Immortality: Grinding Experience Starting as a Paper Craftsman

Chapter 127 Spending the Night in the Desolate Forest, the Human Heart and the Demon Realm

Night fell, and the darkness was as black as ink.

The nights in Sunset Valley are extremely dangerous, filled with the low growls of monsters and the chirping of unknown insects.

In a sheltered mountain hollow, dry branches crackled in the fire, and the orange-red flames dissipated the chill within a radius of two zhang, casting the shadows of the two people into a distorted and elongated shape.

Gu Yan held a tree branch with a skinned rabbit skewered on it, calmly turning it over the fire.

Oil drips onto the charcoal fire, igniting small flames and filling the air with a fragrant aroma.

He hummed an unknown tune, his eyes, narrowed to slits, constantly and subtly scanning the surroundings.

Li Qingge sat leaning against a rock not far away, her eyes slightly closed, her face as pale as paper.

She changed into a clean blue dress to cover the scars on her body.

"It smells so good."

Gu Yan tore off a rabbit leg, not caring about the heat, and ran to Li Qingge, offering it with both hands: "Princess, you haven't eaten all day, please have something to eat. There's no fine food in this desolate wilderness, please make do with this."

Li Qingge opened her eyes, looked at the golden-brown, juicy rabbit leg in front of her, and then at Gu Yan's ingratiating smile.

"I'm not hungry," she said faintly, her voice slightly weak.

As a cultivator in the early stage of the Golden Core realm, she had long since abstained from grains and had no need for such mundane food.

Moreover, her mind was filled with fragmented memories of the underground palace, and she had no appetite whatsoever.

Gu Yan shoved the rabbit leg into her hand, his face serious, and said, "As the saying goes, every medicine has its side effects, and food is essential for life. You're currently low on spiritual energy and weak, so this rabbit meat is very nourishing. Eating it will give you the strength to think things through, right?"

Li Qingge was stunned for a moment. Holding the warm rabbit leg in her hand, she felt a long-lost sense of home cooking.

She saw Gu Yan turn around and run back to the campfire, where he grabbed the remaining rabbit and devoured it with gusto, his mouth dripping with oil, showing absolutely no airs of superiority.

This man...

The last lingering doubts in Li Qingge's heart dissipated as Gu Yan looked like a reincarnated starving ghost.

If someone were a master who kept their skills hidden, they would surely be proud and arrogant. How could they possibly do something so crude?

It seems I was just overthinking things.

That earth-shattering attack in the underground palace must have been a contingency plan left by my father.

Gu Yan rolled his eyes inwardly as he munched on a rabbit head.

After all, pretending to be stupid is also hard work.

He had taken the opportunity of gathering firewood to secretly explore the depths of the storage bag.

The black severed finger lay quietly in the corner, and through his paper-world vision, he could see that the space around the finger was showing signs of collapse.

It was an extremely restrained yet domineering force of rules.

Gu Yan thought to himself, "This thing is a hot potato. I need to find an opportunity to apply several layers of sealing talismans to it. Otherwise, carrying this thing might attract all sorts of old monsters at any time."

"Someone's coming."

In his mind, the voice of the female corpse Hongmei suddenly rang out, filled with schadenfreude: "Three people, two in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and one in the peak stage of Foundation Establishment. They have a lot of blood energy on them, they're not good people."

Gu Yan paused, and before he could swallow the meat in his mouth, his ears twitched.

Sure enough, in this Sunset Valley, the most dangerous thing is never the monsters, but the living people.

"Princess."

Gu Yan suddenly put down the rabbit in his hand, his expression becoming tense, and said in a low voice, "There's movement."

Upon hearing this, Li Qingge's eyes sharpened, and she gripped the longsword beside her tightly.

"Shhh..."

The sound of fallen leaves being crushed came from the darkness, undisguised and even somewhat unrestrained.

Before long, three figures entered the area of ​​the firelight.

They were three men dressed in tan-colored close-fitting clothes, with a cracked stone axe pattern embroidered on their chests.

The leader was a burly man with a face full of scars, and a scar that stretched from the corner of his left eye to the corner of his mouth, making him look ferocious and terrifying.

