Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 131

“How did you do it?” Gu Suihan couldn’t help feeling surprised when he saw who had made it across first.

He had expected either Li Xiaoyao or the two Peak Leaders of the Seven Kill Sect to make it over first. Instead, the first person to make it was Xi Ran, one of the people he had been so sure wouldn’t make it across.

Xi Ran’s clothing was intact, his expression was relaxed and he walked confidently. It was as if he had just come to take a stroll in the park.

He chuckled, then looked intently at Gu Suihan, “You seem very surprised.”

“Who in the world are you?”

“Xi Ran, of course!”

“That’s impossible.” Gu Suihan was very certain as he rejected the other man’s lazy answer. His expression was now extremely grim and the fake smile he usually had was nowhere to be seen.

Xi Ran merely laughed again but did not engage in further conversation. He turned to walk up the steps to take a closer look at the remaining eight boxes made from jade and gold.

Gu Suihan had a wary glint in his eye as he narrowed his eyes but stood by the side without saying anything. He scoffed inwardly as he thought, “Xi Ran? This fellow is definitely not Xi Ran. The formations in this place are very different from the ones we went through in that secret realm years ago. There’s no way a wandering cultivator could have crossed that corridor with such ease.”

But regardless of whether Xi Ran had a trump card he hadn’t used before, or if someone was impersonating him, Gu Suihan did not probe further into this matter. He just silently marked Xi Ran as an extremely dangerous person.

Heavy footsteps resounded from the entrance and Gu Suihan turned to look, only to see Li Xiaoyao appear with his clothes all shredded and deep wounds covering his body. He was nearly all drenched in blood, stumbling as he slowly emerged with the already conscious Shuang’er in his arms.

Gu Suihan glanced at the two of them and wondered, “Who exactly is this Shuang’er? Why does Li Xiaoyao protect her so?”

But he didn’t do anything about that thought and just took note of it.

About 15 minutes later, the two Peak Leaders, Wan Xin, Zou Kai, and the top senior of the Vast Sky Sect that Gu Suihan hadn’t taken note of at all, Zhou Haoqi, as well as Zhang Yan from the Ethereal Court appeared one after another. All of them looked exhausted, had pale faces, and were covered in wounds.

It was clear that all of them had some sort of trump card that they finally had to use, but it drained them of all their energy and they could barely walk now.

Fang Suyu and the other lucky few who made it thus far ran out of luck. The Peak Leaders were not the ones originally carrying a secret key, but now they had one each. So, it was likely that Fang Suyu and the rest had perished.

“Pills, spiritual weapons, cultivation techniques, secret techniques,” muttered Gu Suihan to himself with a heavy heart as he calmly watched the rest retrieve the items from their boxes.

It was clear that these were no items that the designer of this place had left for them out of his generosity, but because there were more dangers ahead of them. In order to make sure that these cultivators did not end up dying midway or just give up in despair, he decided to give them some of the good stuff first. The challenges ahead of them were definitely going to be way worse than the trials they went through earlier.

Gu Suihan had not forgotten those creepy corpses when they first entered the main hall, as well as signs that the laws governing space had been altered. All of these pointed to the fact that the designer had not actually shown them everything he was capable of yet. The front part was just an appetizer.

“I’d advise all of you to take some time to recuperate and get yourselves back to your peak condition. Great dangers lie ahead of us, but of course, great danger comes with great opportunity,” said Gu Suihan as he watched all of them place their secret keys into their respective slots on the door. He took a few steps forward casually to stand in front of one of the Peak Leaders, whose face was covered with a big smile.

“Three Fingers of Yama – Nourish the Earth Silently!” He silently thrust an index finger covered in an almost black mist that was hidden in his sleeve toward the Peak Leader. Questioning Heaven flew out of its sheath and he swung it violently toward Shuang’er, who was hiding quietly next to Li Xiaoyao, the sword qi as ferocious as a wild beast. There was a loud swoosh as the blade came swinging toward her from nowhere.

“How dare you!”

“What a despicable fellow!”

“How could you do this again?!”

Several angry voices exclaimed as they quickly moved back to prevent themselves from being ensnared by that powerful wave of bloodied sword qi.

“Gu Suihan, you’ve gone too far!” roared Li Xiaoyao furiously. The sword that was resting across his knees leaped out of its sheath. The sword qi that burst out from the blade was so intense, it peeled one layer of the jade flooring right off. The sword turned by itself, slicing through the air like a bolt of lightning as it hurtled toward the hand that Gu Suihan used to wield his sword.

