Another Encounter with Gao Guan

The grassland was vast and empty, the sky was overcast, and under the black canopy, silver moonlight shone down from the clouds, covering the entire grassland with a layer of silver gauze.

But what this silver veil covered was a ground littered with corpses.

Spreading from the distant borders and constantly contracting inwards, the corpses formed rings upon rings, layer upon layer, covering the entire grassland as far as the eye could see.

Many, especially many.

From Xu Bai's perspective, there were only a few places to stand, as if this place had been the site of a terrifying battle.

Each corpse bore horrific wounds.

Their blood had drained away, soaking into the withered grass, some of which had turned a deep red.

Xu Bai frowned deeply as he looked around.

This is something I've never heard of before.

He was brought here right at the start, and there wasn't a single person in sight, just corpses. What secrets were hidden here? He figured there must be secrets; the entire Ruins were a huge secret, but there were no clues right now.

Xu Bai raised his hand and carefully pinched it.

With his current mastery of Myriad Miscellaneous Arts, now integrated into the Saint-level, he was unable to calculate good or bad fortune, let alone find any clues.

This situation caused Xu Bai to twitch wildly; he felt that this trip was definitely fraught with danger.

Even he couldn't predict the outcome, and even a Saint-level expert couldn't calculate it. This Ruins is no ordinary thing.

"With this kind of start, let's just head straight for one place."

Xu Bai first used his divine soul to spread out and explore the surrounding situation. After finding no useful clues, he decided to find a direction to continue his journey.

There are only corpses here, nothing but corpses! Wait a minute!

Xu Bai had just taken one step out, ready to leave, when he immediately pulled his foot back. His gaze lingered on the corpses within sight, and soon, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"How long has it been since you last looted a corpse?"

In the past, after he finished fighting and killing someone, he would carefully examine the scene to see if there was a progress bar.

As he grew stronger, no one fought him anymore, and eventually, no one looted the corpses.

This is Ruins, a recreation of an era of resource depletion. If these corpses were all people skilled in the trade, could they possibly uncover some secret techniques? "So many corpses, searching them one by one is too slow. Right, I do have this skill..."

Xu Bai twisted the True Yuan Power within his body, then he made a hand seal, at which point a portion of his True Yuan Power was consumed.

The Corpse Control Method, obtained from the Corpse Collector in the previous Ruins, has been integrated into Myriad Miscellaneous Arts.

Since this place is full of corpses, controlling it will be a piece of cake.

Soon, a terrifying scene unfolded on this vast grassland.

Each corpse rose from the ground, though none of them showed any signs of life and their bodies were covered in horrific wounds and blood. Yet, they had indeed come back to life in an unusual way.

If the Corpse Collector saw Xu Bai using this method to simplify his way of touching corpses, they would probably be so angry that they would run out of the coffin.

"Then... let's begin." Xu Bai snapped his fingers, waiting calmly.

Under the moonlight, the corpses began to search themselves, finding anything useful.

Unfortunately, Xu Bai didn't see anything related to the progress bar, and this scene made him feel that something was wrong.

These people died here, their bodies covered in wounds, clearly from a fierce battle.

Xu Bai made an assumption: what if these people were fighting each other for something, or for some benefit?

Those in the trade would surely leave something behind.

After all, the dead can't take their belongings with them.

But now there's nothing useful, let alone a progress bar.

There is only one answer.

Some people left alive, even taking things with them, including cheat codes that could generate progress bars.

But then another problem arises: there are so many corpses here that it's impossible for one person to carry them all away, which means there are quite a few survivors as well.

"No traces of movement were found, not even footprints. It seems that they must have left by flying. So... the person who left must have been at least at the Transcendent Realm or above."

Based on the scan of the scene by his spiritual senses, Xu Bai found no clues and came to another guess.

In such a chaotic place, it would be nearly impossible to clear away every trace. The only way to leave without leaving any clues is to fly away.

"But the key question is, which direction did these people leave from?" Xu Bai stroked his chin, deep in thought.

