Chapter 272 - The Ones Behind This
Gu Zuo had this realization, and hesitatingly asked: “Big brother, what do you think?”
Gongyi Tianheng wanted to say something, but after that, he pondered: “I still need to take another look.”
Gu Zuo: “Big brother still can’t be sure?”
Tianheng faintly nodded his head.
Afterwards, Gu Zuo didn’t ask anything else. He continued to tightly cling to Tianheng, and they ventured deeper into the fog.
Within the thick fog, apart from a feeling like the body was bearing heavier and heavier loads, there was nothing else. And as far as Gu Zuo and Tianheng were concerned, this added weight wasn’t serious. Because Tianheng had previously conducted long-term training in gravity environments, this didn’t affect him the slightest bit. Even Gu Zuo only needed to use a bit more true qi, and his physical body didn’t have any feelings of collapsing.
With such uninterrupted walking, the speed of Tianheng’ steps gradually changed from quick to slightly slow. However, each step was steady, and the land underneath his feet was stamped with the marks of each and every footprint.
The soil was very loose…
Suddenly, Gu Zuo discovered a streak of shadow coming to attack!
As it turned out, a smooth and slippery thing had protruded from underground. Just like a whip, it thrashed towards Tianheng! This “whip” was extremely pliable and tough. It changed directions several times in the air before finally lashing horizontally at Tianheng’s defensive weak spot — Gu Zuo’s back!
If he was struck, the aftermath would certainly be too horrible to contemplate!
Gu Zuo immediately released a spinning blade from the space between his eyebrows. It rotated one hundred eighty degrees, and slashed out towards the rear as it spun. This was another annotated style that he had cultivated from the Spirit Transforming Chapter in the past two years — To fill the surroundings with thin, sharp, and circular blades. Once put to use, its strength was unusually great, and its deftness also didn’t lose out. The sharpness of its point surpassed the penetrative power of a dagger. So long as it wanted to slice something to ribbons, even if it couldn’t succeed on the first try, it would accomplish the deed when it whirled a second, third, or even more times.
This lethal weapon was a blade that couldn’t help but cause Tianheng to exclaim in admiration.
At this moment, the spinning blade spun out. With a whistling sound, it swiftly sliced at the body of that “whip”. In the blink of an eye, the whip was like a flower that burst forth with countless, beautiful petals. One slice of meat after another was peeled away, and fell down like fluttering leaves in the wind.
In a split second, that thing let out a piercing cry. Immediately following that, it suffered the death of a thousand cuts.
The spinning blade withdrew at great speeds, and sank back into the space between Gu Zuo’s eyebrows.
If there was anything praiseworthy after mastering the Spirit Transforming Chapter, it was that the blades, shields, and any other objects condensed with the Spirit Transforming Chapter could all be regained. So long as the power wasn’t damaged by others.
This undoubtedly lightened the consumption of psychic power.
At this time, Gu Zuo clearly saw the appearance of that thing. It was an earthworm-like monster. It originally possessed a monstrous head with a mouth filled with long fangs. Now, that head was sliced away. Along the entire body, there was only a long stretch of muscle. Besides this, there weren’t even any bones.
Those muscle fibers appeared to be very tough and durable. Previously, its fierce and imposing attacks relied largely upon its muscles to accomplish. Gu Zuo’s mind moved. He reached out a hand, and collected those muscle fibers.
This stuff could be studied. After that, perhaps there could be other uses…
After putting it away, the two continued to travel.
In the dense fog, what appeared the most was this type of earthworm-like monster. Their bodies were thick, their flesh was hard, and their structures were flexible. The monsters appeared and disappeared unpredictably like spirits or ghosts. They were considered experts at ambushing.
It could be assumed that this region, which was shrouded by fog, was the lair of these earthworm-like monsters &#k2014; Or, it was the place where they congregated.
