txolops Chapter 115 A Shocking Change at the Frozen Pool: The True Form of the Bait
Chapter 115 A Shocking Change at the Frozen Pool: The True Form of the Bait
A monkey at the foot of Flower Fruit Mountain said: Read this book!
"Gu Changsheng, I... damn... your... mother..."
Zhao Lingfeng's curses carried on the wind from behind.
Gu Yan scratched his ear, inwardly sneering.
What does it have to do with me, Gu Yan, if you insult Gu Changsheng?
The Prince's men quickly circled the edge of the swamp and left this place of trouble.
Even after walking ten miles, the roars of the Fiery Demon Wolf and the hisses of the Two-Headed Flame Serpent still made people's eardrums ache.
If you listen carefully, you can also faintly hear the screams of human cultivators.
That's Zhao Lingfeng and the disciples of the Flowing Cloud Sect paying the price for their greed.
Since this was only a team led by Mo Qianji, the chief elder of the Punishment Hall, the Liuyun Sect could not be considered completely wiped out.
As for Su Hongxiu and Shen Youwei, they are in another group. It's best to avoid seeing each other to prevent Gu Changsheng's identity from causing trouble.
Gu Yan was in a good mood.
He walked briskly in the middle of the group, occasionally glancing back at the towering flames behind him, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips, but he quickly masked it with a look of lingering fear.
The priceless Crimson Flame Fruit, along with the fire spirit he had casually stolen in the chaos, lay quietly in his storage bag.
This time, they really won big.
After rounding the edge of the Firephosphorus Swamp, the sounds of explosions and wolf howls from the swamp gradually faded into the distance, and the terrain began to rise slowly.
The dark red soil beneath their feet gradually hardened, and the hot, sulfurous smell in the air dissipated, replaced by a bone-chilling cold.
The surrounding scenery has changed.
No longer are there red rocks and scorched earth, but a gray and white world.
The ground was covered with a thick layer of white powder, which was bone meal weathered over the years.
Several bare ancient trees twisted their branches, like people whose skin had been peeled off and were struggling in pain.
There was no wind, no sound. Even the perpetually lingering red miasma seemed to encounter something terrifying and consciously detoured here, leaving only a pale, empty space.
Li Qingge stopped in her tracks.
Before her was a pool of water, hundreds of feet in diameter.
The pool water was as black as ink, and the surface was as calm as a black mirror, reflecting no shadows.
But Gu Yan knew that this was the end.
"arrive."
Li Qingge's cold voice rang out from the empty silence.
Gu Yan huddled at the back of the group, quietly observing his surroundings.
In his view of the world of paper, beneath this seemingly calm black pool, a huge black shadow was lurking.
The shadow's outline was indistinct, and the malevolent aura it emitted was several times stronger than that of the previous two-headed fire serpent.
"Princess, this place looks eerie."
Gu Yan's teeth chattered: "Weren't we looking for a point where the demonic cultivators were lying in ambush? There's not a soul in sight here. How could the demonic cultivators be hiding here?"
Li Qingge turned around, and for the first time, her beautiful eyes no longer held that haughty indifference, but instead carried a hint of meaningful mockery.
"Gu Changsheng, you are a smart man."
She slowly walked towards Gu Yan, her Autumn Water Sword still sheathed, yet the invisible pressure caused the surrounding black-armored guards to instinctively retreat, forming an encirclement.
"Throughout this journey, you've acted like a coward, incredibly foolish. But every time you encountered danger, you managed to escape unscathed with incredible luck, even managing to shift the blame onto Zhao Lingfeng."
Li Qingge stopped three steps away from Gu Yan, a faint, cold smile playing on her lips: "Underneath that official's coattails, you've got quite a few things up your sleeve, haven't you?"
Gu Yan's heart skipped a beat.
This woman is definitely not so easy to fool.
His expression grew even more terrified: "Your Highness, please understand! I'm just a lucky bum! I really have no skills whatsoever!"
"Whether you have the ability or not, you'll know once you try."
Li Qingge did not let him get up, but pointed to the black pool behind her and said calmly, "I never said that I brought you here to lure demonic cultivators. The reason I went to find you that day was simply because of your special destiny, and also because you were the only one in Changning County who escaped unscathed from the demonic tribulation."