He will definitely chase after them. If it really was those who left who took the manual with them, given the number of corpses here, even if the number is halved, it won't be much less.

With so many progress bars, how could they possibly slip through my fingers? So the question is, which direction should I chase after them? Xu Bai stood still for a moment before lowering his hand, looking at the figures around him that he had controlled and who had stood up, and then snapped his fingers.

The next moment, the corpses began to scatter in all directions...

Since I'm all alone, I certainly can't search everywhere, so I'll let these corpses do the searching.

Nowadays, the Corpse Control Method has been integrated into Myriad Miscellaneous Arts, and has long since reached the level of sainthood, with an extremely wide range of controllable abilities.

If he still can't find it after searching like this, or if he still can't find it after going outside the search area, then Xu Bai can only blame his bad luck.

The corpses were quite fast, after all, they retained their strength from when they were alive.

Xu Bai stood there patiently waiting.

The grassland was now empty, and the corpses were frantically searching for it.

On a dark, moonlit night, Xu Bai waited for about half an hour before finally sensing something amiss through the corpses.

"Found you." Xu Bai smiled, and with his True Yuan Power circulating, he soared into the air and chased after it in one direction.

Under the crimson light.

Dozens of people were facing each other under the moonlight.

These people were divided into two groups, each with roughly the same strength.

Everyone carries a burden on their back; some of these burdens peek out, revealing only the outline of books.

One group was led by a middle-aged man with a goatee, while the other group was led by an elderly man with white hair.

The man with the goatee stared coldly at the person opposite him, his tone sinister. "I knew it. You wanted to take the remaining tokens. All that talk about everyone getting along peacefully was a lie."

"After all, some of your people don't have tokens, so they really want ours."

The white-haired old man did not have the kind expression one would expect from an elderly person; instead, he exuded a sinister chill. "Aren't you the same? If we didn't have a common goal, how could we have killed all those people and seized their tokens?"

"Since you've discovered us, we'll have no choice but to take it by force. Enough with the nonsense. If you throw the token on the ground, I might spare your lives."

Upon hearing this, the man with the goatee sneered, "If you want to give us a way out, I'd like to give you one too. Since we've all torn off all pretenses today, let's fight to the death."

Although both sides were exchanging harsh words, neither side made a move. They stood facing each other, weighing the pros and cons of taking action.

Time passed slowly, and these people all managed to keep their tempers in check, standing there wary of each other.

Just then, a noise came from not far away, attracting the attention of both groups. When the leaders turned around, they saw the source of the sound and were shocked.

A huge pile of corpses, in all sorts of bizarre poses, were surging towards them.

Some of the corpses were on all fours, running like animals, while others leaped a great distance in a single bound, making them appear as if a wave was surging towards them.

"What happened? Weren't they all dead? Why are they alive again?"

Everyone present was utterly shocked.

They killed these people, stole the token, and left. But why did these people come back to life, and why are they so terrifying?

"Let's not argue with you for now, let's join forces to deal with these strange things first, and then we'll talk!" the goatee shouted.

"Good!" The white-haired old man's expression was solemn, and he also agreed with the goatee's approach.

Immediately afterwards, both sides' forces took to the air at the same time, their escape movements remarkably synchronized.

This group of people were all at or above the Transcendent Realm, and they all escaped by flying.

The goat-bearded man cursed, "Pah! I knew you wanted to run away."

"Likewise," the white-haired old man retorted sarcastically.

Although both sides agreed to cooperate against each other, their first thought was to escape. If one side stayed, they would become the scapegoats.

They weren't afraid of the corpses, because they had killed them when they were alive, but something was definitely amiss.

The corpse suddenly came back to life, which must have been for an extremely terrifying reason, so no one wanted to stay.

Neither side stopped to fight; both were running as fast as they could.

There's a saying that goes, "When you're being chased by a wild beast, what you need to do isn't to run faster than the beast, but to run faster than your companions. That's how you survive."

