Reversal!

In the darkness, Gu Jianlin raised the index finger of his right hand. A drop of golden blood shimmered at his fingertip, glowing brilliantly.

It was clearly just a drop of blood, yet it emitted a rich, cloying, metallic scent.

It was like a bright, poisonous fruit grown on a tree of malice, possessing both lethal danger and irresistible temptation.

For a moment, all five people, including the Mentor, held their breath.

The Mentor, in particular, revealed undisguised fervor and longing in his eyes, as if he had caught sight of the hope of survival.

"Look, the Ancient God blood you crave."

Gu Jianlin said indifferently, "I can perhaps understand the fear of having one's spirit polluted, one's body twisting and collapsing, and one's life nearing its end. But the question is, how could you possibly be worthy of it?"

In the deathly silence, one could clearly hear rapid breathing and heartbeats.

"As long as you are willing to bestow the Ancient God blood upon us, we will prove our worth."

The Mentor knelt on the ground and said in a deep voice, "Because we can serve as your bridge to the outside world! For instance, the Sea Siren—she can provide you with intelligence from the Ether Association. It is the largest organization of Ascenders on Earth today and the greatest enemy of the Ancient God race. And the Moon Maiden and the Butcher, they are highly skilled in combat and can help you plunder resources from the outside!"

His throat bobbed as he continued, "As for me, just as I said before, next time I will provide you with a sufficiently vast amount of spirituality! Considering that we are being hunted, wanted by the Ether Association, and are on the verge of losing control and mutating, refining these Spirit Potions is already an extremely difficult task! It is impossible to provide you with a massive amount of spirituality."

Their confidence lay in the fact that this Ancient God could not reach the outside world.

There were too many people in this world stronger than them.

But in the Kirin Immortal Palace, they had no other choice but him.

In the darkness, Gu Jianlin's gaze remained cold, his Golden Eyes burning fiercely.

"Is it that you cannot, or that you do not want to?"

The hoarse, ethereal voice exploded like Thunder.

The Mentor was inexplicably terrified, as if his petty thoughts could not be hidden from this Ancient God at all.

He had been exposed.

Because, in truth, he simply did not want to.

After all, making a deal with an Ancient God was an incredibly dangerous affair.

The Mentor was not sure exactly how much spirituality this Ancient God needed to break free from his shackles.

But he knew one thing.

Once the Kirin Venerable broke free, they would be useless.

The five people led by the Mentor were fighting for their lives, and they would not stop until they achieved their goal.

In any case, the worst-case scenario was death.

Being killed by an Ancient God or dying from one's own mutation and loss of control—there was no difference.

"Of course it is that I cannot."

The Mentor prostrated himself on the ground, his voice trembling, "As you can see, I am nearing the end of my life! I beg you, please grant me another chance, and I will refine higher-grade..."

The next moment, his words were interrupted by a faint, mocking laugh.

"Human talent is limited; there is no need to push yourself too hard."

Gu Jianlin raised his blazing golden eyes, enunciating every word, "I want you to do something else."

He did not need higher-grade Spirit Potions for the time being; he had only done that to keep these people in check.

He knew clearly that this Alchemist was deep and calculating and would never provide a large amount of Spirit Potions all at once.

Of course, this suited his intentions perfectly.

The Mentor remained silent for a moment, his body trembling violently, before saying, "Please speak."

Gu Jianlin said indifferently, "When you entered the Kirin Immortal Palace, did you see the Kui?"

He did not quite know how to describe that thing, so he used a name to replace it.

He would test these people.

After all, that monster was so terrifying that anyone who encountered it would be left with a deep impression.

"The Kui?"

The Mentor and his four students looked at each other in confusion.

"Although I do not know what you are referring to, if it is an existence that warrants your attention, then we have never seen it."

The old man said, "We entered this place relying on the Records of Xu Fu, which allowed us to avoid the vast majority of dangers within the Kirin Immortal Palace. After all, the highest among us is only at the fourth rank; if we had encountered such powerful existences, we would have died long ago."

So that was it.

