The Dead Soul Demon King hovered in the UI with its eyes closed, unmoving.

[Why do you want it?] [Kindling] asked.

It looks formidable, it can fight instead of me Gu Qing Shan replied.

[Kindling] went silent.

Gu Qing Shan pointed at the Dead Soul Demon King and continued: Do I have enough Soul Points? If I do, Ill exchange for this

-with the amount of Soul Points Gu Qing Shan had right now, it was nowhere near enough to exchange for this Demon Lord.

Which means [Kindling] had no way to obtain the Soul Points he gathered for now.

[Not enough] [Kindling] can only reply.

Hm, I guessed so. This thing looks so menacing

As Gu Qing Shan stared at this Demon Lord, he couldnt help but clench his sword tight.

A Chaotic Demon Lord was a weapon of war that was stronger than a Remodeled Demon Lord.

They had various strange and unpredictable abilities.

It was believed that the advent of a Chaotic Demon Lord would signify the end of the war.

In the past life, they needed two Sainted realm cultivators working together to barely match up against a Remodeled Demon Lord.

But now, Gu Qing Shan found that a Demon Lord was nothing more than an item that can be exchanged for in the 900 million World Layers.

If you compare the past life and this one, it all felt almost like a dream.

The exchange shop closed on the [Kindling] UI.

[Kindling]s voice came again: [To exchange for this Demon Lord, you will need to put in a lot more effort]

Gu Qing Shan clenched his fist and replied: I know

[Kindling] went silent briefly before declaring: [Now for your next mission]

[Outside the frozen wasteland is a glorious divine temple]

[In the Age of Old, when the Old Gods were still in this world, they had built this divine temple to view the beings they had created]

[You need to go there and participate in the Old Gods ceremony]

Whats the ceremony about? Gu Qing Shan asked.

[Go and see for yourself]

[You may now be on your way]

Following [Kindling]s explanation, a Quest market also appeared on the War God UI.

[Please decide the next Quest]

Gu Qing Shan went silent shortly before silently answering the War God UI: For now, we wont issue a Quest yet. Lets wait until we learn more

His gaze extended far.

He was looking at the end of the frozen wasteland, where towering icy mountains were connected one by one, so tall that the highest peaks couldnt be seen.

Among the ice mountains peaks, a magnificent structure stood.

The structure was the same as the mountains around it, created completely out of ice and snow, exuding a sense of majesty from afar.

Gu Qing Shan went into thought.

Now that Su Xue Er is saved, all thats left to do is to deal with [Kindling].

But just now, [Kindling] showed the Dead Soul Demon King on its UI.

This implied a certain thing.

Even if no demonized people could accumulate enough Soul Points to summon the Dead Soul Demon King, [Kindling] itself can summon it.

Which will be troublesome.

Since Ive already reached Sainted realm late stage, Im not afraid of a Remodeled Demon Lord.

But the Dead Soul Demon King was a Chaotic Demon Lord, much stronger than any Remodeled Demon Lords.

Thinking that, Gu Qing Shan closed his eyes briefly.

He was sensing his flow of power.

The spirit energy in his Dantian was full, circulating around his body through his acupoints; his sword qi was sharp and fluid, fully under the control and fueled by his spirit energy; his inner sight and mental power was at their peaks, as long as he willed it and forms the correct hand seals, numerous spells can be casted without any trouble.

Gu Qing Shan looked upwards.

Within the vast void of space, a faint connection could be felt calling out to him constantly.

This was the connection to the Laws of heaven and earth.

Which means, he was ready to break through Sainted realm.

As a cultivator, whenever he broke through, he would always trigger a connection to the Laws of heaven and earth.

The heaven and earth will then call forth a Lightning Tribulation to cleanse those who were enough, and take away everything of weaklings who attempt to do things above their own capabilities.

You either break through or die trying.

Regardless of the world, a cultivator will always have to face the heavens Tribulation.

This was written in the various cultivation jade tags he collected in the Suspended world as well.

The Laws of heaven and earth have and will always be indifferently cruel.

Thinking back.

I wonder, are there any steps after Projection realm, Tribulation realm, Virtualized realm and Cryptic realm that a cultivator can reach?

If so, how would they take another step forward?

Even though Barrys wound hasnt fully healed at the time, Gu Qing Shan could judge that Barry was over 10,000 times stronger than Wang Hong Dao through his instincts.

Can cultivators become as strong as Barry?

Gu Qing Shan silently sighed.

He reorganized his mind, no longer wandering off.

Regardless of the answer, thinking too much about it wouldnt help, itd be better to keep moving forward step by step.

And now, even though he can easily break through Sainted realm, Gu Qing Shan had a strange feeling from somewhere he couldnt quite grasp.

This feeling almost seemed like it was born from himself, an intuition gotten through a lot of hardship.

It was telling him that this wasnt yet the time to breakthrough.

Afterall, compared to Barrys level, would it make any difference if I were Sainted realm or Projection realm?

Gu Qing Shan gritted his teeth, decided to follow his intuition and gave up on breaking through right now.

