The Startling Secret

Chapter 39: The Startling Secret

At this moment, Gu Qingshan already possessed five archery skills: "Wind Riding (Passive), Bombardment, Hundred Steps Piercing Willow, Rapid Shot, and Chaotic Dance (Beginner)."

Among them, Hundred Steps Piercing Willow was a high-level precision skill. Wind Riding was a passive skill that worked at all times, increasing the speed of his arrows. Rapid Shot and Bombardment were both highly practical archery skills.

As for Chaotic Dance, it was a one-of-a-kind growth skill that might one day develop into a "Sub-Divine Skill."

These were all skills one could only hope to chance upon, never seek out.

Even generals with formidable strength did not necessarily possess such advanced skills.

Having comprehended the skills within the Night Rain Bow, Gu Qingshan's only weakness now was his cultivation.

A Blood-Drinking Demon tumbled down from Five Peaks, then scrambled to its feet. As soon as it looked up and spotted the formation, it charged straight toward them.

Fortunately for it, it had not been badly hurt and had retained seven or eight tenths of its fighting strength. A battle to break through enemy lines was exactly what it excelled at.

Gu Qingshan raised the Night Rain Bow and drew a deep breath.

Wind Riding!

Bombardment!

Hundred Steps Piercing Willow!

Arrows poured forth like streaks of light, slamming into the Blood-Drinking Demon before it could react.

In an instant, the Blood-Drinking Demon was blasted dozens of meters away. It crashed hard into a towering tree and spat out a mist of blood.

Gu Qingshan was so shocked that he forgot to keep shooting.

A Blood-Drinking Demon was comparable to an early Golden Core cultivator.

The force of one arrow had leaped across two major cultivation realms and blasted the demon away.

Archery could be this powerful? It was practically defying the heavens.

Gu Qingshan forced himself to calm down and silently gauged how much Spiritual Power he had used.

That single arrow had consumed nine tenths of his Spiritual Power.

This wouldn't do. It consumed far too much Spiritual Power.

With Gu Qingshan's reserves, he could unleash an attack like that at most once.

After that, he would be at the mercy of anyone who came for him.

In truth, an archery skill like Bombardment was meant for Golden Core cultivators. Nascent Soul cultivators could draw even more power from it.

Having comprehended such an advanced archery skill ahead of time, Gu Qingshan's Qi Refining-level Spiritual Power naturally couldn't sustain him in a prolonged battle.

Even Gongsun Zhi looked at Gu Qingshan in surprise.

"Huh? This kid is a monster with a bow. Interesting."

Gongsun Zhi silently raised his estimation of him.

The Blood-Drinking Demon, bloodied from head to toe, roared as it got back up. It strained to charge forward and tear that loathsome human to pieces.

Arrows kept whistling toward it, making its body falter again and again. It could barely advance at all.

This time, Gu Qingshan didn't use Bombardment.

His archery had already reached such a level that even ordinary shots carried tremendous force.

By rights, Gu Qingshan was only at the Qi Refining stage and should have been no match for the Blood-Drinking Demon.

But first, the formation had wounded the demon. Then, with such a long distance between them, Gu Qingshan's powerful archery skills had badly injured it with a single strike. Next, a torrent of arrows poured down and blocked its advance.

The Blood-Drinking Demon was terrifying in close combat, but it had not awakened the Five Elements and had no means of attacking from a distance.

With several of Gongsun Zhi's defensive formations between them, it couldn't break through in a hurry.

Each arrow struck with tremendous force, piercing into its body without missing once. As its wounds rapidly worsened, even the Blood-Drinking Demon began to feel fear.

No! This human's bow was too powerful. It had to fight with everything it had!

The Blood-Drinking Demon curled itself into a ball. In the next instant, an icy, evil aura seeped out of its body.

Gu Qingshan's eye twitched slightly at the sight.

Gongsun Zhi's expression changed too. He pressed both hands to the formation plate and rapidly set up a defensive formation.

Gongsun Zhi shouted, "Careful! It's about to use Yin Fire Burst!"

Yin Fire Burst was a Five Elements Fire Rend Spell infused with Underworld Yin Qi. Its power was immense, enough to blast a hole in a formation.

Ever since its birth, the Blood-Drinking Demon had been accumulating Underworld Yin Qi inside itself. When the day came that it had to stake its life, it would sacrifice itself in exchange for one chance to use a Five Elements Spell.

The Underworld Yin Qi would be fully detonated through a Fire Element spell.

A Blood-Drinking Demon only used this attack when it was on the verge of death.

