Chapter 542: Realization

Translated by: La0o9

Proofreader: Arya

On another side.

Triste’s collection world.

Together with Laura, Gu Qing Shan was riding the black horse moving forward.

Thanks to the Wings of Purgatory’s speed, they quickly went past several snow mountains before reaching the foot of the highest one.

This was a particularly special mountain.

Because it was completely transparent. You could actually see what was going on inside of the mountain through the glittering crystalline outer surface.

Light blue frozen ice and water currents, fine and small bubbles were constantly drifting to the top of the mountain, while the outside of the mountain reflected the clouds above. These two equally strange scenes weaved and overlapped almost like it came from a dream.

“How pretty, I like this snow mountain” Laura clapped her hands in amusement.

“Let’s keep going”

“Yeah”

As they wanted to keep moving forward, the black horse suddenly stopped.

Its eyes were staring straight at the inside of the mountain.

Both Gu Qing Shan and Laura said nothing to this.

Because they both became speechless as well.

A large shadow loomed over the ice mountain.

This shadow was tens of meters wide and several hundred meters tall, it casually appeared below the ice mountain as it swam towards the mountain’s peak.

The ice layer was almost transparent, but the water current beneath the ice was flowing intensely, plus the air bubbles made the figure incredibly blur despite its size.

Even so, it was shocking to watch the distorted figure through the layer of ice.

As they looked at it, they felt an almost irresistible desire to worship it.

This was an illusion created by the sheer difference in level of existence.

Gu Qing Shan tried using his inner sight to peek through the ice and see what exactly was that shadowy figure.

But as soon as his inner sight touched it, the outermost layer of ice had already bounced him off.

Some sort of mysterious power covered this entire mountain of ice.

Gu Qing Shan looked back at the top of the mountain.

A majestic and solemn structure stood at the top of the mountain.

Is that the divine temple?

He couldn’t help but recall [Kindling]’s mission.

[Outside the frozen wasteland is a glorious divine temple]

[In the Age of Old, when the Old Gods were still in this world, they had built this divine temple to view the beings they had created]

[You need to go there and participate in the Old Gods’ ceremony]

Gu Qing Shan fell into thought.

That shadow just now must be a lifeform created by the Gods in the Age of Old.

After so many years, this thing is still alive, so it’s likely not something that’s easy to deal with.

The two people and a horse held their breaths and stood still in place.

It wasn’t until the gigantic creature had gone away that they regained their senses.

“What was that?” Laura asked in a low voice.

“I’m not sure. It’s probably some sort of creature native to this world” Gu Qing Shan commented.

A frightening thought suddenly popped up in his mind.

What?

What did I just think of?

Gu Qing Shan tried to follow that thought, only to find that he couldn’t quite make out what it was.

But the thought was definitely there, as it left very clear signs.

Gu Qing Shan’s body was trembling in fear, as if he was being affected by the chill.

Laura looked up at the towering mountain and protested: “It is too high, I do not want to go up”

After seeing that ‘thing’, she didn’t find the mountain to be pretty anymore.

“I don’t want to either” Gu Qing Shan sighed, “but we have to”

Laura was speechless.

Yes, they’ve already gone this far, how can they just back off now?

Would I really give up on fighting back against Triste because of the fear of heights and monsters?

Every member of my family who came to Aboul was killed by Triste’s own hands, this is a grudge that can never subside no matter what.

Even if I have to go through pain and suffering like never before, it’s still nothing compared to death!

Laura’s eyes reddened.

“Gu Qing Shan”

“Hm?”

“Do all adults have to suffer so much?”

“All of them do”

“A banquet is hosted for 3 days and nights in Aboul to celebrate my becoming an adult, but I have never thought being an adult would be like this”

Gu Qing Shan went silent.

If you count by human years, Laura was only 7.

Can a 7-year-old be counted as an adult?

Gu Qing Shan felt nostalgic.

When he was 7, there was no way for him to survive with the meager ‘relief’ money alone. He could only do various chores and wash dishes at a diner in the slums.

But that was unpaid work.

The only thing he got out of it was two free meals a day.

Fortunately, public education was free, so he was able to study while doing part-time work, day by day until he grew up.

The hardship and suffering in those years were something you couldn’t possibly imagine if you haven’t gone through it yourself.

It was at 13 that he managed to cook food that could please even the boss of the diner.

From then on, his lifestyle slowly improved.

Gu Qing Shan sighed.

Picking Laura up from his shoulder, he hugged her close to his chest.

7 years old.

Such a young, immature girl was now an orphan.

Gu Qing Shan sincerely told her: “Laura, the life of an adult is always full of hardship and exhaustion, this is simply unavoidable, but I hope that you will be able to pull yourself up”

“Pull myself up?”

“Yeah. If you don’t pull yourself up, your living conditions will determine your life instead of you”

“…I do not want that”

Laura buried her head in his chest and muttered.

“This mountain, we’ll have to climb it” Gu Qing Shan spoke: “We have to take a look, and then——- with the two of us, we can definitely fight against Triste”

Laura pursed her lips, then took a deep breath.

She spoke full of determination: “We have to defeat her”

“That’s right, that’s the spirit! Let us go”

“Let’s go!”

As the two of them were about to go, Gu Qing Shan suddenly stopped again.

The light blue water current below the ice mountain was suddenly dyed blood-red.

Ooo—–oooong—

An earth-shaking roar came from deep underground, as if the entire area itself was howling.

Laura was so frightened she buried her face back in Gu Qing Shan’s chest.

Gu Qing Shan scowled as he silently listened to this roar.

He felt a certain range of emotions from this roar.

It was sorrow, or perhaps, pain.

But more than anything else, it contained helplessness.

The roar gradually subsided.

Shortly after, the large shadowy figure from before slowly appeared from the foot of the mountain.

It showed up, followed the water current and kept moving upwards to the divine temple at the top.

During the entire trip, the shadowy figure did not move or let out any sound at all.

As if it was already dead.

When the shadowy figure came close to where Gu Qing Shan stood, he saw its eye.

It was a gigantic eye, full of desperation and pain.

“A sentient lifeform…” Gu Qing Shan muttered.

Around the figure, the clear light blue water was being dyed by a reddish fluid.

This was blood that came from the creature’s wounds.

The blood spread, refracting bright light from the other side, turning them a crimson color of blood before projecting it on Gu Qing Shan’s body.

Gu Qing Shan stood still and just stared until the shadowy figure disappeared from his sight.

The first creature that came up was a living creature.

And this was the second.

“For this world to have such gigantic living beings… they must have been creations of the Old Gods…” Laura muttered.

As the princess of the Bramble Birds, of course she knew a lot.

Gu Qing Shan seriously listened to her muttering.

Suddenly, a chilling thought once again popped up in his mind out of nowhere.

This time, Gu Qing Shan squarely caught the thought.

Living beings…

They were living beings!!!

Cold sweat soaked the back of Gu Qing Shan’s shirt as he froze in place, unable to move.

“What is it?” Laura looked at him and worriedly asked.

“I just realized something”

Gu Qing Shan wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, trying to maintain his calm.

In his vision, the War God UI was blinking like crazy.

Lines of glowing text quickly scrolled past the UI.

[You’ve seen the creatures of this world]

[You’ve noticed a certain possibility]

[At the same time, the War God UI had also gotten a hint]

[We must now re-evaluate the situation]

[Please tell the System, what have you noticed?]

Gu Qing Shan quickly read through the lines of text on the War God UI.

He sighed deeply before answering in his mind: “[Kindling] tricked us, I suspect that it had already finished upgrading, and it’s actually now [Worlds Apocalypse Online: Origin]”