At this moment, both sides had the same mentality: they wanted to run faster than each other, but they were evenly matched, with no difference in speed.

Gradually, the group of corpses seemed to slow down suddenly. Then, the corpse in the lead lost control and fell to the ground. The corpses behind it fell one after another and could no longer move.

Both sides breathed a sigh of relief, but still did not stop.

They were chasing each other just fine, but suddenly the chase stopped, which was even stranger, so they wanted to leave as soon as possible.

But at that moment, someone with sharp eyes noticed something was wrong and pointed behind them, shouting.

"Someone's approaching! They're getting close at lightning speed!"

As soon as the voice rang out, several pairs of eyes turned to look, and the group of people flying in the air quickly saw what was happening behind them.

There was a small black dot that was gradually enlarging under the moonlight.

The zoom-in speed was extremely fast; in the blink of an eye, they could already see the outline.

It was a man, wearing a Daoist robe, with his hands behind his back.

The strong wind tousled the man's long hair and billowed his robes.

The man's gaze was cold, yet mocking, like that of a hunter watching his fleeing prey.

No matter how the prey tries to escape, it can't escape the hunter's grasp. In the hunter's eyes, it's just toying with the prey.

Because of the action of looking back, the people present paused slightly, and in that brief pause, the man simply walked past them and blocked their way.

Xu Bai looked at the group of people who were running away and smiled, "Are you all tired from running? Sit down and rest for a bit."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Heavenly Change between gold and gray, enveloping the surroundings.

An aura of madness and rationality was constantly being transmitted, rapidly permeating the air.

Now, he has reached the Extraordinary Rank 9, and the terror of the Heavenly Change is enough to make one's hair stand on end.

Even these Transcendent Realm experts were unable to resist. When the Heavenly Change spread, all the Transcendent Realm experts covered their heads, let out shrill screams, and fell from the sky to the ground.

Only the man with the goatee and the white-haired old man were able to put up a fight, but their faces turned unusually pale, clearly indicating that they were struggling to resist.

"Hmm, two extraordinary beings, but not very strong?" Xu Bai's smile vanished, and his tone turned icy. "I told you to rest, but you didn't want to, did you?"

After saying that, he casually waved his hand.

The next moment, a dazzling light suddenly appeared in his hand.

Myriad Attacks had combined all his offensive techniques and now he could do whatever he wanted.

This beam of light could be a knife, or it could be something else entirely.

As the light suddenly appeared, both the external destructive force and the attack on the soul caused the goatee and the white-haired old man to vomit blood.

The dark clouds in the sky were dispersed, and even the moonlight paled in comparison to the light in Xu Bai's hand.

"My lord, spare us! My lord, spare us! We didn't know you were coming!"

The man with the goatee reacted very quickly, kneeling in mid-air and crying out.

The white-haired old man was equally fast, making the same movements as the man with the goatee, while simultaneously raising the token in his hand.

"We are willing to offer all our tokens to you, so that you may enter the Doomsday Law Pavilion."

The Doomsday Law Pavilion? Xu Bai raised an eyebrow, not expecting that a new clue had appeared.

But... this is a good thing!

When we first arrived, we had no clues at all, but now we have them, don't we?

Xu Bai was too lazy to waste words with him and directly crushed him with his divine soul, controlling everyone present.

The next moment, everyone present, including Goat Lake and the white-haired old man, turned blank and expressionless.

"Come on, tell me everything you know about this token."

Xu Bai stood with his hands behind his back, waiting calmly.

If you give him a pot of tea now, he can have a couple of sips and listen to a story.

The man with the goatee and the white-haired old man were under his control and recounted the whole story.

When Xu Bai heard the whole story, his brows furrowed.

It is still a period of resource depletion, but he is unsure of the exact extent of the depletion.

After all, no one can figure out exactly which time period they enter the Ruins each time.

There is an organization called the Doomsday Law Pavilion, which has branches in many places.

