Death was no small matter.

But Gu Qing Shan had discovered a secret regarding death.

Ever since the first time they met the Black Flame Venerable and discovered that it was a Soul Manifestation, Gu Qing Shan had been silently pondering something.

-the pledge of the four Pillar Gods stripped all powers from living beings, and yet the Black Flame Venerable still retained its power, completely unrestrained.

Why?

Gu Qing Shan had kept this question in mind until he met the pixies and unsealed the Omni Stone.

The Fairy of Time appeared and explained to him that the pledge that the four Pillar Gods established was one that would strip the power of all living beings within the secret passage.

-but souls and non-living things were not considered living beings.

Being the spirit of a weapon, the Heavenly King Mara was both of these entities, so it retained all of its powers.

The Dark Flame Venerable was also a Soul Manifestation thus its powers werent stripped away either.

After a hundred million years, the pixies had all lost their lives and turned into souls.

they werent able to perform offensive techniques because they had no spell casting components, but theyve been constantly using other spells that didnt require spell casting components.

They could tamper with the Omni Stone to bestow Gu Qing Shan the ability to turn into a cat, as well as turn the monster incorporeal, allowing the ship to pass through.

Everything made sense.

Gu Qing Shan couldnt help but recall how he travelled alone to Huang Quan and how he fought within Huang Quan.

At the time, he was only a soul, but he could still fight without issues.

Now that he carefully thought about, Gu Qing Shan was shocked to realize just now unimaginable those Skills that his Shifu taught him actually were.

even in a state of death, my soul is still able to utilize all of the bodys power, practically made for the sake of fighting as a soul.

If the Black Flame Venerables were Soul Manifestation forms, Shifus two Skills must have produced an even more advanced state of soul body in comparison.

Because under the effects of these two Skills, a soul is able to wander as it pleases in the Human realm or travel to Huang Quan without issues.

With the above information in mind, Gu Qing Shan finally chose to keep the two Secret Arts that he learnt from his Shifu.

if I can return, I really need to ask Shifu about her Huang Quan Divine Skill.

At this moment, Gu Qing Shan dispelled all unnecessary thoughts in his mind and activated the two Skills.

Secret Art, [Sealed Body Yin Shift]!

Secret Art, [Soul Comes Soul Goes]!

Under the effect of the two Skills, Gu Qing Shans body instantly turned limp.

His soul was ejected from his body.

His soul silently hovered in the air, watching his body collapse.

Su Xue Er exclaimed in shock and hurriedly caught his body.

Everyone also appeared shocked and swiftly surrounded him.

Hazeden immediately called for his subordinates to try and heal Gu Qing Shan.

Guyan cautiously looked around with a flame prepared in his hand.

he seems to have assumed that an unseen entity had ambushed Gu Qing Shan.

Sha Qiang stood completely still, unable to process what was going on.

-no one could see Gu Qing Shans soul.

A line of glowing text appeared in front of Gu Qing Shans eyes:

[With the Secret Art: Seal Body Yin Shift, youve entered the state of death]

[With the Secret Art: Soul Come Soul Goes, youve entered the state of soul body] (TN: Theres a difference between this soul state and other dead people like Xuan Ya from Calming Soul Country, as normal dead people are unable to access their powers when they were still alive)

[The pledge of the four Pillar Gods does not restrain souls]

[Your powers that were sealed by the pledge have been fully released]

Gu Qing Shan rubbed his chin.

Just as I thought, huh?

As he stood there, the Earth sword and Chao Yin sword both manifested from the void of space.

The Chao Yin sword excitedly circled around him.

The Earth sword blew a whistle.

So youve regained the power of a Paragon realm cultivator the Earth sword commented.

In the Age of Old, only the Divinities had this level of strength.

But none of the Divinities were Gu Qing Shans match as long as they were on the same level, let alone now that his swordsmanship had reached Convergence realm and gained a terrifying level of combative strength!

Gu Qing Shan wielded the two swords and silently muttered: Now that Ive entered a soul body state, theres still one natural shortcoming of this technique: If the body is destroyed, the soul would not be able to revive

The long-bearded old man suddenly appeared in front of him and opened his eyes wide: You havent even lived for ten thousand years; how did you suddenly die?

Gu Qing Shan smiled: This is the ability that the Omni Stone helped me recover

Saying so, he recalled something and took out a wanted poster from the Inventory Bag inside his Thought Sea.

This was a bounty I obtained from the pixies outside of this secret passage. I once tried to open it slightly and comprehended the mystical powers of the pixies, benefitting much from it, but Ive never fully opened it

He then wiped his nose with the wanted poster.

-since he was currently a soul, Gu Qing Shan wasnt sure if this would be useful, but this thing could only be unlocked by wiping his nose with it.

