Chapter 1444: Plugging up the leaks

While Reneedol stood stunned looking at the corpse.

At another location.

Gu Qing Shan had dispelled [Mystery of All Beings Equal] and was walking through a sparse region of the forest.

He still had nothing but a single colorful snake in his left hand.

“I need to hurry it up… otherwise, everyone would be getting hungry later on”

Gu Qing Shan muttered, hung the colorful snake on a tree branch, then took out a longbow.

With a flick of the longbow, a sharp arrow flew over a thousand meters away, piercing the head of a leopard.

As the snake on the tree was about to move away, Gu Qing Shan caught and squeezed until it fell unconscious again.

He carried the snake towards the leopard.

“Great Overlord of Death, I have something to ask of you”

Gu Qing Shan said as he walked.

A cluster of black flames flickered and appeared next to him.

Gu Qing Shan quickly went into the topic: “Erm… it’s like this; since I’ve formed a covenant with you, you should have been able to see everything I did—- can you not tell the other Overlords about what I just did?”

A row of burning black letters appeared:

[I am not acquainted with the other manifestations of Law; they are wary of me]

Gu Qing Shan nodded, then said: “There’s something else…”

“That Reneedol is my enemy. She has the power of the Law of Fate, but I don’t want her to use my abilities—- can you give me a hand?”

The burning flames paused briefly before manifesting as a new sentence:

[You provide me sustenance; I grant you power. That is the content of our covenant, other than that, I have no reason to help you]

Gu Qing Shan froze.

That’s true.

Why should he help me?

Gu Qing Shan pondered for a few moments.

Beings associated with the Law of Death…

He recalled Anna, then thought of the dog at her side.

The dog that she called Hound Deity agreed to protect Anna after the promise of a wine cellar.

“Could it be that all beings associated with Death liked to drink?” Gu Qing Shan silently thought.

Although this sounds a bit ridiculous, I can’t worry too much about it right now.

—-my problem can only be resolved with the help of the Overlord.

Gu Qing Shan searched through his Inventory Bag and finally took out some precious snacks he made following Qin Xiao Lou’s recipe.

“Please take a look, this is a part of my provision of sustenance, as well as a bit of my sincerity” Gu Qing Shan said.

The burning flames manifested into another line of text:

[I require the death of living beings to absorb more power, not the food of mortals]

“But these things taste quite great. You should give it a try” Gu Qing Shan sincerely said while lifting the plate of snacks.

A short moment of silence.

One of the pieces of snacks on the plate disappeared.

A curt burp could be heard from the void of space, accompanied by a small bit of black fire.

——the manifestations of Laws might have been a part of the world spirit with their own privileges, but they were still lifeforms.

Very quickly, the text manifested again:

[I can’t eat, no need to give me such things from now on]

“You aren’t used to it? My apologies, I was in too much of a hurry” Gu Qing Shan quickly said.

—-but since the Overlord of Death can eat, he should be able to drink as well.

Gu Qing Shan took out a bottle of chilled liquor.

This bottle was the real thing he wanted to test.

Gu Qing Shan poured two glasses of liquor, offering one of them to the black flames.

“To celebrate us achieving a covenant, I would like to present this precious treasure to you as an offering” Gu Qing Shan said.

The glass stayed still.

The burning text manifested:

[What is this?]

Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised.

This Overlord had never seen alcohol?

Then I’ve made a mistake.

But since it had gotten to this point, Gu Qing Shan decided that he might as well see things through and closed his eyes:

“This is unlike eating food, it’s much better”

A short moment later.

The surface of the liquor moved slightly.

And then the black flames immediately enveloped the entire glass.

It was emptied in a split second.

Gu Qing Shan’s eyebrows slightly twitched.

Huh?

One gulp?

Has he really not drunk alcohol before?

Seems like the Overlord of Death doesn’t dislike the taste of alcohol…

Such thoughts flashed through Gu Qing Shan’s mind.

The burning text appeared in front of him again:

[This tastes very nice indeed, please give me a bit more. As for the matter you spoke of earlier, let us discuss it a bit later on]

Gu Qing Shan was so delighted that he instantly handed the entire bottle over.

The bottle and the black cluster of flames both disappeared without a trace.

He has left

It seems kinda…

Quite unreliable.

…never mind, at least from the drinking perspective, all beings under the Law of Death click very well with me.

Gu Qing Shan silently thought.

…

On the other side.

Reneedol had returned to their camp.

Atley, Epta, and Scarlet were all a bit embarrassed.

During the battle earlier, all three of them were restrained by a single sword, unable to help Reneedol at all.

If Reneedol hadn’t absorbed Shroud’s power at the end, things might have turned out very differently.

“Did you manage to catch up to that swordsman?” Shroud asked as he lay on the ground.

“I didn’t” Reneedol replied.

“It’s ok, you’ve absorbed my powers so you can now summon the Law Behemoths as you wish, that swordsman would not dare to come again” Shroud consoled her.

Reneedol just answered with a curt nod, then sat down next to Shroud and turned to the other three.

That person clearly attacked with the intention to kill us.

So why are they still alive?

“Atley, I have a question” Reneedol said.

“What is it?” Atley asked.

“When I led the enemies away before, everyone should have been resting near the broken horse carriage, so why did everyone end up in a different place?” Reneedol asked.

Atley explained: “After you left, some people came to kill us”

“And then what happened?” Reneedol asked.

Atley lowered his head, muttering awkwardly: “I’m not sure”

“Not sure?” Reneedol was surprised.

Epta explained: “We were unconscious”

Reneedol turned to Scarlet.

Scarlet nodded and confirmed Epta’s words: “After those people appeared, we all fainted without knowing why”

Reneedol suppressed her emotions and continued to pursue the question: “What about after that? Who woke up first?”

