Chapter 268 - Ancient City
After walking for a long time, Gongyi Tianheng and Gu Zuo both discovered that something was wrong.
According to their awareness, they should’ve travelled very far, but the nearby scenes to the left and right hadn’t changed one bit.
If it was an ordinary person, perhaps they wouldn’t have noticed. However, Tianheng had a highly retentive memory, and Gu Zuo’s psychic power was meticulous to the tiniest details. After the initial adaptation, the two realized that even the stalks of those weeds by the roadside hadn’t undergone the slightest of changes — How could this be possible? Time had obviously been passing all along.
Tianheng halted his steps: “Ah Zuo, discharge your psychic power, and aim an attack at a special location using the Spirit Transformation Method.”
Gu Zuo paused: “Big brother, I’ll have to look if there’s any special locations here.”
Tianheng smiled: “Ah Zuo can just follow his heart.”
Gu Zuo expressed his understanding. After that, he sent out his psychic power, and transformed it into something like a light, muslin net. The net shrouded all directions in search of any peculiarities that this place might’ve had.
Tianheng waited patiently.
Eventually, that light, muslin net appeared to scrape against a certain location — A stalk of weed that was hidden within the underbrush gave off a faint feeling of dissonance.
Gu Zuo’s gaze turned cold.
After that, without the slightest hesitation, the psychic power that he released instantly launched an attack!
In the blink of an eye, that light, muslin net converged into a dagger. Moreover, it had already become incomparably distinct and solid. The dagger’s location was very close to the weed, so the instant that it condensed, the dagger was already launching an attack towards that place!
At the exact same time, while Tianheng used one hand to prop up Gu Zuo, his other hand clenched into a fist and directly exploded out!
Reddish-gold power sprayed forth, transformed into an arrow like a shooting star, and fired straight towards the dagger’s location. After the dagger carried out a fierce attack over there, the arrow closely followed up the next moment. Both powers combined, and in that instant, a sound like the wretched howls of humanity echoed out.
The wailing was cut short.
Immediately following which, it was dead silent.
At this moment, it was like a glass room shattering into tiny pieces. All of a sudden, Gu Zuo and Tianheng were in contact with the true passage again. And, they also discovered that everything before their eyes had undergone another transformation — Apart from the fact that there still weren’t any other people.
Although there was still a long stretch of road, the weeds on the left and right were no longer ordinary, short, and small. They were as tall as a person, and were like a thicket instead of an underbrush. Even farther away, there was an indistinct city wall. Vast and ancient, it possessed a type of feeling that made one’s heart shudder.
Meanwhile, Gu Zuo’s attention was on a bizarre plant on the right side.
That plant had a thick stem that was a blood-brown color, and its roots ran very deep. From top to bottom, it was covered in strange, black speckles. Upon reaching the top of the stem, there was an abnormally beautiful flower. However, at the blood-brown flower, which was as large as a water tank, the flower’s pistil was overflowing with gurgling blood. And within that pistil, there weren’t any filaments or fibrous hairs, but rather fangs that were each about a foot long.
After getting a clear look, Gu Zuo couldn’t help sucking in a mouthful of cold air.
The air was permeated with an unusual odor. It seemed to be both sweet-smelling and rancid. It fascinated one’s soul. The instant he smelled it, he couldn’t help becoming absent-minded — Frightened, he promptly sent out his psychic power to quickly free himself from this odor’s interference.
Gu Zuo sighed. He moved closer to Tianheng’s ear, and said: “Big brother, we got caught in an illusion just now. This plant is very strange. Could it have been in the middle of hunting for prey?”
Tianheng slightly nodded. Soon after, he lifted a hand.
Qi energy gathered, and soon formed a large fist. It grabbed that plant’s “corpse” — Following which, there was a popping sound, and the entire plant was pulled out. The appearance of the root system was also revealed in front of them.
Gu Zuo discovered that, besides being thick and solid, the root system’s positional arrangement most resembled something like human legs. He instantly shivered.
In the end, was this a plant or an animal… The surroundings didn’t appear to have anything else like it. Could it be that it was something that ran on the ground or specially ambushed its prey?
Thinking up to here, Gu Zuo licked his dry lips.
He didn’t want to think about it anymore. It was better to shove something this disgusting back into the depths of his mind. But at the same time, a strong desire for studying it welled up from the bottom of his heart… After feeling conflicted for a moment, his thoughts moved.
The plant’s corpse disappeared.
Tianheng: “…Ah Zuo?”
Gu Zuo: “I put it away in my storage space…together with those miscellaneous, toxic substances.”
Tianheng laughed in spite of himself. After that, he readjusted Gu Zuo on his back, and continued walking forward.
This time around, the two were even more careful.
