Chapter 449: A spirit-possessed item

Translated by: La0o9

Proofreader: Arya

Following Gu Qing Shan’s choice, the System let out a chime.

[Ting]!

[You’ve selected the evolution branch for your Smiting thaumaturgy. Your level 2 thaumaturgy: Stiffness will evolve]

[You’ve selected the level 3 thaumaturgy: Severance]

Following this line, the streak of light that filled the War God UI disappeared.

And Gu Qing Shan’s thaumaturgy began to evolve.

[The user has gained Smiting evolved thaumaturgy: Severance]

[Severance: Those hit by your Lightning-element spirit energy will have their consciousness severed from their body, duration 3 seconds]

Gu Qing Shan reached out his hand, tapping Shannu and Wan Er’s shoulders lightly.

Shannu didn’t react at all, only asking: “Is this Lightning?”

“Indeed, it’s a Lightning-type thaumaturgy” Gu Qing Shan answered.

Wan Er was stunned in place, unable to move.

“Time’s up” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

It was now that Wan Er gained her consciousness.

“What happened to me just now?” she asked in confusion.

Qing Rou noticed what happened and smiled: “After gongzi broke through, he probably gained some sort of thaumaturgy and used it to prank you”

Wan Er immediately asked: “I was stunned just now so I didn’t notice anything at all——– how long was I out?”

“Not too long, about one and a half breath” Gu Qing Shan answered.

“One and a half breath!?” Wan Er’s face paled as she exclaimed.

Being a Tribulation realm cultivator, she knew just how terrifying one and half breath against a sword cultivator can be.

Qing Rou praised: “Gongzi being able to grasp such a powerful thaumaturgy really increases our chance at survival greatly”

Feeling the power of lightning inside his body increased, Gu Qing Shan was half glad and half sorrowful.

He was glad because although he didn’t awaken a new thaumaturgy, he was now able to stun the enemy up to 3 seconds, and Gu Qing Shan understood that not many thaumaturgy could actually surpass [Severance].

For a sword cultivator, 3 seconds is a very long time.

With 3 seconds, Gu Qing Shan could even finish all 7 strikes of [Seven Stars Flowing Dragon] with ease.

So after this, [Severance] will replace [Stiffness] as his ace in the hole, completely showing its potency in battle.

But the sorrow was because of how much spirit energy it consumed.

Using [Severance] on two people at once, Gu Qing Shan lost 30% of his spirit energy in an instant.

You have to understand that he was currently a Sainted realm cultivator!

This thaumaturgy really does consume too much spirit energy that it’s not suitable for long-term combat.

If he used this, it would be better that he finishes the battle quickly.

Gu Qing Shan regained his composure and reorganized his skills.

Aside from his swordsmanship, there were only four main skills

[Severance], [Ground Shrink], [Shadow Shift] and [Mystery of All Beings Equal].

—–from now on, the art of formations will be added onto that.

Gu Qing Shan told the three girls: “Let’s continue”

The girls agreed and returned to their respective works.

Gu Qing Shan came to where the formation jade tags were and stopped.

Casually checking them, he found that they contained everything from the basics of basics to extremely advanced techniques, basically everything you’d need.

Gu Qing Shan then chose a jade tag with the simplest formation he could find and comprehended it.

[This jade tag contains the most important basics of formation arts together with 9 basic formations, requiring 200 Soul Points to comprehend them all. Would you like to comprehend them?]

“Yes”

A warm flow came from the jade into Gu Qing Shan’s body, settling at his Thought Sea.

Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes and silently studied the important basics of formation in his mind.

A few moments later, he opened his eyes.

Putting this jade tag down, he took another one up.

[This jade tag contains the most important knowledge of primary-level formation arts together with 5 basic formations, requiring 300 Soul Points to comprehend them all. Would you like to comprehend them?]

“Yes”

Once again, he closed his eyes to study the mystical art of formation.

Using Soul Points to study formation was really fast, but there was a bad side to this.

——the cost was too high.

Just studying basic and primary-level formations cost Gu Qing Shan a total of 500 Soul Points.

This really can’t be helped.

Formation was originally one of the two hardest arts to study of the 6 arts.

Otherwise, back in the cultivation world, formation master Gong Sun Zhi wouldn’t have been promoted directly to Ding Yuan General.

Even in this world, formation user is still the most desirable job to have.

Gu Qing Shan checked his Soul Points again.

[Remaining Soul Points: 1103/400]

Should I stop or not?

Gu Qing Shan sighed and took another jade tag in hand.

The formation written in here was too advanced for him to comprehend at the moment.

Putting it down, he was about to find another one to learn.

Suddenly, as if recalling something, he tapped the side of his head while sighing.

Qing Rou and Wan Er are still waiting for me to release their shackles.

If I’m able to unlock their Spirit Shackles, I’ll have two more Tribulation realm cultivators on my side.

When fighting against Wang Hong Dao, they might be able to help and be effective back up as well.

—–at least they’re much stronger than I am now.

Thinking that, Gu Qing Shan decided to stop learning formations.

“Lock seals, I need to find the jade tag that contains the method to Spirit Shackles lock seal” Gu Qing Shan mumbled.

It was now that Shannu came to him.

“Gongzi, someone wants to see you” Shannu said.

“Someone? See me?” Gu Qing Shan was confused.

This is a secret room, where would other people come from?

But Shannu held a jade tag in hand, offering it to Gu Qing Shan.

Some faint light then came from the jade tag, forming the image of a cultivator.

This was a cultivator who had a long beard and gave off a feeling of corrosion by age.

Gu Qing Shan scowled.

This was a spirit-possessed item.

——not to mention this was the spirit of a powerful cultivator.

When a cultivator becomes strong enough and dies unwillingly, their soul was able to remain in this world and find an item that contained their obsession as a catalyst, not going to hell and reincarnate.

Such a powerful soul that stayed behind in the human realm due to a grudge or anything else wasn’t a good sign, both to the world and the soul itself.

Things like these were littered all over Bai Hua sect’s mountain of spoils.

Qin Xiao Lou hated these things the most.

Because a spirit inside can easily use certain special items as a catalyst to take over someone’s body as long as they know even the simplest method to do so.

If someone touches it, the soul inside spirit-possessed item can enter the person’s body and wrestle them over the control of their body.

There are a lot of examples where a normal or useless person suddenly gained immense talent and grows exponentially in a short time, becoming a great existence that rocks the world.

Most of them were actually taken over by someone else.

“What’s going on?”

Gu Qing Shan asked Shannu in a low voice.

“There was a place surrounded by a particularly powerful attack formation. I was curious so I went to check it and found this jade tag” Shannu answered.

As she has [Law Breaker], Shannu was immune to all spells in the world, an attack formation doesn’t affect her at all.

“Did you let Qing Rou or Wan Er touch it?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

“I didn’t. I was very careful” Shannu answered as she held the jade tag in her hand.

That’s good, Gu Qing Shan was a bit relieved.

Although Qing Rou and Wan Er are both powerful cultivators, their powers were sealed and it was hard for them to resist being taken over.

But Shannu was different.

Not to mention, no one would take over her body because she was a sword spirit.

——what kind of spirit would ever want to become a sword?