Gu Jianlin hadn't expected much anyway, and he said coldly:

"Besides that, there is a person who interests me. He also entered this tomb once. According to your understanding as Ascenders, he should have been a sixth-rank Celestial Master."

Gu Jianlin said indifferently, "I want to know his whereabouts."

As soon as these words were spoken, the tomb chamber suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

The Mentor was kneeling, but his hunched body trembled visibly, and his hands gripped the ground tightly.

At the same time, the Sea Siren and the Moon Maiden also tensed their bodies.

Gu Jianlin was sensitive to these subtle changes in expression and posture, and he saw the clues at a glance.

These three people clearly knew who it was the moment they heard "sixth-rank Celestial Master"!

"The person you are talking about, could it be Gu Ci'an?"

The Mentor said with a tremor, "As for a sixth-rank Celestial Master, he is the only one I can think of. After all, in this world, there are only a handful of people capable of entering this place without the help of the Records of Xu Fu."

"And as for a sixth-rank Celestial Master, there is only Gu Ci'an."

His voice turned dry as he mentioned the name, "He... he did indeed appear in the Immortal Palace. Could it be that he entered this place one step ahead of us?"

At this moment, emotions surged deep within Gu Jianlin.

These people really knew!

Based on his observations, the Mentor seemed very unwilling to mention his father's name; the two must have had some history.

"You seem to have a very deep impression of him."

Gu Jianlin forced himself to calm down and said lightly.

The Mentor's eyes flickered for a moment, as if recalling past fears, and he explained in a low voice, "As you expected, my impression of him is indeed very deep. How could it not be? I once hid ancient documents and brought the Book Elder and the Butcher into the Immortal Palace, only to be hunted down by Gu Ci'an. It was a narrow escape..."

Gu Jianlin thought to himself that the old man wasn't lying.

The Joker had said the same thing.

"At that time, we were all trapped in the lowest level of the seabed. That area still belonged to the region where humans could survive, unlike the top level, which is filled with the spiritual domain you left behind. As long as we brought enough supplies, we didn't have to be teleported away. But the problem was that Gu Ci'an followed us in and tracked us for a full six months!"

The Mentor said gloomily, "Gu Ci'an was also proficient in profiling; he was like a nightmare to us. If it weren't for the fact that we had the Records of Xu Fu in our hands, we probably would have been caught by him long ago."

For a moment, the tomb chamber fell into a deathly silence.

Gu Jianlin appeared perfectly calm on the surface, but his heart was churning with turbulent waves!

This Alchemist actually said that his father had been trapped in the lowest level of the seabed with them for a full six months!

For a moment, he couldn't tell who was telling the truth.

"Gu Ci'an was a member of the Ether Association, right?"

Gu Jianlin continued to try his best to remain calm, saying indifferently, "To hunt down traitors."

"At first, I thought so too, but later I felt that this matter was not that simple."

The Mentor's pupils constricted, and he said respectfully, "Because after half a year of entanglement, Gu Ci'an suddenly gave up on hunting us. We found it very strange, because even with the Records of Xu Fu, the Immortal Palace was too dangerous for us. At that time, we were at the end of our rope, and Gu Ci'an was only one step away from catching us."

"However, he suddenly disappeared, and we actually followed the route he took to break into the next level."

He paused, his tone tinged with suspicion, "By a stroke of luck, we were able to be teleported back to reality. But on that very day, we received some incredibly shocking news."

Gu Jianlin tilted his head, looking down at them.

"The Ether Association released news that three months before we returned to the real world, Gu Ci'an suddenly lost control, committed the Blood Moon Massacre, slaughtered a large number of A-rank investigators, and then fled overnight. When we got news of him later, he had inexplicably died in a car accident. A sixth-rank Celestial Master, dead in a car accident?"

The Mentor shook his head, "And the time point when he lost control was clearly when he was hunting us in the lower levels of the Immortal Palace. I even have some of the daily necessities he left behind, as well as the dagger that stabbed the Butcher."

"..."

At that moment, Gu Jianlin's thoughts were like a raging storm.

If what this Alchemist said was true, then his father was indeed trapped in the Immortal Palace at that time.

Then, who was the other Gu Ci'an?