The so-called Doomsday Law Pavilion is a place that recruits experts to plunder resources in an attempt to prolong its own existence.

They firmly believe that this shortage of resources is due to an overabundance of people in the industry.

Therefore, they used this as a center to continuously slaughter people in the industry.

Once a certain number of these people die, the resource shortage will stop.

These repeated battles would inevitably result in casualties even among them, so every so often, tokens would be randomly distributed. Whoever received a token would definitely have a key to unlock the door.

This stepping stone will put them through a test; if they pass the test, they will be able to join the Doomsday Law Pavilion.

Within the Doomsday Law Pavilion, they plunder resources, thus alleviating the current resource depletion situation. The only drawback is that they have to go out and experience various battles, but it's still much better than being alone like this.

The people killed by these two forces were all there to seize the token.

After they killed those people, they stole the token.

However, they didn't have enough tokens to enter, so they all wanted to kill each other.

"I see." Xu Bai stroked his chin and asked, "Where is the branch of the Doomsday Law Pavilion located here?"

The man with the goatee pointed in a direction, meaning that it was roughly in this direction.

Xu Bai nodded. "Hand over all the signs."

Upon hearing Xu Bai's words, everyone present handed over their tokens. Xu Bai glanced at them and found that there were nearly two hundred tokens in total.

The two sides together numbered nearly three hundred people.

"One piece should be enough to get in, right?" Xu Bai asked.

The man with the goatee nodded stiffly.

Xu Bai put away one of the tokens and then ordered, "Besides those tokens, what else did you steal? Bring it all out."

As soon as Xu Bai finished speaking, everyone present opened the packages behind them.

Xu Bai searched through the books and found only seven, most of which contained valuable items such as weapons.

These items were all found from the corpses, but the progress bar is far too short.

"Why are there only these few manuals?" Xu Bai asked.

The man with the goatee replied, "In the heat of battle, secret manuals are the easiest to destroy. Besides, everyone is only fighting for the resources to survive, so why would they care about secret manuals or carry them around?"

Xu Bai understood.

Even a mosquito's leg is still meat; although these progress bars don't seem slow, they can still increase a little bit.

He didn't want anything else, he just packed the seven books in a bundle.

After doing all that, he headed straight in the direction the goatee had initially pointed.

However, before leaving, he subtly moved his soul, and everyone present collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

If these people die before becoming Thought Gods, they will not become Thought Gods, so Xu Bai is not worried about anything else.

Flying in mid-air, heading in that direction, rushing as fast as I could.

Xu Bai then realized that the Ruins were truly enormous; he had been flying for a full hour and still hadn't reached the designated location.

However, he did not come away empty-handed.

These seven books were not of high level, and he had finished them all in one hour. Unfortunately, they were all cultivation techniques, and the seven books did not even increase in value by 0.1.

Xu Bai felt a toothache, and he was speechless, especially when he thought about the various problems with the cultivation method.

Hopefully, this time we'll achieve something.

After flying for almost the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a colossal building finally appeared ahead.

This is a city, a somewhat dilapidated city, with two people guarding the city gate.

There was no signboard, and I didn't even know the name of the city.

Xu Bai landed from mid-air, casually altered his appearance and physique, and headed towards the city.

As he got closer, he could feel the stench of blood permeating the entire city.

In such an apocalyptic environment, killing is inevitable.

Those who manage to enter this city alive and successfully join the Doomsday Law Pavilion experience even more carnage.

Xu Bai slowly walked to the city gate, where two guards stood in the middle, each holding a different weapon.

"Token".

The two simple words, spoken with utter indifference, made it seem as if they would take action if Xu Bai failed to hand over the token.

Xu Bai took out a token from his waist and waved it in front of the two guards.

The two guards exchanged a glance, and one of them said to Xu Bai, "Are you alone?"

Xu Bai laughed and said, "It's just me."

"Alright," the guard said. "Just follow me."

With that, the guard turned and led the way.

