Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World

Chapter 1385 - 716: Certain Death (Part 2)

Nine shadows exploded consecutively, but all were illusions. The real Gu Sheng had used the chaos to infiltrate deep into the encirclement.

"Pfft—"

The Broken Wind Ancient Sword pierced like a venomous snake, accurately stabbing through the throat of the one holding the Compass.

"Ugh..."

That person widened his eyes, making gagging noises from his throat, and the Compass fell to the ground with a clatter. Only then did everyone realize they’d been tricked, hurriedly turning back.

Gu Sheng drew the sword and turned, the blood dripping from the sword tip glimmering with a sinister red glow in the sunlight.

"Now, it’s your turn."

The remaining martial artists, shocked and furious, rushed forward brandishing their weapons.

Gu Sheng moved like lightning, the bodily advantage of his Fifth Layer Heaven physique fully displayed.

He avoided a martial artist’s horizontal chop, reversed his sword to slash open the opponent’s abdomen, then elbowed fiercely, caving in another’s chest, and sprang from the tip of his toes, his Ancient Sword thrusting downward to pierce through the third person’s skull.

The battle lasted less than half a quarter-hour, with over ten people lying on the ground. The last three martial artists were pale-faced, and one turned to escape.

"Trying to leave?"

Gu Sheng sneered, casually picking up a stone and throwing it.

"Ah!"

The person was hit on the knee and knelt down, wailing.

The remaining two exchanged glances, suddenly fleeing in opposite directions.

Gu Sheng did not pursue but walked to the corpse of the one holding the Compass, picking up the Compass that was still slightly rotating.

The Compass needle pointed straight at himself, evidently locked onto his aura.

"Humph!"

Gu Sheng used his five fingers to crush the Compass into powder.

After confirming there were no more pursuers around, Gu Sheng headed towards the depths of the mountain stream. At this moment, the immature voice of the Innate Spirit Embryo resonated in his Sea of Consciousness.

"Master, three miles east, there is an even stronger aura of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, at least ten times stronger than that green grass from before!"

Gu Sheng’s eyes lit up.

"Lead the way."

He performed the Shrinking Ground technique, hastening towards the direction indicated by the Spirit Embryo. Along the way, the sky of the Secret Realm exhibited a strange dark red hue, and the Spiritual Energy in the air grew richer, with sounds of combat and demon beast roars occasionally echoing from afar.

Upon reaching the entrance of a canyon, Gu Sheng suddenly halted.

"There’s Array fluctuation."

Concentrating his Spirit, he observed and found that the ground was engraved with incomplete ancient runes, vaguely forming an Illusion Array.

"An Array of the Ancient Demon Clan..."

Gu Sheng frowned, contemplating a way to break it. Just as he was searching for the array’s eye, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from behind!

Instinctively reacting, Gu Sheng sidestepped to dodge, a poisoned hidden weapon grazed his cheek, embedding into the stone wall nearby.

The black liquid on the hidden weapon ignited upon touching the stone, spewing out thick poisonous smoke.

Gu Sheng’s Spirit Embryo Incarnation mingled among the crowd, its aura indistinguishable from that of the nearby martial artists.

His gaze locked onto the tall, slender man holding the bronze Compass—he was the core of the tracking team, and the Compass needle was flashing with an eerie red light.

"Strange, why has the aura dispersed again?"

The tall, slender man frowned and fiddled with the Compass, suddenly feeling a chill on his neck.

The Spirit Embryo Incarnation’s sword edge had already sliced through his throat, drawing a tragic arc of blood in the air.

The Compass fell, its needle spinning wildly, finally splitting into two with a "crack."

"It’s a trap!"

The nearest bearded man had just shouted when his throat was pierced by Sword Qi.

The real killing blow came at this moment.

Gu Sheng’s true form sprang from the shadow of the rock wall, his hands forming seals like butterflies weaving through flowers, and the True Qi within him surged through the special route of the Nirvana Scripture.

"Nirvana Three Profound Changes—the First Change!"

Golden lines instantly crept across his cheeks, his aura tripling. When the Iron Sword was unsheathed at his waist, it emitted a dragon’s roar, the True Qi condensing on the sword edge into a three-yard long blinding golden beam.

"Heaven-breaking Sword Technique·Horizontal Sweep!"

The golden light spread like a tide, and the front row of seven martial artists were cleaved before they could even complete their blocking motion.

Severed limbs and entrails spattered against the rock wall, and at the back, the crowd’s pupils contracted suddenly, some forgetting to breathe.

Gu Sheng spun his body, changing moves, his Sword Qi shifting from a sweep to an angled upward stroke. Five heads soared into the sky, one still maintaining a look of utter shock.

When the third Sword Qi split open the Fine Iron Shields of three shield-bearing martial artists, someone finally broke down, screaming.

"It’s Xuan Rank Martial Technique! Run!"

But it was already too late.

