Fake Array Master

A transparent, grey-black mist filled the entire world.

Streaks of fiery rain poured down from the sky.

In the void, a gap opened, and Gu Qingshan, wrapped in a membrane of light, flew out from within.

Beneath the sky, a clamorous sound of slaughter caught Gu Qingshan's attention.

On a hillside several hundred zhang away, a dense mass of Demons relentlessly swarmed towards the summit.

Several cultivators, back to back, were desperately fighting the Demons.

Before long, another cultivator was dragged away by the Demons, devoured in a chorus of screams.

"No! Brother!"

Among the cultivators, one let out a heart-wrenching cry, charged out of the formation, and began slaughtering the Demons with reckless abandon.

However, it had no effect. The bloody stimulation drove more Demons into a frenzy, and they surged towards the hillside like a tidal wave.

In just a few breaths, the impulsive cultivator was also killed by the Demons, torn apart and devoured.

The besieged Human Race cultivators were reduced to only six or seven, like flickering candles in the wind, about to be extinguished at any moment.

Gu Qingshan carefully examined the remaining few, and murmured, "So these are the remnants left behind by General Gongsun, not all dead yet, they do have some skill."

Gu Qingshan had no desire to watch any longer. He stirred the Spiritual Power within him, broke through the nearly transparent light membrane, and leaped towards a chosen direction.

It was a spot he had picked out, not far from the hillside. Most of the monsters were drawn to the cultivators on the hill, so it was relatively safe.

With his feet on solid ground, Gu Qingshan suppressed all the Spiritual Power in his body and held his breath.

--Demons can sense Spiritual Power fluctuations and breathing, so I must be careful.

A gust of extremely foul wind swept over. Gu Qingshan abruptly shifted his body, flying backwards several zhang.

Whoosh—

A loud crash came from behind him.

A large mouth full of sharp teeth snapped shut on the ground, retracting unwillingly.

Gu Qingshan looked back, his heart sinking slightly.

A Corpse Eating Demon, crawling forward, resembled a slowly moving mountain of rotten flesh.

An intense stench assaulted his senses.

This monster ate everything, especially favoring rotten corpses. Over time, its body exuded a unique and terrible odor.

Usually, even other Demons would avoid this monster because it was simply too foul.

The Corpse Eating Demon, missing its prey, agitatedly puffed out its cheeks, spitting out a stream of viscous fluid, attempting to trap the prey in place.

This fluid was not only difficult to escape, but it also corroded flesh. If one was caught off guard and sprayed, their facial features would be reduced to nothing.

This particular Corpse Eating Demon exuded a powerful aura, far surpassing ordinary Corpse Eating Demons, probably having reached the Foundation Establishment realm.

Its saliva might even be able to corrode bones.

Gu Qingshan had anticipated this move, and retreated violently, barely dodging the spray.

Among the cultivators on the hillside, one cast an unexpected glance in his direction.

In fact, when Gu Qingshan appeared in this space, they immediately sensed him.

When they discovered that it was only a Qi Refining cultivator, the hope that had just ignited in their hearts was extinguished once more.

The cultivators were already in despair, thinking that this kid wouldn't last more than a few breaths, but the result was beyond their expectations.

Gu Qingshan was only at the Qi Refining realm, a whole realm lower than the Corpse Eating Demon, yet he anticipated the enemy's moves and dodged the attack. It could be said that his performance was quite amazing.

The Corpse Eating Demon, seeing its prey dodge again, angrily opened its mouth to let out a sharp screech.

Once it made a sound, it would inevitably attract more Demons.

With Gu Qingshan's cultivation, if he was surrounded by layers of Demons, he would only face death.

In that critical moment, the Corpse Eating Demon suddenly felt something shoved into its mouth.

The Corpse Eating Demon was stunned.

With its brain, it couldn't figure out what was happening.

It instinctively opened its big mouth and began to chew on the thing in its mouth.

It feels weird, not the food I usually like, but it seems edible.

Hmm, the more I eat, the more fragrant it becomes, and it seems to be good for me.

The food quieted the Corpse Eating Demon down.

But what exactly is this?

The Corpse Eating Demon slowly reached out its claws to pull at the thing in its mouth, wanting to see what it was eating.

It wanted to remember this thing and add it to its diet in the future.

Seeing this, Gu Qingshan quietly lay down and slowly retreated out of the Corpse Eating Demon's sight.

Just now, he had taken out a stack of Python Demon skin and Python Demon bones, throwing them through the air and stuffing them into the opponent's big mouth.

This Corpse Eating Demon monster, when extremely hungry, could swallow even stones as food, let alone the fact that Python Demons were rare Demon Beasts, their skin and bones containing powerful energy, which was definitely much tastier than stones and rotten corpses.

With the Corpse Eating Demon's attention drawn to the food, Gu Qingshan quietly slipped away.

He hid in a pile of boulders, carefully surveying his surroundings.

There weren't many Demons nearby; most of the Demons in this area were rushing towards the hillside.

On the hillside, the battle was becoming increasingly fierce.

Six or seven cultivators were surrounded by layers of Demons, unable to advance or retreat.

The cultivators struggled to survive in the Demon horde, forced to activate their Spiritual Power and exert themselves to the fullest, so that even at a great distance, one could sense the fluctuations of Spiritual Power on their bodies.

After watching for a while, Gu Qingshan's expression gradually became serious.

"These people are at least at the Foundation Establishment realm, and there are even Golden Core realm cultivators."

Whether it was those few cultivators or the Demons all over the ground, they were far beyond what he could deal with.

"My cultivation is too low, many methods can't be used, so there's only..."