However, these things came across Gu Zuo like errant snowflakes meeting the intense sun. They simply had no way to resist, and were utterly slain under the continuous attacks of the spinning blade.
Tianheng watched Gu Zuo’s magnificent displays, and occasionally lended a hand. It was just that, after taking action, he discovered that the power of the sun he utilized would burn down the flesh of the monsters. Even though he was careful, those muscles were still charred black… He immediately put his hands away.
Afterwards, the two saw that the fog ahead was becoming thinner and thinner. When they could already see the silhouettes of the ancient buildings, they knew that they were about to leave the fog. The heavy pressure on their bodies was lightening, and the scouting range of Gu Zuo’s discharged psychic power was also widening.
They were still ten steps away, nine steps, eight steps…
The deep fog became thinner, and the scenes outside became clearer.
Gu Zuo embraced Tianheng’s neck, and transmitted his voice.
[Big brother, watch out. There’s an ambush ahead!]
Tianheng’s expression turned slightly cold.
[How many people?]
[Three people.]
[Where are they?]
[Two on the left and one on the right.]
[Ah Zuo has worked hard, but… Ah Zuo can rest easy now.]
After the brief conversation, the two had already walked the final three steps, and left the fog!
At almost the exact same time, three blasts of power rushed in from both sides in a pincer attack, creating a surge of qi waves. The bitingly cold killing intent within those waves wanted to tear them apart. Among those that were the most terrifying, nothing could surpass the incoming lance. It swept along a huge gale. It seemed as if it wanted to run through Tianheng and Gu Zuo simultaneously, making a skewer of bloody hawthorn-like corpses!
Unfortunately, Gu Zuo and Tianheng had kept their guards up long ago.
Tianheng’s spear was like a dragon as it pierced straight out. Gu Zuo’s psychic power turned into lightning as it swiftly collided with one of the attacks. Like the flash of electricity or the spark of a flint, the owners of those three blasts of power failed in their surprise attack, and were suppressed instead. It didn’t even take a single breath for two of the ambushers to become corpses under this counterattack!
The corpses of this place seemed to become more and more worthless…
Tianheng and Gu Zuo stopped attacking, and looked at the three dead bodies scattered on the ground.
There were two men and one woman. Each of them were low Immortal Realm martial artists. Looking at the strength of their qi emissions just now, they should’ve been first-class geniuses. However, for whatever reason, these people were lying in wait here to intercept and kill Tianheng and Gu Zuo.
Could they have been enemies?
No. Based on the actions of these three people, rather than saying that they were enemies, it was better to say…
Just as Tianheng was in the middle of thinking, he suddenly heard Gu Zuo give a low shout: “Big brother!”
His heart lurched: “Ah Zuo, what’s wrong?”
While he spoke, his arms exerted a bit more strength, and he supported Gu Zuo even more carefully.
Gu Zuo raised a hand, and the inter-spatial tool in his possession opened. The things inside tumbled around and rolled out.
The blood stench of those things assailed the senses. To his surprise, there were no less than seven or eight martial artists’ heads!
Gu Zuo sucked in a deep breath.
This inter-spatial tool had just been plundered by his dear big brother from one of those corpses, and was handed over to him. However, when he was checking the belongings from this time’s counter-looting, he unexpectedly realized that only having these bunch of human heads in this hollow and empty evening caused a malevolent appearance to emerge.
Tianheng frowned slightly as he looked at the heads tumbling on the ground.
Gu Zuo sighed: “It wasn’t wrong at all to kill those people just now. I really didn’t expect that, aside from us, they would also kill so many people. But they wouldn’t carry these human heads just to compete and show off, right? In any case, the geniuses of other expanses wouldn’t be this senseless…”
Tianheng stabilized his arms: “Ah Zuo, we’ll keep going.”
Gu Zuo hummed, and said: “I don’t know if there’ll be any more ambushes later on. Big brother needs to be careful.”
Tianheng agreed. He carried Gu Zuo, and travelled towards a small hill ahead.
