Chapter 1083: A Secret Path

Various spells struck the giant skeletal hand.

Although everyone had been stripped of their powers while being able to retain just a single ability, when they unleashed that ability, they would still be able to exert it at its strongest.

The skeletal was completely intact without a scratch.

This was a bit terrifying.

As Gu Qing Shan looked at this terrifying hand’s appearance, he silently felt like sighing.

——–it’s regretful that I can’t summon the [True Crimson Demon Spear] right now, otherwise, I would definitely peel this monster away bit by bit.

He turned his thought away and focused on the lines of glowing text floating in front of his eyes:

[You’ve completed the first training session of the Dance of the Earth God]

[Through this training, your strength has been increased by a certain degree]

[Through this training, your reaction speed has been increased by a certain degree]

[Through this training, your stamina has been doubled]

[The residue fluctuations of the Dance of the Earth God are spreading deep into the secret passage]

[It is unknown if this is a blessing or a curse]

After reading through them all, Gu Qing Shan indeed felt his greatly weakened body becoming slightly stronger.

Of course, this improvement was very little, incomparable to his body as a cultivator.

But in a situation where everyone had been stripped of their power, this improvement would still be useful.

“War God UI, what do you mean by ‘unknown if this is a blessing or a curse’?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The War God UI didn’t reply.

Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and said: “Put 200 Soul Points on my tab, I’ll pay you back when we return”

The War God UI remained silent.

Gu Qing Shan frowned, then said: “I’ll pay double, hurry up”

[Ting]!

A clear chime resounded.

The War God UI replied: [By ‘unknown if this is a blessing or a curse’, I meant that the residual fluctuations from Living Being Sacrificial Dance are currently spreading, thus allowing an entity to sense it while attempting a weak reaction. However, we are unable to tell what it is]

Gu Qing Shan’s mind quickly turned, then looked to Su Xue Er and asked in a whisper: “Xue Er, how did you make it here?”

Su Xue Er replied: “I was the last remaining heir of the 9 Lords, so I inherited their 9 Starlight Cloaks”

“Starlight Cloaks?” Gu Qing Shan repeated.

“Yeah, apparently I reached some sort of lowest required threshold of power, so they combined to form a star chart, then brought me here”

“Also, I heard that this place leads to some sort of ‘dusty world’? Where I apparently would be able to obtain the power of Occultism—— you probably know as well, within the 900 million World Layers, the power of Occultism is the hardest type to obtain”

So that’s what it seems to be!

—–it seems the Dusty World really does have something to do with occultism, that’s why the Living Being Sacrificial Dance was triggered so suddenly.

Gu Qing Shan had also noticed a sense of restlessness emerging from the Sacrificial Dance ever since he arrived in this place.

As the most powerful type of power he had that wasn’t fully under his control, there must surely be a reason that the Sacrificial Dance reacted that way.

The answer lies…

Gu Qing Shan glanced at the secret passage ahead of him.

Deeper in the secret passage?

Or perhaps in the Dusty World itself?

The giant skeletal hand simply sat there, motionlessly blocking the path forward.

In the end, I still need to think of a way to get through and check, just to be sure.

“Su Xue Er, how about you give it a try as well?”

Gu Qing Shan told Su Xue Er.

Su Xue Er drew her Card and tossed it forward.

Various Bloodsea Divine Arms manifested from the void of space and struck the skeletal hand with full force.

The skeletal hand wasn’t damaged but seemed to feel pain as it twitched each time it was struck by a Bloodsea Divine Arm, yet it still refused to budge.

Su Xue Er could only recall her Card.

Sha Qiang snorted in irritation: 『 There’s no other way forward, does anyone of you have any idea what we should do next? 』

Everyone fell silent.

Gu Qing Shan thought briefly, then asked: “Does anyone have an ability that can search or look through walls?”

One of Guyan’s subordinates came forward.

“I can do that. I have the ability that enables my ear to perform Clairvoyance through any wall” he said.

Gu Qing Shan turned to Sha Qiang and asked: “Where did your men discover the piece of bone that contained the pixie’s corpse from before?”

Sha Qiang walked back a few dozen meters and pointed at a corner of the wall: 『 It was here 』

Gu Qing Shan commented: “Pixies are the best at hiding and concealing themselves, as long as they don’t want to be seen, no one would ever be able to find them”

Hazeden’s eyes flickered and said: “You mean…”

“We need to give it a try” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Guyan then told his subordinate: “Go and help sir Dragon Slayer from the Age of Old investigate”

“Understood”

The subordinate responded, walked to the corner of the wall, and pressed his ear against it.

Everyone simply stared at him, waiting for the results.

After listening for a while, he shook his head: “This wall is very thick, about several ten thousand miles, I can’t hear any further than that”

Gu Qing Shan then suggested: “Try and listen up top”

The man then had one of his friends to help him get close to the ceiling.

After pressing his ear against the ceiling for a bit, he replied: “Above us is the ocean, it’s boundless, I can’t see any landmass within sight”

This was within Gu Qing Shan’s expectation, as the only things outside of this secret passage were a giant wall and the ocean. Although their group had traveled a long distance, it was obviously not enough to leave the humongous ocean.

Gu Qing Shan then said: “Try the other wall”

The man jumped down from his friend’s shoulder to listen to the other wall.

“Also several ten thousand miles of wall, I can’t hear any further than that” he sighed and replied.