"This icy pool is called the Burial Abyss. It is a dangerous place in Sunset Valley, and also the only way to unlock that ruin."
"Below the node lies a guardian beast called the Xuanming Bone Crocodile. If this beast remains hidden at the bottom of the pool, even a Nascent Soul cultivator cannot defeat it. However, it has one particular quirk."
Li Qingge paused, her gaze sweeping across Gu Yan's face like a blade: "It likes to eat living people, especially those whose blood and qi seem weak, yet who possess a special vitality. Your aura suits its taste perfectly."
Gu Yan suddenly looked up, his face full of disbelief: "Princess...you mean to treat me as...?"
"Bait".
Li Qingge uttered those two cold words, then flicked her sleeve.
A gentle yet irresistible spiritual force lifted Gu Yan's body and threw him directly into the air above the lifeless black pool.
"If you can lure it out of the water, I will guarantee your life. If you dare not, the Black Armor Guards will chop you into mincemeat right now."
Gu Yan's body traced a parabola in the air.
He looked down at the approaching black water, feeling the chill that seemed to freeze his soul. His terrified face froze.
From an angle that Li Qingge couldn't see, Gu Yan laughed.
bait?
Ok.
Let's see who's fishing for whom.
"Ah!! Help! I can't swim!"
Gu Yan flailed his arms and legs in the air, letting out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.
"Thump!"
Water splashed everywhere.
Gu Yan slammed heavily into the black water.
A bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped my entire body. This water was not only cold, but also carried a deadly poison that corroded spiritual energy.
If an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator fell in, they would probably freeze to death within three breaths and then be turned into pus by the poisonous water.
However, the divine and demonic Tai Chi diagram within Gu Yan's body was operating wildly.
The extremely yang and powerful energy of the dragon pearl flowed through the meridians, completely dispelling the cold air.
He didn't struggle in the water; instead, he sank with the current.
The paper industry has a completely new perspective.
In the darkness of the water, two enormous, eerie green lanterns slowly lit up.
That's not a lantern.
Those were two emotionless beastly eyes.
Immediately afterwards, the water surged violently.
A giant crocodile, over thirty feet long and covered entirely in white bone armor, awoke from the mud at the bottom of the pool.
Its tail swayed gently.
"Boom!"
The once calm water surface suddenly burst open.
A huge column of water shot into the sky, and at the top of that column, Gu Yan seemed to be propelled by some invisible force, soaring straight into the clouds.
"They're here! Formation!"
On the shore, Li Qingge's eyes flashed with a sharp light.
The hundred black-armored guards, who were already prepared, shouted in unison and slammed their long spears heavily on the ground.
"Buzz!"
A pale golden light curtain instantly rose up, enveloping an area of a hundred feet in radius, forming a huge cage for the beast.
At the same time, the Xuanming Bone Crocodile finally revealed its true form.
It's too big.
Its head alone is as big as a small house.
Whether the white bone armor was naturally formed or inlaid with the bones of countless dead, each plate was covered with eerie gray runes.
"roar!!"
The crocodile opened its mouth wide and let out a low moan similar to that of a bull.
This roar was not a sound wave, but a soul-shaking impact.
Several black-armored guards with slightly weaker cultivation levels on the shore bled from all seven orifices and collapsed to the ground.
Even Li Qingge let out a muffled groan, and the protective aura around her body trembled.
Gu Yan, who was lifted into the air, was the first to be hit.
If it were an ordinary person, they would probably have been annihilated by now.
But Gu Yan did a very awkward tumble in the air, as if he had been frightened into unconsciousness. In reality, he used the force of the sound wave to float like a fallen leaf to the safe area on the shore.
"You beast! Prepare to die!"
Li Qingge let out a delicate shout, and the Autumn Water Sword flew out of her hand.
"Ice Profound Sword Formation, descend!"
The longsword multiplied from one to two, then from two to four, transforming into a sky full of sword shadows in the blink of an eye, piercing towards the relatively soft belly of the bone crocodile like a torrential rain.
"Ding ding ding ding!"
A series of metallic clanging sounds rang out.
Those flying swords, powerful enough to cut through gold and jade, only sparked a string of fire when they pierced the white bone armor, leaving not even a white mark!
A mocking glint, almost human-like, flashed in the eyes of the Xuanming Bone Crocodile.