Xu Bai didn't understand what he meant, but he still followed behind and entered the city.

Once inside, he discovered that the city was completely different from what he had imagined.

Inside were wide streets, covered in dust due to lack of cleaning, but stalls were still set up on both sides of the street.

Unlike the streets, the stalls here display only supplies for the trade.

The stall owners were all people in the trade.

There are no ordinary people here; in this kind of environment, an ordinary person would probably be dead long ago.

The guards remained silent throughout the journey, and Xu Bai, enjoying some peace and quiet, also kept quiet.

After walking for a while, a rather imposing building appeared ahead. The guard came to the door and pointed directly inside.

"Go inside and register, and see where you'll be assigned."

Xu Bai asked with a smile, "May I ask, what are all the locations in total?"

The guard didn't answer, but instead stretched out his hand. "If you want me to answer your questions, you need to give me resources."

"Pills, weapons, or anything else—anything that can improve my strength is fine."

Xu Bai raised an eyebrow.

He seemed to understand that in this world, resources had become a commodity to be traded. So-called resources were things that could keep people alive and help them improve their strength.

It is not limited to elixirs or weapons.

But Xu Bai did not.

He realized he had made a mistake; he should have grabbed some weapons, which would have made things easier for him here.

Seeing that Xu Bai didn't answer, the guard chuckled and, knowing that Xu Bai didn't have any resources, turned and left.

Xu Bai did not stop him. He looked at the building behind him, thought for a moment, and then stepped inside.

Inside the building is a spacious courtyard, where people can be seen walking around from time to time.

As soon as Xu Bai stepped inside, he smelled a strong stench of blood. Everyone here carried that smell, indicating that they had all recently experienced some kind of battle or killing.

No one paid him any attention. He thought about it carefully for a moment and was about to grab someone at random to ask.

Unexpectedly, a voice came from behind.

"The new guy?"

Xu Bai recognized the voice.

He turned his head and looked at the white-clad man in the tall hat behind him, his expression somewhat complicated.

—Gao Guan.

He never expected to see him again. It was truly unexpected. He remembered that last time in the Ruins, Gao Guan found the old man before transforming into Thought Gods. He fought the old man in a final battle, trying to drag him to his death in order to Tian Xing.

But in the end, it didn't work. Xu Bai had to use Spirit Summoning Method to lure Liu Qingfeng over, and only then was the person killed.

Seeing him suddenly, Xu Bai knew what time period it was; it must have been before Gao Guan went to that mountain.

In other words, resources are not yet depleted to a certain extent, so people won't be as desperately trying to survive as they were before.

Furthermore, it can be inferred that the End-of -Doomsday Law Pavilion likely failed in the end. Judging from Gao Guan's words, it seems that he was a member of the Doomsday Law Pavilion, but he ended up on that mountain, which must have been for a reason.

Gao Guan was still dressed in his white shirt and top hat. When he saw that Xu Bai ignored him, he thought Xu Bai was in a daze and couldn't help but ask again, "Newcomer, it will be very difficult for you to survive in this world in your condition."

Xu Bai then realized what was happening, rubbed his face vigorously, and laughed, "Are you a senior here?"

Gao Guan chuckled and said, "Of course, I am Gao Guan, and I am also a very rare Corpse Collector these days."

Xu Bai raised an eyebrow.

He really wanted to say, "I not only know you are Corpse Collector, but you also passed on your legacy to me, asking me to help you find a successor."

Of course, he couldn't say these things aloud. He could only pretend that he had just met Gao Guan, repeatedly cupping his hands in greeting, wanting Gao Guan to introduce him to the next steps.

Before these people became Thought Gods, they could communicate and socialize, and perhaps even find useful clues from them. Therefore, Xu Bai did not start a killing spree as soon as he arrived.

Besides, who knows if there are any saints in the Ruins? No one told him there are, but no one told him there aren't either. Let's just assume there are, and be on the safe side.