As he was thinking, three or five Demons discovered him.

They roared as they gathered, pushing aside other Demons along the way, fearing that there would be one more competitor for blood and food.

Gu Qingshan, however, didn't look at these Foundation Establishment realm Demons. While retreating, he took out an Array Disc, holding it in one hand and mobilizing Spiritual Power with the other, rapidly tapping on the Array Disc.

His hands didn't stop, and he shouted loudly, "Come this way!"

On the other side, another cultivator was killed, their body devoured by the Demons, and the remaining few became even more precarious.

Hearing this, they couldn't help but look over, and were overjoyed to see Gu Qingshan holding an Array Disc, with Spiritual light swirling around him.

"Array Disc!"

"An Array Master! He's an Array Master!"

"Great, we're saved."

Array Masters were very rare, and each one was treated as a treasure by their sect, carefully protected. How could one appear here alone?

The crowd didn't have time to think about these things.

Suddenly seeing hope for survival, their spirits were greatly lifted, and they forced the Demons around them back several feet.

Under the command of one cultivator, they slowly moved closer to Gu Qingshan.

That cultivator pointed out two people and ordered, "He's only at the Qi Refining realm, you two are fast, go protect him!"

"Yes!"

This Array Master was their hope for survival.

The commander also shook the jade fan in his hand, trying his best to cast spells.

One after another, Demons turned into ice sculptures under his spell attacks. Even the powerful Demons that weren't frozen had their movements slowed.

The sword cultivators and saber practitioners surged forward, a flurry of blades reaping the Demons' lives.

With such large-scale frost spells providing cover, the saber practitioners and sword cultivators moved like lightning, quickly reaching Gu Qingshan and slaying the Demons that charged at him.

Gu Qingshan glanced at the two, his eyes fixed on the sword cultivator's hand, unable to look away.

It was a sword!

Gu Qingshan looked at the long sword in the sword cultivator's hand, his fingers twitching involuntarily.

Since his rebirth, Gu Qingshan couldn't recall a single sword technique. All the sword techniques he had practiced seemed to have been deliberately sealed by the system.

He could vaguely sense that the system had done this to minimize risks during time travel and avoid some terrifying troubles.

Gu Qingshan still remembered the system's words after his rebirth: "Successful stowaway."

But now that he had successfully been reborn, the mysterious seal on his body remained.

His instincts told him that he needed a sword.

Just like the countless years in the past, he needed a sword that could kill!

The sword cultivator at the peak of Foundation Establishment stage noticed Gu Qingshan's gaze and gave him a strange look.

No, not yet!

Gu Qingshan suppressed the impulse in his heart, turned his head, and focused his gaze on the commander.

"So that's it, he has unlocked the Five Elements Water and advanced to the second stage, Frost Realm. If it weren't for him, these people would have died long ago."

Gu Qingshan paid attention secretly, then turned to look at the two cultivators at the rear.

The two cultivators stood on either side of the commander, attacking purely with the power of their fists and feet, each blow sending a large number of Demons flying.

These were Martial Arts practitioners, their Qi and blood as substantial as matter, the power of Martial Arts Return flowing throughout their bodies.

There was no mistake, they were genuine Martial Arts Grandmasters at the peak realm, almost ready to advance to the initial stage of Martial Venerable.

Behind them, a sea of Demons, like mountains and oceans, followed closely.

A few breaths passed in an instant, and the group rushed to Gu Qingshan's side, surrounding him.

The leading cultivator put away his jade fan and asked urgently, "What kind of Array is it? Do you need our protection?"

Everyone looked over.

Setting up an Array required time. If Gu Qingshan took too long and everyone couldn't hold on, and the Array wasn't successfully deployed, it would become a joke.

Gu Qingshan shook his head upon hearing this and said, "It will be ready soon."

He patted the Array Disc and formed a hand seal with both hands.

The Array Disc that Gongsun Zhi had given him was attached with several extremely profound Arrays.

Gongsun Zhi had taught Gu Qingshan the specific hand seals to activate the Array Disc. Each time a certain Array on the Array Disc was activated, Spiritual Power had to be used in conjunction with the corresponding specific hand seal.

Originally, Array Masters needed to form seals to set up Arrays. At first glance, Gu Qingshan's movements did indeed resemble those of an Array Master.

Only an Array Master with deep attainments like Gongsun Zhi could discern the effect of the hand seals and recognize that he was an imposter.

The only flaw was that the Arrays on the Array Disc had a limited number of uses. Once used up, the Array Disc would be scrapped.

Now that the situation was critical and the cultivators were strangers, Gu Qingshan simply pretended to be an Array Master.

"Water, Wind, Mist, Earth, Azure Nether Sky Piercing Escape Array!"

Gu Qingshan urged his Spiritual Power, and the Array Disc erupted with sea-like starlight, with four particularly bright Spiritual Lights flickering uncertainly.

The Array was complete!

The strongest escape Array on the Array Disc was activated, and Gu Qingshan's Spiritual Power was depleted by 70% in an instant.

Spiritual Light enveloped him and the cultivators around him. In an instant, the cultivators disappeared from the sea of Demons.

Countless Demons couldn't find their targets and roared madly. Before long, they began to tear at each other.

The most terrifying giant Demons couldn't stand it after a while. They grabbed a few Demons at random, stuffed them into their mouths, chewed them, and dragged their huge bodies away into the distance.

Their actions directly extinguished the arrogance of the other Demons.

Before long, about half of the Demons slowly dispersed.

Inside the Azure Nether Sky Piercing Escape Array, the cultivators lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.

They had all reached their limit.