleep, you are the only ones l can rely on. From this point onwards, each of you must be 120% vigilant, to not lose your focus for even a second”

“But why, does gongzi sense that you are currently in danger?” Shannu hurriedly asked.

The Earth sword also said: 「 We’ve been constantly remaining by your side, even while you use [Night Cruiser], we’ve traveled along with you. As long as you don’t return to that great tomb for now, there shouldn’t be any significant dangers 」

The Chao Yin sword also doubtfully vibrated.

Gu Qing Shan ran into another student and greeted them.

——class had just ended, everyone was making their way home from the Study Lodge, so it was natural to run into one another.

Gu Qing Shan walked together with some fellow students while sending his voice:

“A lot of things haven’t been confirmed, so I can only mention one thing to you for now”

“Tell us, gongzi” Shannu said.

“What kind of individual do you think the Soul Shrieker is?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

Shannu hesitated, then answered: “Insane, does not spare any means or efforts, does not care about the survival of others, cold-blooded”

The Earth sword continued: 「 Cunning, cruel, vindictive, never gives up before reaching its goal 」

Gu Qing Shan said: “That’s right. To forge the twin swords Heaven and Earth, it plotted for years in the Age of Old Heaven realm. Then in the Fallen Zones, to call upon the descent of [Chaos], it fought against the corpse summoned by the [Demon King Order] for a relatively long time, which ultimately brought about the advent of the Era of [Chaos]”

“It isn’t an enemy who’s going to give up easily”

“Gongzi, but it had already entered Primal Chaos and completely disappeared—— all of us had seen this with our own eyes. What are you still cautious about?” Shannu asked.

The Earth sword also told him: 「 Gu Qing Shan, relax a bit, I think you’re just being paranoid. You should know, the dead do not tell any lies, let alone the Soul Shrieker who went from dead to completely dissipating 」

“You’re right, the dead do not lie, that’s why I noticed a certain issue with it” Gu Qing Shan replied.

「 What was the issue? 」the Earth sword asked.

“For an individual like itself, if it could once again do anything to me, it would surely become extremely hysterical, using every means at its disposal to trouble me” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Shannu couldn’t help but said: “But gongzi has the Devil King Warden Rod, it knew that if it angered you, the only outcome was for it to be destroyed”

「 That’s why it didn’t want to fight you again one last time 」the Earth sword added.

“You’re wrong”

Gu Qing Shan casually said: “In the end, it dissipated into Primal Chaos, completely disappearing. This was the outcome it chose for itself”

“If it already has the will to completely disappear, with its insane personality, why didn’t it try to risk everything and fight me? After all, there was no longer anything for it to fear”

The three swords froze, unable to refute him.

Indeed, if it wasn’t afraid of dying, why did it mention ‘you have the Devil King Warden Rod’ as an excuse to give up the fight against its greatest adversary?

That is simply illogical.

「 Perhaps, it didn’t want to cause you any more trouble 」the Earth sword said.

Gu Qing Shan resolutely said: “No, when I asked it what kind of world the Dusty World was, it told me full of hatred that it would never tell me the truth”

Shannu recalled the scene at the time and muttered: “That’s true… which means that it was still very concerned with gongzi”

The Earth sword was a bit confused and asked: 「 If it still hated you, and wasn’t afraid of its soul completely disappearing, why didn’t it try to fight you one last time? 」

“Indeed, it was already dead, and I’ve already left the shield that can prevent its soul absorption ability with Zhang Ying Hao. It had every chance to try fighting me one last time to see if it could kill me” Gu Qing Shan said.

While talking to the three swords, he was also discussing what he learnt in the practical combat class.

At this point, the three swords were truly speechless.

Who would have thought that a dead adversary would leave such a confounding issue?

The more Shannu thought about it, the more worried she became and asked: “Gongzi, if it truly had a chance to kill you at the time, why did it give that up?”

Gu Qing Shan sent his voice: “I don’t know if you noticed or not, but after it appeared, it first stared closely at me, then slowly retreated”

The three swords all thought of the situation at the time.

Oong!

The Chao Yin sword called out first.

「 Yes, that was indeed the case 」the Earth sword confirmed.

“I also remember it clearly” Shannu added.

Gu Qing Shan then continued: “At the time, I sensed its wariness and despair. At first, I assumed it was wary of the Devil King Warden Rod, but when it entered Primal Chaos on its own accords, I could see that it wasn’t afraid of the scepter”

Gu Qing Shan slowly sent his voice: “Under which situation would someone give up on enacting revenge on their enemy?”

「 When they’ve forgiven their enemy? 」the Earth sword said.

Gu Qing Shan continued: “There are only two cases, the first is that they’ve forgiven their enemy——- but that is impossible for the Soul Shrieker, as I could still feel its hatred towards me very clearly”

“Then, that leaves the second case”

“—–that its enemy would face an even worse outcome compared to any revenge it could enact on its own”

“That outcome caused it to feel that it doesn’t have to do anything else”

“In other words——”

“Something that it felt both wariness and despair towards had happened to me, and because of how much it hated me as an enemy, it gave up on fighting me head-on, opting to let me face the worse outcome myself”

Shannu’s voice became tense: “Gongzi, then what exactly is it, and I can’t I sense it at all?”

The Earth sword suddenly said: 「 Tell me quickly, Gu Qing Shan, I need to fully prepare myself for [Earth’s Choice], regardless of any danger—- 」

“No need to feel too tense, I’m merely informing you to stay cautious just in case anything happens”

Gu Qing Shan cut off the Earth sword and calmly said: “The dead truly do not lie, so I’m very grateful to the Soul Shrieker for appearing once last time, allowing us to notice a hint of the future to come”

“We should still have some time for me to save myself, so next——”

He smiled as he bid farewell to his fellow students and headed back to Li Qiu Yu’s dwellings.

“Let us see the truth of this world”