Chapter 1417: Statue that cannot be looked at

The cold mechanical voice spoke: [Your excellency, during the next mission, you may select the Wraith realm as well as any manpower within it for yourself to utilize]

“Got it”

Gu Qing Shan looked at the screen, then continued paying attention to the exploration mission.

On the screen, both the dark-skinned lanky man and the young man were heading downwards into the cave.

After going underground, both of them became considerably more cautious.

They slowly moved in the darkness, occasionally stopping to observe their surroundings.

From the screen, he could only see the two of them as well as certain parts of the underground ruins within the darkness.

“Status report” Gu Qing Shan said.

The young man spoke to the screen: [Other than the naked eye, all clairvoyance techniques are rendered useless. Fortunately, there is a path here; while it is mostly covered in dust, it could still be made out]

“Continue following the path, report what you see at the end of it” Gu Qing Shan said.

The two of them continued forward.

A few moments later.

The dark-skinned lanky man reported: [There is a blurry object up ahead on the right, most likely a remnant of the original building here, we need to move ahead to take a more detailed look]

“Proceed” Gu Qing Shan replied.

His gaze followed their movement.

Very quickly, the two of them arrived at a relatively spacious area.

Ahead of them, a large platform could be seen, the majority of it had already collapsed, leaving only a scene of ruin.

[Most likely, this platform originally had a stone statue, after countless years, the statue had been completely destroyed] the young man reported.

“Can you put the statue back together?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The young man replied: [There are too many fragments, it will most likely consume a lot of time to find every part of the statue]

[The statue is worthless; we should be looking in other places] the dark-skinned lanky man followed up.

“Put the statue back together, I need to take a look” Gu Qing Shan ordered.

The young man and dark-skinned man exchanged glances, then helplessly crouched down to try and find the broken fragments of the statue.

Around 10 minutes later, they finally collected every last piece of the statue they could, piling them on the ground.

The dark-skinned lanky man placed his hand on the fragments and chanted: [Return to form]

All the fragments began to hover and converge in the air, slowly forming a statue.

Suddenly, the screen in front of Gu Qing Shan disappeared.

The sound of desperate screams resounded in his ears.

Heaven and earth turned around themselves.

At the very next moment, Gu Qing Shan found himself already returned to the dark tunnel.

Everything was silent, once again not a sound to be heard.

“What just happened?” Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but ask.

A mechanical voice responded from the black watch:

[Your excellency, the two fodders had discovered a statue that cannot be looked at, they are dead]

[For the sake of your safety, I had instantly activated teleportation magic to transport you out of the 11th scale’s ruins]

Gu Qing Shan was surprised.

Dead?

That dark-skinned man and the young man couldn’t even react and simply died?

“A statue that cannot be looked at… do we have any records regarding these things?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The mechanical voice responded: [From the statistical results of many explorations, the fodders came into contact with a ‘statue that cannot be looked at’ a total of three times, all of which ended up with total wipeout. For that reason, they were coined as ‘statues that cannot be looked at’]

“Do we have any further information regarding these statues?” Gu Qing Shan asked again.

[There is none] the mechanical voice resolutely replied.

A total wipeout…

Gu Qing Shan suddenly realized something.

——this place is a location that even the Four Gods of the Void had to carefully tread through.

If it is so dangerous, why did the Four Evil Gods decide to investigate it in the past?

Gu Qing Shan’s thoughts churned for a bit, then suddenly said: “I want to select new members to continue this exploration mission”

[Please select the world and individuals you wish to employ] the mechanical voice spoke.

“The Wraith realm” Gu Qing Shan replied.

A screen appeared in front of him from the void of space.

A dark temple appeared on the screen.

[This is the most powerful world: Wraith realm’s wraith temple. You may now select the people you need] the mechanical voice spoke.

Gu Qing Shan put his hand on the screen, declaring: “The individuals I select are Fate Obstruction, Giant Frame, Karmic Fire, the three Wraith Lords”

[Please issue a mission] the mechanical voice spoke.