Its long tail, covered in bone spurs, swept out like a battering ram.
"Bang!"
The golden light barrier that had trapped it trembled violently under the blow, and visible cracks appeared.
The dozen or so black-armored guards who were first hit were sent flying backward, coughing up blood, their long spears breaking in two.
"Damn it! Its defense is too strong!"
The black-armored guard commander, clutching his broken ribs, roared, "This is the body of a demonic beast approaching the Nascent Soul level! Princess! Retreat! This beast isn't the one we're looking for!"
Peak of the third tier, half-step into the fourth tier!
The strength of this Xuanming Bone Crocodile far exceeded Li Qingge's intelligence estimates.
"No refunds!"
Li Qingge's face was pale, but her eyes were unusually determined: "The key lies at the bottom of the pool! If we retreat, all our previous efforts will have been in vain! Black-armored guards, listen to my command: unleash the Blood Fiend Formation!"
This is about to get dangerous.
Without any hesitation, the remaining seventy or eighty black-armored guards all bit their tongues and spat out a mouthful of blood onto their weapons.
A fierce, blood-red aura surged into the sky, condensing into a massive blood-red spear that plunged fiercely into the bone crocodile's eye.
The crocodile sensed a threat.
It stopped playing around, opened its huge mouth, and spewed out a breath of pitch-black, frosty air.
This is no ordinary water arrow, but a natal divine power containing the Nine Netherworld Cold Poison.
The crimson spear and the frosty breath collided in mid-air.
A hissing sound rang out.
The blood spear melted rapidly in the cold air, but the remaining cold air did not diminish and directly enveloped half of the black-armored guard formation.
"ah!!!"
A heart-wrenching scream rang out.
More than thirty elite black-armored guards were instantly turned into ice sculptures, and then shattered into a pile of black ice shards.
With just this one attack, more than half of the Black Armor Guards were killed!
Li Qingge's resolve wavered at this moment.
It was at this moment of despair.
"Ouch! What the hell is tangled around my foot!"
Gu Yan, who had been lying in the pile of rocks pretending to be dead, suddenly shouted.
He seemed to trip over something, and the thick stack of firecrackers in his hand slipped out of his grasp.
The angle at which it was thrown was incredibly tricky; the fireball didn't hit the bone crocodile's back, nor its mouth.
Instead, as if it had eyes, it traced a strange arc and landed precisely on the soft rib area under the armpit of the bone crocodile, where the skin had been grazed by the sword energy and exposed pink flesh—the gap where the armor was connected.
Among these fire-breathing projectiles was an inconspicuous yellow paper talisman.
That was a Blazing Flame Armor-Piercing Talisman specially made by Gu Yan from the hide of a third-tier demon beast.
After all, talisman paper is still paper. It's not surprising that a master paper maker like him would know how to make talisman paper.
"Boom!!!"
A dull, loud bang erupted from inside the bone crocodile's body.
Although its exterior is as hard as iron, its interior is inevitably fragile.
The explosion, though unfortunately not fatal, severed a major tendon in its left forelimb, causing severe damage and excruciating pain with every movement.
"roar!!!"
The Xuanming Bone Crocodile let out a deafening cry of pain.
Its massive body staggered, and its originally deadly tail whip missed its mark, instead slamming into the nearby rock wall and triggering a small landslide.
"A great opportunity!"
With her keen insight, Li Qingge didn't waste her energy pondering Gu Yan's strangeness. Seizing this fleeting opportunity, she formed a hand seal.
In just a moment, her black hair turned snow-white.
"Cold Moon, Slash!"
A cold, clear crescent moon appeared in the void behind her.
The crescent moon transformed into a silver thread only as thick as a hair, traveling hundreds of miles in an instant, and directly slicing into the wound that Gu Yan had blasted open.
Even when already severely injured, the addition of a chilling aura that penetrates the body is so severe that even a half-step fourth-tier demon beast would find it difficult to withstand.
The left side of the crocodile's body slowly stiffened, and its movements became extremely sluggish.
"Black-armored Guard! Attack its right eye!"
Upon seeing this, the commander roared and led the remaining brothers in a desperate charge.
Gu Yan remained lying on the ground, his hands covering his head, seemingly trembling with fear, but in reality, his right hand fingers were buried in the soil, moving wildly.
The world of paper has arrived.