“Oh, so you can control the sword with your mind.” Gu Suihan was a little surprised and…a little disdainful.

Everyone was so distracted by Gu Suihan’s attack on Shuang’er, so nobody noticed the malicious index finger coming for that Peak Leader. Before the Peak Leader knew it, that index finger had gone right through his clothing and stabbed into his waist with a tremendous amount of murderous qi. Gu Suihan’s finger was like a drill as it continued to make its way through the Peak Leader’s body, piercing the man’s dantian along the way.

“You!!” The Peak Leader instantly howled in pain and turned instinctively to see who had attacked him, not realizing that this action would cost him his life.

“You what?” Gu Suihan withdrew his left hand which was covered with blood and flesh. A thick black cloud of murderous qi swirled around his hand as he stretched his fingers and grabbed the Peak Leader’s head as quickly as lightning.

At the same time, his right hand rotated the sword and gently deflected Li Xiaoyao’s hurried attack. As he pulled his sword back, he used it to take the Peak Leader’s storage ring as well as the pill he was holding before his left hand finally dragged the Peak Leader’s soul out and swallowed it whole.

It sounded like many things had happened over a long time, but everything was over in mere seconds.

But the time it had taken did not affect the final outcome. Yet another person had collapsed onto the floor, his eyes wide open in indignation. His clothing was stained with blood and it pooled under his body.

“You little ingrate! I swear I’m going to kill you right now!” The other Peak Leader was furious as he stared at the contorted corpse lying on the floor after what happened finally sank into his head. He pounced at Gu Suihan like a madman, creating a thin layer of frost that covered the entire area as he swung his fists. The icy murderous qi that he unleashed came roaring out of him like an unbridled dragon.

Gu Suihan chuckled and looked unbothered as he decided against fighting the Peak Leader head-on. He moved his feet and slid backward to stop in the middle of the crowd next to the door. He moved so quickly, it was as though there was oil on the floor beneath him.

“If you’ve got the guts, you can try coming after me!” said Gu Suihan gleefully as he hid behind the crowd.

“You…!” The Peak Leader wasn’t stupid. When he noticed that none of the others were moving aside to let him attack Gu Suihan, he couldn’t help but feel threatened and he stopped himself in time. But at the same time, Gu Suihan’s gleeful taunting made him so angry, he felt like he might lose it anytime.

He had a bitter taste in his mouth as he noticed the others quietly moving to surround him, so he slammed his palm against the floor to create a deep crater that measured more than ten meters deep. The crater was filled with ice and frost that gave off cold air, which made the temperature drop to a nearly freezing point.

Before this, nobody dared to attack the two Peak Leaders, especially since there were two of them plus other disciples. But now, things had changed completely. Besides, all of them were part of an alliance that had joined hands to get rid of the Seven Kill Sect. They didn’t mind taking this chance to kill this important person of the sect.

“Enough of this. Hurry up and open the door,” said Li Xiaoyao as he glared murderously at Gu Suihan and forced himself to remain calm. But his first instinct was to quickly protect the pale and shivering Shuang’er.

Gu Suihan flicked off the dust on his sleeve that didn’t even exist and snorted at the very furious-looking Peak Leader. “I’ve never been a very magnanimous person. The Seven Kill Sect forced me into getting involved in this mess, so you’d better be prepared for me to take revenge. Out of the five Peak Leaders here, four of you are dead. You’re going to die too. But that’s not the end. You’re just focusing on my revenge, what you owe me. Tell me, do you think the Ethereal Court and the rest will still sit back and do nothing if there are only two out of seven Peak Leaders left?”

“You…you’re a vicious one!” The Peak Leader’s expression was so contorted, he looked more like a demon. His eyes were bloodshot and bulging, while the frostiness in his heart seemed to be emanating from his hands. It was as if he was going to suddenly lose his mind and start killing everyone.

But a few moments later, he suddenly lost that imposing aura. Instead, he just laughed bitterly, shook his head, then shut his eyes and did not say anything.

“You know, you do things like those martial cultivators from more than a thousand years ago, slaughtering others without a thought. They were such ruthless and cruel people. I’m sure you understand what it means to avoid burning bridges,” said Wan Xin as her long lashes trembled slightly. “You’ve offended a lot of powerful factions, so there’s no way anybody will let you live.”

“Haven’t you heard of that phrase?” Gu Suihan smiled faintly and didn’t seem to care for her advice. “If you want to get rid of a plant, you’ve got to cut its leaves and…remove its roots.”

Everyone else couldn’t help but exchange glances. They could see the same thing in each other’s eyes – Gu Suihan was an absolute madman.