Everyone felt a bit dejected.

Gu Qing Shan was unmoved and continued: “Try the floor”

Seeing him so insistent with his idea, the man couldn’t help but follow and press his ear against the floor.

A few moments later.

He still didn’t stand up or say anything, then gradually displayed a surprised expression.

Everyone noticed that.

“What did you hear?” Guyan questioned.

“My Lord, there is a huge mass of darkness below us, I can’t see very clearly, but I think there’s a giant insect there” the man replied.

『 A giant insect? How giant? 』Sha Qiang asked.

The man waved his hand a bit, then answered: “In the human worlds common measurement unit, almost a hundred meters”

An insect that was almost a hundred meters in size.

Everyone was a bit stunned to hear that.

“A body almost a hundred meters in size… with our current strength, I wonder if we can win against it” Guyan pondered.

Gu Qing Shan replied: “No need to think about it if it’s an entity at the same level as this skeletal hand, we won’t be able to do anything to it”

『 Why so? 』Sha Qiang was unconvinced.

Hazeden casually replied: “Because an insect can move, attack and retreat as it pleased, completely unhindered, while the skeletal hand is stuck here without being able to move any further”

Gu Qing Shan thought about it a bit and loudly asked: “Does anyone here understand the culture of pixies?”

Everyone shook their heads.

The pixie race was regarded as the most mysterious species, in reality, it would normally be impossible to even meet one of them, let alone understand them.

Gu Qing Shan sighed.

This is going to be a bit tough.

While he was pondering, someone pulled at his sleeve.

It was Su Xue Er.

“Erm… I know a little bit” she whispered.

Gu Qing Shan was surprised: “How did you know about the pixies? Did you get into contact with one of them?”

“No, I haven’t”

Su Xue Er shook her head and continued: “At first when I was still studying at the Fog Isle, I used to do nothing but study in the institute public library. After Teacher took me in, I stayed at the House of Law and read through every book in his collection as well, using magic to memorize them all, and then I was transferred to the Holy Church——– the Holy Church’s library was even bigger, so I took on the position of librarian on top of my regular duties. If I have nothing do I, I would always stay in the library without leaving”

Gu Qing Shan was a bit stunned, then chuckled: “You already graduated from high school, didn’t you? How come you’re still so interested in studying?”

Su Xue Er replied with a stern expression: “I’ve always held a certain belief: the more you know, the more opportunities you’d have—– knowledge can give anybody the chance to change their fate and future”

Gu Qing Shan crossed his arms and muttered: “Then you might be able to become very close friends with Impartial Goddess, that had always been her worldview as well”

“Impartial Goddess had treated me very well, so I will have to thank her when I return” Su Xue Er continued: “Now, regarding the pixies, I can probably still remember everything I read, what do you want to know Qing Shan?”

“I want to know what kind of things would the pixies do when they run into danger—– even better if it’s specifically pertaining to them being in a passage or tunnel” Gu Qing Shan said.

Su Xue Er thought about it for a bit and answered: “Dig a hole”

“Dig a hole?”

“Yeah, when they run into something especially dangerous, they’ll disappear into the ground”

Su Xue Er continued: “There once was a person who explored an ancient ruin, but as soon as he went into a tunnel, it began to collapse”

“Having no other choice, he had to run back out”

“While he was running away, he suddenly saw a pixie carrying a bag full of glittering gems that was hurrying to escape from inside the ruins”

“At this point, the tunnel was collapsing too quickly for him to make it out in time”

“When the man used a teleportation scroll to escape, he saw the pixie scurrying into the ground at the very last moment before he was transported away”

After listening to her, Gu Qing Shan asked: “What’s the relationship between pixies and insects——- any kind of insect is fine, or rather, do they have a hobby of raising insects?”

Su Xue Er recalled for a short while before answering: “Pixies hate insects to the very core of their being. They only like beautiful, wondrous, luxurious items—— in fact, the number one most effective insecticide in the 900 million World Layers was created by the pixies, who silently spread their use throughout the infinite worlds”

“I see, Xue Er really is bright”

Gu Qing Shan stroked her head, drew his sword, and walked up to the corner of the passage.

“Was it this place?” he pointed at a point on the ground and asked the man from before.

“It’s right around this area, but I don’t know how to go down” the man replied.

Gu Qing Shan started to tap each tile of the floor with his sword, using considerable force.

By the 11th tile he tapped, the ground began to rumble.

Immediately after that, the floor opened up and Gu Qing Shan dropped straight down.

Everyone was shocked.

Su Xue Er shouted in panic before swiftly jumping down with him.

In the air, she had even drawn her Card, preparing to fight at any moment.

But no fight occurred.

A pair of strong hands caught her.

“Relax, this place is safe” Gu Qing Shan replied.

——he managed to correctly take everything into consideration, except Su Xue Er’s reaction.

Fortunately, his strength and reaction speed was improved by the Dance, otherwise, he might not have been able to catch Su Xue Er in time.

“What about that giant 100-meter insec——-” Su Xue Er asked as she followed Gu Qing Shan’s gaze.

The two of them said nothing.

This was not an insect.

It was a long and dusty metal train, standing alone on a long rail that led into the thick and lonely darkness.

“Qing Shan”

“What is it?” Gu Qing Shan kept his eyes on the train and asked.

Su Xue Er lowered her voice and replied: “…My star chart just activated”