Just when they arrived, this carnivorous plant had nearly made them suffer a huge loss. They had no other choice but to defend themselves. After thinking about it, one would realize that, while they believed they had travelled a long road, it actually should’ve only been a short time and the distance didn’t change at all. That plant deliberately wanted to grind down their willpower. Then, it would take a split-second advantage of their exhaustion to devour them both! It could be said that it was truly cunning.
Fortunately, Gu Zuo and Tianheng’s reactions were very fast. They responded in an instant, and didn’t allow that plant to have its way. However, what would they encounter even further ahead?
In short, their degree of vigilance still needed to be raised a few levels.
While they were lucky that there weren’t any more dangers on the road, as far as Gu Zuo was concerned, this lack of danger didn’t mean anything — Because that ancient city was no more than a kilometer away.
Reaching the city gates, the two walked inside.
The ancient city’s interior was rather dilapidated.
It was as if tens of thousands of years had passed by. The infrastructure had gone through countless hardships to the point that almost all of the buildings were crumbled ruins. Only a few buildings were still standing within the city — From the outside, a person totally wouldn’t be able to tell that the interior had deteriorated to this extent.
Tianheng calmly walked forward: “Ah Zuo, first we need to choose a place to rest and scout around.”
Gu Zuo replied: “Okay, big brother.”
Hence, Tianheng quickly picked a few buildings that seemed to be in relatively good condition. Then, he struck the outsides with qi energy. Among those that weren’t damaged, he selected the most durable one.
After that, Tianheng kept carrying Gu Zuo, and went inside. Surprisingly, the interior also had a wooden bed… However, it was quite decayed, and couldn’t be used for sleeping.
Having just arrived, they couldn’t guarantee that there weren’t any dangers. Tianheng still carried Gu Zuo on his back as he handled matters.
As early as prior to their departure, Gu Zuo had prepared many useful things. At this time, his thoughts moved, and soft bedding appeared in front of them. It gently fell to the ground.
“Big brother, there’s no need to tidy up. We can just sleep like this.”
Tianheng didn’t object. He brought Gu Zuo along, and the two squeezed into the bedding together. At this moment, Tianheng didn’t continue placing Gu Zuo on his back. Rather, Tianheng shifted Gu Zuo to the front, and held Gu Zuo in his embrace.
In the blink of an eye, the scent that belonged to Tianheng completely surrounded Gu Zuo.
A little uncomfortable, Gu Zuo fidgeted… At this age, he was still lying on his big brother’s thighs. Granted that it was for the sake of safety, it was also quite embarrassing.
But at this time, he still needed to take care of proper matters first.
Gu Zuo hesitatingly said: “Big brother, did you find anything?”
Tianheng sighed: “In this place, perhaps things are sheltered by the fog. True qi can’t be recovered, and the consumption is even larger. Just now, when I only probed a little bit, I already used up five percent of my reserves.”
Gu Zuo also followed with a sigh: “Me, too. My true qi is being used up very quickly, and there’s no way to absorb the ambient qi. Would it be useful to take medicinal pills?”
While speaking, he had already taken out the top grade Qi Accumulating Pills. He gave Tianheng one pill, and took one for himself.
Fortunately, a warm current instantly trickled through their bodies. Their true qi also recovered back to normal in a split second.
Gu Zuo set aside this worry: “After this, I’ll remember to give big brother medicinal pills to replenish… It’s lucky that we have enough of this stuff. Later on, even more trouble might show up. In a strange place like this, we need to stay in peak condition at all times.”
Tianheng had a smile on his face: “What Ah Zuo says is reasonable.”
Having made a decision, the two rested without delay.
According to Tianheng’s hypothesis, although fog lingered on this passage, there was a separation between day and night. Right now, it was almost nightfall. As such, it was better to keep watch in this room overnight. They’d get a clear understanding if there were any differences between daytime and nighttime, which would make handling future matters easier.
Gu Zuo felt that his dear big brother’s thinking was thorough, and maintained this posture, which was a little bit embarrassing. He kept watch with Tianheng as night came.
Just like this, the color of the sky turned completely black.
Far away, the rustling wind echoed out. Strong winds passed through the buildings. Sometimes, the wind sounded like sobbing, which increased the feeling of malicious intent within this barren, ancient city.
Indoors, it was so dark that one couldn’t see their own splayed fingers. Although the two had excellent night-vision, it was hard to avoid feeling that they could only listen to the sounds of their own breathing in this quiet room. It was a little frightening.
Okay, it was mainly Gu Zuo who felt frightened.
Tianheng tossed out a Night Pearl, which made the inside of this room as bright as day. In a split second, that scary feeling just now vanished.
Gu Zuo straightened his back, and didn’t dare to relax his mental state.
At first, the two of them didn’t speak a word. Suddenly, Tianheng looked towards a certain direction outside the window.
Gu Zuo also perceived that there was something wrong at the same time.
In just the blink of an eye, Gu Zuo flipped over onto Tianheng’s back, and dodged the sharp and concealed attack that had abruptly arrived!
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