Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 142

Gu Suihan landed on the ground, flat on his face. He climbed to his feet and spat out the sand in his mouth.

He felt something on his leg and looked down to take a closer look. Once he realized what was on his leg, his expression turned nasty as he said, “Why did you come out as well?”

He thought that this fellow had been left behind to disappear along with the space he had just escaped. Instead, this thing had clung onto his leg and came out with him.

“Get lost! Don’t let me see you again!” Gu Suihan used telepathy to speak to the Huangquan Evil Ghost. Before the latter could respond, he exerted some energy and left the ghost far, far behind him.

“We’re here, alright.” Gu Suihan was filled with glee when he looked around him.

The place he was in was covered in nothing but sand. There were mounds and rocks in several places. Behind him stood a withered and cracked giant tree that seemed like a long sword that soared into the sky. It stood all by itself in this barren land.

“Excellent.” Gu Suihan narrowed his eyes and put Shuang’er down as he looked at the sal tree that was completely void of life and had become a dead thing. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly raised his palm and drew several lines in the air. The qi from his palm sliced the tree into countless pieces, which blew away in the wind and disappeared without a trace.

“Now, it’s time to find out how things have been going,” thought Gu Suihan as he picked up Shuang’er again and flew toward Qingguo.

“shit! How dare he abandon me here!” The Huangquan Evil Ghost crouched on the ground, hiding in the shadow of a rock quietly as it watched Gu Suihan leave with a scowl on its face.

Before it could finish grumbling, a dark shadow loomed over it. Shocked, it looked up only to see that Gu Suihan had returned after running off earlier.

“I’ll help you to kill some people and you can swallow their souls. We’re even after that.” Gu Suihan looked down at the shrunken evil ghost at his feet with an indifferent look on his face.

He had suddenly thought of this wonderful idea. Before this, he had not gone around massacring ordinary people and low-level cultivators partly because it wasn’t worth it. His spirit had been severely injured back then and it took immense effort to wipe out another person’s consciousness and swallow a spirit. So, if he was going to go through that process, he was going to make sure that person’s soul was worth all that effort.

Moreover, the Seven Kill Sect had been a powerful organization back then and he had only been at Foundation Establishment. Offending all sorts of factions was not something he could afford to do.

But now, things were different. He had a rebuilt body plus the spirit he swallowed in Qingming’s domain as well as purified energies from various souls. That was how he had barely managed to get himself to the Advanced Origin Core stage. Most importantly, that deep crack in his spirit was slowly healing up. He no longer had to worry about his spirit collapsing again.

On top of all that, the Seven Kill Sect was definitely in a bad place now. He didn’t have to worry about them either.

As for the Huangquan Evil Ghost. It could swallow souls without fearing any repercussions, and once the ghost had refined all the souls it had consumed, Gu Suihan could absorb them again and the soul energy he would get at that stage would be even more beneficial.

“Impossible!” The Huangquan Evil Ghost’s eyes darted about before it yelled its refusal back at Gu Suihan.

“Do you think you’ve got the right to refuse me?” Gu Suihan snorted as his threatening gaze scanned the ghost.

The ghost met Gu Suihan’s sinister eyes and shuddered. It shrank back and kept its mouth shut.

“Let’s go.” Gu Suihan didn’t bother waiting for any reply. He unleashed a beam of energy that enveloped all three of them and he dragged the Huangquan Evil Ghost along toward Qingguo.

“Food! So much food!” The Huangquan Evil Ghost clung onto Gu Suihan and looked down excitedly with its beady eyes as it salivated. It didn’t bother hiding that look of greed on its face.

“Gobble them up then,” said Gu Suihan nonchalantly as he narrowed his eyes and looked down at the town below. His gaze didn’t even flicker like it was a pool of dead stagnant water.

“Gobble, gobble, gobble!” The ghost’s eyes were bloodshot and it squealed as it stretched its arms toward the town. But it looked back at Gu Suihan with a hesitant look. The way it opened its mouth to speak and shut it again was hilarious.

“Spread the Bloody Glow! Dim the Clouds!” Gu Suihan knew why the ghost was hesitant, so he raised his arm, and soul energy mixed with murderous qi instantly covered the little town below like it had swallowed the sky.

The ordinary people in the town felt the sky above them suddenly go dark, followed by the faint smell of blood.

“AHHH! A monster!”

