The Attack of the Wastrel

After realizing that Gu Lingzhi was from the Spirit Tribe, the Duobao Spiritual Squirrel attached its thoughts to Gu Lingzhi’s brain and communicated with her telepathically.

Within a minute, she found out that its name was Zi Zi, and everything that had happened in its life. Gu Lingzhi also gave it a short summary of what things were like in the Tianyuan Continent present-day and told it the reason why she was here. Zi Zi stomped its feet, “It’s been so many years and that bastard, Pan Luo, still hasn’t given up on extinguishing the Spirit Tribe. Has his conscience been eaten by a dog? To think that the Spirit Tribe Leader once trusted him so much! Yet Pan Luo still… still…”

The squirrel’s eyes reddened and tears welled in its eyes, “There used to be hundreds of thousands of people in the Spirit Tribe, now they’re all gone. The ground had been entirely stained with their blood; how could he be so heartless!”

As Gu Lingzhi listened, her eyes started to tear as well. Although she had never met anyone from the Spirit Tribe, when she had known that she was from the Spirit Tribe as well, it had become her home instantly. After hearing about the Tribe’s tragic past, she could not help but feel saddened as well.

“Lingzhi, what’s wrong?” Rong Yuan asked. Even though he had listened to Gu Lingzhi and took Ding Rou away, his attention had never strayed away from her. To him, it was easy to tell whenever she had a shift in emotions. He did not hesitate to leave Ding Rou, who was busy searching for spiritual treasures and rushed back to Gu Lingzhi’s side.

“I…” Gu Lingzhi opened her mouth to say something, but realized that it was not a good place to talk. Immediately, she swallowed her words and shook her head, “It’s nothing. I think the noise here is giving me a headache.”

Rong Yuan could tell that it was an inconvenient location for her to speak her mind, so he did not probe any further. Seeing that Ding Rou was busy searching for spiritual treasures and did not have time to tend to him, Rong Yuan continued to stand behind Gu Lingzhi. He stood in a protective stance as he kept her in close proximity.

Suddenly, there was a deafening sound that came from outside the side palace. The whole of the side palace vibrated due to the sound waves.

A flustered and exasperated voice came out from within the palace, “Damn it! Why is it so difficult to break this Restrictive Shield? I was almost blown to death here!”

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan looked at each other before looking in the direction where the sound came from. Only a Martial Artist that was above the rank of a Martial Sage could produce such a loud sound. They did not think that the Spirit Tribe’s Sacred Lands would so quickly attract a powerful Martial Sage.

“Come on, let’s go take a look,” Rong Yuan dragged Gu Lingzhi with him to the side palace the moment he finished his sentence.

Anyway, whatever that had been worth of value here had already been raked clean. There was no point in staying any further because they would not find anything valuable, so they decided to go and find out what was happening instead. Maybe they could get their hands on something precious.

As they followed the direction where the sound came from, the moment they left the doors of the side palace, they could see a beautiful scenery far in the distance that was floating in mid-air.

The scenery was shrouded with an arc of invisible air that was as colorful as a rainbow. In a corner, a man who was dressed sloppily with a white-haired beard spat at the air.

If one looked closely, it was easy to tell that the man’s robe was made of fine material – the fur of a powerful demon beast. From his burnt hair, which made him look battered and exhausted, Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan could tell that he was definitely the man who had produced the deafening sound.

The old man started to shout in anger, “In order to find the treasures, I’ve spent lots of money to get this robe made. How dare the likes of you ruin it so easily? If I don’t break you today, I shall not be called ‘Hua Qingcheng’ from this day onwards!”

Gu Lingzhi could not help but choke on her own saliva. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the old man. He was completely different from what the rumors had said about him.

“Are there any other Martial Sages in the Tianyuan Continent that are named ‘Hua Qingcheng’?” Gu Lingzhi asked. Without a confirmation from Rong Yuan, she would not believe the rumors.

Rong Yuan looked at the old man before sighing, “From what I know, there’s only one person called ‘Hua Qingcheng’, it’s this man that you’re looking at right now. Although his looks may be… a little different from what the rumors say, but that weapon is unmistakably his.”

The last hope that Gu Lingzhi was holding had been extinguished just like that. With a stupefied expression, she looked at Hua Qingcheng as he wielded his Lotus Flower Flute and charged towards the Restrictive Shield once again. Like the previous time, he once again got blown back by the repulsive energy of the Shield. She then sighed to herself, “The rumors are too scary.”

Hua Qingcheng was a Martial Sage from the Sangyuan Kingdom, neighboring the North Qiu Kingdom.

According to the rumors, he was extremely good-looking. Any woman would break their back just to have another look at him if he walked past them. His Lotus Flower Flute that was made out of Cold Jade, had attracted the hearts of many ladies. Even though he was constantly surrounded by lots of pretty women, he only had eyes for his childhood sweetheart ever since they were young.

