Desire

Desire

Gu Qingshan picked up the blood-red jade tablet. After examining it carefully, he poured Spiritual Power into it and gave it a light push.

At once, a strange, ghostly voice sounded from the jade tablet.

"Target continues to shift southward. East by seven hundred and twenty-six, south by ninety-four. Order: Faceless Giant, Blood-Drinking Legion, pursue with all your strength."

Gu Qingshan understood at once.

This was a Demon Army dispatch Secret Order, a command tablet used to direct troop movements.

It seemed this strange bird truly was a Demon Army Messenger, specifically responsible for delivering information and mobilizing forces.

The Messenger was incredibly fast, swift as lightning when flying at full speed. If it had not already been severely wounded, Gu Qingshan definitely would not have been able to keep it.

Without this strange bird's intelligence and orders, the Demon Army forces would surely stray from the target they were tracking.

Gu Qingshan weighed the blood-red jade tablet in his hand and casually tucked it away.

Who would have thought that, through a twist of fate, he had actually disrupted the Demon Army's deployment?

The Demon Bird was dead. It would likely trouble the Faceless Giant and the Blood-Drinking Demon for some time.

His cultivation was too low. This was all he could do. Gu Qingshan sighed softly.

This could not go on. He had to change his circumstances as soon as possible.

Power—I need power!

At that moment, Gu Qingshan's eyes were filled with determination and longing.

After washing the black mud from his body, he checked on Zhao Liu. Seeing that he was still unconscious, Gu Qingshan replenished his arrows, slung the Military Bow over his shoulder, and left the camp.

It was not until dusk that Gu Qingshan dragged a Demon Beast back to the camp.

He had not actually gone very far. It was merely because his cultivation was too low that he had to use every concealment trick he possessed while circling the Military Camp's surroundings. He narrowly avoided several vicious Demon Beasts and ultimately hunted a few low-grade small Demon Beasts.

These Demon Beasts were the lowest of the low, perfectly suited for someone in the Qi Refining Early Stage to handle.

With his meager Qi Refining Stage - 2nd Layer strength, he had exhausted every arrow in his quiver and gained wounds all over his body before barely managing to kill several of them.

He could not be blamed for that. In his previous life, when players first tried hunting Demon Beasts, they all formed large teams and had to give it everything they had just to bring down one Demon Beast.

Moreover, even small Demon Beasts weighed three or four hundred jin. It was extremely difficult for an ordinary person even to move one.

The Storage Bag had limited space, and to maintain his mobility, Gu Qingshan had brought back only one of them.

He simply abandoned the other small Demon Beasts.

The forest was fraught with danger. The bloody scent from Demon Beast corpses could quickly draw in many predators.

Yet the War God System held hunting low-grade Demon Beasts in utter contempt. After a whole day of hunting, it had given Gu Qingshan only 1 point of Soul Power.

He had only 4 points of Soul Power in total now, but his Experience Points were not bad. They had finally reached 10.

He could Level Up.

The small Demon Beast he had dragged back was enough to feed Zhao Liu and him for quite some time.

If not for the Concealment Array lacking enough Spirit Stones, the two of them could have stayed another dozen days or more without issue.

When Gu Qingshan returned to the camp, Zhao Liu had already awakened.

Zhao Liu stood blankly at the entrance of the Military Camp, his face full of despair. Only when he saw Gu Qingshan and the small Demon Beast corpse behind him did he seem to come back to life.

Zhao Liu hunched over, his eyes fixed straight on the small Demon Beast, unable to look away.

He said, "Brother Gu, thank you for earlier. Go get some rest. Leave this beast to me—I guarantee you'll be satisfied with dinner tonight."

"Take it."

Gu Qingshan tossed down the Demon Beast, turned around, and returned to his room. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Current Experience Points: 10/10. Level Up?

"Yes."

With Gu Qingshan's choice, the blood and qi throughout his body surged rapidly, and his Spiritual Power stirred restlessly as well. Yet a barrier within him blocked the Spiritual Power tightly, refusing to let it pass.

Being able to sense the barrier meant the time to break through it had arrived.