Countless invisible, transparent threads extended along the ground and quietly wrapped around the crocodile's hind legs and tail.
Whenever the bone crocodile tried to retaliate, Gu Yan would suddenly tug on the silk threads.
Although the thread couldn't bind it, it was enough to cause its movements to freeze for a moment.
In a life-or-death struggle, that momentary pause can be a fatal weakness.
Finally, after a fierce battle that lasted for the time it takes to burn an incense stick.
Li Qingge bravely endured the backlash of the cold poison, and with precision, her longsword pierced the bone crocodile's right eye, penetrating straight into its brain.
Its massive body convulsed a few times before crashing to the ground.
Black blood stained the riverbank red, flowing back into the cold pool like streams.
The battle is over.
Less than thirty black-armored guards remained on the field, all wounded and in a terrible state.
Li Qingge, leaning on her sword, knelt on the ground, spitting out mouthfuls of blood, her once snow-white dress now stained dark red.
She won, but she was in a terrible state.
"Gu Changsheng..."
Li Qingge weakly raised her head and looked at the guy who was peeking out from behind the rock.
"come over."
Gu Yan ran over excitedly, still holding the medicine bottle for treating external injuries in her hand.
"Princess! Are you alright! I was terrified! My hand slipped, and I threw the whole packet of firecrackers away. I never expected to get lucky..."
As he spoke, he diligently offered to bandage Li Qingge's wound.
Looking at his fawning face, Li Qingge's last remaining doubts were washed away by the recent carnage.
If Gu Yan were truly a master, he would have acted long ago in that certain-death situation. Why wait until now?
This kid is truly a once-in-a-millennium chosen one of destiny for surviving.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Li Qingge pushed his hand away, struggled to stand up, and took out a jade plate that exuded an ancient aura from her bosom.
"Help me to the pool."
"The node... is about to open."
Gu Yan quickly helped her up, like a loyal guard.
Just as the two were walking toward the cold pool, Gu Yan secretly made a gesture behind his back with his left hand.
A paper figure, prepared beforehand, slipped into the enormous mouth of the recently deceased Xuanming Bone Crocodile when no one was looking.
The bone crocodile is dead, but its still-existing peak third-tier demon soul, along with its treasure-filled flesh and blood essence, is something we shouldn't miss.
The two arrived at the edge of the pool.
Li Qingge threw the jade plate into the dark pool.
"Buzz!"
Ripples spread across the water's surface.
Immediately afterwards, the once calm pool began to swirl, forming a huge whirlpool.
Deep within the whirlpool, an ancient bronze gate slowly emerged from the water.
The gate was covered in rust, each rust mark telling a story of the vicissitudes of time.
In the very center of the gate, there is a recess.
Li Qingge turned to look at Gu Yan, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
"Drip your blood in."
Gu Yan was taken aback: "This..."
"This door is called the Demon-Sealing Gate, and it can only be opened with the blood of a child of supreme Yang."
Li Qingge's weak voice carried an undeniable sharpness.
Gu Yan cursed inwardly.
Virgin blood?
My body is still intact, but my soul is a seasoned pro.
Fortunately, the original owner of this body was indeed a virgin, and his yang energy had not been depleted.
"What is this little bit of blood compared to the Princess's great cause!"
Gu Yan bit his finger, looking righteous and awe-inspiring, and dripped the blood into the groove.
The blood was absorbed instantly upon entering the tank.
"Crackling sounds..." The friction noise rang out.
The bronze door, sealed for countless years, slowly opened a crack.
A desolate aura from ancient times wafted in through the crack in the door.
When countless dazzling rays of light shot out, Gu Yan was almost blinded.
It was the radiance of one treasure after another.
A look of wild joy flashed in Li Qingge's eyes. "It's open! It's finally open!"
Gu Yan pulled out a dagger, intending to stab the wicked woman who was using him as bait, when he suddenly turned around.
Just as the door opened.
Several streaks of blood-red light suddenly flashed across the distant sky.
"Hahaha! As expected of Princess Yong'an, you certainly have some skills!"
"Thank you, Princess, for clearing the way for us!"
A wildly arrogant laugh rang out.
Seven or eight demonic cultivators, dressed in gray robes and standing on white bone artifacts, swooped down like vultures.
Gu Yan silently put the dagger away and shielded Li Qingge in front of him.