Chapter 1082: Trekking Forward

Sha Qiang’s right to contribute to history was thus stripped.

The historical official quickly finished the description of the epic battle according to what Hazeden, Guyan, and Gu Qing Shan had described.

Naturally, Sha Qiang didn’t need to know about this.

Guyan gestured through his eyes for his subordinates to pull Sha Qiang away and continued drinking.

Hazeden read through the battle depiction once and nodded in satisfaction.

He handed it over for Gu Qing Shan to see.

Gu Qing Shan then handed it to Guyan.

The three of them were very pleased.

Indeed.

This is the truth.

“Alright, let us be on our way” Gu Qing Shan said.

He wielded his swords, prepared to walk in front of the group again.

“—–It might be best that you don’t lead the way” Hazeden pulled him back.

Guyan tried delivering it to him gently: “Your sword is very powerful, so you should only act at a crucial moment. All of us should be at the back and act as overall battlefield support”

Sha Qiang commented from far away: 『 Yeah, you shouldn’t stay in front. I’ll be frank, just looking at your back right now makes me feel like you’re about to lead another dance 』

With that statement hammering the point in, not only could Gu Qing Shan not refute, but everyone else also nodded in understanding.

Gu Qing Shan could only stay back, feeling a bit irritated.

Hm?

This means I won’t have to face any danger, what am I irritated for?

He quickly adjusted his temperament.

『 When it comes to scouting, it should best be left to my men—— 』

Sha Qiang said and waved his hand.

Two of his subordinates moved forward and crouched down on all fours.

The two evil creatures gradually turned into a type of greyhound that emanated flames of Purgatory.

『 Go 』Sha Qiang ordered.

The two Purgatory hounds went ahead into the dark passage.

——-the secret passage that headed into the Dusty World.

After a few moments.

Sha Qiang suddenly spoke up: 『 No issues, it’s safe inside 』

“Then let us advance as well” Hazeden stated.

Everyone nodded.

Hazeden’s subordinates, Guyan’s subordinates, as well as Sha Qiang’s subordinates stood in formation and began heading into the secret passage as well.

Gu Qing Shan watched them, pulled Su Xue Er close, and accompanied her forward.

He was walking together with Hazeden and the other two leaders as they made their way into the secret passage.

…

Darkness.

There were some glowing gems and stones on that square earlier that served as light sources.

But after they entered the passage, there were no longer any light sources at all.

——-if these evil creatures weren’t born with the flames of Purgatory, and if Guyan’s group wasn’t one that practiced flame techniques, everyone would have no choice but to blindly move forward.

The stairs were wet and slippery, full of blood and pulpy flesh.

Quite a few who weren’t careful enough actually slipped, falling down a considerable distance.

By the time they regained their balance, they would all see bits of corpses that hadn’t been fully devoured, as well as writhing limbs of some monster that were still alive.

After a short while, Hazeden finally couldn’t endure it any longer and gestured to his subordinates.

One of them unleashed a spell.

—–the wind surged forward.

A strong gust of wind blew forward and swept through the passage, bringing the multitudes of corpse pieces and blood away with it into the faraway darkness.

The path was finally cleared up, but since blood couldn’t be washed away completely, there were still large patches of black and red all over the ground.

“This spell was prepared in case of poisonous gas and environments obscured by fog” Hazeden explained.

“Hm, it’s perfect for a situation like this” Gu Qing Shan commented.

The group continued to move forward into the passage.

About half an hour later.

『 Halt 』Sha Qiang spoke up.

Everyone stopped.

“Is there an enemy up ahead?” Guyan asked.

『 No, but take a look at what kind of thing this is 』Sha Qiang replied.

He blew a whistle.

A faint image swiftly arrived in front of him.

One of the two Purgatory Hounds had returned to the party with something in its mouth.

Sha Qiang gave the item to Guyan first.

“I’m not sure, we don’t have this sort of creature in our civilization” Guyan replied.

Shaking his head, he handed it to Hazeden.

Hazeden couldn’t recognize it either, so the item finally arrived in Gu Qing Shan’s hand.

Gu Qing Shan took a careful look.

——this was a small piece of bone, but unlike the bones found in the 900 million World Layers, there were multitudes of boney spikes that grew from this piece of bone, each of them carved full of ancient runes.

The War God UI didn’t react, which meant that this piece of bone was most likely useless.

“Do you recognize it?” Guyan asked.

“No”

Gu Qing Shan shook his head but continued to stare closely at it.

『 If you don’t know, why are you still staring at it? 』Sha Qiang complained.

Gu Qing Shan just smiled and said: “Please give me a bit more like, it’s a bit too dark here. I need to take a careful look at it”

Sha Qiang walked up to him.