“I did”

A voice sounded from afar.

Everyone looked back, only to see Gu Qing Shan carrying a leopard on his back and a colorful snake in his hand as he returned to camp.

Gu Qing Shan tossed the leopard and snake on the ground, then took out a set of kitchen utensils and skillfully began to prepare for dinner.

He leisurely explained: “I was already in a different place by the time I woke up, everyone else was still unconscious, and then Shroud woke up. I didn’t want him to worry, so I didn’t tell him anything”

Shroud nodded.

Seeing that, Reneedol fell into thought.

All four of them told the same story, and Shroud also confirmed that they were telling the truth.

When the wizard sent those subordinates to kill them, I specifically took a look at them all.

At the time, the Laws were still unusable.

These guys couldn’t utilize the power of Laws, so it should have been very easy for those people to kill them.

Rhode… woke up first.

He was the one whose strength was the closest to Shroud among this group.

Which makes sense.

Could it be that the strongest swordsman in the world, Mara Heavenly King was the one who arrived?

He was pursuing the 7th strongest swordsman, Red Wraith?

Wait a minute—–

Be it the strongest or 7th strongest in the world, Red Wraith was the only one who actually said such a thing.

Who can guarantee that he was telling the truth?

Red Wraith’s repertoire was too varied, there were even acting, dancing, rapping among them, so he was most likely not an orthodox swordsman, he could have been an impulsive liar.

If that was a lie…

Reneedol looked around, scanning through each person.

Should I absorb each of their powers once?

But I’ve already absorbed the power of three people already.

Even I would feel exhausted after utilizing so much power of Fate.

Reneedol’s gaze fell onto Atley.

Atley seemed dejected.

——–this was how he had always been, wearing his heart on his sleeves.

Then Epta.

This girl knows her capabilities very well, fully committing herself to healing techniques in order to fit into any group battles.

She should also be safe.

Scarlet.

She’s a smart girl.

Combat-oriented supportive Combatants had always been a job that tested one’s capabilities to adjust to situations on the fly—– like knowing what kind of reinforcement buffs to provide, what skills are necessary for retreating, what the difference between ambushing and direct confrontations.

She… has a possibility of being the one.

Reneedol silently released her Fate powers.

All of Scarlet’s abilities appeared in her mind, after which she looked through each of them in detail.

No, it wasn’t her.

Reneedol felt a bit tired, but also a bit more relaxed.

She didn’t care to rest and turned her gaze towards the final person.

Rhode.

Rhode is a hateful person, other than the fact that he makes good food, he had no good qualities to speak of.

A guy like him shouldn’t be the one, but to make sure of it…

Under Reneedol’s scrutinizing gaze, Rhode was preparing the snake for cooking.

He clapped his hands, then said: “I really don’t want to skin it alive, but I’ll tell you a secret: snakes can be used to brew wine”

From the void of space, a cluster of black flames appeared and touched the colorful snake.

The snake was dead.

Right as Reneedol wanted to act, she suddenly recalled something and couldn’t help but ask:

“Rhode, did you just use the power of Death to kill that snake?”

“Hm” Gu Qing Shan replied without much care.

“…Back then, how did you obtain your recognition by the Overlord of Death?” Reneedol asked further.

“Because I personally killed 10,000 living beings, reaching the lowest requirement to be recognized by the Overlord of Death” Gu Qing Shan answered without changing his expression.

“10,000? How is that possible?” Reneedol was unconvinced.

Never mind her, not even the others believed him.

There were skirmishes all over the world, but they had all been small-scale battles”

The age of peace had continued for so long because the Overlords enjoyed peace and hated large-scale wars. Such battles would only cause numerous Laws to become unnecessarily intertwined, causing a lot more trouble than they were worth.

“That’s right, you were usually practicing and studying with us, where did you get the free time to kill that many?” Atley asked.

Gu Qing Shan pointed at the leopard on the ground and the snake: “I cook every day”

Everyone froze.

…That’s right, he does all the cooking.

And cooking requires preparing ingredients.

Preparing ingredients…

I’ve never realized how much this word stinks of blood before this.

Gu Qing Shan smiled and turned towards Atley: “Do you want to form a covenant with the Overlord of Death?”

Seeing his smile, Atley felt a chill run down his back.

But the temptation of a possible covenant with the Overlord of Death made him ask in return: “Ah? Can I?”

Gu Qing Shan turned to the void of space and said: “I would like to recommend him, Overlord of Death, please make your consideration”

A few moments later.

Lines of burning text appeared in the void of space:

[In a single day, kill 30,000 living beings; then you may form a covenant with me]

Atley exclaimed in shock: “But Rhode had only killed 10,000, and it took him so long as well!”

The burning text changed to answer him:

[He was the first person to ever form a covenant with me, so he was favored]

Atley felt troubled and mumbled to himself: “30,000…”

The text continued to change: [Indeed, 30,000. If you can achieve this, you may form a covenant with me; or you can form a covenant first, then kill 30,000 living beings. If you can achieve this, the covenant will persist, but if you cannot and still hold onto the covenant, then…]

“Then what would happen?”

The burning text changed once again:

[I shall use your death to conclude this trial]

Reading these words, everyone couldn’t help but fall silent.

Atley shrunk back.

Reneedol turned to Rhode again.

—–the Overlord of Death’s covenant is too terrifying.

If I take on his covenant, what would I do if this Overlord of Death wants me to kill 30,000 living beings?

If I can’t do it…

Reneedol shook her head so slightly that it couldn’t be seen.

——alright, I’ve already confirmed three people to be safe, there’s no need to risk my life to probe Rhode.

This matter was most likely a struggle between the two swordsmen that I was unexpectedly caught in.

How unlucky.