That’s right. After coming out of the mass of fog, they realized that the distance to those ancient buildings was still separated by quite a few rolling hills. The hills weren’t tall, but it clearly raised the difficulty in moving forward.
What concerned Gu Zuo and Tianheng was whether they would encounter many “human disasters” in these hills.
As for the real state of affairs, it didn’t go beyond the two’s anticipations.
Between these dozen or so hills, although Tianheng didn’t meddle in other people’s businesses and rushed ahead with all his strength, they were still met with quite a few batches of attacks. The two coordinated with a tacit understanding. They continuously took medicinal pills, and smoothly dodged this series of ambushes. On the contrary, they killed the ambushers neatly and cleanly.
From these people’s inter-spatial tools, the two either discovered an imperial order, or they saw the human heads stored in the inter-spatial tools. Naturally, the more they encountered these kinds of killers, the stronger the uneasy premonition they had in their hearts.
Gu Zuo’s voice was tense: “Big brother, they’re made up of two different groups of people…”
Tianheng also sighed: “I’m afraid it’s not limited to just two groups.”
Bearing such conjectures and suspicions, the two passed through these hills and caught sight of the ancient buildings up ahead. This was still a city, but it looked even more simple and unadorned. However, there were basically very few places that were ruined or destroyed. At the city gates, there were guards on patrol. Every person wore a set of armor and a helmet. Their expressions were solemn and respectful, imposing and dignified. They were the ideal soldiers. However, what made one guess with incredulity was how there could be such guards on the Road of Death? Could it be that, besides outsiders like them, there were also other inhabitants along the Road of Death?
At the entrance of the city gates, the guards didn’t obstruct the two. They only glancingly sized them up a little bit, and allowed them to pass in a straightforward manner.
Gu Zuo entered the city while carried on his big brother’s back. After his eyes looked all over the place, he heaved a lengthy sigh. Was his guess just now actually correct?
In this ancient city, there were many figures coming and going along the streets. Their clothing and style of dress were generally ancient. It was a style from several tens of thousands of years ago. Among the crowd, there were a small number of people nearby who were looking at Gu Zuo and Tianheng — Their gazes didn’t contain any malice, but there wasn’t too much goodwill either.
Apart from this, everyone in the city was living in normal ways. It was curious, but more than that, it was smooth and steady. Vendors set up stalls on the street, people opened up all kinds of stores, and pedestrians were walking around. There were places that held great similarities with every city outside the Road of Death.
If there was anything peculiar or different… It was that none of the inhabitants doing their best to survive in this ancient city were martial artists.
All of them were common people.
Gu Zuo’s psychic power was keen. He could sense that there were some surging qi emissions concealed among these common people. These individuals were very strong. Within the qi emissions, they were like those from before. They all had the desire to commit murder!
Gu Zuo was very prudent, but his heart couldn’t help but worry. These abnormal martial artists…
Tianheng sensed Gu Zuo’s mood, and said placatingly: “Ah Zuo, no matter what, you and I will first find a tavern to check in. Then, we’ll scout out the situation.”
Gu Zuo naturally followed along.
But immediately after this, the two heard several high-pitched and penetrating voices.
“The Third Prince’s chariot has descended. Why haven’t you all quickly withdrawn?”
“The hunt is already over, and the Young Master Xin will take first place. How many prey have those younger generations beheaded?”
“Prince Zhou’s subordinate is here. I have come to make a comparison!”
T/N: Just to elaborate, the Third Prince is denoted with 王爷. This can mean prince, but usually as a conferred title for the brother of a monarch. 王爷 can also mean marquis or nobleman. A 王爷 cannot inherit the throne. Meanwhile, Prince Zhou is denoted with 皇子. This definitively means prince, and it’s reserved for the son of a monarch. A 皇子 can inherit the throne. For example, Prince Cang Yu also uses this denotation.
Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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