In their clashes over the past few days, this move had given Gongsun Zhi a great deal of trouble.

Gu Qingshan swiftly took out the Python Fang Poison Arrow, fitted it to the Night Rain Bow, and fired.

Hundred Steps Piercing Willow!

Chaotic Dance!

Five arrows turned into gray shadows and sliced through the air at terrifying speed. They dodged the Blood-Drinking Demon's raised arms at unpredictable angles and struck its hindbrain all at once.

Thwack!

All the arrows sank in together, making a single sound.

Dark green blood trickled from the Blood-Drinking Demon's ears.

With a muffled thump, it fell to the ground. The Underworld Yin Qi gathering in its body gradually dispersed.

"You killed a high-level monster: Blood-Drinking Demon. Obtained 30 Soul Power. Current Soul Power: 30/7."

With 30 Soul Power in hand, Gu Qingshan thought for a moment and realized there were no skills left for him to learn.

Gongsun Zhi looked at Gu Qingshan in surprise and praised him. "Fine archery. You're so young, yet you've already comprehended so many lethal archery techniques. Once your cultivation improves, you'll be more than qualified to become a general."

Gu Qingshan lifted the Night Rain Bow and Python Fang Poison Arrow in his hands. "They're just good equipment. Besides, I had the protection of your formation, senior."

The Python Demons had only so many venomous fangs. Every one he used was one less to spare, but at this critical moment, Gu Qingshan couldn't afford to hold back.

Gongsun Zhi shook his head. "You deserve the praise. When I was your age, I was still poring over basic formations with a formation plate in my arms."

—Boom!

A thunderclap, loud enough to shake the heavens, rumbled above the high clouds.

Gongsun Zhi and Gu Qingshan looked up. Ning Yuechan was hurtling backward through the air, her golden armor gleaming. The white cape behind her whipped and billowed in the gale.

Gu Qingshan thought for a moment, then asked, "General Gongsun, do you have any other way to contact the outside world?"

At his question, Gongsun Zhi felt a little ashamed.

If he hadn't hesitated earlier, that Communication Talisman might have made it out.

Once a Saint arrived, the three of them would be safe.

But now that the Faceless Giant had arrived and could absorb Spiritual Power, there was probably no way to send a message anymore.

Gongsun Zhi hesitated briefly, then sighed. "There's only one way: go to the Divine Martial World. We have a teleportation formation there."

The Divine Martial World?

What was that?

Gu Qingshan stared blankly at him, then suddenly understood.

Cold sweat immediately broke out all over him.

At that moment, it seemed that Gongsun Zhi was leading him deep behind the lost pages of history, where he was about to witness a world-shaking secret.

Gongsun Zhi said, "You may not know this, but it's a world that was destroyed."

Gu Qingshan blurted out, "Besides this world, is there another one?"

In his previous life, even when the apocalypse arrived, he had never heard of any other worlds.

When the game descended upon reality, it was called World Apocalypse Online.

At first, the name had stirred widespread attention and debate.

As far as people knew, there were only the Cultivation World connected to the game and the real world.

Could just two worlds really be called "worlds"?

Later, after people grew used to traveling between the two worlds, they still never found an answer to that question. Meanwhile, the situation grew more dire by the day, and tens of thousands of people were dying at the hands of monsters and demons every day.

Gradually, no one had the time to keep investigating the matter.

Gongsun Zhi said, "Yes. Behind the Demon Monarch Imperial Court lies a stretch of Void Turbulence that leads to that destroyed world."

Gu Qingshan asked, "You went inside?"

"That's right. In one of its worlds, we found the remains of dozens of peerless experts. Our preliminary judgment was that they were Divine beings at the pinnacle of the Martial Dao."

The pinnacle of the Martial Dao—that was the Martial God realm!

Martial Gods were legendary beings. Even in this Cultivation World, they were exceedingly rare, among the strongest of all.

One of the three Saints was a Martial God.

Even Gu Qingshan, who had seen every kind of horror the apocalypse had to offer, couldn't help losing focus for a moment.

He murmured to himself, "Dozens of Martial God corpses... With power that peerless, how could the world still have been destroyed..."

Gongsun Zhi sighed. "Yes. I don't know why, but the Demon Kings had already set their sights on us. They absolutely won't let us meet anyone else and reveal this secret."

He looked at Gu Qingshan and said gravely, "Meeting you was entirely beyond what they—or we—expected."

This book is called World Apocalypse Online, and it's only in this chapter that the title finally becomes clear. The story will get more and more exciting from here on, so I humbly ask for your favorites and recommendation votes. Thank you, everyone!