Chapter 1339: Snowdrift

Night.

Gu Qing Shan was standing on top of the mountain outside the manor with a black bow in his hands.

On the grass field next to his laid several jade pieces.

“They prepared everything for me already…”

Gu Qing Shan muttered, drew an arrow, and knocked it onto his bow.

Then let loose.

The arrow turned into a blurred image and disappeared into the unknown darkness in an instant.

Gu Qing Shan simply stood like that for a long while without moving.

“Gongzi, haven’t you already dealt with this situation before?” Shannu asked out of concern.

“That’s right, in the worst-case scenario, you’ll just have to lead them here and stab them to death again” Luo Bing Li followed up.

Gu Qing Shan was still pondering.

The Earth sword then said: 「 You don’t understand, as long as he had gone through it once, Gu Qing Shan would never be willing to experience the same thing again 」

“Why not?” Shannu asked.

「 Inserting something into his body with his own hands is an exceedingly painful experience 」the Earth sword profoundly replied.

Clang!

A heavy sound of something being hit resounded.

The Earth sword was struck down by the Heaven sword, then got pummeled over and over by the Six Paths Great Mountain sword.

After a while, the Chao Yin sword couldn’t bear to watch it any longer and silently tapped Gu Qing Shan with its hilt.

“Leave it at that, don’t hit it anymore” Gu Qing Shan called out.

It was only now that Luo Bing Li and Shannu let that go.

Gu Qing Shan slowly spoke: “I was thinking that, if I have to stab myself twice every time I run into this issue, that’s also a failure”

“We don’t know how many people have already been replaced by wraiths in this world. In the case that they had actually form a huge force, there’s a very real chance of me being discovered immediately after I kill my replacement—– which leaves my outcome as questionable as before”

Hearing that, the four swords all went quiet.

Indeed, this was a huge issue.

Gu Qing Shan held the jade pieces in his hand, evaluating them a bit.

“Not a single one of these archery techniques are clean”

He chuckled.

From the Heaven sword, Luo Bing Li’s voice asked: “Gu Qing Shan, what are you going to do now?”

“I’m still thinking…”

Gu Qing Shan sifted back and forth between the jade pieces until he finally picked one to hold in his hand.

Following this action, lines of glowing text instantly appeared on the War God UI:

[Archery technique: Snowdrift]

[Divine Skill, Inheritance technique]

[Activation requirement: You must be able to sense blood from an enemy in order to activate this archery technique]

[Snowdrift: Any arrow you shoot has a range of 100,000 miles, every 10,000 miles that an arrow flies, it will be infused with one offensive ability, with ten abilities being the maximum]

[Ability 1: Shield Breaker – Increasing damage against defensive items by three-fold]

[Ability 2: Rain Shower – When a shot strikes an enemy, instantly manifest five more of the same attack]

[Ability 3: Chaos Elemental – Randomly choose an Elemental power and infuse it into the arrow]

[Ability 4: Critical – Your arrow will definitely hit an enemy’s vitals]

[Ability 5: Feather Blade – The longer the flight distance, the more powerful the attack, increasing to three-fold at most]

[Ability 6: Bleed – The arrow wound cannot stop bleeding]

[Ability 7: Explosion – When the arrow is blocked, it will instantly explode, all other abilities infused will instantly be triggered]

[Ability 8: Dazzle – Cannot be discerned through eyesight, an enemy can only use other senses to detect this arrow]

[Ability 9: Venom Borne – The one struck by the arrow will manifest countless venomous insects inside their bodies that consume their flesh]

[Ability 10: Snowfall – The time for the arrow to fly the distance of 100,000 miles will be the same as 100 miles, the accuracy also remains the same]

[To comprehend this inheritance Divine Skill, you’ll need to expend 1 million Soul Points]

—–this was the most precious jade piece among all of them.

After skimming through, Gu Qing Shan sighed emotionally: “What a huge investment indeed, even willing to give up a Divine Skill of this caliber. It was because Condemners were so rare that they wanted to take over my body no matter what, huh?”

This [Snowdrift] technique that infuses 10 abilities combined with the black bow with its [Flying Shadow] ability is nothing short of a first-rate offensive combination.

The only shortcoming was that the activation condition for this Divine Skill is a bit too harsh.

While Gu Qing Shan was thinking, a line of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:

[Special note: This Divine Skill is an Archer inheritance technique, in consideration of the previous ‘Ethereal’ matter, the system is able to convert ‘Snowdrift’ into pure knowledge]

[Knowledge is absolutely clean and safe; would you like to convert it?]

“No, no need to” Gu Qing Shan replied.

He spent 1 million Soul Points and fully comprehended this Archery Divine Skill.

A warm flow appeared from the jade piece, entered his arm, then finally gathered inside his Thought Sea, allowing Gu Qing Shan to instantly grasp this inheritance Divine Skill.