The flames of Purgatory burned on its body, illuminating the area around Gu Qing Shan.

Using the light of the flame, Gu Qing Shan continued studying the bone.

“What did you find out?” Hazeden asked.

“Hard to say, this bone isn’t quite pure” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Not pure?” Hazeden didn’t understand.

“Yeah, this isn’t the bone of any creature——- as long I can hold it in my hand, I can easily infer how soft or tough any piece of bone should be, as well as where to cut it up and how much force I should use; but this bone doesn’t seem to have only bone in it…”

Saying so, Gu Qing Shan tossed the piece of bone into the air.

A gleam of his sword.

Sha!

The bone was cut in half and fell down to the ground.

He and Hazeden each caught one half of the bone and checked it again.

Only to see a small corpse right inside this bone.

The corpse was only around the size of a thumb, but it crumbled almost immediately as it came into contact with the air and faded into dust.

“”Pixie!””

Gu Qing Shan and Hazeden both exclaimed at once.

The two of them exchanged glances, not sure why they found the corpse of a Pixie in a place like this.

Sha Qiang seemed to have sensed something and informed everyone: 『 There’s another discovery ahead 』

The group advanced forward again.

About 10 minutes later, they arrived at the location that Sha Qiang mentioned.

Two Purgatory Hounds were loitering around here.

Not too far away from where they stood was a giant skeletal hand.

The passage was quite big, enough for 7-8 people to traverse in a line, but this skeletal hand had completely filled the passage, only leaving a tiny gap.

Marks of the hand clawing at something was all over the walls.

At a glance, this seemed like the aftermath of the skeletal hand trying to grab something.

Everyone carefully observed it.

“It blocked the path” Hazeden muttered to himself.

Guyan was quite doubtful: “But this skeletal hand seems like it had been here for a very long time without moving, how did the masked cultivators go past it?”

Sha Qiang replied: 『 Isn’t it clear? They probably warped away 』

Guyan glanced at him a bit but didn’t say anything.

Sha Qiang pondered briefly and gestured to a Purgatory Hound to come forward.

The Purgatory Hound tried biting the skeletal hand.

No reaction.

Another Purgatory Hound slipped through a gap on the skeletal hand and moved further into the passage, finally returning after a long while.

It reported: 『 Boss, this skeletal hand is still attached to a thick skeletal arm, it completely blocked the end of the passage without even a bit of room to slip through, so I had no choice but to return 』

Everyone fell into thought.

What kind of monster’s remains is this? And why is it so gigantic?

Hazeden signaled to his men.

Two of his subordinates tossed their Cards out, manifesting as Frost-type and Flame-type attacks that struck the skeletal hand head-on.

It didn’t move at all, and wasn’t damaged even as the attacks gradually stopped.

—–perhaps, it’s just an object?

Being able to resist both fire and ice, the material seems to be quite considerable.

Sha Qiang thought for a bit longer and ordered:

『 Seems like this thing had existed for so long that it’s already broken, go ahead and clean it up, make way for everyone to pass 』

Several evil creatures walked forward, wielded their weapons, and struck the skeletal hand with all their might.

After the very first hit, everyone found their vision becoming blurred.

Several shadows emerged from the skeletal hand to grab and crush those evil creatures.

Green blood was splattered all over the wall.

The skeletal swiftly pulled back and went out of their vision in an instant.

It was only then that they finally reacted.

『 Bastard! You dare kill my men; I’m going to massacre you! 』

Sha Qiang roared furiously and was about to jump forward.

Gu Qing Shan immediately held him back and shouted: “You’re no match for it!”

Just as Sha Qiang was about to respond to him, something resounded in his ears.

Desperate and fearful screams resounded from far away behind the skeletal hand.

The screams gradually subsided.

Replaced by the sound of slow chewing.

Everyone’s hearts sank.

——–the owner of that giant skeletal hand is eating.

What kind of entity has such a giant hand?

And this entity seemed to be stuck in the passage, so it reached its skeletal hand out to bait any unfortunate prey.

“We’re no longer as powerful as we were outside” Hazeden spoke with a stern expression: “It had been impervious to our spells so far, plus with its speed and power, we wouldn’t be able to fight it at close range”

Sha Qiang opened his mouth wide, speechless.

Gu Qing Shan pondered: “At first, it let the Purgatory Hounds attack and go through without retaliating, then only springing into action when 7-8 people were baited at once…”

“Quite obviously, this monster is alive”

While they were talking, a loud rumbling noise could be heard coming from the far end of the passage.

The skeletal hand once again returned and blocked the path as if it had never moved a single inch.

Plish.

Plish.

The blood of evil creatures slowly dripped down from the white bones of the hand.