Chapter 1172: A hint from the twine of luck

“War God UI, which two identities of Huang Quan do I have?” Gu Qing Shan asked.

The War God UI replied: [In truth, you should already know which you identities you have, but since you asked——–]

“You’ll answer?” Gu Qing Shan followed up.

[I will take the answering fee] the War God UI replied.

His Soul Points value in the column flickered a bit, as 200 Soul Points were deducted.

Gu Qing Shan: “…”

The War God UI then continued with its answer: [You obtained two Divine Armaments within the fragment of Huang Quan from your world, which were the Devil King Warden Rod and Six Paths Great Mountain sword respectively. At the same time, since you are undoubtedly their owner, your identities are simultaneously the Huang Quan Devil King and the Samsara Mountain God]

[If you wish to step onto the Path To Heaven, you must give up these two identities]

Gu Qing Shan pondered: “In other words, I will have to give up on these two weapons?”

[Correct] the War God UI replied.

“No way I’m doing that!” Gu Qing Shan exclaimed.

Another ‘me’ had once warned me not to give up on my identity as the Huang Quan Devil King.

But ‘I’ did not mention the Six Paths Great Mountain sword.

Gu Qing Shan paused.

In my mind, the Devil King Warden Rod is crucial, but it isn’t something I can’t give up.

On the other hand, the Six Paths Great Mountain sword had fought alongside me for so long, she is my sword without any doubts.

A sword cultivator would never give up on his sword.

If the other ‘me’ had obtained the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, he would surely place a lot more importance on this sword and specifically leave a reminder for me.

But since he did not——-

Then, the other ‘me’ hadn’t obtained the Six Paths Great Mountain sword.

At the same time, if I only have the Devil King Warden Rod in my possession, then I might put some consideration to the current situation.

But since I have the Six Paths Great Mountain sword, I would never even consider giving her up, nor give up the corresponding Huang Quan identity.

—–the other ‘me’ does not have this sword.

This can be confirmed beyond any doubts.

Gu Qing Shan sighed.

“Shifu, it seems that I cannot look for you just yet” he silently muttered.

Bai Hua Fairy – Xie Dao Ling wasn’t a normal cultivator, and under normal circumstances, she did not require any form of concern from someone else.

With this in mind, Gu Qing Shan retreated a few steps and left the edge of the mountain.

At this point, on the other side of the mountain, quite a bit of commotion was brewing.

The pixies and cultivators were arriving one by one.

In reality, they had been arriving for a while already, but since Gu Qing Shan was in a hurry to observe the Path To Heaven, he didn’t pay any attention to them.

Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight to examine and found that everyone had already arrived.

So he dispelled his Orange Sovereign state and returned to human form.

Instantly, the effects of [Ghostly Shadow of Night] disappeared.

The pixies and cultivators noticed his appearance.

The long-bearded old man flew up and shouted: “Attention! The last to arrive at the summit was Gu Qing Shan, he has to turn into a turquoise in front of everyone!”

The pixie king whispered from behind him: “That’s not it, it was tortoise, not turquoise”

The long-bearded old man glared at the king and said: “Turquoise, tortoise[1], whatever! The point is that he has to turn into one——- what do you all say?”

He turned to the cultivators who arrived after him.

The cultivators exchanged glances, then lowered their heads.

Gu Qing Shan knitted his eyebrows and said: “I arrived here before anyone else”

“Shameless!” the pixies were all rowdy.

“We arrived at the summit for a long time but never noticed anyone here” the pixie king loudly shouted.

“Turn into a tortoise! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” the long-bearded old man urged.

The other cultivators also appeared expectant.

Gu Qing Shan was speechless.

He could discuss anything else, but if they wanted him to turn into a tortoise after he arrived before anyone else, he refused.

“Oi, I really did arrive here first!”

Saying that, he activated his Sumeru Thaumaturgy to turn into an orange cat before vanishing from everyone’s sight.

“Huh? Where is he?” the long-bearded old man asked in confusion.

From the void of space, the sound of a cat could be heard: “Meow meow, meow meow meow!”

Hearing him, the long-bearded old man nodded: “I believe, I believe you, you really did arrive first, you shouldn’t be the one to turn into a tortoise”

He then turned towards another cultivator who was wiping his cold sweat—–

Before he could say anything, the Divine Mountain suddenly reacted.

Rays of light gathered on top of the mountain and manifested as a single pillar of light.

The Tribulation had finished.