Lets go Gu Qing Shan said.

Shannu nodded, went back into the Six Paths Great Mountain sword and hid herself in the void of space behind Gu Qing Shan again.

The Earth sword and Chao Yin sword also went away.

Gu Qing Shan went back into the dense, icy fog.

He took out a formation plate and undid the various concealment formations he set up on by one.

Laura appeared.

She was sitting on the black horse, slowly eating a piece of cake.

You are done? she asked.

Hm

You are really done already? Laura asked again in a low voice.

Were going

Gu Qing Shan jumped back onto the horse.

Laura could only put her cake away and wiped her mouth.

You finished too quick, I was prepared to watch a longer show she complained.

If I hadnt done it quickly, it wouldve been a lot more troublesome Gu Qing Shan could only explain.

A lot more troublesome?

Hm- they wouldve summon a few really troublesome things

While they talked, the black horse asked them.

Summoners, will you be in a hurry, or going for a stroll?

Were in a hurry- but not too much of a hurry Gu Qing Shan replied.

Understood

The black horse kicked off the ground and continued to gallop through the snowstorm.

On another side.

Fog Isle.

The House of Law.

The phantom images were becoming faint.

Gu Qing Shan had already gone away.

Lord Bloodcloak gave Su Xue Er a knowing look and said nothing.

Su Xue Er suddenly hugged her head, banging it on the table.

What are you doing? Lord Bloodcloak asked.

He flicked his finger.

The table was instantly covered in soft pillows.

Su Xue Er buried her head in the pillows, struggling to speak: Its so humiliating

Lord Bloodcloak smiled and consoled her: His sword techniques are very sly, perfectly countering your style. If not for that, he might not necessarily be a match for you

Really? Su Xue Er looked up and asked.

Thats right, if you have about a full course meals worth of time to prepare your spells, youll be able to defeat him without trouble Lord Bloodcloak shook his glass gracefully and said.

A full course meal?

Ridiculous! Whos going to give their opponent an entire full course meals worth of time to prepare in battle!?

Su Xue Er once again buried her face in the pillow and dejectedly spoke: Teacher dont tease me

Lord Bloodcloak lightly laughed before he spoke seriously: Do you know how many cold weapon users, despite living in battles all their lives, still couldnt learn his style of fighting?

If you measure with strength, spells, or the destructiveness of their attacks, there are many who far surpasses him, but at his age, Ive never seen such an unreasonable person before

Unreasonable? Su Xue Er looked up and asked curiously: Teacher, what do you mean?

No matter how much you can do, one of my attack will take your life, then you wont be able to do anything

Something like that Lord Bloodcloak took a sip of wine and continued: I really wonder, what did he have to go through to be able to do something like that at such a young age

And also, it wouldve been better if you hadnt trapped him

Hm? Why not? Su Xue Er was a bit confused.

You couldve traveled with him instead. Hes the melee attacker while youre a card user who supports from behind. You wouldve made a really good combination Lord Bloodcloak explained.

Through battles, you will get to know each other better, nurturing your mutual trust and tacit understanding

There wouldve been ample time in Tristes world for the two of you to go through things that would go on to become precious memories later in life

After all, nothing creates a deeper bond than being together in battle

Su Xue Er trembled as she heard him.

Aaaaaa, now I really regret it!!

She yelled out as she dug her face even deeper into the pillow.

Seeing Su Xue Ers reaction, Lord Bloodcloak appeared pleased.

Now, what do you plan to do next?

He waited for a bit before asking her.

After everything is over this time around, I will apologize to him Su Xue Er replied.

Her voice was the epitome of dejection.

Lord Bloodcloak thought for a bit before speaking again: Hm, since the battle is over, if you dont want to watch anymore, Ill stop the spell- do you want to watch him battle more?

Su Xue Er looked up, her eyes lit up as she nodded again and again like a chicken reaching for food.

Lord Bloodcloak smiled as he chanted the incantation.

The phantom images shifted from being faint to clear again.

Gu Qing Shan showed up once again.

Riding the black horse, he was quickly heading towards the end of the frozen wasteland.

Su Xue Ers gaze was fixated on Gu Qing Shan.

It was almost she was studying his form, his every move, focused unlike she has never focused before.

Seeing Su Xue Er like that, Lord Bloodcloak was relieved.

You can watch him for now, teacher will be out taking care of a few things

Yes

Lord Bloodcloak left the room.

He then casted layers upon layers of protective spells all around the House of Law.

So a bunch of weaklings immersed in false authority dares to think of harming my disciple? he muttered.

After finishing here, Lord Bloodcloak clapped his hand satisfyingly.

Then he suddenly disappeared.

The very next moment, he reappeared in the space vortex about 12 World Layers from Aboul.

Sensing around, Lord Bloodcloak nodded and muttered: Very good, no one noticed me

Now, before this war fully erupts, lets find out where theyre hiding

Lord Bloodcloak drew several dozen blood-colored cards one after another.

These cards quickly disappeared into the void of space.