The surroundings were filled with steep rock walls and mountain faces, with all manner of multicolored glazed gemstones embedded among the stones.
The entire pit was enormous, and right at its center, less than fifty meters away from Gu Chen—
There stood a powerfully built monster with a blue face and protruding fangs!
If an ordinary person saw this monster, they would have long since been scared out of their wits, pissing themselves in terror.
Yet Gu Chen merely stared fixedly at the monster, with almost no change in expression.
"Just as it was in my previous life."
"So unoriginal. How boring."
Gu Chen spoke indifferently, as though he did not take the monster before him seriously at all.
Yet the very next second, the monster vanished from where it stood!
The monster charged at Gu Chen with terrifying speed.
It moved so fast that sonic booms erupted all around it!
In his previous life, Gu Chen and Gu Youwei had fallen to the bottom of the valley with many injuries already on them.
Yet Gu Youwei had thrown a tantrum, constantly clamoring to leave this damned place.
That was what caused Gu Chen to overlook the monster at the valley bottom. He was ambushed on the spot and nearly killed by it!
But this time, Gu Chen already understood the monster's methods of attack.
And without Gu Youwei, that hindrance who only got in the way, Gu Chen naturally found things far easier.
Just as the monster was about to charge before Gu Chen, he shifted slightly to the side and actually evaded its attack directly!
As the monster brushed past Gu Chen, he could even feel the aggressive killing intent in its eyes.
"You are, after all, a Spirit Beast guarding the divine hall."
"Let me think. What was your name again?"
"Crimson Mane Fierce Lion, right? That name really does not suit you. How about I call you a sickly cat instead?"
At once, the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion let out a roar that shook heaven and earth.
Whether it had understood Gu Chen's mockery or was enraged from embarrassment at missing him just now, no one knew.
Layers upon layers of energy ripples suddenly spread around the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion.
Clusters of vigorous flames instantly blazed across the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion's body!
The scorching waves of flame even lit up Gu Chen's face.
The entire valley bottom instantly turned into a living hell!
"Now that looks more like it. But unfortunately, I do not have time to waste here playing with you this time."
As he spoke, a sharp gleam suddenly flashed through Gu Chen's eyes.
He stood where he was, his gaze locked firmly onto the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion.
The Crimson Mane Fierce Lion pressed down with its paws and charged toward Gu Chen once more.
Unlike before, this time the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion was wrapped in raging flames.
Like a fiery demon crawling out from the depths of hell, it charged straight at Gu Chen!
Seeing this scene, Gu Chen once again recalled fragments of memories from his previous life.
Back then, the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion had used this very move to ambush Gu Youwei, nearly costing her life.
Later, after the battle ended, if Gu Chen had not pulled out his own Heavenly Dao Bone to heal Gu Youwei—
Gu Youwei would likely have long been tortured to death by illness!
Yet Gu Chen had never expected that, though he had been desperate to save his sister, Gu Youwei would misunderstand and think the Heavenly Dao Bone had been hers to begin with!
Of course, all of that had already become the past.
Now, Gu Chen would not be distracted by such trivial mortal matters.
He had only one goal now.
To cultivate by any means necessary! To grow stronger by any means necessary!
To raise his Cultivation Level as quickly as possible to heights no one could reach.
Then thoroughly distance himself from the mortal world, from this bunch of crazy women with half-baked brains.
"All my plans—"
"Will begin with you."
Gu Chen spoke unhurriedly, as though he were merely discussing the most ordinary little matter.
In the blink of an eye, the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion had arrived before Gu Chen.
The flames burning all around seemed as though they would burn everything between heaven and earth to ashes, leaving nothing behind!
Yet Gu Chen stood still, utterly unmoving.
He slowly raised his right fist and punched directly at the Crimson Mane Fierce Lion's face!
Boom!
In an instant, majestic waves of energy swept up from the valley bottom.
The surrounding rock walls and mountain stones collapsed with a thunderous crash from the shock.
The blazing flames at the valley bottom were also blasted open in an instant, leaving behind a blank forbidden zone.
The fire torches along the rock walls were snuffed out at once by the disturbance of that energy wave.
The entire valley bottom once again fell into dead silence and darkness!
Meanwhile, Shi Mengying had already passed through the stone door and entered the first divine hall.
When Gu Chen had been in the first divine hall, he had directly destroyed the Formation Core of the stone statue illusion formation.
The energy released when the Formation Core was destroyed had shattered the mechanism corridor and stone door on the spot.
That was how Shi Mengying had been able to arrive here unimpeded.
"Strange, why is this place such a mess?"
Shi Mengying looked at the broken stones scattered across the first divine hall, utterly unaware of what had happened here.
After staring around for quite some time and confirming there was no danger, Shi Mengying could not help but complain.
"This place is way too run-down. And it has the nerve to call itself the Lingxu Secret Realm?"
"But there is still a trace of inner force lingering on the surface of these stone blocks. That proves the battle ended not long ago."
"Could all this have been Gu Chen's doing?"
Yet Shi Mengying looked over the entire first divine hall and found that its space was truly enormous.
With Gu Chen's current Cultivation Level, even if he were worked to death, he definitely could not have accomplished all this.
Thinking of this, Shi Mengying suddenly understood everything.
"It must have been the residual force from my barrage of Sword Qi against the stone door just now that affected this place."
"That also explains why the stone door exploded from the inside."
With that thought in mind, Shi Mengying proudly raised the longsword in her hand.
She stared at the door at the far end of the divine hall and said, "Gu Chen, run all you want."
"Let's see how long you can hide!"
East Desolation Commandery, the Wei family residence.
Wei Qingyu specifically had her parents bring her an ancient tome to read.
When Wei Qingyu finished reading the records concerning the Sacred Origin Great Yin Scripture in the ancient tome, she was completely dumbfounded.
Because when she had cultivated the Sacred Origin Great Yin Scripture in her previous life, she had never noticed anything about cold energy at all.
Forget something as terrifying as cold energy—she had not felt even the slightest discomfort.
This could not help but send Wei Qingyu into deep thought.
"What exactly is going on?"
"Could it be that the effects of the Sacred Origin Great Yin Scripture changed after being reborn alongside me?"
"No, the Sacred Origin Great Yin Scripture is an ancient cultivation art. Even if I reincarnated a hundred times, it would not change."
"Then why did I not sense any cold energy in my previous life?"
With those doubts in mind, Wei Qingyu could not help but begin recalling every detail from her previous life.
But in her previous life, Wei Qingyu had always cultivated the Sacred Origin Great Yin Scripture under Gu Chen's guidance.
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