Poof!

The wanted poster gave off some white smoke.

It actually did unlock!

A wooden statue the size of his arm appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan and the long-bearded old man.

This statue depicted a female pixie, her eyes were spirited and lively, seemingly smiling.

Her voice also emerged: Thank you for carrying out this bounty, this princess shall reward you with her statue

As the voice finished, the statue became still.

Gu Qing Shan regretfully said: Seems like it isnt something youll be able to use

While the long-bearded old man was trembling, his mouth opened wide without regaining his composure for a long while.

Around him, a large number of pixies instantly appeared, all staring incessantly at the wooden statue without moving.

Are you ok? Gu Qing Shan asked in confusion.

The long-bearded old man abruptly leapt forward, hugging the wooden statue: This is precious Quip Wood! Dont you understand what that means? The most advanced Quipcrafts can only be performed through this type of wood!

Numerous pixies broke out into tears, kneeling down in front of the statue.

Gu Qing Shan now noticed that the magic staves of these pixies were already rotten to the point of crumbling.

These staves had been used constantly for the past hundred million years without being maintained, so it was natural for them to end up this way.

Gu Qing Shan sighed: Its yours now, take it with you. Remain with our group and protect my body until I return

Dont worry, we will fight together until the last moment! the long-bearded old man shouted enthusiastically.

He grabbed the statue and vanished with the other pixies.

It was now that Gu Qing Shan looked down.

Everyone was still busy with his body.

Quite a few were using their healing technique to try and resuscitate him.

Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight in order to check the situation outside of the ship.

Without Su Xue Ers input, the ship had entered auto-pilot mode, not only did it slow down, the various attacks it unleashed had also stopped.

Huge flocks of skeletal birds were pursuing them.

A huge skeleton approached them from afar, quickly catching up to the ship.

Seems like my sudden death affected the group quite a bit.

Gu Qing Shan was silent for a bit.

He unleashed various unfading sword phantoms with his sword.

Look! Sha Qiang exclaimed in fright.

Everyone turned to see that two swords were slashing through the air, leaving words behind:

[Ill deal with the monsters outside]

[Flee quickly, wait until I return]

The slashes gradually manifested into sword phantoms that hung in the air, emanating Gu Qing Shans sharp sword will.

Hazeden couldnt help but mutter: What exactly is going on?

Su Xue Ers eyes lit up.

He had heard Ye Fei Li and Liao Xing telling the story of the battle in Huang Quan many times, so she understood.

He turned into a soul form in order to fight

Su Xue Er loudly shouted to the air: Qing Shan, do your best!

The two swords paused a bit in the air before drawing two arcs in the air, forming the shape of a heart.

Huh?

That metal block head actually knows to answer me like this?

Su Xue Er thought, half-surprised, half-delighted.

She tightly hugged Gu Qing Shans body.

In the air, Gu Qing Shans soul body muttered to himself: There, seems like she understood what I wanted to say

The Earth sword couldnt help but send its voice through his inner sight: What exactly did these two arcs of yours mean?

Gu Qing Shan replied: Isnt it obvious? Im signaling her to be on constant guard on her left and right in case the enemy ambushes them

The Earth sword replied: Ive lived with you humans for quite a few years, that shape you drew doesnt seem to mean that at all

Gu Qing Shan shook his head: You think I drew a heart? Do I seem like such a shallow person?

The Earth sword went silent for a long while before agreeing: Now that I think about it, I was wrong, there a distance of several billion light years between you and the word shallow

The Chao Yin sword let out a low oong, the intention of which seemed unclear.

Gu Qing Shan didnt want to waste anymore time so he wielded the two swords and said: Come, were setting off, time to fight

He and the two swords vanished from inside the ship.

At the very next split second.

A bright gleam ripped through the darkness, manifesting as a full moon that brightly illuminated the horde of monsters in the darkness like daylight.

Silver stars descended like rain.

The skeletal birds were struck down in troves.

The full moon suddenly disappeared, followed by the blooming of millions of sword shadow flowers within the darkness.

The darkness almost seemed like it was dyed red.

Countless of the pursuing monsters were chopped into pieces by the flickering slashes of the swords, then finely diced up before completely blended into a bloody pulp.

As the sword flowers withered, the torrent of sword slashes surged upwards, turning into an intense tsunami that clashed against all the pursuing monsters.

A resounding roar of monsters echoed across the entire secret passage.

As the wind howled, even the sounds of the giant skeletons were obscured.

Everything returned to silence.

The ship flew far away.

Only Sha Qiangs confused exclamation faintly resounded through the darkness:

Wasnt dancing this guys number one expertise?

The sound continued echoing through the darkness until it thoroughly faded away.