The swords could all feel his change.

“Gongzi, will it be me and the Earth sword who act this time again?” Shannu asked.

“No, we’re in no hurry”

Gu Qing Shan whispered: “Someone’s coming”

The swords instantly faded into the void of space and hid into his Thought Sea.

One breath.

Two breaths.

A figure appeared from the darkness.

Viscount Warren.

“Why is our young Baron alone at such a secluded place? Could you have gotten your heart broken by a certain young aristocratic lady?” he spoke teasingly, but his gaze already contained a bit of chill.

“Not at all”

Gu Qing Shan curtly answered, drew an arrow from his back, and knocked it onto this bow.

A unique fluctuation began to emanate from the black bow.

Viscount Warren’s gaze became focused and asked:

“Have you already begun to practice one of those archery techniques?”

With a loud ‘bang’, the arrow escaped from the bowstring and instantly disappeared without a trace.

“I am, what an unimaginable technique, I really couldn’t imagine that the wraiths would have such a thing” Gu Qing Shan praised.

The chill was blown away from Viscount Warren’s body by a passing gust of wind.

“This is [Snowdrift]—– I know of this archery technique. The wraiths have gifted this Divine Skill to quite a few aristocrats, but regretfully none of them managed to comprehend it at all. You were the very first one”

While explaining that, he evaluated Gu Qing Shan.

So that’s the reason.

This young man went so far in the middle of the night, simply to find a place to secretly practice his skills.

From his power fluctuations and the arrow shot just now, that seems to be the truth.

—–his comprehension abilities are quite strong, having already gained a preliminary grasp on the entire technique.

Viscount Warren’s expression softened up as he handed a document to Gu Qing Shan.

“To be able to practice such a powerful archery technique, I expect much from you——- these are the necessary documents required for heading to Torrance city. When you arrive, report directly to Count Heath”

Gu Qing Shan received the document with a hesitant expression.

“What’s the matter?” Viscount Warren asked.

“Sir, I have a bit of an unreasonable request” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Speak” the Viscount said.

“Earlier, there were two wraiths who were infected by some sort of unknown power and were turned into monsters that ate some people in my village—–” Gu Qing Shan purposely prolonged the words, then looked towards the Viscount.

“Indeed” the Viscount signaled for him to continue.

Gu Qing Shan then went on: “Could I ask to take one of their corpses back? I wish to hang it on the main entrance of the village, for everyone to see that the monster has been thoroughly defeated and there was nothing to fear”

Viscount Warren remained silent.

Those two unlucky fellows… even their souls had been thoroughly eroded, not even a revival Immortal Craft would have been able to save them.

Although their corpses are now useless, they were still my comrades—-

At the same time, this Condemner would soon become my comrade as well.

There’s no harm in agreeing to his request for now, lest there are other issues.

“I can let you borrow it for a few days, but by the time you set off for Torrance city, I want you to take the corpse with you and hand it over to Count Heath, understood?” Viscount Warren replied.

“Of course, no problem” Gu Qing Shan happily accepted.

Viscount Warren tapped the void of space.

A ferocious monster corpse appeared on the ground.

Gu Qing Shan put the corpse away, then bowed to the Viscount: “Sir, then I will return to my village first. After practicing my archery for two more days, I will immediately set out to Torrance city”

Viscount Warren replied: “Very well, when you set out to Torrance city, come and see me again”

“Understood”

Gu Qing Shan tilted his body a bit and disappeared into the darkness.

Silently standing still for a while, Viscount Warren muttered:

“A Condemner… truly an unusual existence”

…

On the other side.

Gu Qing Shan and Crow had just returned to Ramon village.

“So we’re heading off to the capital in a few days?” Crow asked.

“That’s right. Since there is nothing to do for the next two days, use that time to reorganize yourself” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“Come, let’s go have a drink” Crow pointed at a bar on the other side of the street.

“You go first, I have a small matter I need to take care of, I’ll join you later”

“Alright”

Crow happily kicked open the door of the bar and walked inside, loudly shouting: “Give this lady the best drink you’ve got”

As the door closed again, her voice couldn’t be heard again.

Gu Qing Shan shook his head and disappeared right away.

In the wilderness outside of the village, he chose a spot with little disturbance and arranged 7-8 concealment formations using his formation plate.

The monster’s corpse was placed on the ground.

“Gongzi, what are you doing?” Shannu asked.

Looking down on the monster’s corpse, Gu Qing Shan replied:

“When we finished dealing with the wolf outside of the village, a wraith appeared to check the situation”

“There was, and so?”

“The only thing around this Ramon village is the barren wilderness, there wasn’t anything that the wraiths could have been interested in. The only target of any value was the young Rhode who is about to be conferred a peerage, meaning…”

Gu Qing Shan’s gaze became profound:

“From the very start, they were already making preparations to switch my soul”