“What’s that?!”

“It’s a monster! Run! Move aside! Run!!!”

Almost immediately after the ghost had landed in the town, panicked screams and shouts filled the town along with frantic, mindless sounds of people pushing each other and running desperately. The entire town plunged into despair.

The skies were clear, but it looked as though it was nighttime in the town. The murderous qi covered the town with a deep red glow, as though it was covered in broken limbs.

Nobody could see anything in the town at all. The screams and howls they could hear right next to them struck terror in their hearts. Their first instinct was to clutch their heads and run in an attempt to shake off the demon coming after them.

“How tragic,” murmured Gu Suihan. His beautiful face was as unmoved as the waters in an abandoned well, while his gemlike eyes reflected the tragic horror happening inside the town.

“That felt amazing!” An hour later, the Huangquan Evil Ghost smacked its lips with a satisfied smile on its face. It had grown by another foot or so.

“The souls of ordinary humans are too tainted and too weak. And after the martial cultivators have stripped them of their energies, the remaining soul energy inside them is pathetic.” Gu Suihan glanced nonchalantly at the town that had been wiped out completely. He withdrew his soul power, then raised his hands to send out more than ten balls of fire along with some wind spells. In less than 15 minutes, this town that had once been fairly well-developed and peaceful was razed to the ground.

“Next place.” Gu Suihan walked in the air as though it was flat ground and disappeared in an instant.

“This place is a little dangerous, isn’t it?” The ghost glanced at Gu Suihan apprehensively with a frown. It could sense the presence of several cultivators here.

“I’ll deal with those fellows. They’re just a bunch of martial artists and half-assed wandering cultivators, after all.”

Gu Suihan had a frosty look in his eyes as he passed Shuang’er to the ghost, told it to ensure her safety, then shot into the distance like a shooting star, then fell again like a meteorite, landing right in the middle of the city in what looked like the castellan’s manor without bothering to conceal his presence in any way.

“Who’s there?”

“Don’t you know the rules? You’re not allowed to fly within the city.”

“Worthless little ants.” Gu Suihann ignored their shouts as he scanned them coldly. He raised his sword and a river that seemed made from blood howled and roared as it spun rapidly and soared toward them.

“How dare you!”

“Kill him!”

“Prepare to die!”

Several threatening shouts rose into the air, but their bodies shook violently after that. They sprayed out mouthfuls of blood and their faces were as pale as a sheet as they stumbled backward. They stared in horror at Gu Suihan and their eyes were filled with despair as they looked at the bloody wave that could cover the skies as it surged toward them.

“Now!” Gu Suihan sent out his spiritual sense, its impact instantly making everyone freeze and stop any attempts to attack him. In that instant, the bloody wave crashed down on them and consumed all of them with the tremendous murderous qi within it.

Kaboom! A thunderous boom echoed for miles.

Everyone in the city instantly looked up, only to watch the castellan’s manor crumble and collapse like it was merely made from bubbles. Tiny rocks and wood splinters flew in all directions. One could vaguely see the broken walls amidst the dust.

“Now!” shouted Gu Suihan as he swung his sword. A bloodied mist quickly spread across the skies above the city and a strange air filled the place.

“It’s nighttime already?”

“No, It’s caused by that cultivator!”

“Run!!”

“I’m coming!!” yelled the Huangquan Evil Ghost excitedly after he passed Shuang’er back to Gu Suihan. It landed in the city and started terrifying the confused crowd below.

“The problem with cultivating weapon techniques is that one can become overly reliant on external factors.”

Gu Suihan looked down at his sword and frowned when he saw how the tip was turning a bloody red, as though countless vengeful ghosts and souls were struggling and howling within it. After going through so much, Questioning Heaven had become more sentient. Its bloodthirstiness had also intensified in proportion.

Unless they were being extra careful, if any ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator were to hold Questioning Heaven, murderous qi would immediately take over their consciousness and turn them into a ruthless killing machine who slaughtered people like a mad person.

As though it could sense what Gu Suihan was thinking about, Questioning Heaven trembled a few times, then seemed to plead with Gu Suihan in hope of gaining its owner’s favor.

“You’re not the weapon I’ve bound to myself, so there’s no way you can sway my thoughts,” said Gu Suihan with a snort. He filled his finger with his spiritual sense and used the finger to wipe the blade down even as Questioning Heaven whined and struggled in protest.