“The mission is still to explore the 11th Scale ruins, have them enter the cave from earlier and perform the same search” Gu Qing Shan replied.

[As you wish]

…

The Wraith realm.

The three Wraith Lords were not currently at the wraith temple.

They were standing outside a large palace with numerous wraiths standing behind them.

Wraith Lord Giant Frame took a step forward and sent his voice into the palace: “City Lord Fei Yue, we have something to announce”

A few moments later.

Fei Yue’s voice came from inside the palace: “Speak”

Wraith Lord Giant Frame clasped his fist, then said: “After much consideration, we have decided that the grand wedding will be conducted earlier”

Fei Yue abruptly raised her voice: “You clearly said that the wedding would occur in three days, why did you suddenly move it ahead? Are you treating my marriage as a joke?”

Wraith Lord Giant Frame didn’t say anything, but Wraith Lord Karmic Fire took a step forward and spoke: “City Lord Fei Yue, I’ll say it very clearly. We are currently in urgent need of your power, regardless of——–”

He abruptly stopped.

An unusual fluctuation descended from the sky, falling on the three Wraith Lords’ bodies.

“This is—–”

“What kind of trick is this, why were all three of us chosen at the same time!?”

“Hurry, to the wraith temple!”

The three Wraith Lords vanished all at once.

The group inside the palace that was prepared to fight were surprised.

The Ominous Demon Tower’s master asked: 「 What just happened? Why did they suddenly flee? 」

Xiao Die replied: “I’m not sure, they clearly arrived with the intention to coerce Fei Yue, so why did they suddenly leave?”

Fei Yue didn’t say anything and coldly looked outside the palace: “We might not know, but the wraiths outside definitely do”

Everyone looked outside.

Only to see the Wraith Lords’ subordinates all stood still without moving.

Crow suddenly spoke: “Oh boy, with the way they seem, those three Wraith Lords are definitely going to come back eventually”

…

Gu Qing Shan stared closely at the screen.

Only to see the three Wraith Lords suddenly appearing inside the wraith temple.

Warp fluctuations had already surrounded their bodies, but right as they were about to be transported away, the three Wraith Lords all jumped onto the high platform.

Their bodies slowly became petrified.

——-they had turned into three statues!

At the same time, the mechanical voice suddenly spoke:

[Your excellency, the individuals you’ve selected have rejected the summon]

Gu Qing Shan asked: “They can even reject?”

The mechanical voice explained: [Among the 36,000 worlds, no mortal is able to reject the summon of the Four Gods, but these three have the same level of authority you do, allowing them to reject the summon]

Gu Qing Shan pondered: “Why do they have the same level of authority as the Four Gods?”

The mechanical voice responded: [Because outside of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, there exists a fifth authority, this authority has granted them the ability to reject the summon]

Gu Qing Shan questioned right away: “Who does the fifth authority belong to?”

The mechanical voice answered: [There are no corresponding records]

“Is the fifth authority higher, or the Four Gods’ authority higher?”

[The fifth authority] the mechanical voice replied.

Gu Qing Shan stopped talking.

He stared closely at the three statues on the screen while his thoughts continued to churn.

The wraiths.

They have a lot of secrets.

What kind of entity would be able to grant them an authority comparable to that of the Four Gods?

The Four Gods were investigating this dark tunnel, then what about the wraiths? What are they doing here?

…I definitely need to make another trip to the Wraith realm to see what exactly is happening in this place.

To the Wraith realm…

Gu Qing Shan had a sudden thought.

He took out the pocket watch and opened it.

There were six scales on the pocket watch.

——this was an artifact given by the Eternal Abyss.

Gu Qing Shan put the pocket watch by his wrist, right next to the black watch.

The black watch has twelve scales.

This was an artifact left by the Four Evil Gods.

Gu Qing Shan looked at the pocket watch, then at the black watch.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…

In the silent darkness, the two watches were giving off the sound of rhythmic ticking.