The other two were like skinny monkeys, with shifty eyes and a greedy and ruthless demeanor.

"Hey, not bad luck, I can still smell the aroma of meat this late at night."

Scarface chuckled, his gaze sweeping over Gu Yan before settling on Li Qingge with a disdainful snort.

When he saw Li Qingge's face clearly, the scarred man's eyes lit up and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"Isn't this Princess Yong'an?"

Scarface spoke exaggeratedly, his steps unwavering as he and his two henchmen approached in a fan shape: "How did you end up in such a sorry state? Where are your black-armored guards? Are they all dead?"

Li Qingge looked at them coldly, forced herself to stand up, and drew her long sword half an inch from its sheath: "People from the Rift Stone Sect? I'm resting here. If you don't want to die, get lost."

Although weakened, the authority of the ruler remained undiminished.

Normally, even if this scarred-face man had ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare to provoke Princess Yong'an.

but now……

Scarface's nose twitched twice as he smelled the unmistakable stench of blood and weakness emanating from Li Qingge.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Scarface laughed wildly, his laughter filled with arrogance: "Your Highness, that's not very funny. The brothers outside saw it clearly: the underground palace collapsed, and all the Golden Core elders from various sects perished inside. You must have brought a lot of good stuff with you to survive, right?"

As the saying goes, those who see it will have a share.

Scarface licked his lips, his eyes roaming greedily over Li Qingge's storage bag and body: "Why don't you hand over your storage bag, Princess, so the brothers can inspect it? If you serve the brothers well, we might even escort you out of the valley."

"presumptuous!"

Li Qingge was furious. Just as she was about to activate her spiritual power, she aggravated her internal injuries, her face turned pale, and she swayed, almost falling over.

"Strike while the iron is hot and kill her!"

Scarface's eyes flashed with ferocity. He waved his hand and shouted, "Go! Kill the men, leave the women alive!"

The two henchmen behind him could no longer contain themselves. They grinned maliciously, drew their weapons, and pounced on him from the left and right.

"Princess, be careful! I'll hold them off!"

Just then, a piercing shout rang out.

Suddenly, Gu Yan, emboldened by some unknown source, grabbed the branch with half a rabbit still attached to it, roared, and charged at Li Qingge, wildly waving it around with his eyes closed.

Gu Yan shouted until he was hoarse, and the tree branch he waved wildly, making him look like a terrified street ruffian.

"Get out of here! You piece of trash!"

One of the henchmen didn't take Gu Yan seriously at all, and casually struck out with his palm, which blasted towards Gu Yan's chest with a strong wind.

"Bang!"

Gu Yan screamed and flew backward dramatically like a kite with a broken string, rolling seven or eight times on the ground before finally lying motionless under a tree, only occasionally twitching his legs to indicate that he was still alive.

"Gu Changsheng!" Li Qingge exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehe, no one can save you now."

After dealing with the troublesome Gu Yan, the henchman turned around and grabbed Li Qingge's shoulder with a lewd grin.

A resolute glint flashed in Li Qingge's eyes as she prepared to burn her life essence and fight to the death.

Gu Yan, lying in the distance with his face pressed against the mud, had a cold smile on his lips.

His fingers gently dug into the soil.

Paper-cutting technique, Shadow Kill.

The firelight flickered, casting everyone's shadows on the ground.

No one noticed that the shadow of Gu Yan, the "trash" who was knocked away, did not move with his body. Instead, it stretched out strangely, like a black venomous snake, and silently slithered to the feet of the two henchmen.

Just as the henchman's fingers were about to touch the hem of Li Qingge's clothes...

"Pfft!"

A very faint sound.

The henchman suddenly froze.

He lowered his head, staring in disbelief at his chest.

There were no wounds or blood there.

But he felt his heart being squeezed hard by a cold hand.

That was a strangulation from the shadows.

"Third brother, what's wrong?"

The scarred man behind him sensed something was wrong and frowned, shouting.

"Big...Big Brother..."

The henchman turned his head, his face purplish-black, his lips trembling as he tried to speak, but he suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood and fell straight down.

At the same time, another henchman who was about to flank also let out a scream, clutching his ankle and falling to the ground, rolling around frantically.

