Over the past ten years or more, Gu Han had many questions he wanted to ask Qian Ye, especially about how to save Mo Chenyin. Yet no matter how many times he tried, Gu Han couldn’t awaken Qian Ye. He was completely helpless. Now that he sensed movement from the golden seal, he was overjoyed. To him, this was a consciousness space, where the concept of distance didn’t exist. With a single thought, he arrived beside the golden seal.
“Qian Ye! You’re awake?” He had already sensed that it was Qian Ye. However, that movement only lasted for an instant before falling silent again. No matter how many times he called out, there was never any reply. His brow furrowed deeply. “What’s going on?”
Then, he understood the key point. “Is it related to the soul power just now?” 𝖋𝘳ℯ
As a remnant soul, what Qian Ye required most to recover was soul power. The soul power from before had been incredibly pure, so it made perfect sense that it would trigger a reaction from him.
Everything became clear to Gu Han. “It has to be that! If Soul Crystals are useful for Master Rooster, they must be useful for Qian Ye as well!”
The Yinshan Old Ancestor had a Soul Crystal in his possession. Although Gu Han didn’t know where it came from, it was enough to prove that they existed within the Tiannan Realm.
A thought instantly took root in his mind. I have to get Soul Crystals! As long as I have them, I can definitely awaken Qian Ye!
Just as he thought of this, a sudden change occurred. A sense of crisis unlike anything he had ever felt before suddenly fell within his perception.
***
After being nourished by those two half-saint herbs and the Transcendent Substance, Gu Han had already recovered quite a bit. As for Chongming, he was crouching not far from Gu Han, dozing off now and then.
Silently and without a sound, a patch of shadow quietly arrived at this valley, merging into the shadows of the grass and trees. In the span of a breath, it had arrived right in front of him.
Chongming’s eyes shot wide open. “Who’s there sneaking around?! Show yourself—”
Just then, a cold gleam flashed into existence. The target was unmistakably Gu Han, who was meditating nearby while healing.
At the critical moment, Gu Han’s eyes snapped open. Caught off guard, he could do nothing but raise the black sword, barely managing to block the fatal strike. A tremendous force struck Gu Han, sending him flying far backward. Before he could even steady himself, his face went pale, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Yet he dared not let his guard down in the slightest.
Ignoring his injuries, he relentlessly swept out his divine sense. Aside from a patch of shadow rapidly closing in, he found nothing else. It’s him!
Gu Han immediately thought of the shadow that had taken the blow for the Hehuan Sect Master earlier. I think his name is... Ah Gou?
Just as he thought of this, the cold gleam came again, but he still couldn’t see the attacker’s face at all.
“Bastard!” With a flap of his wings, Chongming flew straight toward that cold gleam, shouting furiously, “The Great Might King Seal!”
A barely perceptible wisp of five-colored divine light flowed past, condensing into an extremely illusory great seal that crashed into that cold gleam. The great seal shattered, and Chongming was sent hurtling backward. That shadow also scattered and merged once again with the shadows of the grass and trees.
Gu Han was already beside Chongming, his expression grave. “Master Rooster, be careful! He’s not an easy one.”
In that single exchange, he had already assessed a great deal of information. Based on how Ah Gou had struck, he should be around the peak of the Saint realm, and his fighting style was exceptionally strange and tricky. Even more terrifying was his ability to transform into shadow. Before he acted, there wasn’t the slightest wisp of qi, leaving his opponents defenseless.
Gu Han felt a lingering fear at the thought of that. He’s a born killer, an assassin!
If not for his extraordinary spiritual perception, combined with his extensive combat and killing experience, they would've died without ever knowing what hit them.
Suddenly, Chongming’s pupils shifted, looking toward a certain spot. “There! He’s hiding there!”
Under his double-pupiled vision, he had detected an abnormality that even Gu Han had missed. Gu Han slashed out without hesitation. A red sword aura crashed down, and the violent sword qi carved several chi off that patch of ground.
“There!”
Boom!
“There!”
Boom!
Although there was some timing lag and they hadn’t actually wounded Ah Gou, they had forced him to reveal himself repeatedly, making him constantly shift positions. Gu Han nearly leveled the already small valley flat.
Gu Han frowned slightly. This isn’t looking great... If this goes on, my injuries would get worse.
At that moment, Chongming reminded him again, “That way!”
Gu Han slashed out once more, but the attack was much weaker this time, and its trajectory was slightly off. His face went pale and he spat out another mouthful of blood.
Chongming looked at him with contempt. “Kid, you’re really useless! You can’t even last long!”
Gu Han’s face darkened, his hand twitching, nearly bringing his sword down on the rooster head. Bullshit! All you do is talk smack!
Ah Gou also seemed to grow impatient. After seeing Gu Han leave such a huge opening, he couldn’t hold back. His shadow shifted, closing to within ten zhang of Gu Han. Then, a cold gleam flashed, and he thrust straight for Gu Han’s brow once more.
At the same time, a strand of sword qi landed not far from him. That sword qi split into two, two into four, four into eight—in the span of a breath, it had transformed into one hundred and eight strands! Following that, bits of starlight scattered from Gu Han, attaching themselves to the sword qi.
Though the formation seemed to lose some of its sharpness, it had gained a more profound and unfathomable quality. The sword formation descended, blocking Ah Gou’s path of escape and trapping him within.
This was Gu Han’s plan. Against an assassin as elusive as Ah Gou, the best way was to trap him, stripping away his greatest advantage and reliance. It was clearly very effective because the sword formation kept condensing, compressing Ah Gou’s space for movement to its absolute limit.
Chongming was taken aback. “Kid, that’s pretty clever. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Gu Han grumbled inwardly. With that brain of yours, saying you’re missing a few screws is already a compliment. If I weren’t here watching over you, the Hehuan Sect Master would have already drained you dry!
Of course, he only dared to think this.
With a somewhat boastful state of mind, his sword quivered lightly as he slashed toward Ah Gou. “Master Rooster, let me show you exactly how long I can last!”