This was the opportunity for a breakthrough!

Gu Qingshan naturally entered a state of breakthrough.

Huff!

He forcefully exhaled a breath of stale air, and his entire body felt unburdened.

He had succeeded. He had finally broken through to the Qi Refining Stage - 3rd Layer!

Gu Qingshan immediately withdrew his Spiritual Power, carefully dispersing it through the meridians of his entire body to slowly nourish himself.

There were too many tiny injuries on his body. He could not afford to be careless.

As he used Spiritual Power to nourish his body, he glanced at the interface.

Current Experience Points: 0/15.

For the next Level Up, he would have to go out and hunt again.

Gu Qingshan felt an unprecedented sense of urgency fill his heart.

The Faceless Giant possessed strength equivalent to Nascent Soul Great Perfection. It was an existence Gu Qingshan could only look up to at present.

Given the Faceless Giant's cultivation realm, it should have discovered the Military Camp already. It simply disdained to Make a Move against two weak ants within the camp.

This feeling of having life and death controlled by demons was truly awful.

Gu Qingshan paced back and forth a few times before making up his mind.

No, he had to Level Up immediately and keep pushing until he reached the Foundation Establishment Realm.

From Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, and even during the advancement of every major realm, one had a chance to comprehend divine abilities—though failure was also possible.

There were four kinds of divine abilities in this world, exactly the same as in the Real World: Martial Arts Return, Five Elements Transcendence, Heaven's Chosen, and Divine Scion.

Martial Arts Return awakened the power hidden within one's body, providing a considerable boost. It was especially suitable for sword cultivators and body cultivators.

Five Elements Transcendence awakened the spirituality within the body, bringing about the awakening of Spiritual Roots of the Positive Five Elements or Special Five Elements, allowing one to use the powers of the Positive Five Elements and Special Five Elements in battle.

The skills of the Heaven Chosen came in every conceivable variety. Gu Qingshan alone knew of several thousand.

Such divine abilities were innate, awakened through the luck one was born with. They could not be predicted, so there was no point dwelling on them.

As for Divine Scions, that was purely a title used specifically for those who possessed Divine Skills.

So-called Divine Skills seized the creations of heaven and earth and accomplished unimaginable wonders. They could reshape heaven and earth, make fate flow backward, bring down the stars, and bring all things to an end.

Such skills were utterly beyond the reach of ordinary players.

Even in this Otherworld, only the most powerful Human Race Cultivators possessed Divine Skills.

Gu Qingshan did not hope to awaken a Heaven Chosen Skill, much less a Divine Skill. He did not even dare hope for Five Elements Awakening.

He only wanted to properly awaken the power of Martial Arts Return and greatly enhance his combat ability.

He had to obtain a divine ability to preserve his life!

Gu Qingshan's heart burned with the desire to grow stronger, but he still kept calm, continuously using Spiritual Power to nourish his injuries.

Before his injuries healed, both his mind and body were exhausted. He could not force himself to go out and fight Demon Beasts.

Sharpening the knife did not delay the chopping of firewood. He had to give himself some time to recover.

An hour later, Zhao Liu came in.

A lavish spread of charcoal-grilled Demon Beast meat, paired with rice porridge as thin and clear as water, filled the table.

Gu Qingshan and Zhao Liu ate heartily, then cleaned everything up and sat around the charcoal fire, talking.

"Are there any swords in the camp?" Gu Qingshan asked.

At Qi Refining Stage - 3rd Layer, he could slowly begin practicing swordsmanship.

A bow for long range and a sword for close combat—this was how Gu Qingshan envisioned fighting in this life.

"A sword?" Zhao Liu shook his head repeatedly. "Only officers were allowed to wear swords. But all the officers in the Military Camp are dead, and their weapons were thrown into the Pit of the Dead with them."

—The Pit of the Dead had been swallowed in a single gulp by the Faceless Giant, leaving not even dregs behind.

Gu Qingshan sighed helplessly. As a sword cultivator, he had been reborn yet could not even lay a hand on a single sword. It truly left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry.