Senior Brother Gu, the Dual-Sword Hero?

The Furnace Workshop was the place in the Golden Core Immortal Sect where fire qi burned strongest, yet it was also the most ghostly and sinister place.

For many disciples who became "human materials" were flayed and had their tendons stripped here, then refined into all manner of tools. Miserable screams often rang out.

The cries echoed through the caverns for ages without fading. In the dead of night, people could even hear weeping, as though the place were haunted—enough to send chills down one's spine.

No one normally wished to come to the Furnace Workshop, and even fewer had ever heard of the cave entrance beside it.

Who would have thought that this cave entrance was the exit?

Standing here, they saw that the entrance was pitch-black, forming a stark contrast with the vivid red walls of the Furnace Workshop beside it.

It was said that blood had to be mixed into the paint to make the walls redder and keep the color from fading so easily.

The Furnace Workshop's walls had always been this red, this bright. No one knew how much human blood had been mixed into them.

By this time, Gu Qingfeng had already put on the "Precious Moon Garment." He discovered that it truly could expand and contract at will, as light as nothing. It had fit Zhang Yao's small frame earlier, yet now it fit him as well, and was quite comfortable.

The entrance was not small. After arranging themselves in formation, the group entered.

Just before going in, Qi Lingguang could not help looking back. She felt as though something inside the scarlet Furnace Workshop was peering at them from behind, yet perhaps there was nothing there at all.

Seeing that Gu Qingfeng and the others had already gone inside, she hurried after them.

After killing Zhang Yao and the others earlier, the Core Branches growing from Gu Qingfeng's body had long since retracted. But now, as the Geng-Metal Power within him circulated once more, they emerged again.

This time, the Core Branches no longer concealed their razor-sharp edge, directly reflecting sharp golden light.

The three Core Branches no longer had Golden Cores hanging from them. They stood stiff and straight, their upper halves like swords and their lower halves more like steel whips, looking almost no different from real weapons.

Gu Qingfeng directly pulled the Core Branch from his abdomen and gripped it in his hand like a sword.

Because it radiated golden light, the dim surroundings were illuminated somewhat.

Perhaps because they had personally witnessed how this thing had pierced through their master's wife and senior sister, or perhaps because the faint golden glow itself seemed sacred, everyone felt a little safer.

They did not know how Senior Brother Gu had done it, nor how deeply he had hidden himself or how many secrets he possessed. But with holy golden light suffusing him, he looked like a good person at a glance.

Well, even if he was not a good person, then he was still a good person!

A good person who could lead them out!

For a time, the way they looked at Gu Qingfeng was utterly pure—only worship and awe remained.

They worshipped him because his golden radiance looked inherently sacred and his methods were astonishing. They feared him because they did not know where that sacredness came from.

At that moment, Gu Qingfeng pulled out the Core Branch on his left shoulder as well and handed it to Qi Lingguang, the junior sister with peach-blossom eyes.

Yet the moment Qi Lingguang took it, her hand began trembling uncontrollably. Her cheeks flushed crimson, and she said with a pained expression, "Senior Brother, I can't. It hurts."

Gu Qingfeng quickly took it back.

Only then did he realize that, because this Core Branch contained the Geng-Metal Power he had reversed into it, it was like a sharp sword with no hilt, all blade. Anyone else holding it would surely find it cutting into their hand.

What was more, Qi Lingguang and the others had nearly refined their bodies into Yi-Wood Dao Fruits, making them even more restrained by this power. That was why their reaction had been so intense.

Since no one else could use them, he held one Core Branch in each hand, looking like some dual-sword hero.

Qi Lingguang and the others could not help guessing—seeing Senior Brother Gu like this, he surely knew some exquisite dual-sword technique!

In truth, how could he know any dual-sword technique? If he really had to fight, he would definitely only be able to hack around wildly like an idiot.

He had no use for the Core Branch on his right shoulder for the moment, so Gu Qingfeng silently recited the incantation and retracted it.

The cavern was deep and secluded, sometimes broad and sometimes narrow. In some places, rocks jutted out like dogs' teeth, while bottomless cliffs lay beside them. It looked exceedingly treacherous.

They had already turned right eight times along the way. Aside from the difficult path, they had encountered no obstacles.

According to Shen Yun, as long as they turned right eleven times, then left three times, they would be close to the exit.

That meant they had already traveled more than half the journey.

Ahead, a gust of wind sounded through the dim cavern.

The wind drifted through the cave, sounding very much like someone crying.

This sort of wind was common in the caverns. When Gu Qingfeng had first transmigrated here, he could not sleep well at all because he always felt that someone was speaking within the wind.

The voice came in broken fragments, as though someone were whispering maliciously, much like the present situation.

It had to be said that even this normally ordinary wind put pressure on them.

They guarded the front and rear as they walked onward.

Just then, the pale and weak Shen Yun suddenly turned around, looking toward a certain direction behind them.

Qi Lingguang had been supporting her as they walked, so Shen Yun's turn naturally caught her attention.

"Senior Sister, what are you looking at?" Qi Lingguang asked.

The change here naturally drew Gu Qingfeng's attention as well.

Shen Yun's face was pale as she said, "I keep feeling like someone behind us is calling me?"

That wind continued to fill the cavern.

Wang Wu said, "That's just what the wind sounds like. Senior Sister Shen, did you hear wrong?"

Gu Qingfeng did not let down his guard. Holding a Core Branch, he asked, "How did he call you?"

"He called me Junior Sister Shen. More than once. And the voice sounded very familiar."

Shen Yun stared behind them, terror in her eyes.

"Very familiar?"

Shen Yun said tremblingly, "I think it sounded a little like Senior Sister Lin Yu's voice."

At that, everyone broke out in goosebumps.

For Senior Sister Lin Yu was the one who had been flayed together with Second Senior Brother a few days ago.

She was also the senior sister who had told Shen Yun about the escape route.

Could it be that she remained unwilling after death, her wronged soul refusing to disperse, and wanted to follow them out?

For a moment, everyone faced a great enemy.

For before long, even they heard the voice.

"Junior Sister Shen, where are you going?"

"Junior Sister Shen, you wouldn't happen to be... trying to escape, would you?"

The voice drifted intermittently through the wind. It was not clear, but they could hear it.

"Mother of heaven, there really is a ghost!" Wang Wu said with a terrified expression.

Holding both branches, Gu Qingfeng said, "Keep moving."

As they walked forward, they looked all around, trying to locate the source of the sound.

But the voice drifted upon the wind, making its precise location difficult to discern for the moment.

By this point, many vines had appeared throughout the cave, dangling around them like snakes.

Just then, Wang Wu suddenly looked up. Her entire body shook, and she said in a trembling voice, "S-Senior Sister Lin!"

Everyone followed her gaze and suddenly saw a face hanging amid the vines overhead.

The face was deathly pale, like paper, yet its features were still distinguishable. It was precisely Senior Sister Lin Yu, who had been flayed that day!

Fuck!

Even Gu Qingfeng, holding Core Branches glowing with golden light, felt his scalp go numb and a chill run through him.

For he had personally seen how her human skin had fluttered upon the Thousand-Armed Guanyin statue that day.

Had the dead come back to life?