Gu Sheng’s sword momentum was like a sudden storm, the golden Sword Qi shattering rocks and snapping trees wherever it passed. Over twenty mutilated bodies sprawled across the mountain stream, the thick blood forming rivulets in the crevices.

"Cough..."

Gu Sheng suddenly knelt on one knee, inserting his Iron Sword into the ground to support himself. The backlash of the Nirvana Three Profound Changes came fiercely, his Dantian feeling like an empty deep well.

He quickly hid into the rock crevice, trembling as he took out the Jade Bottle, swallowing three Qi Recovery Pills at once.

The elixir pills transformed into a warm current upon entering his stomach, but the recovery speed was far below expectations.

"The meridians of the Spirit Martial Realm are still too fragile..."

Gu Sheng bitterly smiled as the sound of falling stones suddenly came from the vicinity.

"Over here!"

A young martial artist with freckles all over his face pointed at the rock crevice, his voice altering with excitement.

"He’s exhausted!"

Over thirty people closed in from all directions, their blades and swords reflecting a cold light. The scar-faced man leading them licked the blade with a cruel grin.

"Young Master Gu, such grand prestige, but now you look like a dead dog?"

Gu Sheng slowly lifted his head, a strange curve suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Why don’t you all take a look behind you?"

"Stop your ghostly tricks!"

The scar-faced man had just sneered when a spine-chilling heat erupted behind him.

The Spirit Embryo Incarnation had unknowingly positioned itself on the retreat path, its form ablaze with golden flames. The same handprint, the same sword technique, but this time the sword light bore an eerie crimson hue.

"Nirvana Three Profound Changes·Blood-like Sunset!"

The sword qi was no longer pure gold but resembled molten iron.

The three closest individuals vaporized instantly, unable to utter a scream. The aftershock swept across, turning the rock into crimson liquid, lethal upon contact.

"It’s a clone! He still has a clo..."

The speaker was pierced through the chest by a sword qi, their body flying back and shattering three rocks.

The survivors were terrified, some even dropping their weapons and begging for mercy on their knees.

The Spirit Embryo Incarnation, however, showed no mercy, its sword moves precise like the scythe of death. When the thirteenth person fell, someone finally noticed the anomaly.

"The clone’s movements are slowing!"

Indeed, the flames of the Spirit Embryo Incarnation were waning.

Gu Sheng’s true body suddenly erupted with vigor, having regained thirty percent of his True Qi from the Qi Recovery Pill, the Iron Sword sending seven azure whirlwinds.

"Gale Seven Kills Sword!"

The escaping martial artists were successively swept into the whirlwinds, the sight of limbs shredded by sword qi was nauseating.

A short man barely climbed onto the mountain rock when he was pierced through the back by a flying sword scabbard.

The last female martial artist retreated to the waterfall’s edge, trembling as she raised a short bow.

"My... my brother is still..."

Gu Sheng flashed the sword light, snapping both the bowstring and throat simultaneously. As the female martial artist fell into the deep pool, she heard a cold voice above.

"Having entered the killing trap, one should be prepared for death."

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the mountain stream returned to silence.

Gu Sheng flicked the blood pearls off his sword, his pupils suddenly contracting— the blood from all the corpses was eerily slithering in the same direction.

"Marvelous."

Applause echoed through the forest, Shen Qingyun walked amidst the blood pool, a long blade six feet at his waist emanating a piercing cold although it remained sheathed.

"To kill forty-nine people in the Spirit Martial Realm cultivation, Gu, you truly are someone who managed to escape from the Shen Family’s encirclement."

Gu Sheng pointed the sword tip to the ground, appearing relaxed while True Qi seethed underneath.

"Mr. Shen, here to collect the corpses?"

"Collect the corpses?"

Shen Qingyun lightly laughed, his right hand pressing on the sword hilt instantly dropping the surrounding temperature.

"Here to collect you, the fish that slipped through the net."

He suddenly narrowed his eyes.

"Strange, you actually have two True Qi circulations within you?"

Gu Sheng’s heart was jolted.

This was the greatest secret of the "Nirvana Scripture," the Spirit Embryo Incarnation was not an ordinary clone but a second True Qi source cultivated by dividing the Dantian. His face remained expressionless.

"Does the Shen Family’s intelligence network have loopholes?"

"No matter."

Shen Qingyun slowly unsheathed his long blade, its blade as transparent as ice crystals.

"No matter your means, today you..."

The blade edge suddenly refracted sunlight, delivering his final judgment in the blinding white light.

"Are destined to die!"

Before the sword qi arrived, Gu Sheng’s left shoulder had already burst into a blood flower.

He retreated in horror, discovering that although Shen Qingyun stood ten feet away, his attack seemed to traverse space.

"The ’momentum’ of the Heavenly Martial Realm? No, the Secret Realm clearly suppressed the cultivation..."

"Gu Sheng, today I will show you the chasm between an ant and a true dragon!"

Shen Qingyun’s lips curled into a cruel arc.