So now the Divine Mountain of Sumeru would return everyone to their respective worlds!

Right away, the rays of light enveloped everyone.

Oom!

The rays of light carried each person away from the summit.

Gu Qing Shan, as well as all the pixies, were traveling at rapid speed through the void of space, soon returning to where they came from.

“Meow meow!”

(Oh no!)

Gu Qing Shan said with a pale expression.

I used my Tribulation to escape after killing Cang Wu Zhang, so that location must be surrounded by countless wraiths right about now.

——-even a Wraith Lord might be present!

Without hesitation, Gu Qing Shan tossed three coins forward with his paw.

The Angel of Condemnation!

The Demon King of Order!

The Bramble Great Tree!

Each of the three coins had a wondrous connection to their respective entities.

Two rays of light appeared from the ‘Angel of Condemnation’ coin and the ‘Demon King of Order’ coin, both connecting to Gu Qing Shan’s body.

While the ‘Bramble Great Tree’ coin gave off a ray of light that connected to the projection of a large tree behind his back.

——-at Laura’s request, the Great Bramble Tree had remained by Gu Qing Shan’s side.

The three powers had all gathered!

“Meow, meow meow meow meow!” Gu Qing Shan loudly cried out.

Although the long-bearded old man couldn’t see him, he still loudly replied: “Very well, we’re going together!”

Gu Qing Shan focused his mind.

Endless dark fog manifested from the three coins to envelop the pixies as well as Gu Qing Shan.

[Cruise] had been activated!

The void around them instantly disappeared.

A long shining river appeared in their visions.

The River of Time!

Everyone was hovering above this long river!

Observing the river and the mist drifting above it, Gu Qing Shan sighed in relief.

We’re safe now.

He turned towards the pixies and said: “Meow meow——–”

Something abruptly changed!

The pixies only managed to hear a single unprepared cat cry, and nothing else.

The last sound of the cat cry was stretched for a very long time while it went further and further away in some unknown direction.

In the blink of an eye, the cry couldn’t be heard any longer.

The long-bearded old man opened his eyes wide in shock, then turned around and asked: “Did he say ‘wait’?”

The pixie king replied: “Yes, he said ‘wait here'”

“Did he actually say ‘here’?” the long-bearded old man asked.

“According to his tone, the next word should be that” the king replied.

“Alright, then we’ll wait for him right here” the long-bearded old man declared.

…

Gu Qing Shan was flying through the endless void.

All the mysterious and unknown entities hiding in the void could not sense him.

A great pulling force was guiding his feline body towards the secret location that he had not been to for a long time.

The giant corpse!

While flying, Gu Qing Shan was silently doubtful.

It had been a very long time since the giant corpse contacted me.

I’ve also been anxious to know about his current situation.

But for it to hurriedly summon me like this, is there an emergency?

Gu Qing Shan silently thought as he was about to dispel his Orange Sovereign state.

I should probably meet the giant corpse in my human form.

As soon as that thought flashed through his mind, he sensed something and turned to the purple length of twine tied to his paw.

The short length of twine was tightening just a bit around his paw, which didn’t affect it much.

This is the Twine of the Cloud Atlas that could bring luck…

Why did it suddenly tighten around my paw?

Gu Qing Shan went silent briefly before recalling Laura’s words at the time.

…

“I actually still have one other Occultism artifact——– this was something passed down through generations in the Bramble Bird royal family, the Twine of Cloud Atlas”

Laura tied the purple string that she had always used to tie her hair onto Gu Qing Shan’s wrist, telling him in a low voice:

“Its ability is to provide a unique kind of luck”

…

Luck…

Gu Qing Shan remained silent for a few moments, then remained in his Orange Sovereign state while maintaining his Thaumaturgy [Ghostly Shadow of Night].

——with the events that would follow, this decision of his had certainly dictated his survival later on.

After an unknown amount of time.

The familiar world revealed itself to him.

Countless black skeletons were tirelessly travelling on the barren, dried land.

A large bronze pillar stood connecting heaven and earth; both ends of which could not be seen.

The orange cat had arrived.

He silently landed in the void of space in front of the bronze pillar and looked up at it.

Only to see a white skeleton within a jet-black armor that was tightly pinned against the bronze pillar.

“Be careful”

The giant corpse’s voice suddenly resounded.

[1] This was originally a Chinese play on words that cannot be translated. The word “tortoise” is “王八”, with the character “八” = 8; the long-bearded old man said that he had to turn into a “王七”, with the character “七” = 7