On his ankle, a deep, bone-revealing wound appeared, as if it had been cut open by an extremely thin, sharp blade. The flesh around the wound quickly rotted and turned black.

"Poisonous! Be careful!"

Scarface was terrified and immediately took several steps back, looking around warily: "Who is it?! Who's trying to ambush me?!"

He didn't even consider that Gu Yan was lying on the ground pretending to be dead.

In his view, book lovers were all in the discussion forum, freely discussing the charm of fantasy novels. Those kinds of trash could be slapped to death.

The only explanation is that Li Qingge and her protectors are hiding in the shadows!

Li Qingge was also stunned.

She had clearly prepared herself to perish together, so how come these two people suddenly collapsed?

"Ahem...Princess..."

At this moment, Gu Yan, who was in the distance, "struggled" to raise his head, his face covered in blood, and pointed shakily at the fire: "Poison... the rabbit is poisonous..."

"Are the rabbits poisonous?"

Scarface paused, looking at the remaining half-eaten rabbit on the fire, then at his subordinate who was lying on the ground convulsing.

"Bullshit! My men didn't eat any rabbit!"

Scarface was furious; his intelligence had been insulted.

Yet he dared not move rashly, for the invisible killer filled him with dread.

"Get out here! Get the hell out here!"

Scarface brandished his stone axe, unleashing streaks of earthy yellow axe light that cleaved through the surrounding woods, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

However, aside from rumors, there has been no response.

"Playing tricks!"

A ruthless glint flashed in the scarred man's eyes. Since they couldn't find the expert hiding in the shadows, they would take Li Qingge hostage first!

He swayed, unleashing earth-attribute spiritual power, and charged towards Li Qingge like a rock giant.

Li Qingge gritted her teeth and drew her sword to block.

Just then, a gust of wind blew by.

A tattered, yellow paper money, about the size of a palm, was caught in the wind and, by sheer coincidence, stuck to the back of Scarface's head.

Those were discarded talismans that Gu Yan had used to detonate in the underground palace, and a faint trace of causal attraction remained on them.

"Certainly."

Gu Yan lay on the ground, his lips moving silently.

Scarface, charging at high speed, suddenly felt as if his legs were filled with lead.

Not only that, the flow of spiritual energy within his body experienced a momentary stagnation.

She keenly caught that momentary pause.

"die!"

A cold glint flashed in Li Qingge's eyes, and the longsword in her hand emitted a clear, resonant dragon's roar.

She squeezed out the last bit of spiritual energy that she had managed to recover from her dantian, transforming it into a streak of light that pierced straight at the scarred man's throat.

"No!"

Scarface's pupils contracted sharply as he tried to dodge, but his body wouldn't obey him.

"puff!"

The long sword pierced through his throat.

Blood splattered.

Scarface clutched his neck, making gurgling sounds in his throat. His eyes, filled with resentment and fear, stared intently ahead as his body slowly fell backward.

Even in death, he never understood why he had failed at the crucial moment.

"Huff... huff..."

With a single sword strike, Li Qingge exhausted her last strength, the sword slipped from her hand, and she collapsed to the ground.

"The princess is mighty! The princess is so powerful!"

Gu Yan woke up at that moment and rushed over, staring in shock at the corpse on the ground.

"Heavens! Your Highness, you are amazing! You killed this villain with a single sword strike! My admiration for you is as boundless as a surging river..."

While flattering him, Gu Yan deftly began to grope Scarface's body.

Soon, three heavy storage bags were in his hands.

"These are spoils of war, Your Highness, please keep them for now."

Gu Yan handed the storage bag to Li Qingge with great understanding, his eyes clear, as if he had no greed for money.

Li Qingge looked at Gu Yan with a complicated expression.

Was the strange pause that Scarface made just now, and the sudden deaths of the other two people really just a coincidence?

Or perhaps the life-saving measures left to him by his father are still in effect?

She took the storage bag and shook her head: "You keep it. If there are any healing pills inside, we can both use them. This time... if you hadn't blocked that attack, I wouldn't have had a chance to draw my sword."