Gao Guan lifted his foot and walked ahead, waving to Xu Bai: "Judging from your poor and down-on-your-luck appearance, you probably don't have any treasures. Come with me, I won't take your resources. Otherwise, if you ask these people to lead the way, they will all ask you for things. If you don't have any, you won't be able to move an inch here."

Xu Bai nodded and followed behind.

The two walked one after the other and soon arrived at one of the rooms.

Gao Guan pointed to the room and said, "Write down your name and information in here, and after a while, we'll know which section you're in."

"You get what you're assigned to. Don't try to get someone to take it away for you. If you have resources, then disregard what I said. Anyway, the good parts always go to those with resources."

"Oh?" Xu Bai asked with great interest, "What's the good part? And what's the bad part?"

He realized that the so-called "part" here must have involved connections.

Gao Guan pointed to himself and said, "Being classified as combat is not good. You have to fight and kill every day, and you might not be around any day."

After saying that, he pointed to the room.

"Those who specialize in keeping records or doing other things in the city are considered good categories. They don't need to go out and fight, but they can still receive resources."

Xu Bai understood; so as long as one didn't leave the city, it was considered a good category.

He nodded, said nothing more, and pushed the door open to enter.

Gao Guan didn't linger; wearing his white top hat, he walked away.

Upon entering, Xu Bai was immediately struck by a strong stench of blood. A middle-aged man dressed in ordinary clothes, with a mustache, was writing something on the paper.

The strong smell of blood was emanating from the middle-aged man with the two mustaches.

Seemingly hearing the door open, the middle-aged man looked up, his mustache twitching slightly. "Newcomer? Name."

It's such a simple question, I wish I could ask more, it would be a waste.

Xu Bai looked to the side, where there was a corpse, and there were traces of blood on the middle-aged man's hands.

The middle-aged man didn't even lift his eyelids. "He was seriously injured and couldn't be saved after being brought back, so he's a good opportunity for me to collect medicinal herbs."

As he spoke, he walked over to the body.

Several small, grass-like medicinal herbs had already sprouted on the corpse's stomach.

"What a pity, only so many can be planted from one corpse," the middle-aged man said regretfully.

These medicinal herbs are also resources, but nowadays, various resources are depleted, and medicinal herbs simply cannot be grown. Now, this middle-aged man has come up with a unique approach: to use corpses to cultivate them.

Xu Bai said, "My name is Fang Mu."

Since the other party only asked for his name, he casually gave one. As for why he was called Fang Mu, was there any reason for the casual answer? The middle-aged man nodded, noted it down in a book, and then got up and went into the inner room.

Xu Bai felt that joining this place was too easy, but after thinking about it, he realized it wasn't actually that complicated.

It's all about resources. Once you have the token, there will inevitably be a lot of fighting and killing. People come here just to ask for resources. Who would want to lie or do anything else?

After waiting for about half an incense stick's time, the middle-aged man took out a booklet and spread it out in front of Xu Bai.

The settings are labeled with various categories, including combat, internal affairs, and other miscellaneous categories. However, except for the combat category, the others are all clearly priced, requiring a certain amount of resources to acquire.

Xu Bai recalled what Gao Guan had said earlier, and seeing the middle-aged man's blatant price tag, it seemed to be permitted.

Resources gained from fighting and killing are also resources, and so is the money extorted here. It's estimated that everything obtained will be handed over and then redistributed.

Xu Bai has no resources, and even if he did, he wouldn't give them away, because he really wants to join the combat category.

He didn't come here to stay in this city; he just happened to follow this category to see if there were any other clues, especially since Gao Guan was also there.

Xu Bai had a good impression of Gao Guan. After all, he was able to face that terrifying old man with composure. Such a person was not afraid of death and was easy to get along with.

So since he had the opportunity, he decided to make contact.

"Combat category, I suppose," Xu Bai said.

The middle-aged man curled his lip. "Poor bastard."

As he spoke, he turned around, took out a bottle of medicine from the drawer, and handed it to Xu Bai.

"Drink it."