However, on the day of their marriage, his bride had been killed in cold blood out of jealousy by some of Hua Qingcheng’s admirers. Ever since then, his disposition had changed drastically. He became crazy as he sought revenge on his bride’s murderers. Just like that, he had continued in this crazed state for over a decade.

Gu Lingzhi had never expected that Hua Qingcheng, who was supposed to be so handsome that he could make any girl think about him all day long, would become like this.

“His body withered together with his heart,” Rong Yuan helped to answer her suspicions. He could empathize with Hua Qingcheng to a certain extent.

It was precisely because of his looks that had caused the girl he loved to die. If it was not for his parents, he would have scarred his face a long time ago. What was the point in caring about his appearance after his wife had died?

The rumors had said that after Hua Qingcheng had gone crazy, he would spend all day by his wife’s coffin talking to himself. Why would he be here? From the looks of it, he must have had his eye on a particular treasure in the Sacred Lands.

Suddenly, a bright voice rang out, “I was wondering who it was making so much noise, turns out it was you, Brother Hua. I’m afraid that you will not be able to break the Restrictive Shield with your capabilities alone, why don’t we try to break it together? Once we’ve broken the Shield, the treasures inside will belong to either of us depending on our individual capabilities.”

Though Hua Qingcheng was in a frenzied state, he understood the meaning behind those words. With a final charge, he was blown back once again by the force of the Shield.

After they lost sight of Hua Qingcheng’s silhouette, Rong Yuan hesitated for a while before dragging Gu Lingzhi with him towards the place where Hua Qingcheng had been standing. They were currently at the side palace, but the palace that Hua Qingcheng was in was right in the center of the Sacred Lands. It was highly possible that the palace that Hua Qingcheng was at was the main palace, where the Leader of the Spirit Tribe had used to reside. It was also the place that the North Qiu Kingdom had failed to break into.

Speeding through the Sacred Lands, both of them were thinking of the same thing – there were many Martial Artists who had wanted to get into the main palace as well. Whilst they were travelling to the main palace, she communicated with Zi Zi to ask about the situation.

“That’s indeed where the Spirit Tribe Leader used to stay. There are many spiritual treasures in there, but look at these people trying to break the Restrictive Shield, they underestimate the Spirit Tribe too much.”

Back then, the remaining Martial Artists of the Spirit Tribe were the ones who had sealed up the entire Secret Territory – the Shield was incredibly strong, there was no way that it would be easy for people to break through!

Ever since Gu Lingzhi had gotten the painting, she could communicate telepathically with Zi Zi. After hearing Zi Zi’s words, she asked it a question, “A True God can only use the powers of a Demigod when he enters the Tianyuan Continent, right? Why is it that only True Gods can break the Shield?”

“You underestimate your ancestors!” Zi Zi rolled his eyes in frustration, “They were extremely powerful people, how else would they be able to reign over the continent for so many years?”

“If that’s the case, then how are we going to get the treasures in the Sacred Lands?”

When her ancestors from the Spirit Tribe sealed up the Sacred Lands, it was in hopes of a day where they could rise up from the ashes, the treasures were to give their descendants an opportunity to do so. However, if it was really like what Zi Zi had said – that only True Gods could break the Shield, then how was she going to get the treasures that were inside?

If she were to wait for the day where she became a True God, she would ascend to the Realm of the Gods and no longer have a need for such treasures.

“Are you sure someone as silly as you belongs to the Spirit Tribe?” Zi Zi whipped his tail against its forehead and pretended to faint, “Since the Sacred Lands were left for the descendants of the Spirit Tribe, the Restrictive Shield would be ineffective towards you. You just have to find a corner where there is no one, spill a drop of blood on it, and you’ll be able to go in.”

It’s that easy?

Gu Lingzhi rejoiced internally, “Are you sure I’ll only need a drop of my blood to enter?”

“Yes, I’m sure! A part of the reason why I’ve been sealed in this artwork was so I could show descendants of the Spirit Tribe how to enter the Sacred Lands. Just do what I say, it’s definitely correct.”

Having found a way to get into the main palace, Gu Lingzhi relaxed instantly. She grabbed Rong Yuan’s hand and used her finger to draw a few strokes on his palm. He looked at her, before apologizing, “Lingzhi… I was wrong. I was too caught up in the spiritual treasures and I neglected you.”

What? Gu Lingzhi opened her mouth in confusion, afraid for a moment that the walls had ears. All she did was write some words on Rong Yuan’s palm, what was he saying?

After a few seconds, she understood what Rong Yuan had meant, “There’s many people here, let’s find somewhere else with less people and we’ll do whatever you want to do.”

Rong Yuan looked at Gu Lingzhi apologetically and wrapped her hand in his, giving her a few rubs. The suggestive gesture caused Gu Lingzhi’s face to darken in an instant.