Although Gu Yan's block looked ridiculous and was completely ineffective, it at least distracted the enemy.

"Thank you for your generous gift, Princess!"

Gu Yan didn't refuse and happily put away the storage bag, but in his heart he was calculating how much profit this poor bastard from the Rift Stone Sect could make.

He helped Li Qingge sit back down by the fire and added a few more pieces of firewood.

"The stench of blood here is too strong; it will soon attract monsters."

Gu Yan frowned as he looked at the three corpses on the ground. "Princess, please rest for a while. I'll go and deal with these eyesores. We need to find another place to spend the night."

Li Qingge nodded and closed her eyes to rest.

Gu Yan dragged the scarred man's corpse deeper into the woods.

As soon as he entered the darkness, the simple smile on Gu Yan's face vanished instantly.

He casually threw the body into a pit, then took out a black paper talisman from his sleeve and stuck it on the body's forehead.

"The corpse-dissolving water is too slow, I'll use my paper puppet technique instead."

Gu Yan muttered to himself, making a hand seal.

The scarred-faced corpse quickly shriveled up, eventually turning into a thin, paper-like human skin that slipped into Gu Yan's sleeve.

The other two bodies were prepared in the same way.

After doing all this, Gu Yan clapped his hands and was about to turn around and go back.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

He sensed an extremely subtle gaze being cast upon him from the treetops in the far distance.

There was no murderous intent in his gaze, but rather it was as if he were scrutinizing an interesting prey.

Gu Yan did not turn around, nor did he use his divine sense to investigate.

He casually unbuckled his belt, poured water over the tree, hummed an off-key tune, and even shook himself.

"See? See? I'm just an ordinary person."

Gu Yan sneered inwardly.

And at the top of a towering ancient tree several miles away.

A black-robed man wearing a Vermilion Bird mask withdrew his gaze, toying with a crystal-clear photographic stone in his hand.

"That's interesting."

A hoarse voice came from beneath the mask.

"Although the Rift Stone Sect is a third-rate organization, this scarred-face man was at least a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the peak of his cultivation, yet he died so mysteriously."

"The causal lines on that kid's body are a complete mess, even I can't see through them."

"It seems that besides that demonic sword, there is another target worth paying attention to on this trip to Sunset Valley."

The man in black robes flashed and transformed into countless red fire butterflies, disappearing into the night sky.

……

Gu Yan returned to the campfire, his expression reverting to that of a loyal lackey.

"Princess, everything has been cleaned up. Let's head east; there's a hidden cave over there that I discovered while I was urinating."

Li Qingge opened her eyes and stood up with Gu Yan's help.

The two stepped into the dark jungle once again.

Gu Yan led the way, his long sword constantly slashing through the thorns.

Inside his sleeve, the three newly crafted paper figures lay quietly, ready to shield their master from a fatal blow at any moment.

"Gu Changsheng".

Behind him, Li Qingge suddenly spoke.

"Your humble servant is here."

"After you leave, are you really not considering coming to the Prince's residence?"

Gu Yan paused slightly, then turned around, revealing a set of white teeth that looked exceptionally sincere in the moonlight.

"Princess, please don't flatter me. I have no great ambitions. I just want to stay in Changning County, get married, have a healthy baby, and live a peaceful life."

"and……"

Gu Yan scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "The rules of the Prince's Mansion are too strict. I'm used to being a carefree person, and I'm afraid I'll embarrass you."

Li Qingge looked at him for a long time, then sighed softly.

"Very well. Everyone has their own ambitions, I won't force you."

"But remember this: from now on, in Changning County, if anyone bullies you, mention my name."

Gu Yan was overjoyed and immediately seized the opportunity: "Alright! With the princess's words, I can walk around Changning County with my head held high from now on!"

The two gradually drifted apart.

The wind whistled through the treetops, making a mournful sound, like the whispers of countless wronged souls.

Gu Yan knew that the exit of Sunset Valley was probably the entrance to the real battlefield.

Because deep inside that storage bag, the severed finger was constantly getting hot, as if it were sensing something, emitting a sword cry that only Gu Yan could hear.

That was excitement.

It is the excitement of about to drink one's fill of fresh blood.